@zombiedad that picture means Roon took care of the first unfold for you, but the DAC is not applying the MQA digital filter. An MQA file consists of two parts. First, the higher res file is “folded” or “packed” down into 48khz. Second, information is encoded into the file that tells the DAC how to apply the D to A conversion. Roon is doing the first step, unpacking or unfolding the 48khz file back into the higher res 192khz file and sending that to your DAC. At that point your DAC applies its own D to A conversion since it’s not capable of decoding the MQA data. There are more complex details than that but that’s the gist of what you probably need to know. Long and short, you get a 192kHz file while only consuming the bandwidth of a 48kHz file.
MQA DAC with Coax Output
I’d like to fully unpack MQA with a DAC but also want coax out from said DAC. I use Tidal Masters streaming from Roon which is running on an Antipodes DSGT with coax out to a pair powered Dynaudio 200 XDs. The MQA DAC would need to have a USB or coax in (the two digital outputs from the Antipodes) and and coax out to the Dynaudios. I don’t want a super expensive DAC but certainly one to do the system justice. Any thoughts?