I have the Roon Nucleus and a Meridian 218 mqa dac. The meridian is capable of 24 bits 192 kHz.
When playing MQA through tidal I get that rate on playback.
With a 24, 192 FLAC file from Qobuz, Roon downsamples to 24/96.
In the Roon Qobuz settings I have it set for 24/192. Why is it downsampling?
What can I do to remedy the issue?
Meridian only do 96k with normal flac files… How does it sound, bearing in mind you have MHR, appodising and EBA available?
It sounds fine but I’ve yet to do a comparison with 192 non mqa file. I understood from meridian tech that the 218 supports 192 with a flac file. I’m curious how you know it does not. I could find nothing online that says that.
How are is the 218 connected? It is limited to 96 if the feed is Toslink.
Below is the product page on Meridian, specs are on the bottom.
https://www.meridian-audio.com/products/digital-pre-amps/218/
I use a 210/218 combo into DSP SE speakers and always understood Meridian had a 96k limit. The 218 upsample and apodises the signal and this sounds amazing whatever you throw at it.
I though I could use the 210 on it’s on, but with the 218 as a pre amp, it is far superior to my ears.
I have it connected through analog on the 218 and I understand that supports 192. And it does on mqa files. Meridian Tech seemed to think it was a settings issue but all the settings seem to be right.
192 may be the internal conversion rate
I think that we are having a miscommunication. How is Roon connected to the 218? Perhaps if you write out the connection path it might be helpful.
RoonCore > COAX > 218 for example.
Both the 218 and nucleus are connected to my network. The 218 and nucleus are not directly connected. The 218 analog output is connected to my anthem Str preamp analog input. This analog of the meridian supports 24/192.
From the manual
One network input (Ethernet) for connection to a Roon system or an alternative control interface
The manual doesn’t specify what the incoming resolution limit is on the network interface. This number can vary depending on the interface (like Coax has a limit of 24/192, Toslink has a limit of 24/96, etc) For this you should contact their tech support directly and ask about the Ethernet interface.
Roon queries the endpoint, aka 218, and asks what it can accept and then defaults to this number. If you go to settings/audio and select the device settings, under Advanced you will see this setting
What is the Max Sample Rate (PCM) being displayed?
Would it be a network issue since Roon does 192 on mqa file? I will look at Roon Device settings when I get home but as I recall it did not have any bitrate or pcm listed in advanced settings.
MQA can be unfolded to higher rates but are 48k at the input
Look at this; I have a Meridian MS 200 - the 192kb song on Qobuz is downssampled… but… no more lossless, ”just” high Quality
The other source Tidal… then the song is played in 96/24 and lossless.
Any ideas?
The maximum input is 24/96 for your end point and so Roon downsampled…
