Can I listen to Tidal MQA with non MQA DAC?

I currently own a Schiit Gungnir Multibit dac which is excellent. I am interested in using TIDAL as a streaming service. Would I be able to listen to MQA with what I currently own or would additional hardware be required? I currently use a MacBook Air as a music server. DSD and MQA are not supported on my dac.
 
Hi Walter. Welcome to The Haven. :)

You should be OK. Neither of my DACs (ConceroHD and Schiit Modi Uber) decode MQA. I am still able to listen to the MQA albums on Tidal.

I will defer to @Prime Minister and other Havenites who have MQA DACs to make recommendations should you decide to take that path.

Also, please take a moment to tell us about yourself and your systems in the Introductions and Member Systems room. :)
 
Hi Walter. Welcome to The Haven. :)

You should be OK. Neither of my DACs (ConceroHD and Schiit Modi Uber) decode MQA. I am still able to listen to the MQA albums on Tidal.

I will defer to @Prime Minister and other Havenites who have MQA DACs to make recommendations should you decide to take that path.

Also, please take a moment to tell us about yourself and your systems in the Introductions and Member Systems room. :)
Good to know. Thanks.
 
You can listen to them and get some of the benefit but not all of the benefit. It does sound better with a fully MQA-capable DAC. They sound fine without it, too, its just not as much of a difference.
 
By using the Tidal desktop app (on PC or Mac) you get the "first level unfold" of MQA, which sounds quite good. You do need an MQA hardware equipped DAC to pass-through and get the full MQA unfolding. But using their app on my MacBook Pro or MacMini and then into my Schiit Bifrost MB was what I was doing for quiet a while.

- Woody
 
If your MacBook Air is running a fairly recent version of MacOS then Audirvana + could be a good option. It will do the first unfold of MQA as well.
 
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