Tidal still has many MQA albums. My device do not utilize MQA.
Question - what ends up getting delivered to my speakers? CD quality FLAC?
Thanks!
Your DAC–like my Chord DAC–will receive the 44.1 kHz stream unless you enable the core decoder, in which case, with this example, it’ll be 88.2 kHz.
So, yes, it is CD quality*. For MQA 88.1 up to 192 kHz, you may prefer to let Roon do the decoding, and send this to the DAC. An MQA-enabled DAC would handle the rendering stage, which is essentially a filter.
*Let’s not get into a debate about the MQA format.
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In case of MQA 44/16 it can be anything, but definitely inferior than CD quality, as some bits of dynamic range are lost. I do not mean to start a discussion on MQA, but i think people should be aware of that.
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The disclaimers are killing me. 
Thanks all for your input.
As a deaf person* learning to listen to music its a real help.
- with a cochlear implant
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Thanks for the generalization, when I had, perhaps too subtlely, asked that we did not enter such a debate. It is amusing to think that you can throw that in and then expect no response. 
For balance, there are some superb MQA recordings, e.g., TrondheimSolistene Magnificat. So, as ever, it depends.
But please be clear, further discussion about the format shall be removed.
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I notice that you use Devialet Phantom II. What does the Signal Path show when you play 88.2kHz or higher flac (not MQA)?
When RAAT was introduced for the Phantom II, 48kHz was reported as max sample rate and Roon down sampled higher rez to 48kHz.
If that is still the case Roon will not even enable the first MQA unfold because part of the unfold is factor-two upsampling, either 88.2 or 96 which the Phantoms may not support.
I was told devialet only support 48kHz in stereo mode so I broke the pair and played to one directly. (All are Ethernet connected.) Still down samples to 48mHz. 
(How does one ever get 96mHz - the speaker’s rating - I have no idea.)
Fortunately it sounds pretty darn good so I guess this is what I will use.
Thanks for your help mate
One last comment if I may, TrondheimSolistene Magnificatis is AWESOME if you get the DXD version.
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DXD is just the format, and it’s equally good on the hybrid SACD (with MQA CD) and the audio Blu-ray in surround. Indeed, it’s the production and mastering that make this an outstanding recording.
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You may be able to send 96kHz or higher to the Phantom II, possibly to the optical input, but it is very likely that the speaker itself will downsample to 48kHz. Roon is better at resampling than the internals of Phantoms so the 48kHz you see in Roon’s Signal Path is most likely quite optimal. If one could send up to 96kHz to Phantoms, MQA would work when the player software does ‘first unfold’.
The ‘big’ Phantom I does it the same way. We (at the Devialetchat forum) always thought that Phantoms supported 192kHz (or even higher). Only when Phantoms became Roon-ready did we see what actually happens. Tells us that the downsampling routine in Phantoms is actually very good. Roon Signal Path is truthful so 48kHz is the native rate for ordinary Phantoms.
The Phantom II Custom does support 96kHz, however. One must use Dante to stream to it over ethernet or AES/EBU for a direct digital connection.
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I have set mqa to be last priority in settings and turned off my encoder and decoder functions on the dac but when I disable the core decoder tab in advanced options the signal path indicate that the mqa file is being used and the signal is enhanced.
When the core decoder tab is enabled the signal path is lossless.
Does anyone have the same problem?
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drop a bomb about MQA, then forbid further discussion.
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What? Is this an attempt to curry favour with a moderator?
Quoting my first post that answers the OP’s question, and then, selectively, part of my second post asking the discussion to stay on topic, is mischievous at best.
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That is correct.
A pair of Phantoms made into a stereo pair only support 48k.
Any single Phantom will do 96k.
Provided settings are adjusted to allow it.
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it is not.
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Probably need an optical connection as it won’t play 96 on Ethernet. (Or more accurately I can’t get it to play 96! )
Well, I thought that was very evident in my post, and the 
emoji was unnecessary. So, to be clear, please do not intentionally misquote or derail the discussion.
No it plays 96k over Ethernet to just a single Phantom just fine.
Or should I say it does for myself to a Phantom 95.
Using Roon.
Very odd - no joy for me. Anyhow the sound is pretty solid so I’m good - albeit puzzled.
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