Network Details (Including networking gear model/manufacturer and if on WiFi/Ethernet)
1Gb/s optical Internet connection
Audio Devices (Specify what device you’re using and its connection type - USB/HDMI/etc.)
DragonFly Red USB and Arcam irDAC USB
Description Of Issue
Is Roon planning to offer full unfolding of MQA, hence go beyond 96KHz Today only first unfolding is offered. There are examples where a non-DAC does full unfolding and it is called PS Audio Bridge II. So this is possible?
The final unfold of MQA requires an MQA aware DAC, that’s how it works and is the only way the analog output can be verified as analogous to the analog source.
PS Audio Bridge II can decode 96k and render up to 192k (second ‘unfold’) not the final rendering of 384k (final ‘unfold’) in MQA DACs. Why this is allowed in bridge II is PS Audio does not want to modify their DACs because it will impact the performance. This leave little choice for MQA, thus it is done before the DAC via bridge II. So far MQA does not license the ‘renderer’ part to software developers.
May be once the take up rate is poor (MQA DACs) MQA may consider license the ‘renderer’ to software developers. It is still possible to get full MQA decoding via software and output to a conventional DAC if they want to. At the moment they choose to do the ‘renderer’ in hardware.
The only way to get analog output is your source has to be analog. Any conversion from analog to digital is deemed to be digital even it is eventually converted to analog. The terms ‘digital sound’ should sound very familiar to you?
And that is the issue that MQA addresses. Do as little damage as possible, no more than a few meters of air Leaving a verifiable analog output analogous to the analog input. The digital in the middle is irrelevant as the analog resolution is what we hear.
There’s no in between, either you settle for pure analog or digital reproduction. In both case, they will never sound the exactly the same. I think that’s fair enough. Don’t want to divert away from the main topic.
Well in the modern world we have to distribute digitally as analog, which is not without its losses and compromises, is impossible in the way people listen today. We cannot have the master tapes if they exist as they are deteriorating. So what to do?