Roon, TIDAL and MQA

Let’s wait to see the final solution shall we? The main thing is we have a choice. If that prevents a pleasing blue light from coming on we won’t be jumping off motorway bridges will we?

May Mr. Pawlow be with us!
Long live the Blue Light!

Nothing better than a contented dog. You must be a cat man!

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What you are seeing is the bit conversion Roon does for DSP purposes like your headroom -3db adjustment.

I couldn’t give a monkeys about the blue light personally.
For me the difference dsp/room correction make is far more important in my setup (and I don’t have an mqa dac in my main setup anyway).

My point was more that it will be a choice that mqa ‘force’ on its users. Mqa = no dsp, at least in any practical sense from what I’ve understood so far…will be interesting to see how this all ‘unfolds’

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Returning to the oriiginal subject of this thread, if anyone has suggestions or complaints regarding the way that MQA / Masters are presented & accessible, the more people that give feedback to Tidal, the more inclined they might be to improve things…

Roon have already stated there’s not a lot they can (currently) do from their end.

For a MQA capable DAC (such as Meridian Explorer2), is it a requirement they connect directly to a computer, or connecting them to Sonicorbiter or microrendu would be fine for MQA playback?

No. I’ve done it with a microrendu. And MQA files light up the blue light if there is no DSP anywhere in the chain.

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MQA can’t force anything on anyone. The public are not stupid or gullible. The majority will make up their minds based on what is best for their system and if that isn’t MQA then blue lights won’t sway them. MQA and Tidal still have a lot of work to do.

You can pass MQA through a Roon endpoint. Just don’t add any DSP to the chain.

Getting the “blue light” on my Meridian Explorer2 coming off my Auralic Altair’s USB output. Volume has to be at 100 however to maintain full MQA.

I have a PS Audio DirectStream DAC and a Meridian Explorer2 (to see what MQA sounds like).

To the DirectStream I have Tidal do the “unfolding”.
To the Explorer2 I have Tidal in “passthru” mode.

MQA files do not sound as good on the DirectStream DAC vs. the Explorer2. I suspect that, of the two benefits of MQA (1. higher resolution in a small package, 2. “deblurring”) that unless your DAC does #2, you won’t enjoy the true benefits of MQA.

I see that PS Audio is working on software for their Bridge2, which I presume will only do the “unfolding”. I suspect that it may not deliver the real benefits MQA has to offer.

Right now I’m listening to Heartbeat City (Tidal Master) by The Cars. Roon is streaming to my Auralic Altair, outputting via USB to Meridian Explorer 2 which then goes analog to my headphone rig (Senn 800 / Senn HDVA 600 amp).

Lossless all the way through and blue light on the Meridian indicating full MQA. Life is good!!

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am listening to an MQA created by me TIDAL/MASTERS playlist of 548 tracks including ‘I’ll Be Your Lover,Too’ by Van Morrison with 2 white lights and a blue light via ME2 now Robert Ellis-‘Pride’ with just a blue light, ‘I Won’t Back Down’ by Tom Petty with one white light and a blue light- first with my Senn 598 HD’s and now through my ‘old’ avr to my 7 channel Henry Kloss Cambridge Soundworks towers Model six’s and sr-300 satellites. SQ is delectable!

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Essentially I have two systems, my desktop where the Tidal app resides, has two speakers and an Ex2. When I play MQA from Tidal on my desktop the EX2 shows the blue light for 44/48, the blue light and one white light for 88/96 and the blue light and both lights for 192 or higher–right by the book.

When I designate an MQA album as a favorite in Tidal I switch to Roon on my desktop or iPad and that album plays through the 818 and DSP6ks. The 818 shows MQA and 44/48, 88/96, 192 or higher with the Tidal passthru on or off, no difference. My Roon library is on a SSD connected to an ST which is on the network along with the 818 and desktop. The only USB connection is between the SSD and the ST (and my desktop speakers and the EX2).

On the desktop, do you get these lights with passthrough both on and off.

Through Roon, the Tidal app and its passthrough setting is not involved, so that behavior is all good.

The use case I have a problem with is the Tidal app connected to the 818 through USB, in non-passthrough mode: I’m supposed to get MQA decoding in the 818 but didn’t. This is not a configuration you use. Is it something you can test?

Just checked and yes, both on or off.

I may have to download the USB drivers since I’ve never used a USB connection. I’ll look into it. Now that I think about it my desktop is twenty feet from my 818 so that won’t work.

Hi Anders
Just wanted to clarify that you when trying the above combination that

  1. Tidal MQA Pasthru setting is Off [as you state above]

  2. Exclusive Mode is ON within Tidal settings [Settings >> Streaming >> USB Output >> Gears]

  3. AND that Roon is OFF on the PC that you are using Tidal app thru…[both will try grab the USB Output in Exclusive mode otherwise]