Radio Paradise

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black321

black321 Avatar

Location: An earth without maps
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 30, 2021 - 10:27am
I've found that an MQA stream fed into a non-MQA DAC results in an inferior playback. The sound is more forward, and harsh. Through a MQA DAC, I notice a similar forward effect particularly for vocals, but less harshness from the MQA stream. Still don't know if I prefer one over the other....but that's a moot point as i prefer my Bel Canto DAC over the DAC in the Bluos Node 2i.

William

William Avatar

Location: Eureka!
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 30, 2021 - 10:12am

david8 wrote:

This article and associated video debunks the whole MQA myth:

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/mqa-deep-dive-i-published-music-on-tidal-to-test-mqa.22549/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc

That's not a debate I'm interested in participating in. We're not presenting MQA as anything other than "something we think sounds great".

As I've said before, the only thing that matters is each listener's personal opinion about which RP option sounds better. If your ears prefer MQA, listen to that. If not, then don't.

david8

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Posted: Apr 30, 2021 - 8:47am
This article and associated video debunks the whole MQA myth: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/mqa-deep-dive-i-published-music-on-tidal-to-test-mqa.22549/ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pRjsu9-Vznc

DoctorK

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Location: Rockland, MA

Posted: Apr 28, 2021 - 2:27pm
Listening right now to the BluOS feed via my new NAD AVR and am really blown away! Keep staying ahead of the curve Bill

William

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Location: Eureka!
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 23, 2021 - 3:37pm
Cebolla wrote: FLAC is after all lossless but compressed PCM! Right you are, of course. Lossless is the correct term.

black321

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Location: An earth without maps
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 23, 2021 - 12:58pm
Steely_D wrote: New NAD with BluOS showing up in a few hours. Very excited to fire that up and see what the fuss is about. Congrats. I always get a bit giddy when procuring a new piece. NAD has put out some good product the last few years...enjoy.

Steely_D

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Location: At the dude ranch / above the sea
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 23, 2021 - 12:47pm
New NAD with BluOS showing up in a few hours. Very excited to fire that up and see what the fuss is about.

Cebolla

Posted: Apr 23, 2021 - 6:52am

ronald.dejong726 wrote:

Still the original FLAC does it for me. Off course it would be briljant if in the future you would send out the original Hi Res files!

Bill has already confirmed that:
BillG wrote:

Hereâs how it will work in the future: we assemble blocks of programming as 24/96 FLAC files, from uncompressed (non-MQA) masters of the highest available bitrate â 24/192, 24/96, 24/48, or 16/44.1 â that are then encoded, with folding, into a 16/44.1 MQA bitstream. They will also be available as uncompressed 24/96.

However, I assume Bill used 'uncompressed' a bit figuratively to distinguish the proposed non-MQA hi-res 24bit/96kHz FLAC streams from the hi-res MQA ones (which Bill later corrected to be folded to 24bit/48kHz rather than the 16bit/44.1kHz mentioned in the quote) - FLAC is after all lossless but compressed PCM!

ronald.dejong726

Posted: Apr 21, 2021 - 3:57am

Dear Bill,

firstly many thanks for your ongoing innovation!
I have listened to the MQA stream for some days now and switched back to the FLAC stream .
I have the Bluesound Node 2i already for a year or so. I use this in conjunction with the DAC chord Qutest.
So I use the digital signal via Coax from the Bluesound into the DAC.
I have this set up because I have found the DAC of the Node 2i okay but not exceptional.
The chord Qutest DAC is a level up. So with this I have the MQA stream with its first unfolding step according to the MQA info I could find.
It is different but to my ears the FLAC sounds more coherent.. I also compared the MQA stream directly via the bluesound node RCA output ( this has the complete unfolding step) with the FLAC via the Qutest..
Still the original FLAC does it for me. Off course it would be briljant if in the future you would send out the original Hi Res files!
anyway I thought I give the feedback, thanks again for all the great music!
Ronald

kd4ylq

Location: Chapel Hill, NC
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 17, 2021 - 7:02am

stevesancarlos wrote:

I'm about 12 hours in to owning the Bluesound Node 2i. To me, Radio Paradise via an MQA stream doesn't provide revelatory sound, but it is quite sweet, and the difference to these ears - noticeable. I had a hankering to sample the Bluesound Node 2i. RP provided me yet another excuse. And as Bill says, the user has the option within BLUOS to listen to the MQA stream or the existing CD stream.

What I'm loving about this experience is all the other 'doodads' that come with the Bluesound experience. And this is coming from a somewhat long-term Sonos customer with four rooms worth of 'stuff.'

