O Meridian Explorer 2, o sucessor do Explorer USB DAC, que o Hificlube testou aqui e aqui, vai ser o primeiro USB DAC no mundo MQA-ready. O novo formato de gravação/reprodução permite registar as frequências acima dos 20kHz contidas no Master original, sem necessidade de aumentar a frequência de amostragem que torna os ficheiros áudio-HD muito pesados para streaming e armazenamento. Como já vimos, a grande vantagem do novo formato MQA é que pode ser'encapsulado' em qualquer dos actuais formatos: FLAC, ALAC e WAV.

Master Quality Authenticated (MQA)

Sourced from the original studio master recording as approved by the creative team, MQA combines an advanced new digital sampling technology that captures extremely high frequency timing and detail in an audio signal with an equally novel system to “encapsulate” that data into a form for delivery using any lossless file format or streaming. The listener’s decoder reconstructs the entire original signal, bringing up an indicator confirming that what they are hearing is exactly the same as the original master. Without the decoder, the listener enjoys CD quality reproduction. Its most advanced form, “MQA Studio”, uses the technology in the studio to generate an even higher quality master recording as the source.