MQA settings on Roon - iFi Zen Dac V2

Audio Gear Talk iFi
62

Strange. I listen to MQA for hours without any interruptions.

63

I had just issues with the purple light going shortly white, but nothing to hear. From tidal as Qobuz it is not in Romania (but I will have a look:). I could see the same dropouts on the signal path. I was using iPower x for Zen DAC v2, Roon on iMac (Catalina) via iSilancer and a 3m usb cable to the dac, RCA out to Yamaha RN303 with Triton 5.
Now I moved my core to a new m1 Mac mini, I still play Tidal from Roon via usb/iSilancer/a 25cm usb cable/Zen DAC v2 (using iPower x), 4.4m to XLR into an NAD C 298/Triton 5. The light going shortly white now it is a clear gap in the sound, sometimes at 1 minute or less. After an hour of settings review Iā€™ve just quitted. Roon does everything, Zen DAC is whiteā€¦ Anyway I do not notice the difference between using the Zen DAC full, just render or no MQA, but I am a newbie. Just holding on till Iā€™ll have NAD C 658 as is the next major system update
All the best, Happy New Year and Happy listening
Traian

64

All the popping and droppings are gone when iSilencer is gone :slight_smile:
Happy 2022

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65

I have had the same problem with the iFI HIP DAC, both V1 and V2. My year with Roon is up in March 2022 and I think I am going to give it up. Using the Tidal or Qobuz app directly works flawlessly all the time. For me, Roon doesnā€™t add that much value as I donā€™t have anything stored in the DB and just stream Tidal and Qobuz. Using Roon requires too much effort.

66

Thereā€™s no hope for me.
Somehow the combination Roon + ifi ZEN Dac v2 + Macbook Pro + CalDigit TS3Plus at some point drives the DAC to fail. I also use the iPower X but I get the same behavior without it.
What seems to workaround the issue is to disconnect the DAC from any power source for a couple of minutes. Now my guesses are for USB unstable current, noise from static electricity, I donā€™t know. But, why it has to exhibit the issue only for Roon, I donā€™t know. I guess it has to do with the frequencies.

FYI, thereā€™s also new firmware for iFi ZEN DAC v2, released on November 03, 2021.

  1. Firmware 7.3 ā€“ MQA / DSD256

    Full MQA Decoder. PlayStation 4 & 5 USB compatibility.

  2. Firmware 7.3b ā€“ DSD512

    All original output upto 352/384. Playstation 4 & 5 USB Support.

  3. Firmware 7.3c ā€“ GTO Filter / MQA / DSD256 (Sub-version)

    All PCM LED colours will be the same colour due to GTO filter. GTO filter which upsamples USB audio. MQA, DSD256 (Windows), DSD128 (Mac), 384kHz. SPDIF output disabled (on USB to SPDIF capable units). No GTO for SPDIF signal. No DSD512. No 768kHz. Added PlayStation USB compatibility

67

Ich nutze die erste davon und sie lƤuft gut.

68

Now my guesses are for USB unstable current, noise from static electricity, I donā€™t know. But, why it has to exhibit the issue only for Roon, I donā€™t know.

Somehow this might be it.

I did blame the I power x, but not
I did blame the iSilencer, but not
I did blame moving from fixed (RCAs into an integrated) to variable (balanced into a power amp)
But now I just had to attach some usb sticks, so I had to move the dac to a usb c, using a OTG cable from my iFi hip dac, iSilencer, usb A to B. Not a single stop in 4h of MQA playback. So it must be the combination of Roon, (Macs) USB ports and the Zen DAC.

So maybe switching the ports, using other combos makes the problem go away.

