Which DAC for Tidal streaming?

R

RDSChicago

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My digital listening consists of exclusively Tidal streaming. It’s so convenient that I haven’t spun a record in a year. Without a music library consisting of files would a high-end DAC still be beneficial? If you were only a Tidal streamer which DACs would you consider? I presume one with MQA decoding would be essential? I currently have a LUMIN D1 with the outboard Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII linear power supply. I also have a Naim 272 preamp (with the NAP 250DR POWER AMP) with Tidal integrated into it. Finally I have the Border Patrol SE.

I’m wondering what improvements I’d hear with something a bit more “high end”?

Thanks for your ideas.
 
Rob

Have you tried Qobuz? I find the sound to be cleaner and the Hi Res to be a step up from MQA? If you generally like the sound of the Border Patrol or the DAC in the D1 I would look at the Tubador SE like Joe has or the Aqua La Voce S3. I also really like my Musical Paradise MP-D2 Mk III Deluxe with the AKM 4497 chipset. It's sound can be tweaked via various tube combinations. Also cheapest of the three.
 
If you are in Europe (they don’t currently sell outside Europe) then without a doubt the EC Designs U192ETL and their Fractal DAC
ecdesigns.nl


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
 
If you like the Lumin i would also suggest you would look into T2 or S1 ,maybe even the X1. What you get from better streamers in the Lumin range is more of everything like better soundstage , better seperation , depth , more silent backgorund , but then i can also say you should look into better power cords and so on.
 
If the D1 unfolds MQA you should be receiving a higher resolution from MQA, just not the complete unfold until the DAC does the final part. If commited to Tidal I would get a DAC with MQA.

If you only stream, you should look into some of the Uptone products. I'm not a big tweaker but the Ethernet Regen took my sound quality up quite a bit.

With Naim products I'd see what they have. When I was looking at DAC's seems Chord and Mytech were well regarded keeping with MQA.
 
Mr Peabody said:
Yggy does not do MQA unless a recent update.
Click to expand...
I understand that the Yaggy does not do MQA... but if I understood the previous posts MQA was questionable. I was saying that the Yaggy seems to get great ratings if you don't want DSD and assuming that MQA was not an absolute must. Many of us do not believe MQA is huge, but if it is a requirement then the Yaggy would not be the choice.But, as Jack stated, some other services with hi-rez sources are better than MQA... I agree.
 
The guys at Schitt and Aqua are pretty much in agreement about MQA. I have used both services together for over two years and Qobuz just plain sounds better to my ears not to even mention the targeted audience marketing of one of the companies.
 
Jack said:
The guys at Schitt and Aqua are pretty much in agreement about MQA. I have used both services together for over two years and Qobuz just plain sounds better to my ears not to even mention the targeted audience marketing of one of the companies.
Click to expand...

I agree. Listening lately to the MSB Discrete, Qobuz beats Tidal to my ears.
 
RDSChicago said:
If you were only a Tidal streamer which DACs would you consider? I presume one with MQA decoding would be essential? I currently have a LUMIN D1 with the outboard Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII linear power supply.
Click to expand...

I'd recommend you consider the Lumin T2.

If you choose to use a non-MQA DAC, you can connect the D1 BNC output to the DAC BNC/coaxial input. In Lumin app, set MQA Mode to MQA Digital Output. This way, when you use Lumin D1 in conjunction with an external DAC, Lumin D1 will perform MQA Core decoding (first unfold) then send the decoded music to the external DAC, so you do not lose the embedded Hi-Res musical information due to the use of a non-MQA DAC.
 
wklie said:
I'd recommend you consider the Lumin T2.

If you choose to use a non-MQA DAC, you can connect the D1 BNC output to the DAC BNC/coaxial input. In Lumin app, set MQA Mode to MQA Digital Output. This way, when you use Lumin D1 in conjunction with an external DAC, Lumin D1 will perform MQA Core decoding (first unfold) then send the decoded music to the external DAC, so you do not lose the embedded Hi-Res musical information due to the use of a non-MQA DAC.
Click to expand...

Peter, thank you for your suggestion to upgrade to a T2. I am seriously considering doing so. If I want to use my D1 as a streamer to a non-MQA DAC, please let me know how I could do so as my Border Patrol DAC SE has only a USB B input and doesn't have a coaxial input. Thanks in advance for your suggestions.
 
I'm afraid the D1 does not output USB audio, so it cannot be connected to a USB-only DAC. The T2 does have selectable USB audio output - either one of the analog, USB, or SPDIF output is active, not simultaneous.
 
tapatrick said:
If you are in Europe (they don’t currently sell outside Europe) then without a doubt the EC Designs U192ETL and their Fractal DAC
ecdesigns.nl
Click to expand...


I'd be most interested in why you rate the EC DEsign DACs so highly. I've not heard of them, but I am in the market for a new DAC and their prices are very low. Are they really good? Are you involved in the company? I presume you own one yourself and are based in EU, maybe NL. Thanks. Peter
 
RDSChicago said:
My digital listening consists of exclusively Tidal streaming. It’s so convenient that I haven’t spun a record in a year. Without a music library consisting of files would a high-end DAC still be beneficial? If you were only a Tidal streamer which DACs would you consider? I presume one with MQA decoding would be essential? I currently have a LUMIN D1 with the outboard Sbooster BOTW P&P ECO MKII linear power supply. I also have a Naim 272 preamp (with the NAP 250DR POWER AMP) with Tidal integrated into it. Finally I have the Border Patrol SE.

I’m wondering what improvements I’d hear with something a bit more “high end”?

Thanks for your ideas.
Click to expand...

As others mentioned, You ought to try Qobuz. It is about $10 cheaper per month than Tidal and IMO it sounds better (I used to subscribe to Tidal and switched to Qobuz).
Qobuz does not require a special MQA-decoder DAC. If you still decide that you want to upgrade your DAC, you will have more choices.
 
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