MQA DAC with Coax Output

Cool. Glad to confirm a good DAC is also MQA Compatible. 

I had the latest Yggsdrasil dac and neighbor has the Brooklyn + 
the New Denafrips Pontus,new processor board +  came out in March this year. easily bettered those 2 if you want it cooler sounding, dac compared the
brooklyn+ is pretty decent but a toy compared to this 4ladder dac which has huge dual Toroidal s and 60 capacitors in a seperate section  there are 4 ladder
resistors and 141 capacitors for the digital filtering over 17 lbs for $1700
isold my Yggs and never  regretted it great service arrived within 4 days of shipping ,the new model noticeably better still.
if you have $2800 the Denafrips Venus is better still ,that being said the New Pontus does everything very well ,nicely  balanced and detailed with a slightly warm natural balance.

I am also looking for a device that can do full mqa unfold and digital out.  I want it because I want to incorporate minidsp and its DIRAC AND full mqa.  Is there a streamer that does full mqa decoding and rendering and digital out to minidsp that does room correction filtering?

Minidsp SHD does have analog input. I guess I can feed fully mqa decoded analog to SHD that converts back to digital, apply dirac filter, then converts back to analog with its internal dac. Would this degrade SQ during DA conversion then AD conversion and back to analog?

I do have the same questions with the MQA, may be some of you can help me answer it. I don’t want to use any of the PC or Roon setup. Just want to stream directly through my Tidal or Quboz from Android or Ipad devices.

Right now I have the Cambridge CXN V2, which this unit doesn’t support MQA at all. I want to know if I add a MQA Decoder on the top of it, would it decode Full MQA using the hardware to get 24bit / 192khz. or even higher.

Here is the setup, can someone let me know if this work?

Cambridge CXN V2 ---> Digital Out (Toslink/Coaxial) --->
SMSL M400 DAC or Topping D90 or PRO-JECT - Pre Box S2 MQA (Line Input) ---> Then Coaxial RCA out ---> My Amp (Coaxial Input)

What I know is if I use Digital Coax or Toslink connected from Cambridge to the MQA dac, it will bypass the decode from Cambridge and use the new MQA Dac to decode. But I want to know if this will work for full MQA decode and give me 24bit / 192khz when using either above MQA DAC.

Any feedback will be great. Thanks.

Sorry @zombiedad, this won’t work because all the DACs you mentioned only decode MQA files from their USB input, and the CXN only has coaxial and optical digital outputs. Also, the decoded MQA would only be output from the DACs through analog output, not digital. Good luck!

Hi Rockrider, thanks for the reply.
How do I get this done? Is there a way to work around?
My Cambridge CXN also has XLR and Analog RCA Line out.
https://ibb.co/pzwpsJS

This is currently I have this setup connected to my Peachtree Nova300. But CXN don’t support MQA. I wanted to add a DAC which will fully do MQA hardware decode. What would you recommend?

If I have the right MQA DAC, I can have the decoded MQA lineout through RCA Analog to my Amp no problem.

So all these MQA DAC is only can decode MQA files through USB?

I am using LUMIN U1 MINI with a L1 music server. My Marantz Ruby SA-KI is both a SACD player and a DAC. TIDAL and my ripped FLAC files in the music server is the digital source. LUMIN has a variety of DAC's you should give a listen. A lot of other great suggestions were given as well.  

@zombiedad,
The only MQA DACs I know of that will decode MQA from an SPDIF input (coaxial or optical) are the Luxman D-03X and D-10X. The D-03X is somewhat reasonable price. Otherwise you’ll need to replace your CXN with a streamer with integral MQA DAC like the LUMINs or get a new streamer with USB out plus MQA DAC.   

Rockrider , I am still confused on the MQA decode part. Can I just use my CXN as a streamer (Transport). Then use hardware MQA decorder like SMSL M400 or Topping D90 to do the full decode and Coaxial out to my amp?

I don’t have any PC near by , I can’t use USB as a connection. Luxman is pretty expensive.

So I can’t use the CXN to send music to a full MQA decoder to have it decode and transfer the sound to my amp?

