Roon's MQA features with dCS products

[dabassgoesboomboom]

In general the best practice is to have the MQA decoder as close to the renderer as possible.

Hi Andrew, can you share the reason/s why this is general best practice?

Feel free to go deep ‘into the weeds’ if you have to

[reeve_mike (Mike Reeve)]

Hi Keith

A while back I posted a feature request to provide the option of
two separate paths through the Roon DSP section, one for PCM and one for DSD, see

Separate PCM & DSD paths through DSP

Background: (1) I usually upsample PCM files, either to "Max PCM Rate (Power of Two) or DSD, which in general requires a Headroom Adjustment of -3dB. (2) I usually play back DSD files untouched by DSP. If I have a mixed PCM & DSD playlist, because of DSP being enabled to upsample the PCM tracks the Headroom Adjustment of -3dB gets applied to the DSD files, but I want them untouched. Would it be possible to have an option to enable DSP for (1) PCM & DSD, (2) PCM only or (3) DSD only? [Or …

[Akin to, but more flexible than, the “DSD Pass-Through” feature of the Vivaldi Upsampler.]

Seems like it should be three paths rather than two: PCM, DSD and MQA.

Regards, Mike

[dabassgoesboomboom]

In general the best practice is to have the MQA decoder as close to the renderer as possible.

Hi Andrew, just in case you missed my earlier question, just wondering if you can share the reason/s why this is considered general best practice?

Cheers in advance

[AMP (Andrew P)]

Hi Andrew, just in case you missed my earlier question, just wondering if you can share the reason/s why this is considered general best practice?

I should have chosen my words more carefully

How about, “MQA’s recommendation is that the decoding process happens as close to the renderer as possible.”

In terms of reality there’s no difference between the decoding process happening in the DAC or halfway around the world. It’s just data transfer at that point. The issue is what digital processing components get inserted. A simple digital volume control inserted in the signal path will potentially compromise the MQA signaling information if MQA isn’t taken into account ahead of time.

[dabassgoesboomboom]

I should have chosen my words more carefully

How about, “MQA’s recommendation is that the decoding process happens as close to the renderer as possible.”

Hehe much the same. Still had me scratching my head but… see below.

In terms of reality there’s no difference between the decoding process happening in the DAC or halfway around the world. It’s just data transfer at that point.

This is why my eyebrows raised. I was thinking the same but… see below.

The issue is what digital processing components get inserted.

Noted. I had guessed this was the background to your comment / MQA’s recommendation.

Thanks!