Tag: mqa decoder
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Lenbrook MQA Acquisition: What Does It Mean for Consumers?
Lenbrook MQA Acquisition: Lenbrook’s purchase of MQA, a leading hi-res audio technology company, is a significant development for the audio industry. Is it a new era for hi-res audio? The reports of MQA’s death, it seems, have been greatly exaggerated. Lenbrook Corp., a Canadian enterprise specializing in brand development, technology, and distribution in the audio…
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Best Music Streamer, Best Digital To Analog Converter: Best Of 2022 Awards!
Best of 2022: Best Music Streamer setups and DACs – what are the affordable must-haves for your audio system? Get our best picks here! The Best of 2022 Awards are here, and this year, we’re awarding the Best Music Streamer and the Best Digital To Analog Converter. These two items are essential for audiophiles looking…
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MQair: MQA Codec Gets Hi-Res Audio Wireless Certification
With the new MQair MQA codec, they say you’ll be able to enjoy high-fidelity audio wherever you go. So is it time to upgrade your headphones? Today, it was announced that the international audio research organization, Japan Audio Society (JAS), has certified MQair (SCL6), MQA Ltd’s new scalable wireless audio codec, to be used with…
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SMSL DO200 Review: This $489 MQA DAC Will Help You Build A Killer DAC Amp Stack!
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Power Amps, Preamps, Reviews, Streaming, Videos, WirelessTL;DR This attractive and full-featured MQA DAC gives you a truly musical and immersive performance. You will have to spend several hundred more to get significantly more definition and layering. Intro At one point in time, desktop DAC and headphone amp separates were only available to those with deep pockets. But over the last couple…
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Ifi Audio’s $599 xDSD Gryphon Is Their Most Audacious Take On The Portable DAC Amp Combo Yet!
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Preamps, Streaming, Videos, WirelessIfi Audio has released a ton of new gear in the last couple of months, including the hip dac2 Dac amp combo we just reviewed, and the GO blu Bluetooth DAC. Now today, they have released their most ambitious portable DAC Amp combo to date, the $599 xDSD Gryphon. The latest device in iFi’s mid-level…
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iFi Audio hip-dac2 Portable USB DAC/Headphone Amp Combo Review: The Sequel Adds Tremendous Refinement!
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in Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, Videos, WirelessTL;DR With improvements in its detail and separation, the iFi hip dac2 is a worthy upgrade to the original. Intro Back in January of 2020, iFi dropped a new battery-powered portable amp that was slimmer and lighter than anything they had released to date. It was called the hip-dac, named as such because the design…
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Hidizs S9 PRO Balanced & Single-Ended DAC AMP Combo Review: Epic Power & Tantalizing Detail!
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TL;DR The Hidizs S9 PRO USB Dac/Amp Combo is well-built and has everything you need to turn your smartphone into a Hi-Res digital audio player. The sound is clean and crisp, plus it has the power to drive most of the headphones out there. The only thing to watch out for is a little bit…
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Ifi Audio Unveils The Upgraded $189 Hip-Dac2 Along With A Sexy New Case!
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in Best Buys, DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Streaming, VideosToday, iFi released a new version of their super-popular transportable hip-dac DAC Amp combo, foreseeably called hip-dac2. The latest version of the hip-dac is following a similar upgrade path to the excellent ZEN Dac 2 (our review here), recieving an upgraded XMOS processing chip. Like the ZEN Dac 2, that new chip now allows hip-dac2…
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THX’s Mind-Blowing Onyx DAC Amp Combo Now Comes With 3 Free Months Of Hi-Res Streaming From Qobuz!
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in DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, MQA, Music, News, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Reviews, VideosStarting today, THX and Qobuz have teamed up to bundle THX’s excellent Onyx DAC Amp with 3 free months of Qobuz Studio Premier. In order to get Free Qobuz, you need to purchase an Onyx via the link on the THX site, after which the redemption info will be forwarded to you. We loved Onyx…
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Audirect Atom2 Lightning MQA Dac Amp Combo Review: Don’t Listen To Apple Music Lossless Without It!
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in Best Buys, Budget, DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, Streaming, VideosThe Low Down The Audirect Atom2 Lightning is a lightweight DAC/Amp combo with a lightning connector for iPhones. It connects directly to the bottom of the phone so you can avoid floppy dongles, and it has decent power for driving full-sized headphones. For a $79 DAC/Amp the sound is extraordinarily smooth, detailed and expansive. If…
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Lightning DACs and Camera Adapters: How To Get The Best Sound From Apple Music Lossless
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Last week Apple rolled out thousands of Lossless Audio and Hi-Res Lossless audio tracks on their Apple Music platform, bringing with them the promise of Audiophile-Quality playback. Here’s how Apple explains it: Apple has developed its own lossless audio compression technology called Apple Lossless Audio Codec (ALAC). In addition to AAC, the entire Apple Music…
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IFi Audio Zen DAC V2 Review: A Remarkable Dac Amp Combo Gets Even Better!
