Isn't MQA just marketing jargon for 24/96 digital audio stream?
EE can't do 24/96?
What am I missing? That's the question of the century!
Rich, MQA is a new system that will allow hi res audio signals to be transported inside of standard FLAC, WAV and ALAC payloads. I had thought it was packing 24/96 signals, but apparently, according to the article in the link below, the system is capable of packing up to a 24/192 signal inside of a standard Redbook signal.
And unlike other high Res formats, MQA is completely backward compatable with standard CD players and it is said that MQA encoded files, even if only played back on a CD player (without specifically decoding the MQA) will sound better than a native Redbook file.
And it is all done in software, so the only thing required to upgrade any CD player or DAC to be MQA capable is a firmware update.
Since MQA is a lossey signal I would think that an MQA encoded and decoded signal will most likely not sound as good as playing back the native Hi-res file directly, but I am sure it will easily beat playing the same album over on a standard CD.
And it as the additional benefit of greatly reducing the bandwidth required to stream a high res file.
http://www.trustedreviews.com/opinions/what-is-mqa-meridian-s-digital-audio-format-explainedhttp://www.stereophile.com/content/meridians-mqa-one-listeners-impression#isdKq70zWmfZGyV8.97