Jump to content
IGNORED

AudioQuest adds MQA Support to Dragonflies via firmware


Recommended Posts

When the update arrives and someone measures the sample rate at the DAC pins.

Or the analog output bandwidth...

NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock 

SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono 

Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono

Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul

system pics

Link to comment
It's bigger

 

It's not that big. Dragonfly, adapter and IEMs fit comfortably in a Pelican 1010 case.

Office: MacBook Pro - Audirvana Plus - Resonessence Concero - Cavailli Liquid Carbon - Sennheiser HD 800.

Travel/Portable: iPhone 7 or iPad Pro - AudioQuest Dragonfly Red - Audeze SINE or Noble Savant

Link to comment
It's an 80 MHz CPU with 32 KB RAM. You won't be doing a lot of processing with that.

 

Both the red and black are that spec?

 

The Explorer 2 I believe runs at 500mhz with 16 cores. No wonder the dragonfly cannot offer full decode. But I'm wondering if it can really offer any further unfolding at all. That's a pretty significant looking performance difference.

Link to comment

MQA’s Unexpected Twist | The Absolute Sound

 

Also implies Dragonfly can do full MQA decoding, once passed software unfolded file.

Main listening (small home office):

Main setup: Surge protector +>Isol-8 Mini sub Axis Power Strip/Isolation>QuietPC Low Noise Server>Roon (Audiolense DRC)>Stack Audio Link II>Kii Control>Kii Three (on their own electric circuit) >GIK Room Treatments.

Secondary Path: Server with Audiolense RC>RPi4 or analog>Cayin iDAC6 MKII (tube mode) (XLR)>Kii Three .

Bedroom: SBTouch to Cambridge Soundworks Desktop Setup.
Living Room/Kitchen: Ropieee (RPi3b+ with touchscreen) + Schiit Modi3E to a pair of Morel Hogtalare. 

All absolute statements about audio are false :)

Link to comment
Both the red and black are that spec?

 

The Explorer 2 I believe runs at 500mhz with 16 cores. No wonder the dragonfly cannot offer full decode. But I'm wondering if it can really offer any further unfolding at all. That's a pretty significant looking performance difference.

 

The spec sheet for the Dragonfly says both have a PIC32MX microcontroller. It doesn't say exactly which model, but they top out at 80 MHz according to the manufacturer's (Microchip) datasheets. The XMOS indeed runs at several hundred MHz and has 8 cores to boot, along with a more advanced DSP instruction set. CPU-wise it should be more than enough to do the MQA process. RAM size will be the limiting factor there.

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

It appears this announcement was a bit optimistic - "available end of January . . . " which has come and gone by over two weeks now.

 

Anyone hear any updates on this?

John Walker - IT Executive

Headphone - SonicTransporter i9 running Roon Server > Netgear Orbi > Blue Jeans Cable Ethernet > mRendu Roon endpoint > Topping D90 > Topping A90d > Dan Clark Expanse / HiFiMan H6SE v2 / HiFiman Arya Stealth

Home Theater / Music -SonicTransporter i9 running Roon Server > Netgear Orbi > Blue Jeans Cable HDMI > Denon X3700h > Anthem Amp for front channels > Revel F208-based 5.2.4 Atmos speaker system

Link to comment
It appears this announcement was a bit optimistic - "available end of January . . . " which has come and gone by over two weeks now.

 

Anyone hear any updates on this?

 

Roon also jumped the gun a bit (software decoding was to be in 1.3 when it came out couple of weeks ago but it wasn't). I wonder if this is the normal setbacks of industry or is it specific to MQA?

Hey MQA, if it is not all $voodoo$, show us the math!

Link to comment

Quote from Head-Fi

 

Emailed them today and got this reply. It seems we'll never get it :/

 

"The software update will be available to download for free via the Desktop Manager app on our website: http://www.audioquest.com/dragonfly-series/#downloads. The MQA update will not be launched until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue. People simply aren’t buying hi res MQA files, they’re streaming them. With so little material to choose from, this delay should not cause any issues. We want to be a good partner to Tidal and not put any additional pressure on them. As soon as they’re ready, we’ll make the update available.

 

If you registered your Dragonfly, you will receive an email when it's available.

