- MQA is a relatively new technology and enables high-resolution music files to be reduced in size in a way that means a normal DAC (without MQA) sees and plays a standard (CD) resolution file while an MQA-equipped DAC is able to ‘unfold’ the file -restoring the additional resolution.
- The DACs in EVO 75 and EVO 150 fully support MQA and can recognize files encoded in this fashion. As the recognition process is automatic, you don’t really need to do anything except find some music to play.
- MQA-encoded files can be streamed from the internet, or played from locally connected sources like a USB hard drive or even a CD player. Any digital input on an EVO can be used to pass MQA files.
- Currently, Master Quality titles available from Tidal are MQA encoded and this is probably the largest, easily accessible repository of MQA high-resolution material. You will require a Tidal Hi-Fi subscription to get access to this library. You can also purchase MQA-encoded albums or even MQA-encoded CDs from various websites.
See these links for more information on downloading, streaming, or purchasing MQA-encoded hi-res content:
https://tidal.com/about
https://www.2l.no/
https://www.highresaudio.com/
- MQA offers some other advantages - one of which is authentication - confirming the provenance of a piece of music. It’s a kind of guarantee that states the music you are listening to is approved by the Studio and/or Artist who produced it. When you stream/play an MQA-encoded song, the EVO will show the MQA logo on the display and it will be accompanied by a colored dot.
- When the dot is blue: You know you are listening to an ‘authenticated’ stream.
- If the dot is green, you are still receiving an MQA file, it is still being unfolded by the EVO to give the highest resolution but the file itself is not authenticated - this means it may not be the most recent or definitive version of this piece of music.