DirectStream DAC & MQA on the Horizon?
 

I have had a DirectStream DAC for about 2 1/2 years, and have a lot of respect for Paul and Ted, love the idea of the FPGA-based DAC and the ability to improve its performance via firmware updates, which I apply as they are made available.

I was also intrigued by the promise of MQA after I read the articles in The Absolute Sound last year, hoping it was something of substance in moving the needle forward with audiophile sound quality.

When I read that Tidal and Warner Music signed on, my "hopeful meter" jumped up!

When Tidal announced they added some MQA albums, I ordered a Meridian Explorer2 DAC ($199 on Amazon), to see how those albums sound and can report that I am very pleasantly surprised! The MQA music I've sampled so far seems to have a little better bass, mid like guitars, violins, voices, etc. seem more rich and smooth, highs like cymbals seem to have a little more clarity and timbre, and MQA seems to have a little better dynamics.

I am not a "vinyl fan", but understand why so many audiophiles love it, as for some music the "clarity" that digital offers can sometimes sound "edgy". In my case, I just can't get over the pops, clicks and surface noise. I think the good news with MQA is that the format also doesn't seem to have that "edginess".

From the PS Audio forums, at first it seemed that Paul was not impressed with the sample equipment he was provided a while back. But judging from the comments on the forums lately, I wonder if he and Ted are putting their heads together to see how they could support MQA?

I think "the jury is still out" on the feasibility of MQA in the marketplace, but I suspect, if it gains as much acceptance as SACD/DSD, the high-end DAC manufacturers will find they'll need to support the format. Fingers crossed!

The problem is that mqa will not work with the DS DAC. I believe that mqa is an end to end format so the psa DAC conversion to dsd overrides the mqa. They would have to develop a pcm only DAC, a brand new DAC in essence.

I suspected that would be the case, one of Paul's hesitance in jumping on the MQA bandwagon.

I was just about to buy a DS DAC, but MQA not supported has put a spanner in the works.

Unrelated, but if all your vinyl plays with pops and clicks, you're either buying horrible used copies, you don't know how to clean records of dust before playing or your TT isn't setup properly.

Last night I had some time to do some compares, Tidal Windows desktop app, MQA --> Meridian Explorer2 DAC with "MQA passthru" set on the app vs. MQA --> PS Audio DirectStream DAC with "MQA passthru" un-checked on the app. I suspect the latter does the "unfolding" (as the PS Audio DAC shows higher res stats on the display), but not the "de-blurring" that the MQA technology offers. In every case the Explorer2 DAC sounded better, often times much better.

I've checked out the forums on the PS Audio website and the impression I get is that the technology used in the DirectStream DAC is not one that PS Audio can easily adapt, to add MQA. Having said that, Paul has been really "quiet" on the subject of MQA for the last several weeks. He's a smart business man, so I suspect he's exploring options now.

I was reading on the Mytek website about the new ManhattanII DAC, how it uses an "off the shelf" ESS DAC chip. Not being an engineer, I'm wondering if Mytek places some "MQA hardware" in front of that ESS chip, to do the "de-blurring" and "unfolding" of the MQA stream, feeding the result into the ESS chip? If that were the case, I suspect that PS Audio could do something similar, which might require that DirectStream DAC owners replace the main system board in their units.

I must say, I'm really happy with the way the DirectStream DAC handles "non-MQA" inputs, and I really really like the way that it's able to be improved with firmware updates. I hope Paul's recent silence is an indicator that he's tinkering with some options.

Did the Explorer 2 really sound better then your Direct stream DAC ? ( even with MQA)

The explorer2 is a portable DAC/AMP using the USB power supply,

Did you use the headphone for testing ?

Don't get me wrong I like the Meridian Explorer 2, I use it in the office to listen to music.

Yes, Probably Being MQA-capable Was the Key
 

I hear what you are saying, it really surprises me as well.

Playing MQA in "passthru" mode to the PS Audio DAC sounds dull and somewhat "lifeless" on my system, compared to the Explorer2. I suspect this is what the MQA folks refer to as a reduction in the "blur", but the dynamics are much improved as well.

Now, last night I did a similar comparison with non-MQA listening and the PS Audio DAC won "hands down". But when passing MQA thru that little DAC, I find the sound is better.

I do have a really nice set of headphones, but really prefer to listen to my speakers. Maybe I'll try the cans next time I have time for the comparisons.

I have done a simular test between my Ayre DX-5 DAC and the meridian explorer2 DAC, even with MQA files the Ayre sounds better than the Meridian in my system.

I am looking forward to see which DAC's are coming that will be MQA ready, I wanted to buy the Ayre QX-5 or Chord Dave, but I might delay that for some time.

When I run MQA files in "non-passthru" mode (I presume that Tidal is doing the "unfolding") to the DirectStream DAC, the DAC is showing the higher resolution, but the sound quality is "muted", regular FLAC files (of the same music) sound much better.

On one of the early PS Audio forums, I remember Paul and Ted saying that their design, based around the FPGA chip (instead of using an "off the shelf" DAC chip), was not a good match for MQA; I'm guessing they experienced the same reduction in sound quality.

So, Paul has been really "quiet" on his forums, on the subject of MQA. I wonder if he and Ted are looking at options, in case (in their judgement) incorporating MQA into a DAC becomes something a high-end purchaser will demand (sort of like what DSD is now)? It wouldn't surprise me that they are working on a solution.

