MQA support is coming to OPPO

MQA support is coming to OPPO

The link talks about OPPO UDP-20X 4K UHD Blu-ray Disc Player.
Are you sure about the BDP-103D?

There is nothing for earlier players on Oppo’s support pages.

Beta firmware update worked great on my oppo 205! Enjoying MQA 24/96 for the first time tonight…sounds pretty good!

Hi @Douglasmaurer,

On your Oppo UDP-205 with beta firmware does MQA work from Tidal via Roon?

Thanks,

Cameron

It seems like it does. When you look at this screenshot it is showing the MQA file. I’m just not sure that it is actually playing it at that resolution. But I saw various file resolutions with different Tidal masters: 24/44, 24/96 and 24/192.
Doug

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What does the Oppo front display screen show?

Or the TV screen (if you have one connected)?

MQA Ltd like having some sort of indicator on the endpoint hardware to tell you it’s all ‘authenticated’. Usually it’s like a LED or something, but for the Oppo it might be on the display, separate to Roon?

For those wondering about the UDP-203 gaining MQA support:

Q: The beta firmware gives MQA capability to the UDP-205, will there also eventually be support for the UDP-203 or is this exclusively for the 205? Thanks.

A. At this time we need the additional processing capabilities in the ESS DACs to process the MQA audio after it has been unfolded/decoded, so we are not able to confirm if we are able to get this working with the less powerful/programmable AKM DACs used in the UDP-203.

Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.

Thanks for the reply @Douglasmaurer,

For those interested, the beta firmware became available in Australia this morning.

I installed it and all seems to be working up to 24-bit 192KHz.

I can’t see any visual indication at the Oppo / TV end that it is receiving MQA, but Roon reports it in its signal path.

Thanks,

Cameron

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Can someone with UdP-205 confirm the MQA display on the front display when playing MQA Tidal through Roon?

Hi everyone,

Sorry for the poor photo quality, but this is what I see in Roon on Windows, on the Oppo UDP-205 display, and on the television when playing an MQA file from Tidal via Roon …

There’s no explicit indication at the Oppo / television end that it is receiving MQA, as far as I can see. But according to Roon’s signal path, MQA is the source and all steps are lossless.

Although this album is only 48KHz, I get the same display for MQA files at 24 bit 192KHz.

I hope that helps clarify things!

Thanks,

Cameron

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Try playing a MQA file from USB flash drive, or from Oppo native playback from NAS SMB, and check MQA is displayed on HDMI TV:

Does your receiver have/show bit rate info?

Hi @Bernard_Crawford,

No, sorry, I’m running straight out of the balanced connections on the Oppo UDP-205 into my power amplifier.

As far as I can tell there is no way to display info about the stream via the television display of the Oppo itself.

Thanks,

Cameron

http://www.avsforum.com/forum/149-blu-ray-players/2821841-official-oppo-udp-205-uhd-blu-ray-player-owner-s-thread-95.html#post55139870

MQA vis USB flash drive from http://www.2l.no/hires/ works fine, reports MQA Studio on HDMI display

I can confirm that playing one of the MQA flac files from the 2L High Resolution Music test bench linked by @wklie above shows the MQA Studio badge on the television, as shown below.

Without a receiver to observe the signal coming from the Oppo I’m not sure how to diagnose how the Roon -> Oppo stream is being processed further - maybe someone else can help?

This means that Oppo is no different than any non-MQA DACs in the market when playing MQA files via Roon. Unlike the Lumin products that do full MQA unfolding when used via Roon.

On another note, are you saying that you are using the UDP-205 as a preamp as well, since you are directly hooking it up to power amp? Any subwoofers involved? How do you control the volume? Are you happy with the SQ? Sorry for the barrage of questions.

I don’t know if it means that or not. All that’s missing are two words of text over the transport info. There are other differences between the information displayed when the Oppo is playing from USB vs when it is playing from Roon.

I’m not sure whether it is Roon or Oppo who was responsible for the graphical display over HDMI when Roon is playing on the UDP-205 - it’s possible that the graphical display wasn’t fully updated yet with the beta firmware.

And yes, I use the UDP-205 as a preamp as well. I did so with the BDP-105D and the BDP-83 before that. I use very small custom made attenuators that I built into the shell of the RCA connectors with a set of 5.1 cables I made back when I first got the BDP-83. The attenuators reduce the maximum voltage produced by the Oppo at full output (volume = 100) to the maximum level I want to listen to my speakers at during normal use.

To listen at lower volumes I then use the volume control provided by the Oppo. My (imperfect) understanding is that the nature of the volume control has varied over generations of Oppos, but on the UDP-205, at least, it is implemented in the ES9038PRO DAC chips themselves. These chips operate with a dynamic range of 32-bits, while the highest depth music we listen to is 24 bit, so there is a reasonable scope (8 bits) to reduce the volume of the analog signal being output by the chips without reducing the dynamic range of the music.

There is a post on another forum somewhere that suggests that keeping the volume above about 40 on the Oppo should result in no loss of depth even though the volume control is implemented in the digital domain. I haven’t done the maths myself, because I only just got the UDP-205 and simply transferred the old cables from the BDP-105D temporarily while I reorganise my listening room. I’m in the middle of a major upgrade, and although my plan is still to use the UDP-205 as the preamp, that may change as things progress.

I will say that if you’re going to do this you have to be very careful that the output of the Oppo (2.1V on the unbalanced RCA outs, and over 4V on the balanced outs, I believe) approximately matches the sensitivity of your power amplifier. Mine is about 1.1V for full output, from memory, but many others are far more sensitive. When they’re in place, the attenuators ensure that the signal received by the amplifier will never exceed 1.1V, even with the volume on the Oppo set to 100. However, in the process of reorganising my system I’ve temporarily replaced the attenuated RCA interconnects with some normal interconnects and I can drive the input of my power amp into clipping at around 80 on the Oppo volume control. With an amplifier with a more sensitive input, this is a configuration that would easily be capable of blowing amps and speakers. I would not recommend it for a permanent setup!

Absolutely excellent reply! It appears that you have considered and figured out everything.

While I don’t think I have the capacity to use attenuators and such, I do own a Parasound Halo P5 preamp, that I can use as a preamp. Then hook up Oppo 205 to it via XLR analog. I am not sure of the DAC quality on Oppo though, if I go this route, when streaming via Roon.

I can easily implement bass management through Halo p5, as it does crossovers for both mains and subs.

What do you think?

I emailed oppo support about mqa support with roon and got this response :

Roon works as an audio injection technology, and the ability for the player to allow for external audio injection is 24-bit/192kHz Stereo PCM. So the player is not able to accept anything at a higher resolution, number or channels, or media format. This is why you are not able to use MQA or DSD with Roon to the player, despite the player being able to access these media formats when the player is finding and selecting the files for playback.
Best Regards,

Customer Service
OPPO Digital, Inc.
162 Constitution Dr.
Menlo Park, CA 94025Service@oppodigital.com
Tel: 650-961-1118
Fax: 650-961-1119