How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

[Leungah]

Hi, I am using a Mac version of Dbpoweramo CD Ripper, how can I rip a MQA CD to enjoy the Hi-res music at 24/192. What DSP setting and/or any other setting I should adopt ?

Thanks in advance.

[Spoon]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Nothing can rip MQA

[simes_pep]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Do you have a Ottava CD, from their release in Japan?
The idea is they play as regular Redbook CDs with 16/44.1 tracks, but with MQA encoding, so when playback through a MQA enabled DAC, the additional HiRes information is extracted. But it only at the DAC that this decoding will occur, until then the CD is read as a Redbook CD.
So I wonder if the tracks can be ripped, whether the FLAC files extract still contain the MQA encoding, and therefore can be decoded.
i.e. placed on a NAS, and read by Roon Core, which has the ability to make the first unfold through software decoding.
Would need to experiment.

[Leungah]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Do you have a Ottava CD, from their release in Japan?
The idea is they play as regular Redbook CDs with 16/44.1 tracks, but with MQA encoding, so when playback through a MQA enabled DAC, the additional HiRes information is extracted. But it only at the DAC that this decoding will occur, until then the CD is read as a Redbook CD.
So I wonder if the tracks can be ripped, whether the FLAC files extract still contain the MQA encoding, and therefore can be decoded.
i.e. placed on a NAS, and read by Roon Core, which has the ability to make the first unfold through software decoding.
Would need to experiment.

I just brought the Classic Sampler, so I just copy all the MQA files from the MQA CD to my NAS/Macbook, then see if Roon can decode the MQA files ? Will give it a try later..thanks

[nsxelent]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

dBpoweramp can rip MQA encoded CDs. Just ripped Supertramp - Breakfast In America (UHQCD) that has MQA 352.8kHz/24bit resolution encoded. The CD streamed to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC (via PerfectWave Network Bridge II) and it perfectly "unfolded" the MQA resolution. Awesome program as usual!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICY-40204

[Leungah]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

dBpoweramp can rip MQA encoded CDs. Just ripped Supertramp - Breakfast In America (UHQCD) that has MQA 352.8kHz/24bit resolution encoded. The CD streamed to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC (via PerfectWave Network Bridge II) and it perfectly "unfolded" the MQA resolution. Awesome program as usual!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICY-40204

Hi, I did the same with another MQA-UHQCD from CD Japan, 10 out of the 12 titles in the CD rip OK, but only 2 titles still play at 16/44. Do you need to adjust any DSP setting in dBpoweramp ? Thanks for the advice in advance.

[Shrimprice]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

dBpoweramp can rip MQA encoded CDs. Just ripped Supertramp - Breakfast In America (UHQCD) that has MQA 352.8kHz/24bit resolution encoded. The CD streamed to my PS Audio DirectStream DAC (via PerfectWave Network Bridge II) and it perfectly "unfolded" the MQA resolution. Awesome program as usual!

http://www.cdjapan.co.jp/product/UICY-40204

Can u tell me which version of dbpoweramp and pc os your were using to rip the cd?
What parameters does it need to change?
I encounter difficulties in ripping this kind of cd to get MQA encoded files.

[Leungah]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Hi, I did the same with another MQA-UHQCD from CD Japan, 10 out of the 12 titles in the CD rip OK, but only 2 titles still play at 16/44. Do you need to adjust any DSP setting in dBpoweramp ? Thanks for the advice in advance.

I also encounter a very strange issue, if I rip non classical MQA UHQCD all titles rip correctly as MQA and I can play as MQA. If I rip a classical MQA UHQCD the first title always play as 16/44 while other titles can play at MQA ? This had happened now to at least 5 - 6 such MQA UHQCD ? Any idea how to resolve this ?

[Shrimprice]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

I also encounter a very strange issue, if I rip non classical MQA UHQCD all titles rip correctly as MQA and I can play as MQA. If I rip a classical MQA UHQCD the first title always play as 16/44 while other titles can play at MQA ? This had happened now to at least 5 - 6 such MQA UHQCD ? Any idea how to resolve this ?

May i know what version of dbpoweramp u used to rip ur mqa cd?
I can't even get 1 file with mqa encoded.

[Leungah]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

May i know what version of dbpoweramp u used to rip ur mqa cd?
I can't even get 1 file with mqa encoded.

Hi, Release 16.3. I can play MQA using Roon but if I use Bluesound controller, it can only play at 16/44. Since I use Roon for most of the time, so I did not investigate further with Bluesound.

[paurey]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Same issue here....
After ripping with dbpoweramp, only few tracks are MQA decoded by software ROON. Moreover, none of the same tracks are decoded by my sony nw-a45 portable player (which is mqa compatible).
Big disappointment, which shows me that MQA is in a way a type of DRM system for HiRes audio.....
Next time I will buy the HiRes files or SACD instead.

[TGL]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Hi, I did the same with another MQA-UHQCD from CD Japan, 10 out of the 12 titles in the CD rip OK, but only 2 titles still play at 16/44. Do you need to adjust any DSP setting in dBpoweramp ? Thanks for the advice in advance.

Hi, Ok, I have done some digging on the internet, because I had the exact same issue. I was ripping the Queen album "The Game" (MQA-UHQCD from CD Japan) and all but the first track ripped to flac as MQA, but the first track just remained at standard CD 44.1Khz on my Pioneer XDP-100R player. I tried many of the DBpoweramp DSP settings. Even uncompressed, but no luck. Going back to first principles I managed to find details on the MQA encoding standard. The requirement states that there are two parts to MQA playback. To 100% comply (not mandatory) with the MQA standard you must have .mqa.flac or .mqa.alac in the filename. For example my offending Queen track was "Play The Game.flac" when I first ripped it. I then changed the name to "Play The Game.mqa.flac" and my Pioneer MQA player recognised the file and reports it playing back at 88.2Khz. This got me thinking, so I looked at my other tracks from the same ripped CD which still had the default ripped .flac extension in the filename. Although my Pioneer player reported the blue light and the signatory "MQA" logo to show the track was indeed MQA, looking at the quality, it was still playing at 44.1Khz!!!! I then renamed my other music tracks to the .mqa.flac requirement et voila! All my tracks now fully play at 88.2Khz. I have seen several posts on the internet trying to resolve the playback issue of MQA coded flac files, so hopefully this resolves the problem for folks on this thread.

[ForSerious]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

If it was me, I'd just record it playing back from the MQA player. Much the same idea as: I don't agree with or trust vinyl records to last, but I love the dynamic range they demand. So, to have the songs in a format I can trust, I'll just record them.

[mville]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

If it was me, I'd just record it playing back from the MQA player. Much the same idea as: I don't agree with or trust vinyl records to last, but I love the dynamic range they demand. So, to have the songs in a format I can trust, I'll just record them.

Each to his/her own, but this IS a digital audio ripping forum, hence the OP.

[My_cle]

Re: How to rip a MQA CD to enjoy Hi-res music

Hello

I have read your approach to get MQA to be recognised when saved as a MQA.Flac file. I am trying to rip my MQA encoded disc to my DAP which is MQA capable and am struggling trying to achieve what you have done. I am using the Foobar version db power amp cd ripper trial version and EAC as well and failing miserably. How have you managed to achieve what you have done and do you have an example to show as it would help.
Thanks in advance

Michael UK