Cannot use DSP when playing MQA files to the PS Audio DirectStream JR or DirectStream Dac [Known Issue]

I cannot use Roon DSP EQ when playing MQA files on Ps Audio Direct Stream Jr. Doing so causes the music to stop playing until i turn off the EQ or MQA version. Any ideas how to work around this @support?

Hi @late_nighter23 ---- Thank you for the report and sharing this observation you have made with us. The insight is appreciated!

Moving forward, to help aide in our understanding of this behavior you are experiencing may I very kindly ask you to please provide me with the following:

  • A brief but accurate description of your current setup using this link as a guide.

  • Screenshots of…

    • Your signal path just before the error occurs.
    • The settings being used on the DSP engine.
  • Just to make sure we are on the same page :innocent: You are making this observation when any MQA content is being streamed to the PS Audio DSJR, correct?

Thanks!
-Eric

Hi Eric

attached are screenshots showing a non mqa track playing just fine with roon dsp. however, when i play the same track as the mqa version with dsp on it will not play. with dsp off it will play just fine. it does not matter what setting i use with roon dsp it will not play with any dsp setting at all period if it is an mqa track.
to answer your question yes i am making this observation when using any mqa content on the ps audio dsjr while using roon dsp at the same time.

my set up is a imac//roon (tidal)//ps audio dsjr//headphone amp etc. i am not using anything beyond that.

Hi @late_nighter23 ---- Thanks for the follow up and providing the requested feedback. Very appreciated!

While I do not have access to a DSJR at the moment I was able to run a quick test with a PS Audio PerfectWave using the following setup:

Core = NUC w/ROCK (v1.5)(B339)
Endpoint = MacBook Pro w/RoonBridge > USB > PerfectWave

I had no issues enabling the DSP engine and streaming MQA content to the endpoint as you can see below:

Being as I had no issues I would like to gather some more data from you based on your experience:

  • Since noticing this behavior has the core machine and the DSJR both been rebooted?

  • My assumption is “yes”, but please confirm that everything on the DSJR is up to date.

  • Please describe how the DSJR is communicating with Roon. I want to have clear understanding of what the chain of communication looks like between your Roon core and then endpoint. Please be sure to provide detailed insight into all the devices involved.

  • Just to be make sure I am understanding this observation correctly:

“…the music to stop playing until i turn off the EQ or MQA version.”

  • You can play MQA content successfully but without the DSP engine enabled, correct? If this is indeed the case can you please post a screenshot of the signal path when you are playing MQA content the DSJR without the DSP engine enabled.

-Eric

Eric, look at the MQA with DSP processing speed. It indicates just “x.” Something is amiss.

AJ

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@WiWavelength ---- Thank you for pointing that out to me, I clearly missed that :eyes:

-Eric

@late_nighter23 — Based on this observation Andrew points out in your signal path I would definitely like to have the information above, particularly the screenshot of your signal path when you are playing MQA back without DSP enabled.

hi eric

i have already attempted to reboot everything and that does not resolve the issue. please see my above screenshots for signal path.
to answer your question yes i can play mqa content with no issues as long
as the dsp is turned off.

@late_nighter23 ---- Thank you for the reminder about the signal paths above but that is not quite what I am looking for here.

Your first screenshot shows playback of an MQA album with the DSP engine enabled. 53%20PM

The second shows playback of a “TIDAL FLAC 44.1” file which is not MQA
04%20PM

I would also like to know the following (from my previous):

  • My assumption is “yes”, but please confirm that everything on the DSJR is up to date.

  • Please describe how the DSJR is communicating with Roon. I want to have clear understanding of what the chain of communication looks like between your Roon core and then endpoint. Please be sure to provide detailed insight into all the devices involved.

Thanks!
-Eric

i think 2 of those are right, sorry for showing the wrong path the first time around.

i just spoke to ps audio technical support and was told this is a known issue with roon dsp using mqa with ps audio. is that the final answer?

