Mytek Brooklyn as a MQA-ready DAC for Devialet 400?

[Markpd]

I had the same idea as kjj11, but on a lower budget :-)

I really think MQA is a big step forward.

I heard it recently on a Bluesound server at my dealer played through a NAD Master Series amp and B&W’s latest 800 series (804d/s3) speakers  and was very impressed. They had a Bob Dillon and some Eric Clapton MQA which sounded really really good.

So last week I bought a Meridian Explorer 2 for  £199- a USB in MQA enabled analogue out DAC,  to see how external MQA processing would sound.

I have been testing AIR 3 over ethernet served from my iMAC by ROON which is a killer combination - better sound IMO than ROON bridge via USB and better than AIR 2 direct from iTunes. A bit unstable in beta when switching inputs and sampling rates though!

Yesterday I spent a few hours doing listening tests using the excellent Norwegian 2L sample library as test pieces (all classical):  
Mozart: Violin concerto in D major - Allegro,
Vivaldi: Recitative and Aria from Cantata RV 679, "Che giova il sospirar, povero core"
and Joseph Haydn: String Quartet In D, Op. 76, No. 5 - Finale - Presto


in  3 formats :  

MQA (24/44 encapsulating the original 352.8kHz / 24bit DXD recording+ deblurring),  
CD quality,  
and 24/192 or 24/172  FLAC quality,

I had two signal paths:
1) ROON ethernet to a Raspi 3 running RoonBridge ---> USB--->  to Meridian Explorer2 --- > analogue in on D200 (192k sampling)
2)  ROON ethernet AIR 3 BETA

Here are my findings ( in my room, on my equipment, and with my ageing ears :-) )

Bit Depth K Samp/sec Type Relative Quality (100% =Best I have heard)
24           44                   CD 85%   Explorer2
24           44                   CD 95%   AIR 3

24              192                   Hi Res     92%   Explorer2

24           44                 MQA 100%   Explorer2
24          192                 Hi Res 100%   AIR 3

The MQA Explorer2 and the 24/192 AIR3 were identifiably different, but I really couldn't say one was better. The singers and instruments on MQA had a more real body and 3D presence, whereas the 24/192 via AIR3 had more snap, impact and vivacity.

BUT MQA was hugely handicapped by being decoded firstly by the Explorer 2 and then encoded and decoded again by the D200. And yet I felt MQA Explorer2 sound was about as good as 24/192 on AIR3 !

Imagine how the sound could be if the D200 was itself MQA enabled?

Note that the Meridian 2 is not in the same class as the D200 as a DAC, 24/192 tracks sounding a little worse in my set up than 16/44 CD samples played via AIR3.

If Tidal ever start streaming MQA then, in my system, analogue in from the explorer 2 would sound about as good as spending €15-€30 per album for a hi-res 24/192 version - a very good investment for £199 !

Given the leap in quality I heard from the Explorer 2 in standard mode and MQA, native MQA decoding is the way to go for Devialet.

They already have the MIPS to do it ( a spare 400MHz SHARC processor which has around 1600 MFLOPS sustained and 2MByte RAM - considerably greater than the Explorer 2’s  XMOS chip with 1000MIPS and 128kB RAM ).

Here’s hoping!  Mark