I thought there were comments above from those with Roon using Tidal that have the same problem that I do.
Also others that have equipment from different audio brands.
Does anyone know of any settings in Roon or Tidal that would correct this problem?
There is a fair amount of recent online chatter about Tidal MQA decoding problems involving multiple audio hardware manufacturers, including Auralic, Aurender, Naim and Pioneer. It seems likely that this MQA decoding issue is a Tidal-created situation. The fact that it arose around the same time that Sunlight was released is purely coincidental … an instance of correlation without causation.
Serhan doesn’t seem to be having trouble with it. But as more info comes, it seems something funky is going on with Tidal.
Some people have speculated that this may have something to do with the current MQA decoding situation:
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I understand that this problem may originate with Tidal.
But how do we explain that some can display MQA and others cannot?
My only goal is to find a solution to correct this problem for those who cannot get MQA to work such as myself.
Right and it’s a good question. I’ll try and do some more digging.
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My DSD-DAC w/Sunlight connected with Roon/TIDAL is working just fine and decoding MQA without issue.
To be clear to all who read this thread.
I am only referring to the screen display on the Directstream dac itself.
Only FLAC,Unk,or DoP will display on the screen not MQA.
This does not refer to the signal path displayed in Roon.
Ah, yes this seems to be true. The PS Audio display can be finicky.
On my DSJr I’ve had success in getting the unit to show “MQA” by adjusting the settings in Roon as follows: (1) the device is set to be a “decoder and renderer,” (2) the MQA switch on Roon is set to “off,” i.e. Roon is set to do nothing, and (3) volume is set to “fixed.”
Any other setting, the DSJr displays “Unk” or in some cases “Wav.”
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My DAC display also shows the MQA decoding display on the unit as well without issue.
Hi all, where did we get to with this issue?
When Sunlight was first released I installed it and it broke something with MQA through my Aurender streamer. I didn’t have time available to investigate it, so I just rolled back to Windom and planned to investigate later.
I reinstalled Sunlight a couple of days ago and Bridge II now doesn’t unfold MQA beyond 48/24. I streamed a 192/24 album through the Auremder and the DSD reproduced it at 96/24 - which is expected as the Aurender just performs the first unfold. The same album through Mconnect registers as 48/24 on the Bridge II. I am sure that prior to Sunlight it used to perform the complete unfold to 192/24.
I also have a purchased DSF file on a NAIM server. When I access this file directly through the SPDIF connection, the DSD indicates a 176.4/16 PCM file. When I access it through the Aurender (I2S via the Matrix) the DSD indicates a DSD 128/1 DOP file. Strangely though, when I access it through Mconnect, the screen on Mconnect indicates a dsf |1 bit| 5644.8 file, but on the Bridge II it indicates a 88.2/16 file.
Any insights would be appreciated.
Sunlight won’t have impacted how the Bridge II works. It also didn’t change anything as far as MQA goes either. Tidal made a change just about the same time Sunlight came out so a lot of folks thought they were correlated. MQA still works if using Tidal with Roon but it doesn’t do the full unfold if using Mconnect.
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Hi James, Thanks for the quick response.
I understand the initial MQA/Tidal issue, but what prompted my question (poorly framed as it was), is that when I access a DSF file on the NAS (NAIM Core in this instance), the Mconnect player recognises it as a “dsf | 1 bit | 5644.8 kHz” file, but the Bridge II recognises it as an 88.2/16 file. This suggests (to me at least, maybe not to others) that the resolution has been reduced inside the Bridge II.
And this led me to suppose (mistakenly) that perhaps what I was seeing was something different to the initial MQA/Tidal issue.
Is there a known reason why a DSF file would be accorded a different resolution level between Mconnect and the Bridge II? The NAS and Bridge II are both hard wired to the same satellite WIFI router and are less than 1 meter apart.
Hi @burnsey
I use Roon (Nucleus+ as a core) to stream DSF to Bridge II from the excellent Naim Uniti Core. What I get on Bridge is DSD 1 bit, DoP 64. Bridge II does not have the capability to convert DSD to PCM.
My guess, the onus is on streaming software.
I think there is something going on upstream in this case. Maybe within the Mconnect app. Like Serhan said, the Bridge doesn’t have the ability to do any converting within. It only does what it’s told. I haven’t used the Mconnect app in a while but maybe there’s a setting in there to allow DSD playback.
I have a similar situation. When playing MQA files from Tidal using Mconnect, I don’t have them unfolding at all and the MQA icon is not displayed on the display, and the bitrate is shown 24/48. But I have MQA files on my server downloaded from the official 2L website. When they are played, the MQA logo lights up and a full unfolding occurs. Therefore, there can be no complaints about the Mconnect application. And if Tidal made changes to the transmission / decoding, then maybe the BridgeII software needs to be adjusted as well?
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+1
the same problem detected after Sunlight was installed
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Thanks Serhan, James and Yurly for the feedback.
I will have a look through the online Mconnect “guide for operations” to see if there are any settings that may be affecting the players DSD playback.
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