Pi4 + Ropieee XL + Topping D70s MQA - Issues with MQA playback

Audio Products RoPieee
#1

Hi there, not sure if this is the right forum to post this (as I am not sure its a Ropieee issue) but I am having issues with playing Tidal MQA streams through Roon.

Setup is : Pi4 4gb with RopieeeXL (Latest release version) wired ethernet in -> Topping D70s MQA Dac via USB -> XLR to power amp -> Speakers.

The issue I’m having is that the dac does not seem to lock onto the MQA stream properly, resulting in the following:

  • Pressing play can result in the playback slider advancing, but no sound

  • advancing or rewinding the playback slider stops sound, while slider continues to advance from placed position

  • Left or Right channels will sometimes not work (playback from one channel only)

  • Pausing and restarting will result in no sound, while playback slider advances

I have tried a few albums (96k MQA, 88 and 44k MQA) and have had the above issues. I have set the resynch delay to 50ms from 0 and the above issues are still occurring. There are no issues streaming CD quality FLAC. Using the Pi + Ropieee in Airplay mode results in no issues in playback with either MQA or CD FLAC files - hence my suspicion its a dac / signal issue.

D70s MQA and FLAC signal chains are listed below :

Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.10.47 PM
Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.10.47 PM740×1844 145 KB

Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.17.33 PM
Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.17.33 PM718×1148 87.2 KB

Equivalent Airplay signal chain:

Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.18.37 PM
Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.18.37 PM714×1070 78.4 KB

Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.09.59 PM
Screen Shot 2021-01-12 at 12.09.59 PM742×1272 102 KB

I have also tested the Pi4+ Ropieee as a streamer to my Cambridge CXNv2 streamer/dac. There are no issues in MQA or FLAC playback via USB (Roon is decoder - no MQA renderer so first unfold only).

Any advice is appreciated! Thanks, Gerry

#2

Are you connected via Wifi or LAN?

Maybe worth sending Harry @spockfish a feedback in the advanced menu on the GUI

#3

Check whether you’re using the latest firmware for the DAC.

Disable Volume Leveling and Disable DSP Engine. If these help, your current DAC firmware is not supporting MQA rendering.

#4

@wizardofoz Thanks - I’ll send through Ropieee to @spockfish. I am using wired.
@wklie No updates yet. I do have an email to Topping support - maybe they have discovered or other users have discovered a similar issue. I will try with a cleaner signal chain to see if it makes a difference.

Thanks!

G

#5

@spockfish Hi Harry I sent a log to you - adfb13423081faca - to see if there is anything wrong with Ropieee configuration that is causing the issue. Appreciate any feedback.

Otherwise the problem continues with no convolution filters or volume levelling in place.

G

#6

Your logs are being flooded with RoonBridge reporting buffer underrun errors and I see USB input/output errors.

I think the problem lies on the DAC side of things.

#7

Thanks, I suspected so. GH