Hello everyone! I have a raspberry pi connected via USB to my RA-1570. The Rotel docs state (link below) that the USB port supports “Any supported format by the PC software” for some reason I doubt this applies to MQA. Can anyone confirm it can use MQA data to it’s full potential and what settings I should use with it in Roon? When I set Roon’s MQA settings to any of the settings the result seems to still be PCM on the rotel… Is this correct? Just trying to understand what the best settings are for the specific hardware.
The Rotel will play MQA files (which are in fact PCM format) but cannot use MQA data to its full potential.
Roon will do what is called the first unfold to give you a 88.1/24 or 96/24 bit file from the MQA file on Tidal. This gives you most of the benefits of MQA, you are just missing what is called the rendering which does anymore unfolding if there is a larger original master and applies some filters to “get the best out” of the DAC in you Rotel. According to some this should get you 90% of the benefits of MQA.
Roon will likely do this automatically for you but to be sure under Device Setup in Roon (go to Settings,Audio and select the cog wheels by the device) ensure the MQA Capabilities are set to “No MQA Support”.