Playing MQA on a Marantz NA-11s1

Connection with external Audio Devices
1

My Marantz NA 11s1 specs shows that it doesn’t support MQA under the list of compatible formats.

When I play a FLAC MQA | 24/44.1 and select Not MQA option, it shows the DAC: 24/88.2.
The NA-11s1 plays the song correctly and shows it playing at 88.2.

When I play a FLAC MQA | 24/44.1 and enable the MQA Renderer option, it shows the DAC: 24/88.2.
The NA-11s1 plays the song correctly and shows it playing at 88.2.

When I play a FLAC MQA | 24/44.1 and enable the MQA Decoder option, it shows the DAC: 24/44.1.
The NA-11s1 plays the song correctly and shows it playing at 44.1.

Few questions here:

If the file is 44.1khz, why is it being outputted at 88.2 kHz for the first two options.

Which option should I choose?

Is my NA-11s1 compatible with MQA?

2

Because Aufirvana does what’s called „first unfold“. To complete the next steps xou need hardware support.

You selected well, Not MQA. It’s not MQA capable.

3

Ok, but if I select MQA Decoder, and my DAC isn’t MQA compatible, than I should get no sound, or I am missing something here?

4

You‘ll get the plain PCM file with MQA info buried under the noise floor.

5

Ok, so it’s best to select “Not MQA”.

So, if you have a DAC that decodes up to 24/192 but that’s not MQA compatible, and your playing a 24/44.1 MQA file, Audirvāna unfolds it so that it outputs at a true 24/44.8, correct?

6

Yes. You still get the benefits of MQA related to the compensation of „artefacts“ during the recording process.

7

It will generally output as 88.2 or 96KHz. That depends on the source resolution. If it was recorded as 16/44.1 it will stay in that resolution.

8

So it’s still worth paying for TIDAL Master quality provided ur DAC can handle 24/44.1 and u have a decent system.

9

If the DAC can handle at least 24/96. Most of the MQA content started with higher than CD resolution.

If your DAC can only do 44.1 KHz don’t bother with Tidal Masters.

10

It can handle up to 24/192, so yes 24/96 it will do as well.

Thanks for the quick replies and great info.

Awesome community!

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