How to setup the Bridge II to stream MQA through Tidal

Written by Scott Schroeder

  1. Using rear toggle switch on your DirectStream DAC or DirectStream Junior, power down your unit. Power unit back up.
  2. Update Bridge—
    • DirectStream DAC: Select Bridge II as input then press the Network Button. Bottom of the screen will show available firmware update. Select update.
    • DirectStream Jr: Long-press input button to enter setup-screen. Short-press input button until you see Bridge Update. Long-press input button to initiate Bridge II update.
  3. Download MConnect Control app for either your iOS or Android Device. Please note: you need to search for Mconnect control in the Google Play Store or iOS App Store. Searching for just Mconnect will return the wrong app.
  4. Open MControl on your smartphone or tablet.
  5. In MControl select Play To at the bottom right of the screen. This will display the available Bridge II to which you wish to send music. Select your Bridge as the output.
  6. Select Browser at the bottom of the MControl app. Select Tidal and sign-in with your standard Tidal credentials.
  7. In the Tidal section select the 3 Horizontal lines at the top-left corner to enter the Tidal menu options, then select Settings. Once in this menu select HiFi/Masters under the streaming options. Without this selection MQA content will be downsampled to 44.1kHz/16 bit.
  8. In Tidal section navigate to either Playlists or Albums and select the More option at the top-right. Scroll to the right at the top and you will see the selection for Masters which is the MQA content currently available.
  9. Select your preferred music and you will see on the app that this is an MQA file.
    • DirectStream DAC: You will also see the letters MQA appear on the display of your DirectStream DAC.
      • MQA — Standard MQA
      • MQA. — MQA Studio
    • DirectStream Jr (please note, volume must be less than 100 to see file details):
  10. Tell us what you think! Better? Worse? An industry imperative for serious streamers or not enough bang for the buck? What bugs have you encountered and what are we missing? Keep the comments coming through our forums
Back to blog

Keep reading

View all
1 2
View all