I reedited this post since was the last one and found out this meanwhile

69

Thank you for this. I thought it was just me.
Even when I switch USB ports the issue is present. For me, what eventually works is to power off things and then connect them again.
I donā€™t know who to blame but the common factor here is MQA through Roonā€¦

70

You are welcome, i also thought it was just me, it is something in the chain of mac roon usb zen dac. I cannot wait to upgrade the dac :slight_smile:

71

Hey folks,
Iā€™m adding myself to the exclusive list of users having issues with clippings and lossless/enhanced bounce in the Roon Core on Mac mini and iFi Zen dac v2 (on iPower X) chain. Initially I thought I could use the dac without the power adapter, but in order for the mac os to recognize it I had to disconnect/connect the USB cable after each boot! That was the only way my Mac could see the dac. That problem went away when I added iPower X in the mix, but now after 10 days of use I started having the same issues you guys described above: Roon core switches back and forth from lossless to enhanced when listening to MQA albums, which totally ruins the listening experience.

72

Thanks for sharing.
Last night I rebooted the Mac mini for the first time since Roon Core moved to it and I had this issue with Mac not recognising the iFi Zen DAC until unplug and plug back the x iPower. Played MQA with no problem for 3 hours, till a normal FLAC went in. After that went back to switches back and forth from lossless to enhanced when listening to MQA so I had to plug unplug the USB. I am counting the days with the iFi Zen DAC now :grinning_face_with_smiling_eyes:

1 Like
73

Please report this back to iFi too.

I donā€™t know really who to blame but itā€™s only happening with the iFi DAC. Thatā€™s the only device that exhibits this behaviour.

I did report it to iFi two or three times now and of course they put the blame on Roon, since MQA playback with Tidal is ok.

Anyways, I guess that maybe a reason why the device is not ā€œcertifiedā€ as Roon Tested/Ready.

74

Hey,

Iā€™m back to report that Iā€™ve found an even worse combination of hardware & software! Iā€™ve switched recently to a M1 macbook. Well, there is no way to listen to music through Roon + iFi ZEN DAC v2! Completely horrible experience. Stay away.

(Iā€™m aware that there are some Roon issues on M1 CPUs)

1 Like
75

sure sounds great tho.

76

Here I am in 2022 with M1 Macbook Air. Troubles with both the Hip Dac 2 and the iBasso dc06 with MQA on Roon. Frustrating.

77

Currently, Iā€™m testing another way to workaround the issues and it seems to be working. Itā€™s been some days without issue (crossing fingers).

For starters, when Iā€™ve upgraded to Roon v2.0, the erratic behavior was still present (and even worse). It was really frustrating and I was so desperate I started trying other cables too (again).

And then I thought, why not use a USB-C adapter (or a USB-C to USB-B cable).
So, I used a spare USB-A to USB-C adapter to attach the DAC to a USB Type C port at my docking station.

Now, almost a week later I havenā€™t got any issues with MQA playback!
It makes a bit sense that the issue was actually the support of Macbook for USB-A ports but as I said itā€™s too soon to say. For now, Iā€™m happy to enjoy my music lossless andā€¦ MQA, whatever Roon picks for me :smiley:

78

I have moved from ifi to a Cambridge Audio 200M. But same issues, just not so often, maybe just after 5 h of playing MQA, and a quick on off of the dac it makes all fine for another 5 hours or so.
But looking for something else I found this: Apple's latest Macs have a serious audio glitching bug - CDM Create Digital Music
maybe it helps

79

I have just unchecked sync with time and location on sys settings. Iā€™ll leave a MQA playlist overnight and tell you if tomorrow Iā€™ll find the dropouts.

80

Little improvement with the time and location under sys settings uncheck, maybe from 5h to 8h, in the end the dropouts did come back. As @CvK Iā€™ll try usb c, Neo by Oyaide d+ USB Type C Class B 0,7m, kind of a downgrade from Neo by Oyaide d+ USB Type A Class S 1m but just want to checkout the dropouts.

81

Thank you for the feedback @Traian_Boldea. Good to know that.

For me, the simple type-c converter still works flawlessly. Hope itā€™ll last. Iā€™ll try to purchase a decent USB-B to USB-C too.