Uploaded June 2020 | Updated September 2026, 1 day ago
The mGBA emulator currently has a special feature in the works, called XQ GBA Audio, which will allow people using it to enhance the quality of the GBA's audio by bypassing the internal software audio mixer engine (which is what introduces that GBA radio-like audio fuzziness) and using mGBA's own mixer instead.
This feature is currently experimental and does not work with every possible game, nor does it turn in 100% perfect audio levels from what I hear, but here is a showcase of the XQ GBA Audio using Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World. Listen ideally with headphones and on the highest quality video playback option you can manage.
Please note that this is a ROM hack that removes the voice acting and another stacked on top which restores the original color palette. This was to place more focus on the music, as the voice samples are still somewhat compressed.
Also, mGBA lacks a proper VSync option, so I had to turn on interframe blending to disguise the choppy frame rate. The visuals aren't what you're here for anyways. Set the video quality to at least 720p, however, to make sure you're not hearing YouTube audio compression.
The mGBA emulator currently has a special feature in the works, called XQ GBA Audio, which will allow people using it to enhance the quality of the GBA's audio by bypassing the internal software audio mixer engine (which is what introduces that GBA radio-like audio fuzziness) and using mGBA's own mixer instead.
This feature is currently experimental and does not work with every possible game, nor does it turn in 100% perfect audio levels from what I hear, but here is a showcase of the XQ GBA Audio using Super Mario Advance 2: Super Mario World. Listen ideally with headphones and on the highest quality video playback option you can manage.
Please note that this is a ROM hack that removes the voice acting and another stacked on top which restores the original color palette. This was to place more focus on the music, as the voice samples are still somewhat compressed.
Also, mGBA lacks a proper VSync option, so I had to turn on interframe blending to disguise the choppy frame rate. The visuals aren't what you're here for anyways. Set the video quality to at least 720p, however, to make sure you're not hearing YouTube audio compression.
