MQA bitrate from uRendu?

Equipment: Roon software, uRendu, Emotiva XMC-1 (processor/DAC) USB input. Sounds fantastic.

  1. When I play a high bitrate FLAC file, the XMC-1 shows 192K as expected. (all good)

  2. When I play a Tidal Master MQA file with a high bitrate, I see 44.1 or 48 (I forget which one, to be honest)

Any ideas? It’s really not a big deal because it sounds so good, but I’d like to see if I can get the DAC a 192K stream.

DAC info from sonicorbiter.io:

Emotiva Audio Inc XMC-1 at usb-ci_hdrc.1-1.1, high speed : USB Audio

Playback:
Status: Stop
Interface 1
Altset 1
Format: S16_LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 5 OUT (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Interface 1
Altset 2
Format: S24_3LE
Channels: 2
Endpoint: 5 OUT (ASYNC)
Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000
Data packet interval: 125 us
Simple mixer control ‘PCM’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]
Simple mixer control ‘Clock Source 18 Validity’,0
Capabilities: pswitch pswitch-joined
Playback channels: Mono
Mono: Playback [on]

Is the XMC-1 MQA enabled? I am not sure it is. If it is not, properly set up Roon should perform the first stage of processing and pass this to your DAC. The maximum your DAC should then see is 88 or 96k. The rest would be done by the DAC if it were MQA certified. Settings in Roon should be as follows:
Zone setup. MQA Capabilities set to no MQA support.
Advanced setup. Enable MQA core decoder set to yes.

The only other spanner in the works may be how you control volume? Set volume to fixed to be sure you are passing bit perfect data.

You need to enable Roon to the do MQA decoding so in your DAC you will see 88.2/96k.

No - the XMC-1 isn’t MQA enabled. But the uRendu handles all that, doesn’t it?

No, Roon handles it in part. The uRendu has one job, to pass what it receives on bit perfect. So the most you can expect to see with no DSP is 88 or 96k.

1 Like