MQA Core is always 88.2kHz or 96kHz, regardless of what MQA sample rate is - which refers to the rate of the master, not the playback.
But if I had full MQA support the playback would be 192kHz, correct?
Not necessarily correct. MQA rendering plays at a suitable rate as determined by the manufacturer and MQA Ltd., and does not necessarily correspond to the MQA master sample rate.
Your DAC FPGA converts everything to DSD anyway.
For now I am ignoring the MQA stuff and just listening to the DAC. It sounds really good and itās just fun to listen to a lot of different music and experience it in a different way. But I did order an NT-505. My plan is that I will most likely send back the DirectStream since I want the complete roon compatibility, but donāt have another $900 to sink into the system. But the more I listen to this thing the more I worry that the NT-505 will be too far from the quality making the decisions much more difficult. But if itās even close I will keep the 505.
I did notice that CDās played on my Oppo, but sent digitally to the DS for D to A sound marginally better than the tracks sent via USB from roon Rock. This may be attributed to the USB noise referred to earlier. But the difference is very subtle, and often disappears entirely.
The NT-505 should arrive on MondayāIām a bit hopeful since every comment Iāve read from people who have actually listened to it have been very positive.
Ronald, I have an extra BridgeII pulled from a Perfectwave DACII. When I bought my Directsream it already had a BridgeII installed so I have two of them. PM me if interested.
I like the BridgeII but really thought it came to life when I upgraded the switch power supply with an iFi power supply and Cable Matters CAT8 ethernet cables. I have a TP-Link 8 port (TL-SG108). This combination provided a lower noise floor, better low end punch, and snapped the soundstage into focus. It was a cheap upgrade and I was surprised how significant the change was.
Matthew,
Are you talking about the power supply for the Ethernet switch? Iām currently using a 5-port Lynksys LGS105 which works well as far as I know. But perhaps itās noisy and could be improved with a linear supply.
If you want a switch that reduces the noise passed over Ethernet, get a NetGear GS105 or GS108 and ground the outside of the power supply barrel plugged into the switch. Itās cheap and works great. You donāt need to get an expensive LPS or even an iFi power supply.
Yes, the switch power supply.
If I didnāt already own a decent switcher I would probably go that route, but as it is the new switcher would cost as much as the quiet power supply, so Iāll probably go with the linear supply.
I donāt know of a decent LPS you can buy for less than $50ā¦
Yes, youāre right about that, I guess I was thinking more about the iFi supply. But in fact I wonāt need either solution because I just moved my modem to the location of the audio system. There is a port for the modem in the living room just behind my system. I connected my modem ports directly to roon Rock, my LG tv, and my new DAC. The 4th port on the modem is now connected to the long CAT6 cable which formerly fed my audio equipment, but that cable is now carrying the signal in the opposite direction and feeding the room where the modem was formerly located. But I did order 3 upgraded cables for the connections between the modem and the AV stuff.
Now you have the noise your modem passes along Ethernet to listen to instead of the switch. So no improvement here.
Well the switching power supply in the switcher adds high frequency noise due to the switching, if I was going through the switch I would have that noise in addition to anything coming from the modem, so I would think I have less noise doing it this way. In addition I purchased a Monster power strip which has a port for the modem cable, and it is supposed to take away some noise, I think via grounding. I donāt know how well it really works. I also have the modem plugged into a power conditioner, but if it uses a switching power supply then cleaning up the AC power wonāt do anything about the noise generated by the switching. Since the modem power conversion is done inside the modem Iām not sure of what kind of conversion to DC is used. But even a typical linear power supply has noise generated by the rectification stage. What are you doing to address the modem noise not related to grounding?
I am not addressing the modem noise. What I do is address the noise passed along Ethernet wiring by using the Netgear GS108 with the outer barrel of the power supply plug tied to real ground. I have my ultraRendu attached to that switch. John Swenson over on Computer Audiophile had charts showing the noise reduction by doing that. He also showed that it didnāt matter what was going on on Ethernet before that switch.
Iāve heard good things about the UltraRendu, if I had an extra $900 laying around I would probably buy one.
āI can thoroughly recommend the the Teac NT-505 as a streaming endpoint for Roon.ā
@Henry_McLeod do you have any insight as to why when I choose āNetworkā on the NT-505 I get a continuous message on the screen, āNET startingā, but no Network response.
This was true when I first powered up the unit, but then suddenly the network started working. It was at this point I realized the firmware was not up to date, (no MQA support). I succeeded in updating the firmware to 1.21 but now I once again experience āNET startingā with no network response from the unit. The USB works fine with roon rock playing everything I send it. And the toslink works fine with my CD player. So Iām able to play stuff, but no Network support.
Iāve switched cables, switched ports, checked connection, etc.
I also downloaded the streaming app in order to perform a network firmware update, but since the network isnāt working I cannot connect using the app.
I have sent a request to their support site, but if you know anything obvious Iām missing Iād appreciate your input.
Ron
@wklie, any ideas? I had a network update last night which took a bit longer than I expected but once up it was fine.
Check that the network cable is connected properly to the router or switch. You should see the network port LED at both the switch and TEAC flashing. When NET starting, it needs to get an IP address from your router by DHCP. In a normal setup it should take less than 40 seconds.
You may also try to factory reset the TEAC.
Thanks for the suggestions.
I tried the reset, but I still have the same result. I have checked to make sure the cable is well connectedāit is a brand new decent quality cable (KabelDirekt). I also switched cables with my TV which works fine before and after switching. I was plugged directly to the cable modem, but just for the fun of it I added a switch and placed the TV on the switch along with the NT-505. The TV worked fine, but I had the same result with the TEAC. There is a green light at both ends of the Ethernet cable, but it blinks only occasionally, not like the lights on my computer Ethernet cable, which blink constantly.
What is really strange is that I had the same problem at first, but then the network started working. But now after updating the firmware it wonāt connect.
I may try to go back to the earlier system firmware, and if I can connect via network again I will update the Network firmware to the latest version, and then update the system firmware again, in case there are compatibility problems between the new system firmware and the old network firmware.
I rolled back the system firmware to both older versions and in neither case could I get a network connection, so I reinstalled the newest version. Iāll see what help I get tomorrow from their support group.