Question to Devialet regarding Roon and MQA

[Rodney Gold]

You can still get a lot of the goodness of MQA with the devialet..I ran some tests

3 sources

I used Avishai cohen trio From darkness CD.. lots of dynamics , strong bass , delicate cymbals..a CD I know well.
My system resolves very well and my room is fully treated..I wound it up a bit..well a lot...

"sources" were

Roon sending a 24/48 file .. IE mqa file , no decoding

tidal playing the hifi 16/44 version of the CD

Tidal playing the unfolded MQA

Firstly I cued up the 16 bit VS the 24/48 and flipped between them instantly and seamlessly and the 24 bit was superior in just about all respects .. especially bass and slam , it sounded more open ,, the levels of both were the same .. the 16 bit was more strident ..
So it seems that just by streaming the raw mqa 24/48 you get some of the "goodness"

Then I cued up roon passing thru the 24/48 Vs Tidal AP decoding it .. the decoded was noticeably different and IMHO a lot better ...

Then I cued up the 16bit version in roon and the tidal mqa decoded .. Ie compare "raw 16 bit" to processed MQA
difference was huge.....

So
MQA 2448 is NOT the same as the 16 bit version sonically wise .. It is not remastered however..
just streaming the 2448 unencoded gives you a SQ boost vs the same in 16/44
Decoding it takes it up a step higher.
Ostensibly adding a MQA DAC should take you another step forward

I am of the opinion that every change is positive , hence my step forward / higher comments.