I am not well versed in this area and so cannot help you with your query. But it does seem to be a DAC with very good reviews and I thought the price point was attractive if in excellent condition.This diesnt seem to have Mqa decoding it seems
Right, looks like I will have to do some more reading. Did you check Mytek's Brooklyn DAC? It does have MQA decoding.I alrrady have a bluesound node 2 . Analog out of it is quite shitty . I do have it connected using coax digital to my audiolab 8200 cdp . Sounds just abt ok. Howeever digital out of thr bsound doesnt do mqa .
So, I did a quick reading on MQA and in my opinion, your ask is not reasonable . Here is why I say so. MQA appears top be a software based decoding and it reaches to DA conversion chip in the same format what other formats are. So, ideally, with that kind of money, you should be looking at a very good normal DAC and hookup either a computer or Bluesound Node. On computer there are some software and services such as Tidal Desktop and Audirvana that can decode MQA. And on Bluesound Node, it can decode MQA and has digital out so, you can stream your content to Bluesound that will decode MQA and feed it to your DAC.
There may be some mainstream DACs that will come with built-in MQA decoding in future but I think, your approach may not be right from 'Spending Money Wisely' perspective.
Do check MSB . Very solid and musical DAC . They have various models dunno the current prices tho.Any recommendations for a Dac upto 5000 dollar range which does mqa as well ? Preferrably with balanced outputs.
They are a tad expensive compared to the rest but they are worth it ... you might just find a used one on audiogon at a decent price.Arnt they like ridiculously expensive
Interestingly, Paul of PS Audio see no value in MQA.Ps audio has some stellar dac's in this range. Including inbuilt roon bridge. So you won't need a separate streamer too.