Will MQA work when using the analogue inputs on a Node 2i ?

[Grog Monster 2]

I currently use the 2 channel preouts from a Marantz Nr1506 AVR for streaming spotify to a 2 channel amp and are pretty happy with the results, particularly when Audyssey is utilised within the AVR.

I would now like to incorporate a Tidal MQA stream from the AVR and was thinking about purchasing a Node 2i and running the room corrected analogue Tidal  MQA signal coming from the AVR , into the analogue inputs on the node.

 

Will this get me fully unfolded ( and audyssey room corrected) MQA coming out of the Node ?

 

This may seem an unusual way to go, but if it gets me room corrected and fully unolded MQA, just by buying a Node2i, I think it's worth a try.

 

Thanks for any input.

 

[BugPowderDust]

I’d plug the node into the AVR as an input and use spdif to connect the two. Then your room correction will work and you won’t need to do anything else in your current topology.

 

On the MQA front, I wouldn’t be too worried. If there’s a benefit it’s negligible at best.

[Guest dr_carl]

Forget MQA, just go with full hi res streaming like Qobuz. There is sufficient bandwidth not to need to be exploited and forced to spend $1k on a box you don't need. 

[Grog Monster 2]

Thanks for the heads up about MQA.

I definitely don't need to be spending any more money on a box to get MQA, especially if there are, as you guys say, little to no sonic benefits, but the node does apparently have a great streaming interface, dac and MQA thrown in anyway.

So if I had the node,  I would like to try Tidal MQA  and also Qobuz and probably Amazon HD also, whilst using  Audyssey room correction at the same time, just to compare for myself what is best sounding.

I've bought and sold too many components over the years to believe most reviews, and like to judge for myself what I like the sound of, and at the same time keep the expense down if possible.

 

I've never thought of connecting a Node via spidif to my AVR.

Connecting it before the AVR will allow me to use the nodes great interface, and still use Audyssey within my AVR, but it  will negate the use of MQA.

So the question still stands, "will the node output MQA, when using its analogue inputs "?

The node does have an analogue to digital (ADC) converter in it, so I'm guessing it should still output MQA in addition to the room corrected Audyssey signal from my AVR ?

Anyone tried this ?

[TheBlackDisc]

The node 2i doesn’t have analogue inputs aside from the 3.5mm jack.

 

If you run analogue out from the AVR, then back out - you’re achieving nothing.

 

You would either run it from the coax digital out or it’s analogue outputs into the AVR. 
 

Either would give you the room correction.

 

If you run the analogue outputs, the AVR will convert it back to digital, run room correction, and then convert it back to analogue. Running coax out to the avr, it will remain digital with only one digital to analogue conversion.

 

As to which sounds better - you’ll have to try it.

Edited July 11, 2021 by TheBlackDisc

[Guest dr_carl]

The answer to your question is the analog out RCA will have had the Node2i internal DAC and MQA processes already applied. If you like what you hear then go with it...I  did for a year, just for fun I connected an old DAC and that was better (could have been expectation bias) and only bought another DAC to do 192 kHz streaming.

 

If you take digital out the Node2i only does it via optical or coax, no USB. the new 2021 node will out put digital via the USB. If you output digital on a Node2i and the data was MQA encoded the node will process the MQA to the "first unfold" at 88 or 96 kHz and pass that as PCM to the next device.

 

I'm taking digital out via coax from my node, streaming Qobuz hirez. I bought mine for streaming and the BluOS,  don't care about MQA.

[Grog Monster 2]

OK, so you guys are saying to go with Quobuz rather than Tidal MQA and having tried Tidal MQA yourself, certainly gives me more confidence that it is the best way to go.

Now I'm wondering why Quobuz would sound better.

Aren't Tidal and Quobuz top tier subscriptions both high rez ?

 

 

 

[Guest]

Have a look at this thread and maybe you will understand why a number of us have cancelled our Tidal subscription and moved to Qobuz. 

 

[Grog Monster 2]

Watched the video, very interesting, but concerning also.

It seems to be typical of what you often read about hifi gear by some marketers/ reviewers and what you yourself or I actually hear, but my hearing is "different to others"  or I must just be a bit deaf....lol

 

Apart from the fact that it costs money to put MQA capability into devices, and we have to pay for it, and that MQA doesn't appear to deliver what is claimed.

Having never heard  MQA or compared it myself,

How does it actually sound ?

