I just tried using the alternate ethernet port. No difference.
To be clear: The cost of the Rossini or the Vivaldi or whatever is not an issue for me. What is an issue for me is spending time troubleshooting this. My patience is running short.
Andrew, many thanks for all the tips on the Rossini MQA firmware update and mentioning the M1 filter. Like many on this forum, I had to manually switch to M1 but now itâs automatic when I play MQA tracks. Do we know what this filter is doing? It almost seems to adjust the phase or time alignment of the music in a positive way.
When I play MQA tracks via Tidal, I miss the initial approx 1/4 second of the track. The M1 filter is on. This only happens on Tidal MQA tracks, no matter what sample rate. Playback on Tidal Redbook plays fine. All sample rates via UPnP on my NAS drive play correctly from the beginning of the track.
Is there a setting on the Rossini to correct this for Tidal MQA tracks?
The M1 filter is the MQA filter that is one of the key ingredients to MQA end-to-end decoding. MQA wonât specifically say what it is, but there has been a lot of speculation and reverse-engineering which suggests that itâs a very short (leaky) minimum phase filter. Although you can use any of the other filters you arenât getting the âfull MQA experienceâ without the M1 filter.
This is a known issue and will be corrected. It has to do with the sequence of events in identifying an MQA data stream and then switching in all of the MQA plumbing within the DAC.
Andrew
Do you know how dCS has chosen to handle non-MQA files? On another site I saw this response from one manufacturer .
Stereophile is suggesting some MQA certified DAC or network player passes non-MQA music to MQA processing. (This way it is technically easier to implement.)
We do not do that. Pllayback of non-MQA music does not go through MQA processing, while maintaining seamless switching among MQA, non-MQA PCM, and DSD music.
A little background first.
MQA decoding has two steps:
1- Unfolding (takes rate to 2x original rate) - this process is common across all platforms and implementations and âunfoldsâ high frequency information encoded in the 8 least significant bits in the 24bit original signal.
In the dCS implementation, this step is done in the network card (either in the Rossini, Network Bridge, or Vivaldi Upsampler when those last two updates come out).
2- A second step applies upsampling filters to the signal - the signal out of step 1 contains information to be used in step 2 to select which of (32?) upsampling filters will be used. Since different DACs have implemented these differently, it needs to be tailored to the DAC.
In the dCS implementation this is done in FPGA. More importantly, the exact nature of the filter (M1) was defined precisely by the MQA team rather than relying on the closest possible settings (as is the case in the ESS DAC implementations, at least that is my understanding).
So to answer your question, since the Rossini selects the M1 filter only when an MQA stream is detected, and any of the other ones when not, then the Rossini does not just simply default to an MQA filter for everything. It is also likely that the M1 filter accomodates for the MQA filter selection internally - ie one of those 32 choices - but I have no idea if this is the case or if the implementation simply sticks to one of those 32.
Is defaulting to an MQA filter for everything bad? If that is done for expense reasons then I would say those DACs are probably not resolving enough to really tell those filters apart anyway⌠
Thanks again for your explanation. Not sending non-MQA files through the MQA filter should assuage some of the fears of the anti-MQA pundits.
I read a comment a while back about the Meridian Explorer2 sounding good with MQA but not as good as other DACs in the price range with standard PCM content. I wonder if that DAC is one where the MQA filter is always on.
Any claims you read that the Meridian Explorer 2 DAC does a god job with MQA files is purely marketing hype. I purchased an Explorer 2 DAC early in 2017 when Tidal first launched MQA tracks and quite frankly I canât hear the difference between MQA and Redbook format. The blue light on the Explorer 2 does light up so it appears that the DAC unfolds and is achieving studio authentication.
I have listened to a lot of MQA content when I had a 808v6 and now with the Rossini and never has the MQA file sounded worse than a Redbook version, almost always better and often equal to any the hi-rez version.
I am surprised you are not hearing any difference from the Redbook version.
