If the Dac will play an MQA file with hp eq disabled, it seems to me that Roon is clearly sending something differently to the Dac with hp eq enabled vs disabled.
So I ask again
What does the Roon send differently to the Dac enabled vs enabled
You guys should know that or be able to figure it out.
Am I the only one in the world experiencing this problem?
Is there any progress on this?
Please don’t make me regret my lifetime commitment to Roon. This issue is becoming very frustrating and amplified by the lack of communication from support.
Not quite the same as your situation, but playing MQA with EQ on Nucleus to RPi4 and Mojo 2. If it works here, not sure why it would not work for you.
Post screenshots of the signal path with HP EQ enabled when you don’t hear anything and another with HO EQ disabled when you do hear music.
Also, when you have HO EQ enabled, try another headphones filter. See what happens.
IIRC, some devices don’t work as MQA renderer only, they require full control over the MQA playback chain (decoder and renderer). Because of the DSP, you’re in renderer only mode. You should check with MSB if MQA renderer only mode works with your DAC. See also:
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Unfortunately, you didn’t follow the correct approach for opening a support ticket, so this thread is not tracked by Roon’s ticketing system (note the ticket references in most Support threads.).
It’d be interesting to understand why you chose not to follow this link …
I can flag Roon support for you, or, alternatively, if you open a support request as above, merge this thread with the tracked one.
I actually did attempt - twice - to follow the process, but the trail of the questions did not lead to identifying anything remotely close to the problem I have.
This process may cover most problems, but there should be a way get help beyond this scripted approach that obviously has holes.
Please do flag support for me, thanks.
Thanks for the feedback. The moderators have already notified Roon staff.
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The last option of the first menu is the way to go if the other options don’t fit… it allows for a non-scripted support submission.
Just echoing @mjw comment, that the forum mods are making sure Roon staff are made aware of any difficulties that are reported.
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Ok, I see that I needed to answer twice that the options don’t quite cover the issue. My bust.
I sent this to MSB today…
I recently downsized my home and, having no room (or spousal approval) for a listening room, have sized my system to be:
I7 NUC w/ Roon Rock & 3tb drive
diamond DAC
Feliks Envy headphone amp
meze Empyrean headphones
Truly awesome sounding rig - once you get past the headphone imaging…
Anyway, here is my issue.
Roon has a headphone equalization capability that works very well at smoothing the response of these already great phones.
But…trying to play an MQA file with the HP Eq enabled fails. After Disabling HPEq the files will play.
As far as Roon’s settings for the MSB zone, here’s a summary:
MQA WILL play if
No MQA support
Decoder only
If, in advanced settings, the ‘enable MQA core decoder’ is toggled to NO, regardless of the other MQA settings. But unsure in this case if it’s decoding or not - guessing not.
MQA will NoT play if:
enable MQA core decoder’ is toggled to yes
Renderer only
Decoder and renderer
My question to Roon - still unanswered, is ‘What does the DAC see differently when playing an MQA file with hpeq enabled vs disabled’. Obviously something different enough to cause the Dac to reject the file….
I would have thought that Roon would do its thing and send the Dac something that looked identical after applying the eq, but I guess not…
The ROON device setup option ‘enable Roon core decoder’ seems to maybe be the ANSWER? when OFF, all files will play. When ON, MQA files will not play (if HPeq enabled). It has always been ON until I had this issue…
My question is ‘ are the MQA files being decoded?
And what should be the ‘correct’ settings to assure full unwrapping of MQA with HPeq enabled.
This seems to be the issue because the default setting is …
… That is, it can’t operate as renderer only. Therefore, Roon can’t do the decode with DSP.
Ref.: The Network Render V2 - Roon Setup - MSB Technology
I also note that the Renderer module allows the computer to control volume. If device volume is enabled, this may break MQA signalling.
In your situation, I’d not be overly concerned about the render stage, and use Roon as decoder-only and set the DAC to no capability, i.e., removing MQA signalling. This should get you working.
In my listening tests with a renderer-only MQA DAC, I didn’t notice a difference when combining with DSP and headphone EQ.
That said, when things don’t work as expected I am irritated and will pursue a solution.
Hi @jstrouth,
Thanks for all the additional information and for your patience so far! Apologies in that your thread seemed to slip through the cracks here.
Were you able to review what @mjw has suggested above? This very well may be an ideal setup for you.
Let us know where things stand! 
Well, I listen to a lot of music, but never (if I can help it) get into the bowels of the software. So I’m essentially ignorant…
Can someone tell me exactly what settings I’d make to follow the suggestion above?
Thanks, and pardon my lack of knowledge.
In Device Settings, set MQA capabilities to No MQA support, and Enable MQA core decoder in Advanced settings.
You should have no further issue playing MQA using MUSE.
However, note that the DAC will not recognize the stream as MQA although the correct sample rate will be displayed.
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Thank you!
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