In my system Roon does the first MQA unfold of Tidal into a Roon-compatible SOtM EN/USB renderer, into the USB input of a non-MQA Esoteric K-01X CDP/DAC. The first MQA unfold to 24/96 or 24/88.2 is a meaningful improvement over 16/44.1 streaming-- with or without upsampling to higher rate PCM or DSD.
Quality of music after 1st MQA unfold
Ive been taking a serious look at the new Bel Canto e.One Stream to add a high quality soucre for streaming Tidal, Roon, and MQA. I currently enjoy Tidal streamed from an Oppo Sonica DAC which doesn't support Roon or MQA. The e.One Stream will perform both MQA unfolding/folding operations and output thru its RCA connection. Its digital processing only performs the 1st unfold before outputing a digital signal for an outboard DAC. My Oppo DAC doesnt have the capability to complete the full MQA processing leading to my question. What is the quality of music after going thru the first MQA unfold then converted to analog, and deliverted for amplification?