Hello I am using a MyVolumio on the Raspberry 3 B+ (Ver 2.555)
Although I am listening to music well. But I am curious whether it is correct or not.
When I listen to MQA sources streaming from Tidlal it displays its sampling rate such as 24 bit / 48 kHz or 24 bit / 44 KHz.
However it does not show any ‘MQA’ text or logo, and I have not seen above quality like 96 kHz.
Currently I am using a Dragonfly Red USB DAC which covers up to 24 bit / 96 kHz. As I know this DAC supports MQA.
Is it working properly or is there any problem?
Although I could not find the sampling info of MQA sources, should it support more higher sampling rate instead of 44 or 48 kHz?
MQA files from Tidal presents themselves as 44.1/48 kHz 24 bit files. Of this you get to use 44.1/48 kHz 16 (13?) bit if you don’t unfold it. The rest of the bits are used to encode the data that can be “unfolded”. This is why Volumio reports the stream as 44.1/48 kHz 24 bit.
If your DAC supports MQA it will unfold the file - it’s like selecting pass-through in the Tidal app.
My opinion: If your DAC don’t support MQA then limit Tidal to Lossless and stay away from the MQA. If you do have a DAC that supports it try it out and see if you find any difference and if you like that difference and can live with the limitations it introduces to sound processing.
Note: You can not use any plugin that alters the bit-stream like for example gain normalization, room correction you destroy the MQA information and your DAC will not be able to unfold.