Does anybody have roon streaming to Chromecast Audio + MQA DAC

Audio Gear Talk
1

Trying to avoid unnecessary hardware upgrades, and wonder, does anybody here have a Chromecast Audio plugged via toslink in to an MQA DAC (then plugging in to an amp), and have said DAC doing the unfolding?

If so, is there a noticeable audio quality increase vs just chromecast audio direct to amp, and what does your roon output show?

I’ve read previous posts but can’t seem to find a canonical answer, and I’m guessing somebody here has both a dac which handles mqa via optical input and a chromecast audio who can confirm.

Bonus question, if anybody here has yes - do you get MQA via tidal mobile app directly to chromecast audio with this setup - without roon in the middle too?

2

I’ve done that, with a CCA plugged into a Mytek Liberty. Noticable? Hard to say, varies by individual. There are various measurements (not dependent on someone’s ears and hearing) available on the Web.

As for what Roon showed, I don’t remember, but I assume it’s the normal MQA indicator. Make sure the audio endpoint in Roon is set to “Decoder and Renderer”.

LATER: I set it up and tried it again. Roon does not “see” the DAC the CCA is streaming to, only the CCA itself, but the MQA light on the DAC lights up.