ARCHIVED FORUM -- March 2012 to February 2022READ ONLY FORUM
This is the second Archived Forum which was active between 1st March 2012 and 23rd February 2022
Greetings, my friends. I’ve been lurking on the forum for a long time but this is my first post.
I have a question about my setup. I have a BeoSound Core driving a pair of Beolab 17s (which I love, by the way. John at B&O Manchester is totally right—the 17s are underrated; such great bass!).
To listen to MQA-quality music I stream from TIDAL Hifi. I open the TIDAL app on my iPhone or iPad and then connect to my BeoSound Core via Airplay (2). I have the app set to stream Master quality audio over WiFi.
Unfortunately, the B&O app does not have native support for TIDAL as it does for, for example, Spotify so using only my iOS devices and the gear mentioned, this is the only way I know of to get TIDAL to my Core. I wonder if I am getting the best quality audio possible over Airplay (2). Can anyone confirm? Can Airplay (2) stream the hi-rez music from TIDAL in the best quality possible and can the Core process such a feed via AirPlay (2)? Thank you!
(Also a plug for suggesting B&O incorporate native support for TIDAL and Qobuz in their app!)
Currently: BeoLab 17, BeoLab 18, BeoSound Core, Beosound Level, Beosound A1 2nd Gen, BeoPlay S8 Connection Hub, Halo, Essence Remote
Previously: BeoSound 1 non-GVA
Livingroom: BL3, BL11, BV11-46 Kitchen: Beosound 1 GVA, Beocom 2 Bathroom: M3 Homeoffice: M3, Beocom 2 Library: Beosound Emerge, Beocom 6000 Bedroom: M5, Essence remote Travel: Beoplay E8 2.0, Beoplay EQ, Beoplay Earset
Thus, there is no way to get TIDAL MQA wirelessly to a BeoSound Core using an iOS device?
Does this not seem inherently wrong...?
Thanks for the response, both of you!
Apologies for the double-post. Mods, please delete the duplicate.
It appears I need to purchase a Bluesound Node 2i and sell my Core. Shame B&O won’t integrate native high-rez streaming services into their software.
New: Beovision Harmony, Beolab 50's, Beolab 28's, Beolab 18's, Beolab 17's, Beosound Stage & LG, Beosound 2, Beoplay M3, Beoplay A1, Beoplay Portal, Beoplay H4 gen 2, Beoplay E8 3.0
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Old: Beosound 9000 mk3, Beolab 3's, Beovision Eclipse, Beolab 1's, Beolab 2, Beovision 10-46, Overture 2300, beolab 8000's, Beolab 4000's, Beovision avant 32" etc. etc.
Indeed, it is.
There are a few things occurring here. In hopes this helps someone else on the forum with a similar question, I shall explain what my research has shown me.
Beolab 17, 18 and 20 can only deal with 96/24 at most. BL50 and 90 can accommodate 192/24, which is full MQA resolution.
Apple Airplay (2) maxes out at 44.1/16.
Since BeoSound Core does not natively support TIDAL, I must send TIDAL music from my iOS device to the Core via Airplay (2) and Airplay (2) will downconvert my TIDAL MQA music.
To play music at max resolution and bitrate, I must use a streamer that has native support for TIDAL (or Qobuz, etc) and does not require me to use Airplay (2). Something like a Bluesound Node 2i supports TIDAL natively and can output over Toslink at 96/24 or over RCA at full 192/24 but since my BL17 cannot process such a high resolution anyway, I will just use the Toslink connections.
Thus, for the BL17, 18, 20, the highest quality music cannot be streamed via Airplay (2) and is capped at 96/24 on the RCA, Toslink and Powerlink connections.
If B&O natively supported TIDAL, using Airplay (2) would be unnecessary and the best sound possible would be available. I remain shocked B&O does not design its software to allow for best possible sound quality in this manner.
I hope this helps! I certainly learned a lot. Thanks, all!
Yes the conclusion is about right - B&O should support better the higher quality music services, especially when it counts 30 and 60k pound speakers amongst its range.
It does seem though that most (not all of course) of their customers are happy enough with the mainstream services streamed using AP / CC, and at the qualities those transmit at. The higher tiers of Deezer andTidal do sound plenty good though, so I don't get too stressed over lack of higher res support.
And despite the superficial mismatch between selling very expensive speakers and not supporting higher res music, there are plenty of other factors that influence your overall experience.
Your environment (your room conditions) matter a lot in the quality you experience, as does the mastering of the original recording.
To me the main issue B&O have is that they should make their speakers Roon ready - the experience of using Roons' browsing UI is so much more enjoyable, and experience enhancing. And many many other hifi brands have added Roon support.
Hell, even this week Naim have added native Qobuzz support to the Muso range - just goes to show how static B&O are in this area.
Curly: I hope this helps! I certainly learned a lot. Thanks, all!
There might be a lot more to learn about MQA.
You could start here:
http://archimago.blogspot.com/2018/04/musings-on-drm-mqa-supposed-techno.html Archimago has posted a lot about his findings about MQA (since day one).
Also this might be helpfull, if you want to avoid being the cashcow of the modern audio industry:
https://www.realhd-audio.com/?p=6448
These two guy are some of the very few ‘rational audiophiles’ in the audio press today.
As far as I know B&O they seem to be in that camp too.
P.S. I’d be much more interested in the provenance of the files/the music - and what has been done in the chain up till the point where you get to buy/stream them - than in the delivery format.
Long live the CD specs....they cater for all that human beings need for listening to music and what our audio gear usually can handle - be it as a disc or as a stream.
MM
There is a tv - and there is a BV
That is so true. Close friend of mine who works in audio/video (actually he is an encoder) has been saying the same thing for a while now...👍🏼
B&O in my life 😊:
I purchased a Bluesound Node 2i after reading very positive reviews. This product has native support for all the high-rez streaming services, so I will not have to use Airplay and therefore can get sound quality better than Airplay’s max CD-quality of 44.1/16.
I will post back to note if I can hear differences on my BL17s between 44.1/16 (BeoSound Core) and 96/24 (Node 2i).
I few years ago, Puncher (an long time forum regular, although not so regular anymore) down-sampled some hi-rez (96/24) audio files for me. I played them using my BS5 (supports up to 96/24) and BL1 + BS2. I couldn't consistently hear any difference with my 50 year old ears. This was fine with me since I have a large investment in regular old CDs and had no desire to go chasing audio nirvana (that it turns out I could not hear).
Good luck with whatever you decide you can hear.
Curly:I will post back to note if I can hear differences on my BL17s between 44.1/16 (BeoSound Core) and 96/24 (Node 2i). BeoSound Core, BeoLab 17, BeoLab 18
Anyone experience with streaming Tidal MQA using mConnect (iOS) or Audirvana (OSX/Windows) to the core over DLNA/UPNP? Should be better than Airplay (if it works).
ps Depending on your B&O speakers internally high-res is sampled to 48 kHz, see https://www.tonmeister.ca/wordpress/2014/08/06/bang-olufsen-beolab-18-reviews/ (geoff says: 2018/03/20 at 3:29 PM)