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Post by hamish on Jan 15, 2023 23:23:28 GMT
Hi all,
It’s been a while since I’ve been here, so hi to those who remember me.
I’m in the need of a little bit of help…
My current set up is a Mac mini running tidal (mqa where available) into a Mytek Brooklyn dac/pre which feeds my Adam active speakers.
The system was the “end game” for me - it does everything I want… or at least it did until my Mac became too old to support the OS required to run tidal.
So I need a new one. But, I can’t afford a Mac mini…
I want something a similar footprint that will do whatever jiggerypokery is required to get MQA to the dac.
Any suggestions?
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Post by MartinT on Jan 16, 2023 5:52:53 GMT
Hello Hamish, welcome back AND Happy Birthday!
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Post by ChrisB on Jan 16, 2023 6:43:36 GMT
Hi Hamish. It was great to chat last night. Welcome back and happy birthday.
I can't help thinking that the answer to your question could include a Raspberry Pi.
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Post by John on Jan 16, 2023 7:07:22 GMT
Welcome back Hamish
I have a question.
Is MQA essential as most of us have had negative experience with it.
If you willing to not use MQA I highly recommend the Zen stream put this with a decent power supply and you have a great streamer at a great price
If not the Bluesound node a bit more expensive and not as good sound wise but it will do MQA
The Sonore ultrarendhu is on a similar level as the zen nicer design and simple to use but no MQA
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Post by MartinT on Jan 16, 2023 7:42:44 GMT
I suppose, Hamish, that you're embedded with Tidal and, if that's the case, I can understand why you want MQA for the full unfold (you'll need an MQA DAC, too).
If you're not too deep with Tidal, now's the time to switch to Qobuz for better SQ!
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Post by stellabagpuss on Jan 16, 2023 8:43:15 GMT
The ifi Zen Stream should fit the bill nicely, but invest in descent PSU,like a Zero Zone 01 if your streaming.
You didn't mention if you used your MAC for playing local files,or if use it for browsing, which changes things.
If you have to go the PC, l can recommend a Gigabyte Brix 5105 NUC with again 19v Zero Zone 01 PSU, but as l've discovered Windows 10 OS will limit the sound quality.
Another alternative, and what l currently use, is the same Gigabyte Brix NUC and install Volumio 3 OS, sound quality is excellent and is as good, if not better than the ifi Zen Stream,ar least on playing local files, l don't stream, but l would imagine it would match the ifi, keep us up to date on your progress.
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Post by hamish on Jan 16, 2023 9:32:28 GMT
Hi all,
I guess I shouldn’t have imagined this would be simple…
Ok, here’s some more variables for you.
I don’t have any local music - I use my TT for that (which also needs some love, but that’s a story for another day)
I don’t use the Mac for anything other that tidal now as the smart TV does Netflix, Amazon etc. so it’s just something to stream tidal that I need for the most part
I am wedded to tidal
I haven’t had any issues with MQA myself. It seems to feed big numbers into my Mytek (which does unfold MQA) fine, and seems to sound better than non-“master” stuff as a general rule…?
That said, I am open to being convinced that there are other ways to get those big numbers from tidal into the dac…?
Here’s another thing I’m thinking though: I have also just bought some decent wireless headphones (Sennhieser (something) 4) so something that could Bluetooth to them would also be cool as I listen to a lot more music via them than the HiFi
To that end, this bluesound node looks pretty good. Is there much difference in the sound from it compared to the Ifi thing when I’m also using a pretty solid dac? It looks like it does loads of stuff!
Thanks for the responses (and birthday wishes 😁)
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Post by hamish on Jan 16, 2023 9:56:23 GMT
That said, having read a couple of the reviews, the Ifi’s simplicity appeals. Sounds like it literally just puts the numbers into the dac without any bells or whistles. majorhifi.com/ifi-zen-stream-review/According to this is does do MQA too…? Perhaps I need one of these and then some sort of Bluetooth widget to attach to it or the dac somehow? |
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Post by MikeMusic on Jan 16, 2023 10:05:08 GMT
Happy birthday Hamish If I had a clue I'd chip in  |
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Post by hamish on Jan 16, 2023 10:42:22 GMT
Haha, cheers
More reading, confusing… but… Sounds like if my dac does the mqa unfold, then the Ifi will pass the signal to it to do so…?
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Post by julesd68 on Jan 16, 2023 13:05:58 GMT
Hi Hamish, the streamer doesn't need to "do" MQA as such, any streamer will send the Tidal (MQA) signal to your DAC. The Zen sounds fab - heard it at John's recently.
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Post by MartinT on Jan 16, 2023 14:48:26 GMT
I thought the first unfold was done in software with the further ones done in the DAC, but I could be wrong.
I don't use Tidal.
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Post by John on Jan 16, 2023 15:02:22 GMT
I prefer the zen to the node in terms of sound quality
The Zen is simple to setup if you are using a ethernet cable as apart from putting in your Tidal details and setting the back to exclusive Tidal mode
However if going wireless then it's more complex to setup
I prefer the zen over the Limetree Bridge that is double the price and over the SOtM ultra neo 200. That is nearly triple it's price.
I am not able to advise around Bluetooth if using a MAC but via Android it's not bad at all. I use for YouTube
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Post by John on Jan 16, 2023 15:11:35 GMT
Looking on the web seems like the zen stream will support MQA
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Post by John on Jan 16, 2023 15:11:37 GMT
If you want cheaper than consider a Tinkerboard
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Post by hamish on Jan 16, 2023 16:03:46 GMT
Thanks John, my local HiFi shop has one in stock. I’m going to get it tomorrow.
This leaves the question of how to get Bluetooth out of my pre/dac as, thinking about it, I’d like to listen to the tt with the cans too. Is that new thread territory?
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Post by hamish on Jan 17, 2023 14:57:31 GMT
All seems to be working a treat with the Ifi, easy to set up, expected numbers showing on front of dac, and sounds pretty great straight out the box!!
Cheers all, I’d never have discovered this by myself!
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Post by John on Jan 17, 2023 18:01:46 GMT
Make sure you alter the setting at the back of the zen to just Tidal which is 3 on the setting
Also USB audio is the bottom USB port.
Add a decent power supply and if you want to go that extra mile add an Ethernet optical converter
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Post by hamish on Jan 17, 2023 22:26:06 GMT
Make sure you alter the setting at the back of the zen to just Tidal which is 3 on the setting Also USB audio is the bottom USB port. Add a decent power supply and if you want to go that extra mile add an Ethernet optical converter What do you recommend for a psu? And what on earth is and Ethernet optical converter do…? 😂 |
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Post by MartinT on Jan 18, 2023 6:03:04 GMT
And what on earth is and Ethernet optical converter do…? 😂 Replace a length of Ethernet with optical fibre, and transceivers at either end. This isolates from noise via the fibre and improves sound quality. |
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