TIDAL MQA content not playing properly (ref#RQBMH1)

Support
1

Hi! What’s not quite right with Roon?

· None of the above quite fits

None of the above quite fits

· None of these quite match

Tell us what's going on

· MQA content from Tidal is not playing properly in the last days.

Tell us about your home network

· Router is PFSence - Gig switch and playing through KEF LS50 II

2

This has been working correctly for years…

issues have just started.

3

What does this mean? What exactly is the issue?

4

Thanks for the reply. Sorry, I should have said the tracks play but sound absolutely horrible with lots of noise.

5

What DAC are you using? Also please confirm the MQA settings / advanced settings for the device, and share the signal path.

6

Hello @3.14nz ,

Thanks for reaching out to our support.

Can you please clarify whether you changed anything before this problem started ?

Also, can you please describe your setup connection and share a screenshots from settings of the DAC you’re playing the content to ?

Thanks.

7

Hi,

Thanks for any help!

The only thing that has changed is an update to my Roon core which is now on:

Operating System
Version 2.1 (build 271) production
Running 20 hours, 48 minutes, 16 seconds.
Roon Server Software
Version 2.64 (build 1646) production
Running 20 hours, 43 minutes, 51 seconds.

Signal path flow is shown below.

IMG_7961
IMG_79611206×2622 325 KB

IMG_7962
IMG_79621206×2622 289 KB

8

@3.14nz ,

Thanks for sharing a photo.

From it it looks like your DAC is doing MQA decoding work on its own.

Can you please go to the Roon Settings and enable MQA decoder on Roon’s side like this ?


This allows Roon to manage MQA unfolding and might improve the situation.

Can you please try that and let us know if that’s making things better for you ?

Thanks.

9

8 posts were merged into an existing topic: MQA files not playing properly in Roon (ref#BKYV89)

10

Hi,

I will be with the system in a few days and will try to make the change.

all the system is 100% wired end to end.

Thanks

11

Same issue here that just started with the recent March 2026 kef firmware update. I tracked it down to some high resolution Mqa songs from tidal. They sounded like they were underwater, kind of warbly.

This roon support suggestion fixed it for me, but I also had to specify mqa render only for the speaker.

Thanks!

1 Like
12

Thanks for letting us know @Rob_Farber!

And no problem @3.14nz - keep us posted on if the above helps you as well. :folded_hands:

13

Much softer problem persists.

I’ve uploaded an example as requested in the other thread.

Philip

14

I have the same problem. MQA sounds warbley and like underwater. Running Roon 2.64 and Kef firmware is 4.0. I also notice intermittent static/pops while music is playing.

15

@3.14nz,

Thanks for the extra testing.

Our recommendation here is to use the workaround recently found by one of Community members: go into the KEF speaker Device Setup in Roon and set Crossfade to 1 second.

Other than that, we recommend reaching out to KEF directly about this, since the behavior appears to be triggered by the update on their side.

Thanks.

16

Interesting that adding crossfade fixes it. What does crossfade actually do in terms of the incoming stream?

Kef have now acknowledged the issue and firmware 4.1 is apparently coming….

17

Hey, @Tom_Lillie,

Thanks for the update.

We cannot say exactly how or why setting Crossfade to 1 second works here, but the behavior appears to be tied to a specific KEF speaker firmware and model, so it looks more dependent on stream handling on the speaker side.

Thanks for letting us know that KEF has acknowledged it.

We will stay tuned for their firmware update as well.