MQA with outboard DAC

Roon Software Discussion
1

Hello, I am new to Roon and have a question regarding Tidal MQA and Roon. I have an outboard DAC that I really enjoy. I don’t need Roon (on Windows10) to decode MQA. Is there a way to passthru the signal so my DAC decodes Tidal MQA like with the native Tidal app? So far, Roon is only sending non-MQA. Thank you, John

2

Here’s a link to Roon’s knowledge base about how to do that…

3

What is the brand and model of your MQA DAC?

Do you know whether it’s a MQA Full Decoder DAC or a MQA Renderer DAC?

4

It is a S.M.S.L SU-9. I believe it does full decoding.

https://www.smsl-audio.com/portal/product/detail/id/722.html

5

In Roon, set Tidal quality to Master. Set MQA Capabilities to Decoder and Renderer. Keep MQA Core decoder enabled.

If you want the DAC to do the full MQA decoding, disable Roon DSP Engine and volume leveling.

1 Like
6

Thanks. In your opinion what are the pros and cons of disabling DSP and volume levelling?

7

If you use either, you will have to use Roon MQA Core decoding and use the DAC only for MQA rendering, not full decoding. There is no con here.

The requirements of DSP or volume leveling, plus passthrough to the DAC for MQA Full decoding, are contradictory.

8

Thanks for this.