Playback problems with Tidal MQA files via ifi Zen Streamer and Zen One Signature

Studio Streaming
1

Hello

Have a problem with playing tidal mqa files via audirvana.

laptop win 11 - audirvana studio 1.13.3 (11303) (latest update to the current date) - tidal ‘‘built-in’’ audirvana - ifi zen stream (with the latest updates to the current date - 2.31.7) - ifi zen one signature (with the latest updates to the current date) - zen can signature 6xx - sennheiser 660 s (streamer - dac with usb cabel)

  1. using streamer
    • invert globally: off
    • no software volume control

wasapi, asio, kernel streaming: dac not detected as mqa via auto-detect, choose use as mqa DECORDER: ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/192kHz Stereo’’ lower left corner plays as ‘‘DAC: 24/48 kHz Stereo’’ lower right corner. Blue light on streamer, blue light on dac. I try to change settings, a lot of settings - nothing helps… Same story with 24/96 files. 16/44.1 plays as 16/44.1.

wasapi, asio, kernel streaming: dac not detected as mqa via auto-detect, choose use as mqa RENDERER: ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/192kHz Stereo’’ lower left corner plays as ‘‘DAC: 24/96 kHz Stereo’’ lower right corner. Blue light + magenta on streamer, blue light + magenta on dac. Guess, that 24/96 because of using dac as renderer. 24/96 plays as 24/96. 16/44.1 plays as 24/88.2…

  1. connecting dac directly to laptop via usb cabel (no streamer)
    • invert globally: off
    • no software volume control

wasapi: dac is automatically detected as Decorder: ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/192kHz Stereo’’ lower left corner plays as ‘‘DAC: 24/192 kHz Stereo MQA’’ lower right corner. Blue light on dac. ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/96’’ plays as ‘‘24/96 stereo mqa’’ blue light on dac. ‘‘flac mqa 16/44/1’’ plays as ‘‘24/44.1 kHz stereo mqa’’ green light on dac. Probably, everything is ok.

asio: dac not detected as mqa via auto-detect, choose use as mqa DECORDER: ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/192kHz Stereo’’ lower left corner plays as ''DAC: 32/48 kHz Stereo ‘’ lower right corner. Blue light on dac. ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/96’’ plays as ‘‘32/48 stereo’’ blue light on dac. ‘‘flac mqa 16/44/1’’ plays as ‘‘32/44.1 kHz stereo’’ green light on dac.

kernel streaming: dac is automatically detected as Decorder: ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/192kHz Stereo’’ lower left corner plays as ‘‘DAC: 24/192 kHz Stereo MQA’’ lower right corner. Blue light on dac. ‘‘FLAC MQA Studio 24/96’’ plays as ‘‘24/96 stereo mqa’’ blue light on dac. ‘‘flac mqa 16/44/1’’ plays as ‘‘24/44.1 kHz stereo mqa’’ green light on dac. Probably, everything is ok.

Major problem is obviously with playing via streamer. Can anybody help me to solve this problem?

2

Have you tried WASAPI with streaming?

3

yes.
using streamer: wasapi, asio or kernel streaming - no difference.
the difference is only when i switching from mqa decoder to mqa renderer. i try to describe it in the first point of my first message.

4

Which color indicates MQA? Is it blue or magenta?

The correct mode to select would be whatever your DAC MQA capability is.

5

via stream:

wasapi or asio or ks + manually mqa decoder → blue light on streamer and blue light on dac.
wasapi or asio or ks + manually mqa renderer → blue+magenta light on streamer and blue+magenta light on dac.

6

That‘s weird. Ask iFi about this.