A fair amount of us blind VoiceOver users are into high fidelity sound that music streaming services, like Tidal provide. Based on this video there are 5 things required for TIDAL MQA iOS Apple Setup.
The 2 things I'm curious to hear what others are using, recommend, and are best for blind VoiceOver user are:
- Headphone amp that is plug-and-play that doesn't require switching between different modes.
- Headphone recommendation to really appreciate and be immerse in the TIDAL MQA.
I'm looking forward to lively conversation, great suggestions, and recommendations. Thanks!
Comments
Headphones
I have not dealt with MQA decs, but I know Tidal. I have found that the standard Ear-pods offer a really good sound as they plug directlx into the phone. For Bluetooth I Recommend Bose.
AudioQuest DragonFly Cobalt DAC
I ended up ordering the DragonFly Cobalt from Crutchfield
Grado GR10e In-ear headphones at Crutchfield
i ended up getting audiophile in-ears: https://www.crutchfield.com/p_786GR10E/Grado-GR10e.html
Both the headphones and MQA decoder should arrive Wednesday.
Bluetooth headphone.
As for me, I recommend Beyerdynamic Lagoon ANC for listening music wirelessly.
Lightning and Bluetooth
From the research I did, Bluetooth and built-in DAC doesn't support mQA high fidelity sound. At a min, it appeared a MQA decoder is required to get the proper encoding of the Master quality sound. The accessibility concern is they use lights to indicate the different status, including purple for MQA decoding.
I'm just so curious to hear and understand what this TIDAL MQA is in the full experience and what audiophiles immerse in.
I'll provide an update after Wednesday when I receive the MQA decoder (may have to use AIRA to let me know the light is purple for MQA) and IEMs (in ear monitors) that I'll use with iPhone via camera connection kit.
MQA and Headphones and DACs, Oh My!
After you try out the Dragonfly, you might want to reconsider and look at the Ifi Hip DAC. It is a lot cheaper than the Dragonfly, supports MQA encoding ,and also provides an excellent bass boost feature if you need it. Also, it is very portable and can give you close to ten hours of battery life.
Don't bother wasting time trying to use Bluetooth headphones with MQA; it doesn't work.
Also, I have to tell you I have tried Tidal, Qobuz, Amazon Music HD, and Deezer. I cannot tell a difference with MQA on Tidal. The good news is that all four of the iOS apps are extremely accessible. However, I do have problems using Tidal with the desktop on Windows. When I try and scroll through lists, such as lists of albums or playlists, the screen eventually scrolls down automatically and I lose my scrolling place in the list. Sadly, this happens with almost every list. Still, this is much more accessible than Qobuz. Qobuz searches just fine on a desktop, but when you try and play a track I hardly ever got the command to actually play the track I selected. Deezer, despite having a few issues on the desktop in getting a virtual cursor to activate, is the most stable platform for desktop accessibility on Windows. Again, I say that all of the iOS apps are extremely accessible and easy to use.
Oh, I have also tried Amazon Music HD. There are so many buttons in that app on the desktop that aren't labeled I gave it up as a lost cause, especially when the "accessibility experts" had no clue what I was talking about. Just a quick rundown of my thoughts with these four services. If you don't insist on using HD music, then Youtube Music is an excellent program both on the desktop and the iOS app. I frankly can't tell the difference in quality on many of the tracks in Youtube versus Tidal. Also, Youtube Music, if used as Youtube Premium, gives you the added benefit of removing all commercials from Youtube videos.
For headphones, let me suggest you check out reviewers like No Theme Reviews or The Honest Audiophile on Youtube. Depending on how much money you want to spend on headphones, I recommend the HiFiMan Sundara, the HarmonicDyne Zeus, or the Sivga Phoenix. Also, the HiFiMan Deva is a good choice if you want a way to do both Bluetooth and wired. The last recommendations are for the Philips Fidelio X2HR or the HiFiMan HE400I. The HiFiMan headphones are all planar magnetic headphones as opposed to dynamic headphones. Prices in the headphones I listed range from $150 (the Philips) to $350 (The Sundara and the Zeus). Of course, there are many higher priced options to take a look at, but I don't have that kind of money and am certainly not going to recommend a pair I haven't tried that is that expensive.
Hope this helps a little.
Using Tidal on a Computer.
Interestingly enough, I find Tidal more accessible on the Mac compared to Window's. You can use Quick keys or the search commands to easily find what you are wanting and I haven't noticed the scrolling issue that I have also experienced on window's.
MQA User Experience
I can definitely hear the difference with the high resolution MQA using TIDAL Master, MQA decoder, and IEMs.. It's an appreciative, delightful and amazing immersive sound stage with detail and depth that is so pleasing and surprising.
I'd say it's worth it, recommend it, and it's really cool hearing and appreciating things that make your attention jump because it's so beautiful. It makes me say: "Oh, wow!"
The few things that were tricky for a VoiceOver user: