Streaming clarification

[Confused]

@BoyScout

The Devialet is a "Renderer only". It can't decode MQA, it can't render MQA, it can't do anything with MQA.

An MQA audio stream is  initially a CD resolution 44.1/16 digital audio stream but some of the bits are used to tell an MQA capable device what to do with the audio info in the rest of the 16 bits. Any DAC can deliver analog audio from that stream but it will be less than CD quality because a CD quality signal uses 16 bits for audio info and my understanding is that MQA uses 3 of its 16 bit signal  for MQA info leaving 13 bits for audio data a DAC can convert to analog audio. In effect MQA encoding results in lossy compression of the audio data if you don't have a device which can process MQA encoding.

There are 2 stages in processing an MQA stream, a decoder does the first stage and a renderer does the second stage. Some MQA capable devices can both decode and render, some can only render, and if you have 2 MQA capable devices you can use one to decode the signal and pass the decoded signal to the second device for renderering. A decoded stream gives a better result than an undeoded stream and a stream which is both decoded and rendered gives a better result than a stream which has only been decoded. Roon can decode an MQA stream but it cannot render it. The best result you can get with just Roon and your Devialet is to have Roon decode the MQA stream which is what it does when you set "Enable MQA core decoder" to "On". To get the extra benefit provided by rendering you would have to have Roon stream a decoded stream to a device which can render MQA and have that device pass the signal to your Devialet after it was rendered.

The MQA “second stage” (or unfold) is nothing more than upsampling and application of a pre determined filter.

Most DACs upsample and apply a filter anyway, MQA is not quite what it’s marketing material implies.