Between compact discs, vinyl records, digital downloads and more, music buyers today have more format options than ever. It’s streaming music, though, that has really taken the world by storm. Streaming music services such as Spotify and Apple Music boast more than 100 million total paying subscribers.Â
Streaming music subscriptions have plenty to offer. For a monthly fee that’s about the same as the price of a CD, a streaming subscriber receives unlimited access to millions of songs. What’s not to love? For audiophiles, though, the sound quality of streaming music presents a significant drawback. The compression necessary to create a digital file that streams instantly to any device also results in audio quality lower than that of a record or CD.
Introducing Master Quality Authenticated
Master Quality Authenticated is a solution that can give you the best of both worlds. It’s a format with audio quality good enough for audiophiles — better than CD audio, in fact — and file sizes small enough for instant online streaming. If you’re an audiophile who can’t quite bring yourself to love streaming music, MQA audio may be the answer. Are you ready?
How Does It Work?
MQA uses a technique that its creators call “folding” to hide extra audio information in the frequencies of a recording that humans can’t hear. In short, the principle works like this:
- In a 24-bit recording, some of the bits capture noise — tape hiss, room noise and so on — rather than signal.
- You can reduce the size of an audio file by removing sample data and hiding it under the noise floor within the audio information that remains. The technique essentially folds data in on itself. The compression technique folds data twice to achieve the smallest file size possible.
- Using a decoder that understands the compression algorithm, you can restore the hidden information and listen to the audio file in its original quality.
Engineers can use MQA encoding as part of the mastering process. The encoder can compensate for any artifacts added by the recording and mastering equipment, potentially resulting in a steaming file that’s truer to life than any other digital audio format.
What Do I Need?
Full-quality MQA playback requires a hardware or software decoder to interpret the hidden data and unfold a file back to its original quality. The MQA audio algorithm uses a standard lossless format such as FLAC as a wrapper, though, so you can play the files using any hardware or software audio player that supports the wrapper format. Even without an MQA decoder to interpret the hidden data, the audio quality will be at least as good as that of other standard compressed audio formats.
MQA encoding involves two levels of folding. In each level, the encoder cuts the sample rate of the file in half and hides the removed information under the noise floor of the remaining data. If an original audio file has a resolution and sample rate of 24 bits and 192 kHz, compression results in a 24 bit/96 kHz file after the first fold and a 24 bit/48 kHz file after the second fold. An MQA decoder takes the hidden data and converts it back into an audible signal.
The Types of Decoders
Software Decoding
You can experience MQA playback with a hardware or software decoder, but you can only experience the full original sample rate of a recording with a hardware MQA DAC. A software decoder only performs the first level of unfolding. For example, a 24 bit/48 kHz file would unfold to a 24 bit/96 kHz file with a software decoder — but a software decoder can work with your existing audio player, computer or mobile device. Steaming music services that support MQA audio — such as Tidal Masters and Nugs.net — perform software decoding in their streaming applications. Connect a hardware MQA DAC, though, and you’ll immediately hear the recording in its original 24 bit/192 kHz clarity.
Hardware Decoding
With a certified hardware MQA DAC, you can perform both unfolding operations to experience MQA playback in its full quality. During the decoding process, the DAC will use an indicator such as a lit LED to indicate that you’re listening to the recording exactly as the original mastering engineer intended. These are some of our favorite hardware decoders:
Audioquest DragonFly Red
The DragonFly Red connects to any computer’s USB port and replaces the computer’s built-in DAC. Connect the DragonFly Red to your speakers or stereo system via the 3.5 mm jack to hear the improved audio quality. The DragonFly Red also works as a headphone amplifier.
Aurender A10 Music Server
The Aurender A10 serves both as the centerpiece of your home stereo and as a server for streaming music over your home’s wireless network. It includes a 4 TB magnetic hard drive for mass storage and a 120 GB solid-state drive for instant access to frequently used music. The A10 can even stream music from Tidal.
Bluesound NODE 2
The Bluesound NODE 2 connects seamlessly to all of the audio sources in your home — even analog sources such as your turntable — and streams the music anywhere over your wireless network. The NODE 2 recognizes virtually any audio format. It also connects to all of the most popular online streaming music services including Tidal, Spotify and Napster.
Meridian Explorer2
The Meridian Explorer2 is an inexpensive hardware DAC that connects to your computer’s USB port and provides a 3.5 mm jack for output. Although operating as an MQA decoder is its primary purpose, the Explorer2 can actually improve the quality of all digital audio files with its proprietary error correction filter.
Mytek Brooklyn
The Mytek Brooklyn is a unique device that replaces your phono preamp as well as the DAC in your stereo or computer. It also plays streaming audio from Tidal Masters. You can connect the Mytek Brooklyn to your home stereo, or you can use the built-in headphone amplifier.Â
NAD M50.2
The NAD M50.2 can store your entire music collection. It can also play music from the cloud or most popular streaming services. The M50.2 can broadcast music anywhere in your home over a Wi-Fi or Bluetooth connection. It can even rip music directly from CDs. With its two internal hard drives, the M50.2 helps to protect your music library in the event of hardware failure. If one hard drive fails, your collection remains on the other hard drive. Simply replace the failed hard drive to resume mirroring your collection on both drives.
Jason Artman is a professional freelance writer and the owner of the website eCig One. Jason works with corporations across the world to improve lead generation and increase search engine visibility and revenue.
