Manhattan DAC II Signal Path?

Hi!

Currently having a Manhattan DAC II w/network card on trial. I’m confused by the signal path that always shows “enhanced”, even for non-MQA material (PCM or DSD). Looks like the MQA decoder’s always in use? However, the display on the DAC shows correct rate.

The DAC is set up as “Decoder and Renderer” in settings, MQA core decoder in Roon is enabled, no DSP.

Any owner of a Manhattan can shed some light whether this is expected behaviour?

Not a Manhattan owner - but surprised to see unfold to 96kHz. I would have expected 88.2kHz. Does the Manhattan always upsample to a fixed rate? Is it configurable?

Try turning off the MQA setting in Mytek temporarily - see if this makes a difference on the signal path.

Hello @sohe68,

This appears to be a bug occurring within the Mytek’s network module.

If you fully power cycle the device does the MQA Full Decoder element still appear during normal PCM playback?

What about if you disable the MQA Decoder in the Manhattan’s settings menu?

-John

Also, if enabling decode and render in the Mytec, it would make more sense to disable Roon’s core decoder.

If you disable Roon MQA Core decoding, you lose the Roon ability to apply DSP or volume leveling on MQA signal while preserving MQA signaling.

OK, did a full power recycle and after that signal path no longer shows “enhanced” but “lossless”. It still shows “MQA Full Decoder”, but no rate this time so maybe it’s fine?

Turning off MQA in the Mytek seems to get rid of that…

For MQA content it looks normal too…

Thanks,
Ola

Good to know, but the OP said

With the final signal path, does the Mytek LED show the MQA color correctly?

Even if Roon MQA Core decoding is enabled, with a DAC set to Decoder and Renderer, Roon will NOT invoke its own MQA Core decoding in the absence of DSP, volume leveling and zone grouping. This setting should remain enabled, and is the default, and is hidden in an advanced panel for good reason.

I’ll stand corrected, then.
:+1:

Yes, no led color on the Manhattan II, but display rate says “MQA 24-96”.

For a certified MQA DAC, I would trust the LED color more than anything else for its MQA status.

If you listen to MQA music, I suggest you keep the MQA setting on (in the DAC), and check with the manufacturer about the signal path in various scenarios.

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Stereophile has shown that Mytek forces MQA slow rolloff digital filtering on standard PCM content when MQA decoding is enabled. Is that the Signal Path issue here? Roon just being transparent about what Mytek is doing inside the black box?

AJ

Yes, that’s a bummer really, with MQA enabled, its filter is used for all PCM aswell…

This is happening constantly. Also the other way around with the DAC not reporting back to Roon that it’s doing its thing with MQA tracks and the signal path is wrong.
Seems to happen when switching to the network input after using an other input for a while. Rebooting the DAC solves it temporarily.

I’ve opened a ticket with Mytek support to see if they have a response

i don’t see a signal path anymore in the 1.8 Roon?