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James, Iâm referring to the Meridian Explorer 2 DAC where I canât tell any difference between Redbook & MQA tracks. My Rossini is a different story, especially after reading Andrewâs note to set the M1 filter. The M1 filter is a game changer and worth the wait.
dCS Rossini DAC/CLOCK combi after the update:
Solved so far:
That the display freezes when switching to different sampling frequencies.
New Issue
Sometimes (+/- 40%) a very loud click when switching to a nother track/album.
This is so loud that I do not play MQA files anymore.
Can I switch off MQA in the dCS? NOâŚ
So, for now II use a Sonore UltraRendu to play the Tidal music.
A known issue
When I play MQA tracks via Tidal, I miss the initial approx 1/4 second of the track.
Core on SonicTransporter i7 / 8GB > USB 3.0 > 2x 2TB SSD in Oyen Digital MiniPro RAID V2
Is there a pattern in which this noise is more common? In other words, does it only seem to happen when going from DSD to a specific PCM rate or switching in and out of MQA tracks or something else?
It would be helpful if you could provide some tracks (preferably Tidal) in which youâre getting this behavior consistently so that troubleshooting can be done. I have yet to encounter this issue after a lot of testing, so any more info here would be helpful in getting the bug tracked down.
Also, are you running the Rossini direct to your amp or via a premap? What amp (and preamp) are you using? What output voltage setting are you using on the Rossini?
The click is happen only when I am playing a MQA track and go to an other track, MQA or any file.
When I am playing the same album it is possible everything is ok.
There are no certain albums or tracks that it always happens to,
That is precisely the annoying.
dCS Rossini DAC with dCS Rossini Clock > 6V output > PassLabs 250.5 power amplifier > Duntech Black Night speakers.
All Shunyata cables en Power distributors. (Sitech speaker cables).
When I play my Sonore UtraRendu with USB to the DAC never ever problems, PURE MUSIC but no MQA, ha haâŚ
Andrew,
I see in the dCS native iPad app that MQA tracks can be found in the Tidal main menu under New --> Masters. Perhaps Iâm doing something wrong but I only see a limited number of MQA albums or perhaps playlists at this location. Is there any chance that the dCS iPad app will indicate which albums are MQA by showing the MQA icon within the album art before selecting an album to place in the queue? The Lumin app provides this MQA icon feature which makes it easy to identify and play MQA albums while searching by artist albums.
Thanks,
Brian âŚ
This is the âTidal Mastersâ information that is provided by Tidal and itâs the same information thatâs shown in the âMastersâ tab in the Tidal app.
Tidal doesnât provide a consistent way to identify all MQA content to third parties so some manufacturers have developed workarounds (which are usually manually curated). Once Tidal provides this functionality consistently it will be easier for third parties to properly identify Tidal MQA content while browsing.
One workaround (that works really well) is to browse using the Tidal app (which provides an indicator for MQA content). When you find something youâre interested then add it as a favorite and it will be available in the dCS app under âMy Musicâ and will also automatically be added to your Roon library.
Andrew,
Perhaps Iâm doing something wrong with the native dCS app but when I select NEW --> MASTERS (Albums), I currently only see 33 artists such as TIDAL Masters: Tom Petty or TIDAL Masters: Motown. When I select one of these 33 options, Iâm presented with a song list of Tom Petty or Motown MQA tracks, not a list of Tom Petty or Motown MQA albums.
In the TIDAL desktop app, when I select âWhatâs New --> Mastersâ, Iâm presented with a list of hundreds of MQA albums, generally but not reliably sorted by artist name.
Am I doing something wrong with the dCS app?
My advice?
Use the dCS app only for the settings of the dCS.
Use the Tidel app for searching and add master albums
Use Roon for the playback
I agree with Roony!
Yes, agree w @Roony. It would be nice not to have to go to the TIDAL app for decent search but so be it.
Also I want to reiterate how amazing it is that I can be on my phone/ipad/at work, like a TIDAL album on any TIDAL platform, and have it appear on my Roon list. Love this.