Paul recently posted on their forum with an update regarding MQA support on their DS DAC. He said that initially he considered it a non-starter since MQA was requiring the decoding to be performed at the DAC and that compromised the performance of their FPGA design. Now that MQA is allowing the decoding to be done before the DAC they have an implementation which is viable and works well when streaming into their Bridge.

Audio Bill,
Thanks for the info. Makes sense to do the conversion from MQA to "regular" PCM, then feed that into the DirectStream DAC. If that's what Paul has in mind, I guess I'll be ordering a BridgeII for my DAC!

"Close, But No Cigar?"
 

I think what PS Audio is working on is a software update to their "Bridge II Network Audio Card", which one would slide into the slot on their DAC. I had an exchange with Robert Harley from The Absolute Sound, and from that I think this software update would do the "unfolding" of the MQA stream, up to 96/24. What this update would not do is the is the "full end-to-end MQA" decoding. So I suspect that the result would be an MQA stream processed by the "Bridge II" would be higher resolution, but would not have the "deblurring" benefits of MQA.

After reading Paul's more recent posts on MQA I believe you are entirely correct, that the software decoding in the Bridge II will be MQA Core only.

If anyone is interested is a killer deal on a DirectStream, please check out my post in the marketplace.

It's done. See my post in a separate thread (because I couldn't find this one), but MQA is coming to the Bridge II in April, for free.

...and from that other posting:

From what I understand, PS Audio is working on a software upgrade for their Bridge2 which will do the unfolding, same sort of thing that is an option on the Tidal desktop app. That will "unfold" the content to a maximum of 96/24.

But to my way of thinking, the real benefit of MQA is the "de-blurring" which would require changes to the internals of the DAC, which PS Audio is not willing to do.

I believe that your understanding is correct!

"UNCLE"

I really enjoy the MQA I've experienced from Tidal, have over 100 albums in my "favorites"...so, I ordered a Mytek Brooklyn MQA DAC.

I suspect with the addition of Universal Music to the MQA source lineup that the DAC manufacturers will need to come out with models that do "end-to-end" MQA decoding, to be successful.

I also suspect that DAC chip companies like ESS will likely build the MQA decoding into future offerings, so that DAC manufacturers which use off-the-shelf DAC chipsets will have good options for their future models, and that their designs won't need to go thru the MQA Company certification process.

Paul & Ted are very astute and very smart people. I also suspect that they will eventually adapt their designs to do end-to-end MQA decoding, so I'll be keeping my DirectStream DAC, as I find it sounds awesome decoding "regular" AIFF & FLAC files and hope, if they join the MQA decoding world, that it'll be in the form of a motherboard swap for this excellent DAC.

I wonder which Colorado mountain they will name it after this time around :)

To the folks here who are using PS Audio DACs with bridge etc, is it mandatory to run everything via JRiver and/or Roon? Or is it possible to maybe use another programme if needs being? Not the biggest fan of JRMC SQ wise plus it tends to shut down on me almost on a daily basis.

You can use any media management tool you like. The DAC is Roon ready, but that doesn't preclude other programs.

Thanks Jim! I'll give it a go with A+ which is the one I like the most in terms of sound.

Cheers

Sounds like the next mountain top might be called 'Huron'.

Is Brooklyn a high end DAC?

I am thinking of Chord 2Qute or Brooklyn DAC for my Bluesound Node 2 streamer.

Can you share some thoughts, please.

I have had a PS Audio DirectStream DAC now for about 2 1/2 years and for "regular" AIFF-FLAC files, in my system the DirectStream DAC sounds a little better than the Brooklyn, which I'd say "yes" is a "high end" DAC that is about 90% as "good" as the PS Audio DAC...with "regular" files.

It's becoming apparent to me that, to get the full benefit of MQA, one must purchase a DAC that does "end-to-end" MQA decoding, like the Brooklyn. I don't believe that doing the first part of the MQA decoding (the "unfolding") doesn't (to my mind) provide the most significant benefits of MQA.

Keep in mind that the Brooklyn is 1/3 the price of the DirectStream DAC, and it offers a really excellent headphone amp, inputs for turntables and a really fine volume control...very much could be considered a "preamp". I think it's an excellent value, for the money.

...and from Paul McGowen's latest posts, it sounds like he is adamantly opposed to modifying the DirectStream DAC to do "end-to-end" MQA decoding, mainly objecting to submitting his proprietary DAC technology to an outside company.

One of my audio buddies purchased a DirectStreamJr DAC and the BridgeII card, it looks like PS Audio has figured out how to do "full" MQA decoding on the BridgeII. I guess Paul decided it was best to get on the "MQA bandwagon"?

I currently have a Windows10 Pro machine, with Tidal and the Roon "core" installed, one USB to a Mytek Brooklyn DAC, another USB to my DirectStream DAC, controlling Roon from an iPad.

I presume that the BridgeII will show up in Roon as a third "zone"?

Anyone have either a DS or DSJr DAC & BridgeII installed? Comments on how that all works and sounds for you?

DirectStream DAC & MQA on the Horizon?
 

I use DS DAC and Roon. Yes, the bridge2 streams MQA from Tidal, and on the small LCD you can see the format is MQA. In my understanding, it still feeds the DAC with DSD stream.

Regarding sounds, I am unable to tell the difference of tracks with the same mastering but different resolutions, as long as the resolution is higher than red book CD format. However, I do enjoy MQA tracks, just because they are newly mastered.

I have found that the Bridge II connection sounds better than direct connection via usb. My Silenzio now sits in the office upstairs running Roon over the network. Better sound and a cleaner look of the audio system without the computer attached.