Hello andybob,
My remarks about losing sound with Forced setting was merely a one time experience that I did not pursue further to assess what might have occurred. Perhaps the setting Forced or Disable, thinking further about the matter, is not intended to be switched during playback. Next time I will stop play, switch from Disable to Forced and then resume playing music selected. It was sloppy of me to bring up the matter without further investigation.
DAP Zone? That is the name roon uses to identify Dirac Live (Full) when enabled or selected. And DAP also appears in the AMS (Audio Midi Setup). When I employ Dirac Live, I change the Zone from W4S Dac2 DSDse to DAP employing the same settings, i.e., Exclusive Mode, Integer Mode etc. except for DSD which I have changed for that Zone to convert DSD to PCM as Dirac Live does not process DSD tracks, hence conversion to PCM.
If I employ roon with TIDAL HIFI, I can choose to play roon with TIDAL HIFI or roon with TIDAL HIFI AND Amarra sQ+ with iRC (in lieu of Dirac Live). When AsQ+ is employed, then the Zone must be Sonic Stream (I posted at roon community how to make it work with roon in a separate thread).
I appreciate your perspective about less is more re components. And would not mismatch your synergy for what works best for your system. As a contrast frame, I have spent considerable time assessing the SQ from my Dac in standalone vs my Dac to my preamp to my mono blocks. And for my W4S Dac2 DSDse which has it’s own preamp and volume control and remote, I have concluded that the SQ is best when my W4S STP-SE Stage 2 preamp renders the best SQ. At Computeraudiophile.com, I curate several threads devoted to Wyred 4 Sound, Amarra Symphony, Amarra For TIDAL, AsQ+ and roon with Dirac Live. Some member users prefer their Dac without a preamp and directly connected to their amps.
I have (now) four (4) editions of Pet Sounds: a redbook, MFSL Hybrid SACD, HDtracks.com stereo AIFF 192/24 and now stereo/mono, AIFF, 192/24 from Pro Studio Masters. Having rented the Brian Wilson story, Love And Mercy, on Apple TV over the weekend (a good film in my opinion), I played Pet Sounds several times, listening to the different editions. I decided the Mobile Fidelity Sound Lab Hybrid SACD edition was the best overall. I have not heard the SHM-SACD edition.
I understand (I think) your surprise about DSP. If you include impulse response control and parametic 4-way EQ or even pre-set EQ a la Amarra there are times when contribute to what you described as your experience. Yes, Amarra products are for the Mac. However, Sonic Studio is coming out with a Windows version for Amarra For TIDAL and/or AsQ+ (need to review my emails). When that will arrive, I do not know. I employ impulse response control for Amarra Symphony all the time and with roon Dirac Live most of the time and lately AsQ+with iRC with roon and with roon and TIDAL HIFI to further beta test what EQ brings to roon. So far so good.
Thank you for taking time to reply and share your perspectives.
With appreciation,
Richard