Hi, am using Roon with my HiFiRose 150b which streams and can handle MQA files from tidal. If I use via Roon I get the following bitstream details:
If I go direct from the Rose, (skipping Roon) I get:
Wondering if there is any difference? OFS is something that only started showing up recently.
Hi Mark
They are the same source file but it looks like your HiFi Rose is showing the original source file properties while Roon is showing the properties after unpacking.
I am not sure what the options available in the HiFi Rose are for changing the display settings or if you can, but it looks all good to me.
You can read about the process here.
Don’t worry about it. When streaming direct the Hifi Rose is decoding to 88.2 under the hood which is the decoding part or unfolding. All MQA dacs do this it’s always 2x the container rate which in this case is 44.1. The next stage is performed by the DAC and is a combination of upsampling and applying specific filters for your DAC to reach the original sample rate of the material before MQA encoding or more often higher. Each device is different here and is generally a black box.
When Roon is doing the first MQA decode unfold so it can still do its DSP things it will show as 88.1 or 96 as that’s what the MQA decoder process does. The DAC in the Rose will then take that and do its thing. It will report what it is given not the original MQA container format but still give the ORFs (original sampling freq) as you see at her end.
Thanks, appreciate the explanation. Just to close the loop - Roon is set to Decoder & Renderer in the4 MQA capabilities in the setup screen for the Rose. Is this correct? Audio out is analog from 2 x RCA into my processor.
Only the digital co-ax output from the Rose has an option to choose how MQA is handled - Authenticator or Decoder. It’s set to Authenticator (but I generally use analog only). Unbalanced output doesn’t give any MQA options.
You mean your Rose is, then Roon should pass on MQA untouched to the Rose and it should do all the work. If you want Roon to apply DSP or volume leveling you need to choose it as renderer only and enable Roons MQA decoding. Then Roon will perform the first decode apply any DSP and preserve MQA signalling. Without that any DSP will break MQA and you only get 44.1 or 48k.
You say processor is this an AVR processor? Is it capable of having a direct path with no internal digitisation ? If not then you’re kind of loosing the whole point of using the Rose as a DAC as it will be all digitised again and go through another DAC which may be less capable.
That’s my logic also - the Rose should handle the MQA. The processor is an Anthem AVM90 and the analog input is set to bypass its internal DAC. If I send digital from the Rose, then it goes through the Anthem DAC.
Roon MQA options set off:
Both of those signal paths look correct… from a Roon perspective.
You have Crossfade enabled in Roon, to perform this (or any DSP operations) Roon must first perform the MQA decode.
If you told Roon the DAC supports MQA it will extract/preserve the MQA signalling information and then restore it back into the now DSPed stream.
If you disable Crossfade, you will see that Roon will then just stream the MQA signal directly to the MQA capable DAC.
It is though in his screen grabs. But it seems that the Rose is not reporting back MQA rendering as it should and showing some upsampling.
Doesn’t look like the Rose is performing the MQA rendering stage in your last screen grab. It should be showing it in the signal path after RAAT. But it’s just upsampling.
Hi @CrystalGipsy,
I think it’s the reporting from the Rose that’s incorrect as the screenshot from Rose is displaying OFS.
From what I can see, Roon is working as expected.
I agree or some setting isn’t on to do the rendering from a decoded source. Some other DACS have had this issue with Roon doing the first decode, some Ifi ones if my memory serves me.
It seems that it’s the crossfade setting in Roon. At 0 seconds, MQA shows instead of OFS. The only remaining difference is that direct from Rose it shows the original file format - eg FLAC 24 bit whereas via Roon its showing PCM.
It’s pcm in all cases Roon doesn’t stream anything else to endpoints. The Rose is just taking the metadata from what Roon tells it the source file is but it doesn’t stream Flac to endpoints it’s all sent as PCM via RAAT.
If you look at the Rose after RAAT it’s performing upsampling which is odd so some setting in your Rose is causing this. It should be reporting back MQA rendering.
If you use no DSP it will send the signal to the rose to fully decode if your settings are decoder and renderer in Roon. When you add DSP it will then switch to perform the first decode and preserve the MQA signalling. The DAC needs to be able to accept the decoded MQA stream to then render it correctly. This doesn’t seem to be happening. So it looks like the Rose has some setting on that’s causing that upsampling and this is breaking MQA rendering. I would check in with their support as this isn’t working as it should looking at your signal path.
Thanks for your patience CG - I think I’ve found the settings that were causing the upsampling:
I had read a review of the Rose not long after I picked it up - and the reviews advised that 176.4 was the sweet spot for upsampling. So I set it and then promptly forgot about it. Anyway, I now have a significantly simpler signal path.
Which shows up on the display of the Rose correctly as:
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