LUMIN U1 mini with Benchmark DAC3 HGC best MQA settings

I have a Lumin U1 mini feeding a Benchmark DAC3 HGC DAC via USB.

My question is what settings are best to achieve best quality output on Roon?

Thanks!

My current settings on LUMIN and Roon:


If you’re sure you need crossfade and speaker setting applied in Roon DSP Engine, then your current settings are fine.

If you like, you can compare your current setting against this: disable DSP Engine, and set No MQA Support in MQA Capabilities. See which sounds better to you, in case you hear a difference.

(The No MQA Support setting lets Roon Core keep doing the MQA core decoding, so that the effect of disabling DSP Engine can be compared against having it turned on.)

That is a nice clean and incisive DAC you have there… I would suggest you read Benchmark’s application notes regarding MQA…

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Thanks, already wrote to Benchmark as they do not provide much information on this topic.

Thanks - will try this out. Just noticed that Roon does not recognise my BENCHMARK DAC3 HGC, instead shows DAC2 HGC. But I assume it is not a problem?

This is normal because the two models share the same USB chip and firmware.

Comment from Benchmark guys:
"I see that you are using MQA. We are not fans of that process and prefer no special processing as would be the case with playing Qobuz up to 24/192. However, Roon will downsample to the capability of the USB output device which in this case is 24/192.

Otherwise, if playing MQA, let Roon do the first unfold to 24/96 and play it that way. There really is no benefit to the 2nd unfold with our DAC…"

Do I understand correctly that I should leave only “Enable MQA core decoder - Yes” and “MQA capabilities - No MQA Support”?

Thanks

Yes, that’s the same as my suggestion in my first reply for Roon to do the first unfold.

Whether you still want crossfade and speaker settings, that’s up to your own preference.

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I was referring to this: Is MQA DOA? - Benchmark Media Systems