Hi @late_nighter23 — Thank you for getting in touch and no apologies necessary :wink: A few things moving forward…

First, thank you for the updated screenshots, appreciated! Second, I am bit concerned with the response you received from the support team over at PS Audio because if this was a common issue being experienced we would be hearing about it a lot more around these parts :thinking:

Now I realize that my test involved a different PS Audio device (i.e the PerfectWave) so to be complete in my evaluation of this I have placed a feedback request with the tech team to pull a DSJR off the shelf and verify what the experience is like. Once the testing has completed I will be sure to share the results with you asap.

Lastly, I do want to point out however that I also feel like there is possible a performance issue occurring here with your setup. As such I would like to gather the following information from you…

  • Please provide the specs of the iMac currently hosting your Roon core.

  • As asked previously, can you please describe how the DSJR is communicating with Roon. I want to have clear understanding of what the chain of communication looks like between your Roon core and then endpoint. Please be sure to provide detailed insight into all the devices involved.

-Eric

52%20PM

the dsjr is communicating via bridge to roon. the ethernet cable goes from the dac to the router, another port on the router goes to the imac. thats it, very simple set up. the gentleman i spoke to at ps audio said very to the point it was a known issue and they had no work around at this time. he advised i not use dsp when playing mqa tracks… duh…i can’t do that already thus the reason behind this post. thanks a lot tech support for that one! he did help me with my other issue and was super helpful and i appreciate they have a human being i can talk to on the phone which is 50% of the reason i do business with them.

Hi @late_nighter23 ---- Thanks for providing me those details while I wait for our QA team to share the results of their testing with the DSJR. Very appreciated.

Continuing forward, I have gotten word from our tech team that this is indeed a known issue at which point I did some searching around the PS Audio forum which revealed the following:

-Eric

hi eric

i got in touch with ps audio regarding another ongoing issue i am having
with the dac and the offered to send me a new unit. if i am still having
this issue with the new unit i will get back in touch next week after i receive.

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hi eric ps audio sent me a new dac and the issue is still persisting. is there any way you and i can trouble shoot this over the phone? what’s going on now is that if i try to use dsp at all it boots the dac off the network and i have to hard restart the dac.

Hi @late_nighter23 ---- Thank you for the follow up and sharing this observation you have made with the new DAC. Sorry to hear of the continued troubles.

Before we dive into this “new” issue I want to gather the following information from you:

  • Just to be clear this is happening whenever you try to use the DSP engine in Roon with any content (MQA, etc), correct? Your previous report was indicating that the issue was only occurring when you tried to use the DSP engine while streaming MQA content and I want to make sure I understand the current circumstance correctly.

  • Everything is up to date on the DAC, yes?

  • While it may seem a touch elementary have you rebooted the core, DAC, and any relevant networking hardware since making this observation?

Thanks!
-Eric

“Just to be clear this is happening whenever you try to use the DSP engine in Roon with any content (MQA, etc), correct? Your previous report was indicating that the issue was only occurring when you tried to use the DSP engine while streaming MQA content and I want to make sure I understand the current circumstance correctly”.

Yes, The issue occurs when i try to stream any MQA content only when using the roon dsp engine with ps audio dacs. over the weekend i used dsp when using a meridian 218 with mqa with no issue on the same core imac so that is not the issue. the issue is related to ps audio dacs only. when i use the dsp with mqa content bridge is kicked off roon and i have to hard restart roon for it to be seen again. DSP works just fine when MQA is turned off.

Yes everything is up to date on the dac. For the record this is a brand new dac and ps audios solution was to send me a brand new dac with the same result.

Yes i have rebooted the core/network and as i said i used a meridian 218 on the same core with mqa/dsp with no issue.

Thanks for the feedback @late_nighter23! So the cause of the issue is still the same, the “failure mode” is just different now.

Let me ask you this is that new DAC running the firmware version that had the issue reported in the thread I posted above (3.6.2)?

-Eric

this came direct from ps audio and arrived today with firmware 3.5.1
i just called them again and i am waiting on a call back. again i was told
by ps audio that there is a known issue with roon (they did not specify) and said they would get back to me.
so… yes the cause is still the same and the result is the same. the only difference is on the jr i would get kicked off the network with or without mqa. on the Sr if i try to engage mqa at all with dsp i am immediately booted off.