 

Please note: you will need to use a suitable media player to play MQA files. This is because MQA requires a decoder and a renderer to play a file. The renderer is built into the Dragonfly and the decoder is built into the media player's software. Once updated, your Dragonfly will glow a beautiful shade of blue to let you know you're playing an MQA file.

 

Our apologies if this delay causes you any inconvenience.

 

Best regards,

 

Alasdair Patrick

AudioQuest

2621 White Rd., Irvine, CA 92614

AQ Main: 949-585-0111

www.audioquest.com"

Link to comment
Quote from Head-Fi

 

Emailed them today and got this reply. It seems we'll never get it :/

 

"The software update will be available to download for free via the Desktop Manager app on our website: DragonFly Series. The MQA update will not be launched until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue. People simply aren’t buying hi res MQA files, they’re streaming them. With so little material to choose from, this delay should not cause any issues. We want to be a good partner to Tidal and not put any additional pressure on them. As soon as they’re ready, we’ll make the update available.

 

If you registered your Dragonfly, you will receive an email when it's available.

 

Please note: you will need to use a suitable media player to play MQA files. This is because MQA requires a decoder and a renderer to play a file. The renderer is built into the Dragonfly and the decoder is built into the media player's software. Once updated, your Dragonfly will glow a beautiful shade of blue to let you know you're playing an MQA file.

 

Our apologies if this delay causes you any inconvenience.

 

Best regards,

 

Alasdair Patrick

AudioQuest

2621 White Rd., Irvine, CA 92614

AQ Main: 949-585-0111

www.audioquest.com"

Thanks for that - I wonder what "buffering issue" he's talking about? Never seen a problem here . . .

John Walker - IT Executive

Headphone - SonicTransporter i9 running Roon Server > Netgear Orbi > Blue Jeans Cable Ethernet > mRendu Roon endpoint > Topping D90 > Topping A90d > Dan Clark Expanse / HiFiMan H6SE v2 / HiFiman Arya Stealth

Home Theater / Music -SonicTransporter i9 running Roon Server > Netgear Orbi > Blue Jeans Cable HDMI > Denon X3700h > Anthem Amp for front channels > Revel F208-based 5.2.4 Atmos speaker system

Link to comment
Interesting discussion on Audiostream.com today.

 

Apparently, there are 1) MQA "renderers", which require the player to do the first "unfolding", whereupon the renderer will do the final processing and 2) "decoders", which will play MQA files without any additional software required.

 

The DragonFly will apparently be a "renderer", not a "decoder" - which means the only software it will work properly with for MQA playback at this time is Tidal.

 

Not something I understood at all until today - maybe others were already aware.

 

Archimago has a great write up on software rendering vs a Mytec DAC.

 

Archimago's Musings: COMPARISON: Hardware-Decoded MQA (using Mytek Brooklyn DAC)

Link to comment
  • 3 weeks later...

After reading all of the above comments I decided to go with the Explorer 2 rather than the Dragonfly. Given that they are the same price, the advantages I see (hopefully I've got this right):

 

1. More powerful, so can go to 192 vs 96

 

2. It is a Meridian product, so I would expect that they make sure it runs perfectly and would support it.

 

3. The design with a mini usb cable connected to your computer greatly reduces the risk of damage if you walk away with your headphones on. You have 3 connectors which can pull out protecting your hardware from damage: the headphone jack, and the connections on both ends of the usb cable.

 

4. I am suspicious of the statement that they are waiting "until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue". Blaming the other guy doesn't give me much confidence. Particularly since my explorer 2 came in yesterday and is working perfectly. So why does the explorer 2 work and the dragonfly does not?

Link to comment

I went with a Meridian Explorer 2. I was going to buy a Dragonfly Red to have something at home and work but am just going to get another Meridian. It is a much more powerful device and not that big.

 

After reading all of the above comments I decided to go with the Explorer 2 rather than the Dragonfly. Given that they are the same price, the advantages I see (hopefully I've got this right):

 

1. More powerful, so can go to 192 vs 96

 

2. It is a Meridian product, so I would expect that they make sure it runs perfectly and would support it.

 

3. The design with a mini usb cable connected to your computer greatly reduces the risk of damage if you walk away with your headphones on. You have 3 connectors which can pull out protecting your hardware from damage: the headphone jack, and the connections on both ends of the usb cable.

