DAC for Gold Phantom (Stereo)

[Hrithik0015]

I have currently connected my speakers to my PC via optical cable and use Tidal for streaming music. I am not able to stream mqa (master) files through optical is it requires a DAC to unfold. Any recommendation for a good DAC for the gold phantoms

[Snoopy8]

Welcome to the forum...

You are likely to get reduced sound quality if you add a DAC to your music chain. 

PC -> DAC (with MQA unfold)  -> ADC (analog to digital/optical converter) -> Phantom Gold

Note that many of Tidal MQA tracks sound better because they are derived from better master recordings. So, a comparison on tracks on Tidal can be misleading. Suggest using tracks such as these to do proper comparison

http://www.2l.no/hires/

[ogs]

I'm afraid that will lead you into some difficulties. AFAIK there is no DAC, let alone MQA DAC, that re-digitizes (AD converts) its output so you can connect to the optical of Phantoms. You can of course connect a separate ADC to the output of a DAC, but this will be expensive if you want to keep the sound quality of the DAC - and a DA-AD-DA path is not recommended.
The best/simplest solution would be Roon which integrates nicely with Tidal and does (the most important) MQA first unfold before sending the stream out. If you are lucky Roon might use the optical on your PC so you wouldn't have to change your setup much.

[borisy]

i am using bluesound node 2i as roon endpoint to play mqa files to phantom silver on DOS2 via toslink . That box also supports tidal connect too.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

[Hrithik0015]

I'm afraid that will lead you into some difficulties. AFAIK there is no DAC, let alone MQA DAC,  that re-digitizes (AD converts) its output so you can connect to the optical of Phantoms. You can of course connect a separate ADC to the output of a DAC, but this will be expensive if you want to keep the sound quality of the DAC - and a DA-AD-DA path is not recommended.
The best/simplest solution would be Roon which integrates nicely with Tidal and does (the most important) MQA first unfold before sending the stream out. If you are lucky Roon might use the optical on your PC so you wouldn't have to change your setup much.

I am trying out roon now but i am facing some problems with it. When i select optical output and set it to exclusive mode, it says "failed to initialize audio device" whenever i play a Master (MQA) music format from tidal.

[ogs]

Does the 2i unfold MQA when Tidal connect is used?

[ogs]

I'm afraid that will lead you into some difficulties. AFAIK there is no DAC, let alone MQA DAC,  that re-digitizes (AD converts) its output so you can connect to the optical of Phantoms. You can of course connect a separate ADC to the output of a DAC, but this will be expensive if you want to keep the sound quality of the DAC - and a DA-AD-DA path is not recommended.
The best/simplest solution would be Roon which integrates nicely with Tidal and does (the most important) MQA first unfold before sending the stream out. If you are lucky Roon might use the optical on your PC so you wouldn't have to change your setup much.

I am trying out roon now but i am facing some problems with it. When i select optical output and set it to exclusive mode, it says "failed to initialize audio device" whenever i play a Master (MQA) music format from tidal.

Does the same happen if you play a normal (non  MQA) file from Tidal? Do you have any local files (non MQA) to test with?

[Hrithik0015]

I'm afraid that will lead you into some difficulties. AFAIK there is no DAC, let alone MQA DAC,  that re-digitizes (AD converts) its output so you can connect to the optical of Phantoms. You can of course connect a separate ADC to the output of a DAC, but this will be expensive if you want to keep the sound quality of the DAC - and a DA-AD-DA path is not recommended.
The best/simplest solution would be Roon which integrates nicely with Tidal and does (the most important) MQA first unfold before sending the stream out. If you are lucky Roon might use the optical on your PC so you wouldn't have to change your setup much.

I am trying out roon now but i am facing some problems with it. When i select optical output and set it to exclusive mode, it says "failed to initialize audio device" whenever i play a Master (MQA) music format from tidal.

Does the same happen if you play a normal (non  MQA) file from Tidal? Do you have any local files (non MQA) to test with?

Albums that do not have master work fine (HiFi works in exclusive mode)


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

[ogs]

I'm afraid I can't be of much help with that as I am not using Tidal (or Qobuz) and have no MQA files in my library. Maybe someone else here at DC knows?
You may need to create a question for this at the Roon forum too. I believe the setup should work also in master (MQA) mode as you can play other files...

[Hrithik0015]

I'm afraid I can't be of much help with that as I am not using Tidal (or Qobuz) and have no MQA files in my library. Maybe someone else here at DC knows?
You may need to create a question for this at the Roon forum too. I believe the setup should work also in master (MQA) mode as you can play other files...

I got Audirvana and using Upnp to stream music to speakers. Works better than optical