Onkyo just released the DP-X1 portable digital audio player, which will play MQA encoded music files (after software update) for the audio purists. MQA is a revolutionary end-to-end technology that captures and delivers master quality audio in a file that’s small enough to stream or download. And because it’s fully authenticated, the listener can be sure they are hearing exactly what the artist recorded and approved in the studio.
MQA encoded music is available from OnkyoMusic, the company’s music store. The DP-X1 can be upgraded on April 12, 2016 via the Google Play Store.
Backed by dual ESS Technology Sabre ES9018K2M DACs and two SABRE9601K amps with balanced headphone output, the DP-X1 is the only digital audio player with such an advanced configuration.
The DP-X1 also has two types of balanced drives: ACG and BTL, for greater stability and clean, crystal clear sound. From a storage standpoint, the DP-X1 can expand to 432GBs, thanks to dual micro-SDXC card slots and can supply up to 16 hours of playback.
When listening to MQA on the DP-X1, the MQA display indicates that the product is decoding and playing an MQA stream or file and a green light signifies that the sound is identical to that of the source material. MQA Studio shows a blue light when it is playing a file which has either been approved in the studio by the artist/producer or has been verified by the copyright owner.
Price and Availability
The Onkyo DP-X1 is now available for $899.99 MSRP.
About OnkyoMusic
With webstores available in the U.S., Germany and the United Kingdom, OnkyoMusic is a leading hi-res digital music provider, which provides all downloads as FLAC and MQA. FLAC is an audio format that compresses audio without any loss in quality.
X-DAP Link music transfer application with MQA support to be released soon.
Note: The current build will display MQA files as FLAC/WAV, but once transferred to the DP-X1 will properly display MQA or MQA Studio.