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in Best Buys, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Reviews, Streaming, Videos, WirelessWhen I reviewed iFi Audio’s original Zen DAC back in 2019, I couldn’t believe the massive value provided by the $130 desktop DAC Headphone Amp combo. It was compatible with all digital audio formats, including high-resolution formats like MQA and Native DSD, plus it had decent power, especially via the balanced output. Most importantly, it…
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Amazon Music HD Now Offers Hi Res Audio Streaming For As Low As $7.99!
On the same day Apple announced their $9.99 Hi-Res Audio streaming Tier for Apple Music, Amazon made their own blockbuster announcement regarding their High-Resolution Music streaming Service. Starting today, Amazon Music HD, which features millions of songs in CD-Quality (16/44.1), Better than CD-Quality (up to 24/192), as well as 3D audio (Dolby Atmos & Sony…
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Apple Announces New Lossless High-Resolution And Dolby Atmos Spatial Content For Apple Music
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Today, media and hardware giant Apple announced some big changes coming to their Apple Music streaming service. According to the company, starting in June, they will make their catalog of 75 million songs available in Lossless Audio, meaning subscribers will stream in either CD-Quality (16/44.1) or Better than CD-Quality (24/48). That tier will stream natively…
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Bluesound Tweaks A Winning Formula With New NODE and POWERNODE Music Streamers
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, First Impressions, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, News, Power Amps, Preamps, Software, Speakers, Streaming, Videos, WirelessDespite already having two of the best High-Res audiophile music streamers on the market, Bluesound has revealed new and improved versions of their best-selling NODE and POWERNODE devices. Both models now get upgraded (read: faster) processors, new “audiophile-grade” DAC sections, and new touch panel controls with music presets. As far as the POWERNODE streaming amplifier…
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iFi Audio Unveils New And Improved ZEN DAC V2 DAC Amp, Available In May
Today, via their official Twitter account, iFi Audio unveiled a new version of its super-popular ZEN DAC USB DAC/ Headphone Amp, called the ZEN DAC V2. The new model improves upon the original with a more powerful 16 Core XMOS digital processing chip, transforming the new ZEN DAC Dac Amp into an MQA Decoder instead…
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Cambridge Audio DacMagic 200M Review: This Affordable Dac Amp Is Breathtaking!
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in Best Buys, Bluetooth, Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Preamps, Reviews, Software, Speakers, Streaming, Uncategorized, Videos, WirelessSummary Cambridge Audio’s DacMagic DACs have long provided solid functionality and impressive performance for the money. Their latest DacMagic product, the DacMagic 200M, is their most admirable effort yet. The 200M supports the highest bit rates ever decoded in a DacMagic DAC (32-bit/768kHz), handles DSD and MQA, plus has built-in aptX Bluetooth (previous models needed…
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World Premiere! THX Onyx Review: Their First DAC/Headphone Amp Combo Is Marvelous!
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in Budget, DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Reviews, SoftwareOverview The portable DAC/Amp market is a crowded one. I’ve reviewed a bunch of them, and I have a couple on deck waiting for evaluation. To make noise in this product category, you have to come up with something special. Enter THX and their new THX Onyx, a $199 DAC/Amp that happens to be their…
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iFi iDSD Diablo Review: The Best Portable Dac/Amp Combo?
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in DACs, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Preamps, Reviews, VideosIFi’s Latest Portable Dac/Amp Combo Has Unrivaled Power And Refinement At Its Price! It’s no secret that I have a bit of a soft spot for iFi products. Their combination of innovative design, thoughtful features, and build quality is unmatched at their price points. They always seem to give you more for your money. The…
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Now That’s A Good Question…What’s A Good DAC/Amp For The Hifiman Sundara?
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in Budget, DACs, Deals, Headphone Amps, Headphones, Hi-Fi, Hi-Res Music, Home Audio, MQA, Music, Portable Audio, Power Amps, Reviews, Streaming, Videos, WirelessChoosing a DAC Amp for the Best Value Headphone under $500! A Reader Writes: I’m wondering if you can give me your recommendation for pairing up a DAC for the Hifiman Sundara headphones. I have not purchased either item but I’d like to do so as soon as today. I’ve been unable to confirm what…