Sorry. What else can I say?

The CXN is your MQA barrier. Many streamers have USB output, but the CXN does not.

I just went through this looking for an MQA capable solution and decided to go with an Aurender N100H, which has USB output and allows me to use about any DAC with USB input (MQA or not).

For me, it was worth the effort. I really like MQA hi-res. For me, better than Qobuz hi-res. So don't give up!

Lots of great advice on this thread. LUMIN and Aurender are good choices I have experience with, but I’m sure many others would work well for you. But I think you need to move away from the CXN. It looks like Cambridge Audio does not offer any MQA streamers or DACs.

Good Luck!

Hi  rockrider,  I think I made a wrong choice getting the CXN.  Might need to sell it.   Cambridge said they have no plans on getting MQA on the unit.   Have you heard of this new  Arcam ST60 Streamer.  https://www.whathifi.com/us/news/arcam-enters-music-streamer-market-with-fully-featured-st60
Look like this unit give full MQA decode.   

Educate me if you would.  For your  Aurender N100H,  I was looking at the rear panel,  I see two USB port,  do you plug in either one end from the Aurender, and other end goes to your Amplifier's USB port input?   Or youneed to add another DAC to decode MQA?

I am also looking at the Lumin D2.  So this is only a streamer without a DAC right.  It will need to connect to a DAC.       Would it be the same as my Cambridge CXN.   Using the digital out from the CXN,  connect to a MQA DAC (input)  ,  Then use Coaxial out to my amp?     If we connect the CXN output through a digital coaxial, it should just act like a streamer right ?

Hi @zombiedad,

Wow, that Arcam ST60 looks almost as pretty as the CXN!  Might be a great choice for you, so long as you like the internal DAC. There is a USB-A port on the rear, but I suspect it is for attaching USB storage devices and not for digital signal output. The device is so new I couldn’t find a manual to check it out. Again, if there is no USB Audio output, then you won’t be able to try other reasonably priced MQA DACs. But that might be fine if you like the ST60’s DAC. 

My Aurender N100H is a streamer only. It does not include a DAC and the only output is the USB connection to an external DAC. The N100H is attached to my network through the Ethernet port (LAN) on the back. The single USB port on the back is the USB Audio output which I have connected to my standalone DAC. There are two more USB ports right under the Ethernet port (USB 1 & USB 2), but those are intended for attaching USB storage devices. Finally the analog output from the standalone DAC is connected to my integrated amp. 
I chose the N100H because I like the Conductor App for selecting music, and it allows me to choose whatever DAC I like. I’ve found DACs sound very different from one another, sort of like the differences between cartridges (if you are into vinyl). 
Anyhow, it’s a fun hobby and a forum like this is a nice thing in 2020. Have fun!

The LUMIN D2 has an internal DAC, pretty similar functionally to the Arcam ST60. I don’t think the D2 has a USB Audio output for attaching an external MQA DAC, but they routinely update their operating system so it might. 
I own the LUMIN D1 with external linear power supply, and it is an excellent device. I just like my Aurender better! :-)

Rockrider,  Nice.  I wish I had the money lol.  Oh just right now I am streaming this Tidal music from my PC to the CXN.   Can you look at the screen shot.   

https://ibb.co/MZ4LH5g

Does it mean, I am playing at 24bit/192khz through room to my CXN ?

I suspect that is Roon telling you what the Authenticated MQA decoded resolution would be, if your DAC could do it.  But I’m not a Roon expert. The base MQA file is 24bit/48khz, so that’s likely what you are hearing. 
By the way, if you are using Roon, forget Aurender. Aurender has chosen not to be Roon compatible. 

Rockrider,  This app I downloaded from google app called "MCONNECT".
I use it to stream Qobuz hi res file and it will show the MQA unfold sampling rate as 24bit/192khz LOL.

https://ibb.co/jRn93X4

http://www.conversdigital.com/eng/product/product04.php

Depends on the master quality.  Usually 24/48  or 24/96
But this one from Diana Krall, show highest sampling.

@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.

I guess I will have to wait for the Arcam ST60 to replace my CXN.