For clarity, how do you define full unfold. Is it the third description?
Thanks in anticipation.
MQA Core Decoder
This unfolds the MQA file once to deliver even higher than CD-quality.
The first unfold recovers all the direct music-related information. Output is 88.2kHz or 96kHz.
MQA Renderer
These products feature an MQA renderer which can complete the final unfold.
An MQA Renderer will include ‘stream lock’ but is not able to decode an MQA stream or authenticate it.
MQA Full Decoder
Products with a full MQA Decoder unfold the file to deliver the highest possible sound quality. At this level of playback you are hearing what the artist created in the studio – with precise file and platform specific DAC compensation and management.
I don’t think the Bridge will care what the source is as it will just see an incoming MQA stream and decode it accordingly. As Roon will just pass through the MQA file unchanged (no DSP) there are no changes needed to Roon.
As for the level of decoding this has me a bit confused too. I thought the Bridge was just going to do the first and second unfold but PSA talk about full decoding. They do say that there will be a MQA indicator light on the DS display which I thought indicated full decoding. Whatever the outcome it will certainly be better than no MQA support and I am happy with that given that PSA were not even considering this a few months back.
I have no idea how it will work with Roon as they have not contacted us at all. What I do know is that the bridge will do a full unfold from an MQA stream. It works via jRiver or mConnect or Tidal. Currently it does not seem to work playing MQA files via Roon.
I didn’t realise that Roon didn’t/wouldn’t work as the stream should be “bit perfect” and the source irrelevant.
Bit disappointed at that news. Hopefully someone is looking into it?
I’ve mentioned this in a few other threads–and want to be clear that this information is generic, applying to all Roon Ready partners:
We will be reaching out to all Roon Ready partners this week to deliver an updated RAAT SDK that communicates information about MQA streams properly. This SDK release depends on build 242 being broadly available, otherwise the functionality will not work consistently. Once that is done, the hard technical limitations that formerly prevented Roon Ready devices from decoding MQA streams delivered via RAAT will be resolved.
At that point, it will be up to each Roon Ready partner who makes an MQA capable device to integrate RAAT with the MQA decoding/unfolding functionality in the device. How they prioritize and time those releases will vary from partner to partner.
@brian Thanks for the information. I will check with our partners and managment to see if we should wait for the new RAAT-SDK to be incorporated before we release.
Indeed. Thank you @brian for the clarification. And thank you @dennis for looking into this issue, and considering the possibility of rolling this into the forthcoming release.
For myself - as with other Roonies with PSA DAC’ed Roonies - I guess we wait. However, I cannot help but have called to mind the expression:
“Something you know is wrong.”
Indeed. Here’s what I know now…
MQA is fully decodable if a MQA supporting DAC gets a clean copy of it.
Roon has “MQA passthru” working now for some DACs,
So, Roon is passing through clean MQA copies.
If presented with a clean MQA copy, Bridge II will fully unfold it.
Upcoming changes in the RAAT SDK must be incorporated into Roon Ready devices to be passed a clean copy of an MQA file.
Clearly my understanding does not add up. Something I know is wrong. But I take it on faith that numbers 4 and 5 above are indeed fact now. So my confusion must arrive from something I’ve stated in 1, 2, and 3 as being incorrect.
Thanks again folks! This has been a very interesting journey. And being a bit more informed now is satisfying. Thank you.
The thing you are missing is that #1 is not always as it seems. Just because a manufacturer can sniffer and decide mqa, doesn’t mean that they do. Some only do it on stream start so they can pick proper clocking before starting the mqa parts.
For those of you that have been following this, the RAAT update PS Audio needs to make to the Bridge II firmware was originally projected to be something that could be accomplished in days. Not weeks or months. And they decided not to hold off the imminent Bridge II MQA supporting update, and to follow up with a subsequent update for the MQA for Roon support. That was about three weeks ago.
PS Audio has made no commitment - that I’m aware of - as to when this MQA update for Roon will come out. But a thread has been started at the PS Audio forum to follow this issue, and for the OP to state that they are anxious for this update. So I chimed in there too, as I’m anxious myself. If you too are anxiously waiting for this update, it might help if you stated so in that thread in the MQA forum. It can’t hurt to have a lot of PSA’s DirectStream/Bridge customers tell them that they are really looking forward to the Bridge II RAAT for MQA support in Roon firmware update.
Hi Steve, just on the above, I may have missed it but where was the mention of days? I was under the impression there was no timeline at all but could be wrong (btw I do want it just like all of us here). Just want to make sure expectations are realistic, that’s all.
Regarding the above, what commitment and timeline was made by MQA Ltd, regarding an update for Roon? I may have missed this also.
