MQA DEMO (long)

Posted by ahendler (A) on May 23, 2016 at 20:17:33

On This past Saturday (5/21/2016) I gave a demonstration of MQA to the San Antonio River Audio Society. 18 people were present out of a membership of 25.The Equipment was as follows.
The latest B&W 2 way stand mounted speakers. A new Marantz integrated amplifier
The digital chain was as follows
MacBook Pro (Yosemite) running Jriver21. Lightspeed 10G USB cable. Regen powered by an outboard linear power supply. Short Curious USB cable feeding Intona Galvanic Isolater. USB cable provided by Meridian to Meridian Explorer2 MQA dac. Audioquest cable from Meridians 3.5mm output to RCA inputs on the Marantz amplifier.
Music files were from the 2L Audio testbench. Each track was a 16/44file and a MQA file both derived from the original 2L DXD master.
DXD is a 32bit/384khz format. 2L is known for its excellent sonics.
The 16/44 files were so good they made the comparisons rather difficult.
Each track was 3 to 5 minutes long. I would play the 16/44 first and then immediately play the MQA version. I then asked for opinions. Of the 18 people most gave no opinions. There were 5 people who I respect there opinions who did speak up. The word that was used the most describing MQA was natural. A general feeling that this is the way the playback of music should sound. Loud or soft the music just seemed to flow with a feeling of you are there listening to a live performance.
I have listened to all of these tracks several times each and they have an openness to them which is captivating. I think Meridian has something special here and look forward to Tidal streaming MQA. The rumor is that Tidal will include a software decoder in there streaming package. That means we can use any dac we want. Hope it happens soon.
Alan

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Topic - MQA DEMO (long) - ahendler 20:17:33 05/23/16 (30)

My apologies to ahendler... - tcell 08:51:21 05/26/16 (2)

RE: My apologies to ahendler... - ahendler 13:59:48 05/28/16 (0)

+1 (nt) - 13th Duke of Wymbourne 15:20:51 05/26/16 (0)

RE: MQA DEMO (long) - fmak 05:59:38 05/26/16 (0)

RE: MQA DEMO (long) - Tony Lauck 18:56:35 05/25/16 (4)

A decompression algorithm for the wealthy - Sordidman 20:20:01 05/25/16 (1)

LOL! (nt) - mcondo 04:40:33 05/26/16 (0)

RE: MQA DEMO (long) - Isaak J. Garvey 19:14:52 05/25/16 (1)

RE: MQA DEMO (long) - ahendler 20:03:18 05/25/16 (0)

MQA Versus HQplayer upsampling to DSD512 - Ric Schultz 20:49:09 05/24/16 (2)

RE: MQA Versus HQplayer upsampling to DSD512 - fmak 06:03:58 05/26/16 (0)

RE: MQA Versus HQplayer upsampling to DSD512 - ahendler 06:44:05 05/25/16 (0)

"Most gave no opinions" ? - tcell 04:57:12 05/24/16 (17)

RE: "Most gave no opinions" ? - ahendler 07:39:50 05/24/16 (16)

five out of eighteen heard a difference? - mbnx01 18:46:53 05/25/16 (6)

Read more carefully... - Ivan303 19:51:10 05/25/16 (5)

RE: Read more carefully... - Sordidman 06:42:16 05/26/16 (1)

RE: Read more carefully... - John Elison 20:12:47 05/28/16 (0)

RE: Read more carefully... - ahendler 20:06:28 05/25/16 (2)

Good, because if you had... - Ivan303 20:23:41 05/25/16 (1)

RE: Good, because if you had... - AbeCollins 14:29:52 05/26/16 (0)

RE: "Most gave no opinions" ? - Awe-d-o-file 16:05:57 05/25/16 (0)

Understand completely... - Ivan303 07:59:19 05/24/16 (7)

I understand both of you, but... - tcell 09:46:11 05/24/16 (6)

OK, first off.... - Ivan303 10:03:34 05/24/16 (5)

RE: OK, first off.... - ahendler 10:39:53 05/24/16 (4)

That's not very comforting to to hear at this late date Alan... - Ivan303 15:01:57 05/24/16 (3)

RE: That's not very comforting to to hear at this late date Alan... - ahendler 16:00:00 05/24/16 (2)

RE: That's not very comforting to to hear at this late date Alan... - fmak 09:19:55 05/26/16 (1)

RE: That's not very comforting to to hear at this late date Alan... - ahendler 11:46:13 05/26/16 (0)

MQA DEMO (long)

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