Any words to describe its sound to the ear, disregarding measurements and profanity ...lol ?

 

 

[Guest dr_carl]

When I used my node to do everything, taking the analog out direct to my amp it sounds ok. The differences are subtle and a node2i has a better DAC than my node 2. So for your normal human the Node2i is probably quite good enough. MQA tidal sounds good...but nothing these days at this price point sounds actually bad. Local files from my USB HDD sound best, and to my biased ear 192 sounds better than 96. Qobuz at 192 sounds almost the same, and I probably couldn't distinguish in a blind test.

 

What motivates doing MQA? Low bandwidth would be the only reason. I  prefer to spend my $ on better bandwidth than a specially MQA enabled DAC, as more devices benefit.

[NonPlayableCharacter]

The best I have ever heard mqa sound was through an Auralic Vega 2.1 - first unfold in Roon and then passed off to the Vega to deal with everything else. The fact that Auralic do not do mqa and apply their own filters, thereby not doing any further mqa rendering and yet it sounds better than any other mqa DAC I've heard tells me something is not quite right with it as a format.

 

I actually have a Vault 2i and used it to stream from Tidal, including full mqa end-to-end and out of the analogue RCAs into my amp. For much of the Tidal catalogue, I found mqa to be a bit shiney - sometimes it was worse than others. Around a year back (before the creation of the HiFi tier on Tidal) there were multiple versions of tracks and formats on Tidal so one could compare a PCM track to its mqa equivalent. I can only surmise from comparing tracks and sharing info with others and their experiences, that my poor mqa experience was likely to be the PCMs that had been batch converted to mqa rather than those that were given the so-called "white glove" treatment. Most of the mqa I streamed sounded worse than the PCM equivalents (probably 8-9 out of 10 tracks were worse sounding to me) and even my own 16/44.1 CD rips sounded better. The ability to compare was compromised when Tidal started to remove Redbook PCM on Tidal - one can draw their own conclusions as to why Tidal started to do this.

 

A few months back, Tidal introduced HiFi tier which was supposed to be for anyone not willing to pay for the Masters tier and/or seeking to avoid mqa. The clues were in what Tidal did not say rather than what they did say about the HiFi tier. The new tier was never touted as Redbook PCM, just loosely referred to as CD quality. I asked a well respected industry expert about this (firmware lead for a high-end streamer/DAC manufacturer) and he said that people would be getting 16/44.1 mqa CD.

 

I still use the Vaulti 2i as the primary streamer, but have ditched Tidal in favour of Qobuz after all the cloak-and-dagger nonsense. The real eye-opener was acquiring a separate DAC and linking the Vault 2i coax -out to the RME ADI FS2 DAC I introduced to the system. Whilst the DAC inside all 2i family products is pretty good, the real lift in quality you get from using a dedicated specialist DAC moves the listening experience into a new realm. The RME does not do mqa, but as I am not on that bus anymore it doesn't matter. Some of the 24/192 hi-res Qobuz stuff is sublime - seek out Supertramp - Crime of the Century or Blind Faith - Blind Faith. The Supertramp track School in 24/192 is now a reference track for me.

 

In fact, Spotify through the Vault 2i and into the RME is actually listenable and that was a revelation when I discovered that (Spotify radio algorithm makes all other streaming services look silly, so I still keep it for when I want background music).

[Grog Monster 2]

Thanks El Tel, I will be sure to checkout those songs both on Spotify and Qobuz when i get it.

Will definitely give Tidal a miss, unless it's a free trial but I'm guessing any free trial wouldnt be Mqa enabled, so probably just skip it and go straight to Qobuz as you guys here have been recommending.

As for using another Dac, I'm sure there is improvement to be had over the Nodes Dac, or over the dac I currently utilise in my marantz WiFi receiver ( forget what it is but recall reading something about the dac in it being 32 bit 384khz, I think)

I've found the dac In the marantz to give  a very pleasant sound in " Direct" mode and when utilising either Audyssey or making manual adjustments myself it can be better again.

Whilst I'm not saying my setup is better than using an external dac, and I have tried a few, eg Klein dac,  and a  modi 3,  I do find it to be quite good at a very low cost.

This is where the Node and its interface, dac, and its bass management abilities seem very enticing,  even if the Mqa part of it doesn't get used.

An Rme dac is outta my league, price wise anyway....lol