cocktailAudio ND15D, Audiolab 8200CDQ, Naim DAC V1, Bel Canto Amp, Prima Luna Amp
Number of Tracks in Library
5000
Description of Issue
The cocktailAudion ND15D does MQA render and decode on hardware and sends to NAIM DAC V1 via co-axial digital output - no issues. However, the same digital signal via optical to Audiolab 8200CDQ does not work. Non MQA signals work fine. Also when using the rather bad cocktailAudio MusicX Neo app, the Audiolab works fine with MQA signal. Therefore, I have to assume a compatibility issue of Roon signal that relates MQA, even though the render and decoding is done by ND15D hardware,
What happens, if you use coaxial for the Audio Lab and Toslink for the Naim?
It may be “the same digital signal” but it’s a different output, nevertheless!
Give it a go and let us know…
BTW, your Audio Lab only supports up to 96kHz/24bit for all its inputs, which is your bottleneck compared to the other components.
Also take note, that MQA’s so called rendering can only be done for the ND15D analog output.
That said, you could compare Roon’s MQA first unfold decoder to the one in the ND15D, although its manual does not explicitly state it being applied to the digital out.
And to top it all off, you could compare ND15D analog output with MQA full unfold applied.
Thanks Marin. As you and the Roon team have also suggested, I have now swapped and connected the TOSLINK from ND15D to the Naim DAC V1. As you know the Naim can deal with 192khz via TOSLINK unlike the Audiolab. Once again, I have no issues playing non-MQA files, but get no audio from MQA files. Once again under this same hardware setup – I can play the same MQA file/song via the Music X App.
Under the ND15D to Audiolab CDQ via co-axial, MQA files are played without issues. I note your points about the rendering being only for the analogue output - this is a surprise to me. Regardless, the issue seems to me the difference between two digital outputs from the ND15D…
I am petrified that we didn’t notice your post until today . We’re so sorry! It looks like soon after you posted, @Marin_Weigel, one of our subscribers has chimed in with valuable input — thanks a lot!
While not all functions are necessarily available for a device that is not Roon Certified, we’d love to take a closer look, if this (no sound on your Audiolab 8200CDQ when playing MQA files through Roon) is still an issue, could you please share a screenshot of your Signal Path when trying to play such a track?
. We’re so sorry! It looks like soon after you posted,