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Mytek Brooklyn as a MQA-ready DAC for Devialet 400?
#1
Thinking about MQA-support and its nothing news from Devialet
So, I have idea - use Mytek Brooklyn as a MQA decoder via USB (from iMac/Roon) and connect Mytek to my Devialet 400
But - Mytek has only analague outs (RCA), so I need one digital-to-analog conversion on Mytek, and next - analog-to-digital-and-digital-to-analog conversion on Devialet 400
So, this is bad idea (mad idea Wink) or not? Any opinion for that?
Maybe anyone may try this configuration?
Thanks!
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#2
I'd wait to see if MQA gets picked up and in what way/to which extent before buying new but early hardware supporting it. Perhaps even Devialet will support it one day. Although if I'd want something today I'd never wait for Devialet, for anything. They're just too unreliable and even incompetent when it comes to software and/or new technologies. Wink

Some have said an external DACs character comes through as the ADC is quite transparant so if you really like the sound or functionality of a certain DAC it could be worth it but you of course would be the final arbiter.
PS Audio P3, Shunyata ΞTRON Alpha Digital and HC/Furutech power cables, Paul Hynes SR7EHD-MR4, DIY Roon Server & Roon Endpoint running AudioLinux Headless, Phasure Lush^2 USB cable, Audioquest Diamond RJ/E ethernet, Uptone Audio etherREGEN, Mutec MC-3+ USB, Shunyata ΞTRON Anaconda Digital XLR AES/EBU, Devialet Expert 250 Pro CI, Nordost Tyr Reference LS cables, Von Schweikert VR-5 SE Anniversary Edition, Anti-Mode Dual Core 2.0, JL Audio Fathom F112. More detail here.

The Netherlands
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#3
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
iTunes & TIDAL HiFi --> ROON on iMac --> ROON RAAT over Ethernet --> D440 Pro-->  ProAc  D40R floorstanding speakers (SAM)
Also:  Linn LP12/Ittok turntable Cables: Nordost Shiva power, Nordost Flatline2 speaker cable

Dublin,  Ireland
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#4
Install Mytek Brooklyn DAC (try it)... and now I cannot find software to play MQA files from iMac to Brooklyn DAC
MQA indicators looks grey on any software player - Roon, Audirvana, VLC... (MQA decoding on Brooklyn DAC is On)
I see it
https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/45537/62...84a07_orig
And for MQA I needs to see MQA indicator in green color...
https://mytekdigital.com/wp-content/uplo..._48353.jpg
(Manual - Grey logo – MQA not found, MQA stream is not detected / Green logo – MQA valid, the MQA is detected)
I try this files http://www.2l.no/hires/ and have latest version of Roon, and purple signal path - and it indicates only Flac 24/352...
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#5
I have the Explorer 2 that I use for all my traveling, and also at home to decode MQA. Some comments:

- the "deblurring" is based on 2 different techniques: a new quantisation method, whereby each sample is not a "photograph" of a moment, but an average of several samples using a spline as averaging law (the exact law being "trade secret"); and a filter with no pre ringing and very limited post-ringing. The beauty of the filter is an incredible time-fidelity; the drawback is that it lets a lot of aliasing go through. However, and based on the fact that avg spl at these frequencies are quite low, it was deemed an acceptable trade off - in my opinion it sounds significantly better than the originals.

- if we pass it through the ADC of the Devialet, we re-blur what had been deblurred! (albeit at much higher frequency and therefore less damaging than with 44.1). It is not that all ADCs are wrong - it is that letting aliasing happen has always been considered very poor design, based on the frequency domain view. What is new in Meridian's approach is that, using sampling techniques used in other fields like medicine or astronomy, they have trusted their ears and followed the time domain perspective instead of the frequency domain - like 99% of designers have been using in the past.

- to appreciate MQA in its entirety, the rest of the chain must be up to speed. I reckon that the frequency response of all chain elements -in particular, loudspeakers and headphones- need to be capable of reaching 40-50 kHz. I see a big improvement when I move from my UE10 custom in-ears (limited to 18khz) to a pair of Stax Lambda earphones (over 40 kHz) . We don't hear these frequencies but we're able to appreciate the transients (according to the research on which Meridian based its development)

From the fidelity point of view, it trumps everything else I have heard, including DSD; but I fear that it doesn't get enough market traction and follows the way of Betamax, DVD-Audio (this would be Bob's second defeat!) or ambisonics (the third defeat!).

At the end, I think it will depend on Apple's adopting it or not.
Oslo: sources: Mac Mini/Itunes/Audirvana,  glassfiber toslink/Mapleshade clearview USB to D200;
Double helix to Gallo Strada 2 with mapleshade stands, TR3 subwoofer.

