I have a Esoteric N-01DX which is a streamer DAC and Roon Ready. It also has MQA capability.
The manuel of the machine says it is a full MQA decoder. So my questions are:
In the “device setup” in Roon, should I select “Decoder only” or “Decoder and Renderer”?
When I play MQA track via Esoteric N-01DX, the signal path is “Enhanced” and not “Lossless”. The light next the logo of Esoteric is blue, not purple. Please let me know how I can change the signal path to “Lossless”. Is it relate the setup in Q1?
Set it to decoder and renderer if you want your DAC to do both functions. Set it to renderer only if you want Roon to do the first decode and your DAC to do the rendering. If you want to use volume leveling or any other DSP in Roon you should do the later.
You can’t when playing and decoding MQA files. Roon considers MQA processing as “enhanced”and so when MQA is being properly handled you get the enhanced signal path showing.
It is bit perfect. I know talk of lossless and MQA triggers some folks around here but it is just a case of using the right terminology. Set the way the OP is using his system, he is doing it in a bit perfect manner. There is nothing he can do to improve on that whilst using his DAC as Decoder and Renderer. The technicalities of how MQA is derived does not need to come in to the discussion unless the OP actually asks that question!
