MQA passthrough on IOS

I’m using an iPad hooked up to a Meridian Explorer 2 DAC ( MQA decoder and renderer ) and I’ve noticed that if I’m playing a Tidal playlist that includes some MQA tracks, those tracks are passed through to the DAC for decoding ( purple light ). However if I select an album in Master Quality, Plexamp will not stream that version but the standard CD quality version.
It seems that Plexamp is quite capable of passing MQA encoded tracks through to the DAC, so, is there any reason why it can’t do this with full albums?
If this can be done I can cancel my Roon subscription. Plexamp is so nearly totally awesome. Please!

I think Plex have stated they won’t be supporting MQA (which I agree with). I do agree with you about Plexamp being a very good choice over Roon which I use about 10% of the time compared to Plexamp.

1 Like

Totally agree with you, but my point was that Plexamp will passthrough individual MQA tracks from a Tidal playlist but not an album. It doesn’t need to support MQA just pass it through.

https://support.plex.tv/articles/an-intro-to-tidal-with-plex/

A TIDAL subscription through Plex will be identical to one purchased elsewhere (such as through TIDAL itself). However, there are a few TIDAL features that are only available when using official TIDAL apps (or the TIDAL website) and are not available through partners’ apps, such as Plex.

  • While the HiFi Plus plan does have access to lossless quality music in Plex, it does not have access to “master-quality” (MQA), Dolby Atmos, or Sony 360 Reality Audio music when played through Plex.
1 Like

I can understand Tidal wanting to keep some of its goodies to itself, but, not wanting to sound like a stuck record, how come when playing my Tidal playlists through Plexamp I’m getting individual MQA tracks passed through to be decoded. Maybe a slip up on Tidals behalf?

as far as i know we don’t have access to the MQA tracks via plex, so sounds like a glitch they’re available in some playlists :sweat_smile:

i’ll try not to digress about MQA being a form of serpentine liquid…

Thought it must be a glitch, but I do like to see the purple light on my DAC! :joy:

This might help.

3 Likes

:rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl::rofl:

1 Like

‘serpentine liquid’ made me snort my drink

Perfect:

Do you align the chakras on your ones and zeros? It makes the music sound more music-al.

Serpentine might also be referring to “of or like a serpent or snake” and liquid = oil.

Edit: Just read more on the Energy Muse site. That is funny. Never thought of serpentine as healing crystals/stones/etc. LOL.

3 Likes

This topic was automatically closed 90 days after the last reply. New replies are no longer allowed.