I only discovered the MQA stream was available on Radio Paradise yesterday, and gave it some careful listening for the first time last evening (on one of my Node 2i systems). I agree with you and find the sound difference both "noticeable and sweet". I heartily applaud RP for making MQA an easily accessible option alongside FLAC - it's a technical tour de force and example for other Internet radio stations to follow IMHO. If only RP would create a Jazz stream (like ABC Jazz AU), sigh, I would have much more program material to use as reference standards and I'd likely never have to change stations.

scoots_mcgoo

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Location: twin cities

Posted: Apr 15, 2021 - 3:41pm

BillG wrote:

In a post below I detailed how we encode the MQA stream. Please read that. Many of your assumptions here are incorrect.

There are a lot of strong opinions about MQA, but â as I've stated elsewhere â all that really counts is whether you enjoy RP more via MQA or via our existing FLAC stream.

Pick the one you like and listen to that.

I suggest the DJ gets an actual stereo before slagging MQA, which is brilliant.

stevesancarlos

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Location: San Carlos, CA

Posted: Apr 15, 2021 - 11:19am

stevesancarlos

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Location: San Carlos, CA

Posted: Apr 13, 2021 - 11:13pm
black321 wrote: I'm a fan/recommend. And I did. Today. Should be interesting to side-by-side it with the Sonos Port. It won't be apples-to-apples as I use my receiver's DACs for the Port and will use the Bluesound Node 2i DAC.

William

William Avatar

Location: Eureka!
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 13, 2021 - 11:04am

Michaelgt wrote:

Hello RP'ers

I have only just come accross this topic so appologies if this has already been asked...

I use an Audioquest DragonFly Red plugged into my laptop to decode the FLAC stream. The dragonfly is capable of unfolding a MQA stream.

So will a seperate stream be made available so that it could used with DAC's such as the Dragonfly?

Regards...
Michael

At some point, yes. But for now it's BluOS only.

black321

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Location: An earth without maps
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 13, 2021 - 9:48am

stevesancarlos wrote:

I'm wondering if I should buy one of the BlueSound thing-a-ma-jigs just to listen to Radio Paradise and Quobuz -in ONE ROOM, where my receiver and speakers are (and Idagio, if I take up a subscription). No, I'm not kidding. My wardrobe is an embarrassment, we don't pay for cable TV, I don't play golf, I haven't bought a mid-life crisis Jeep or Tesla... So I've got the shekels. And frankly, the Sonos Port is a bit of a disappointment, audio quality-wise.

Yeah I know, the Sonos Port supports 16/44.1 - but really, the sound quality is underwhelming, and this is with me feeding a digital signal for my receiver's superior dual DACs to handle the conversion.

I'm a fan/recommend.

Michaelgt

Location: Redditch, England
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 13, 2021 - 3:17am
Hello RP'ers I have only just come accross this topic so appologies if this has already been asked... I use an Audioquest DragonFly Red plugged into my laptop to decode the FLAC stream. The dragonfly is capable of unfolding a MQA stream. So will a seperate stream be made available so that it could used with DAC's such as the Dragonfly? Regards... Michael

stevesancarlos

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Location: San Carlos, CA

Posted: Apr 12, 2021 - 10:41pm

William

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Location: Eureka!
Gender: Male

Posted: Apr 12, 2021 - 7:33pm

Currawong wrote:

The normal stream has the tracks overlapping, so if this is part of the stream, it wont work with MQA, that has to have bit-perfect passthrough.

After doing some careful listening to modern, "real" MQA (and not the batch-processing of old music which mostly seems to add bass) it sounds like the modern stuff (take Jack Johnson as an example) has been run through something akin to one of those "3D" plug-ins, as the vocals are pushed back, and there is an artificial sense of space. So, my advice is, if you want the MQA effect, just install one or another of those 3D effect plug-ins and put it on low settings. You'll get the same result, without financially supporting what amounts to a scam.

In a post below I detailed how we encode the MQA stream. Please read that. Many of your assumptions here are incorrect.

There are a lot of strong opinions about MQA, but — as I've stated elsewhere — all that really counts is whether you enjoy RP more via MQA or via our existing FLAC stream.

Pick the one you like and listen to that.

Bambudist

Posted: Apr 12, 2021 - 6:02pm

Currawong wrote:

Cut the scam crap. If you don't like it, just don't use it and STFU. Find something else to complain about. There's lots of truly bad things happening around the world.
This is not one of them. Jeeze...

Currawong

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Posted: Apr 12, 2021 - 4:31pm

Mikey78 wrote:

Great to hear that RP is going MQA !

Great music, even better sound !

I use a Bluesound Node 2i however I use it as a ROON endpoint, my question is will you make the MQA stream available via ROON or will you be sticking with BLUOS ?

I can obviously access via BLUOS but I like to stay inside my ROON world if possible

Thanks in advance and keep up the great work !

Cheers

Mikey

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