DSP applied removes MQA from NAD M10

Hello,

Roon newbie here and I see this has been discussed but unfortunately nothing I read helps solve this my end.

When playing Tidal through Roon to my M10 with DSP filter active, the MQA usually displayed next to the Roon logo on my M10 screen disappears. As soon as I deactivate DSP, the MQA reappears.

Settings in place are:

M10 - decoder and rendered (tried decoder only and renderer only as well)
Enable core MQA decoder - off (tried filter on as well)
DSP applied - Procedural EQ

Read some blamed this on the speaker settings in Roon, however I have not added this filter.

Any help is greatly appreciated.

Cheers!

If MQA indication from MQA device disappears when Roon applies DSP, your MQA device is likely not supporting MQA rendering correctly (which is different from MQA Full Decoding).

Thanks for the input. The M10 is a Roon ready certified device according to what I have read. I would have expected this to play well with Roon.

Related topic:

Have you got your endpoint (M10) set to Renderer only in Roon. Then you should have Roon perform the first unfold and and DSP you choose whilst retaining the MQA signaling.

@Rugby has provided the correct answer to your thread.

Tried this as well. The only way to have M10 display MQA is to bypass Roon DSP filter.

Not sure I see which one you refer to?

That’s how it’s supposed to work. Is everything on the latest firmware?

Yes, checked and nothing requires updating. So are you saying that the M10 will not play MQA if you apply DSP in Roon?

As mentioned, am new here so really confused :slightly_smiling_face:

I don’t have an M10, but would expect it to play MQA if it is set to Renderer only. That option should be chosen in the Roon app.
If it is set to decode and render MQA, then DSP will damage the MQA stream.

Perhaps people with experience with an M10 will chime in.

Setting it to Renderer Only doesn’t change the outcome (at least on my NAD C 658 BluOS Streaming DAC).

I believe this is a bug and should be fixed. My C658 has no issue applying MQA rendering when using Dirac (which is basically also DSP, but used within the device itself). If Dirac is possible, Roon’s DSP should be equally possible, especially since these devices are Roon Ready.

May I ask, @Arash and @rzvnb, what is your use case with respect to Roon DSP vs Dirac? I’m asking because of my interest in NAD products, and M10 in particular.

With my speaker setup I usually enable Dirac and Roon’s volume leveling.

With my headphones I use Roon’s volume leveling, and depending on the headphones I’m using, I might use crossfeed and/or Audeze’s Reveal filters on Roon’s DSP.

My NAD C658 is currently connected to a Rotel RB-1582 MkII power amplifier and a Drop+THX AAA 789 headphone amplifier. Obviously, I don’t turn both amplifiers on at the same time.

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The latest BluOS update should resolve this issue. Try it out.