 

4. I am suspicious of the statement that they are waiting "until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue". Blaming the other guy doesn't give me much confidence. Particularly since my explorer 2 came in yesterday and is working perfectly. So why does the explorer 2 work and the dragonfly does not?

Link to comment
I am suspicious of the statement that they are waiting "until Tidal has a resolution for their buffering issue". Blaming the other guy doesn't give me much confidence. Particularly since my explorer 2 came in yesterday and is working perfectly. So why does the explorer 2 work and the dragonfly does not?

 

The Dragonfly requires an app upstream to perform the upsampling ("MQA Core") step. Since presumably the DF is targeting the mobile device market, Tidal needs their mobile app to do the same "MQA Core" step that their desktop app currently does. Apparently there are issues with the MQA Core upsampler on the mobile platforms. And based on how long it's taking, they would seem to be significant.

Link to comment
dmoor: I use my SENN RS-195's so I won't damage the ME2. Check them out in some way they sound better than my SENN HD 598's and I have walked away with them attached!

Last night I walked away from my computer and got jerked back before anything disconnected. Luckily the Oppo PM-1's cables are connected via jacks so I don't have to worry about damaging them. The cables would pull out from the headphones.

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
4 hours ago, mrvco said:

Has any more information been released by AQ or Tidal regarding the MQA update for the Dragonfly DACs?

They lied to increase sales during the initial MQA release on Tidal, brilliant!  J/K:D

Computer setup - Roon/Qobuz - PS Audio P5 Regenerator - HIFI Rose 250A Streamer - Emotiva XPA-2 Harbeth P3ESR XD - Rel  R-528 Sub

Comfy Chair - Schitt Jotunheim - Meze Audio Empyrean w/Mitch Barnett's Accurate Sound FilterSet

Link to comment

LAME!

NUC10i7 + Roon ROCK > dCS Rossini APEX DAC + dCS Rossini Master Clock 

SME 20/3 + SME V + Dynavector XV-1s or ANUK IO Gold > vdH The Grail or Kondo KSL-SFz + ANK L3 Phono 

Audio Note Kondo Ongaku > Avantgarde Duo Mezzo

Signal cables: Kondo Silver, Crystal Cable phono

Power cables: Kondo, Shunyata, van den Hul

system pics

Link to comment

Quote from head-fi posted yesterday. 

 

"spoke to Skyler over the weekend, in person. He told me they are really close on the fix for Android volume control. Not saying a week or two, but that it is a priority and they are close to figuring it out. It will be pushed out, and they won't be waiting on the MQA fix to do it. So once it's done we will get it."

Ive personally stopped waiting and since my CCK is now unsupported, poor DFB is sitting in a drawer. I'm getting a replacement cable soon ( not a CCK ) and we'll see if any updates happen by then. 

Link to comment
On 1/12/2017 at 1:21 PM, Samuel T Cogley said:

Not that I'm enamored of MQA's terms, but these conversations get really confusing. I propose that we begin to use the terms "MQA Core", "MQA Renderer", and "full decoding" instead of confusing terms like "first unfolding", "second unfolding", "de-blurring", "software decoding", etc.

Samuel, you really are pedantic!  but as an information architect, I love this!  I spend most of my days getting people to use the same words for the same thing.

Link to comment

I think I've read this whole thread, but haven't seen mention of Audirvana.  I just installed the 14 day trial of version 3.  I have a DF Red.  I'm a little confused because Audirvana seems to recognize the DF (with or without the auto detect).  It correctly display the rates the DF can play.  But it still says "No MQA device detected".  A couple of things:

1.  Audirvana has a setting explicitly for 'MQA Rendering Device'.  But I can't tell if this is doing anything;

2.  The DF correctly switches from green to magenta for MQA files from Tidal (that is, Tidal as a source, played through Audirvana);

3.  It sounds quite good!

 

Maybe someone can do a better job of sorting out just how Audirvana is handling the DF.  Screenshot attached.

audirvana-preferences-audio system.jpg

Link to comment

Dragon fly's don't support MQA yet. 

Computer setup - Roon/Qobuz - PS Audio P5 Regenerator - HIFI Rose 250A Streamer - Emotiva XPA-2 Harbeth P3ESR XD - Rel  R-528 Sub

Comfy Chair - Schitt Jotunheim - Meze Audio Empyrean w/Mitch Barnett's Accurate Sound FilterSet

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...