Spain: Oppo 95 vacuumstate modded, Kimber select 1021, Linn Classik Movie Di to Gallo Solos through Goertz Python cable


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#6
Note: audirvana works well passing through MQA unaffected (blue/green LED lighting)
Oslo: sources: Mac Mini/Itunes/Audirvana,  glassfiber toslink/Mapleshade clearview USB to D200;
Double helix to Gallo Strada 2 with mapleshade stands, TR3 subwoofer.

Spain: Oppo 95 vacuumstate modded, Kimber select 1021, Linn Classik Movie Di to Gallo Solos through Goertz Python cable


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#7
Cannot run MQA via Audirvana - always have a grey logo. What settings I need?

But. I run MQA and have a blue logo with J.River! Works perfect with Mytek Brooklyn DAC!
https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/31382/62...5bb6f_orig

So, my opinion about quality (remember, this is a connection iMac - Usb - Mytek Brooklyn DAC - Devialet 400 line in, so this is too many digital to analog an analog to digital conversations):

Use Mozart: Violin concerto in D major - Allegro
Marianne Thorsen / TrondheimSolistene / 2nl

24/192 flac - good starting point
Dsd 128 - level of detail is up, but soundstage and instruments is more "thin"
Mqa 24/352,8 - clear winner, detail and soundstage is up again, sound is fantastic rich and natural

So, I'll think MQA is a future. But not now - now bugged software reduce fun Smile
And again - we strongly need native MQA support on Devialet
If not - I'll thinking about migration to MQA DAC/Amp combo Smile
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#8
(02-Jun-2016, 17:51)kjj11 Wrote: 24/192 flac - good starting point
Dsd 128 - level of detail is up, but soundstage and instruments is more "thin"
Mqa 24/352,8 - clear winner, detail and soundstage is up again, sound is fantastic rich and natural

So, I'll think MQA is a future. But not now - now bugged software reduce fun Smile
And again - we strongly need native MQA support on Devialet
If not - I'll will thinking about migration to MQA DAC/Amp combo Smile

Very interesting kj11!

My only experience with MQA was through a pair of DSP5200 Meridian speakers about a year ago. The MQA tracks definitely sounded much better and more coherent although I wasn't able to compare them to non-MQA versions. So a little inconclusive really. But reading this makes me want to give MQA another shot.

Guillaume
Industry disclosure: UK distributor for Shunyata Research

220 PRO, totaldac d1 server with additional external power supply, totaldac d1-seven, Echole PSU for Totaldac, Wilson Audio Sasha 2, Shunyata Research cables, Shunyata Hydra Alpha A10 + DPC-6 v3, Various Entreq ground boxes and cables, Entreq Athena level 3 rack, 2 X SOtM sNH-10G with sCLK-EX + 10MHz Master Clock input + sPS-500 PSU, i5 sonicTransporter w/ 1TB SSD

UK
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#9
(02-Jun-2016, 17:51)kjj11 Wrote: Cannot run MQA via Audirvana - always have a grey logo. What settings I need?

But. I run MQA and have a blue logo with J.River! Works perfect with Mytek Brooklyn DAC!
https://img-fotki.yandex.ru/get/31382/62...5bb6f_orig

So, my opinion about quality (remember, this is a connection iMac - Usb - Mytek Brooklyn DAC - Devialet 400 line in, so this is too many digital to analog an analog to digital conversations):

Use Mozart: Violin concerto in D major - Allegro
Marianne Thorsen / TrondheimSolistene / 2nl

24/192 flac - good starting point
Dsd 128 - level of detail is up, but soundstage and instruments is more "thin"
Mqa 24/352,8 - clear winner, detail and soundstage is up again, sound is fantastic rich and natural

So, I'll think MQA is a future. But not now - now bugged software reduce fun Smile
And again - we strongly need native MQA support on Devialet
If not - I'll thinking about migration to MQA DAC/Amp combo Smile
In preferences - audio system:

Exclusive access mode
Direct mode
Integer Mode
Integer mode 1

In preferences - audio filters:

Forced up sampling: none (important)

In preferences - audio volume

DAC only (important too)

Hope this helps!
Oslo: sources: Mac Mini/Itunes/Audirvana,  glassfiber toslink/Mapleshade clearview USB to D200;
Double helix to Gallo Strada 2 with mapleshade stands, TR3 subwoofer.

Spain: Oppo 95 vacuumstate modded, Kimber select 1021, Linn Classik Movie Di to Gallo Solos through Goertz Python cable


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