V3.182 + Tidal MQA passthrough issues

Wheaten · January 23, 2022, 12:07pm

Hi,

Seems there is an issue with V3.182 and Tidal passthrough MQA. It regularly starts to sound crispy/distorted. When this happens the MQA logo disappears from my DAC. When MQA logo comes back, the output is normal again.
Already validated the network, running Roon server on the same segment which plays tidal without any interruptions. Network is stable. Screenshot taken when MQA disappeared:

Also validated the log, but this doesn’t show any info. During playback or stuttering it sticks in the last block.

info: CoreStateMachine::setConsumeUpdateService mpd

info: ------------------------------ 2ms
info: sendMpdCommand play took 1 milliseconds
info:
---------------------------- MPD announces state update: player
info: ControllerMpd::getState

info:
---------------------------- MPD announces state update: player
info: sendMpdCommand status took 7 milliseconds
info: ControllerMpd::getState



info: sendMpdCommand status took 2 milliseconds
info: sendMpdCommand playlistinfo took 2 milliseconds



info: ControllerMpd::pushState
info: CoreCommandRouter::servicePushState
info: CorePlayQueue::getTrack 26


info: CoreStateMachine::syncState   stateService play
info: CoreStateMachine::syncState   currentStatus stop
info: CoreStateMachine::pushState
info: CoreCommandRouter::executeOnPlugin: volumiodiscovery , saveDeviceInfo
info: CoreCommandRouter::volumioPushState
info: ------------------------------ 43ms
info: sendMpdCommand playlistinfo took 34 milliseconds

info: ControllerMpd::pushState
info: CoreCommandRouter::servicePushState
info: CorePlayQueue::getTrack 26


info: CoreStateMachine::syncState   stateService play
info: CoreStateMachine::syncState   currentStatus play
info: Received an update from plugin. extracting info from payload
info: CoreStateMachine::pushState
info: CoreCommandRouter::executeOnPlugin: volumiodiscovery , saveDeviceInfo
info: CoreCommandRouter::volumioPushState
info: CoreStateMachine::pushState
info: CoreCommandRouter::volumioPushState
info: ------------------------------ 71ms
info: touch_display: Setting screensaver timeout to 0 seconds.

gkkpch · January 23, 2022, 1:06pm

Did this also happen with 3.179?

Wheaten · January 23, 2022, 1:13pm

Not tested before, as Tidal is not my favorite. Just ran some test today when doing some comparing between different software packages. (Roon, Audirvana, Ropieee and Volumio, the latter is still favorite)
It shows this behavior between 0-4 times per track, when the source is MQA or MQA studio. ran test with the Volumio Tidal Integration

rPi4-8GB, Rev: 1.4
Connected: eth0
USB DAC (external powered)
Volumio: V3.182
Plugins:

80s80s Radio
Spotify
GPIO Buttons
System Information
Now Playing
Touch Display

gkkpch · January 23, 2022, 1:42pm

pro-Ject Pre-box S2 Digital?

Wheaten · January 23, 2022, 1:46pm

yes.
Can run a test via a different unit (V3.195) and the Digione, connected to the NAD D3045.

Wheaten · January 23, 2022, 2:18pm

Tested:

Volumio V3.182 + Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Digital --------- Error
Volumio V3.195 + DigiOne + NAD D3045* ------------- No issues
PC + Tidal app + Pro-ject Pre Box S2 Digital ---------- Error

*D3045 Accepts MQA on all digital inputs (USB, Coaxial, Opt.1, Opt.2)

Seems related to the Pre-Box.

Logged a SR with Pro-ject.

gkkpch · January 23, 2022, 3:31pm

This is definitely an issue with MQA and the Pre-box, it appears to be a known issue and will never be fixed.
When using a Khadas Tone2 Pro, switching mqa on and off does not happen during streaming a track.
Curious to hear pro-ject’s response.

Wheaten · January 23, 2022, 3:42pm

Me too, the response will come from a Dutch company. Also asked why the Pro-ject won’t dim its OLED display (2 weeks ago) as it burns the screen in with a “0 dB”. No reply yet.
But I can live with it. The audio quality for Qobuz is great and the remote can control Volumio. Tidal is just a 3 month trial.
However, if you sell a DAC with full MQA, it should work nevertheless.

Wheaten · January 24, 2022, 11:55am

And they did respond.
In short: Turn MQA passthrough off in the software… duh

Asked them how they do it for their S2 Streambox that runs on Volumio. (just tell their customers to turn MQA off)?

gkkpch · January 24, 2022, 3:13pm

I have also opened a ticket at our appointed Swiss dealer.
Apart from the question whether I was using the latest firmware, no advice was given yet.
Fingers crossed, but I fear we won’t get this resolved. The designer of the DAC is no longer dealing with Pro-Ject because of a dispute. This means there will be no further firmware updates, at least not from him, and I have little hope that Pro-Ject has an alternative.

Wheaten · January 24, 2022, 3:23pm

will give the complete reply in a PM.

Ale_82 · March 8, 2022, 4:14pm

i have the same issue:

Raspberry pi4
ifi hip dac 2

The MQA led light switch from Blu (Mqa on) to white (Mqa off). Every time this occurs I can hear the sound is interrupted. It’s impossible to hear music like this. I’m very disappointed: after paying 7 euros/month only to have tidal option, it’s impossible to hear mqa.
Volumio support can you please help me??

Note: I have Volumio version 3.223 but the problem was present also with older versions.
Streaming from Tidal app from PC or any other device brings no problems at all.

Wheaten · March 8, 2022, 4:33pm

Have you done any settings in the Tidal app on your PC. There are a few DAC’s that get in trouble with MQA studio files. Have the same issue with the Pro-ject pre box S2 digital. It’s due to bad support form MQA to provide the proper software for this DAC.

Ale_82 · March 8, 2022, 4:58pm

The problem occurs only when streaming from raspberry+Volumio. No problem using Picore, or Tidal app from PC.

Ale_82 · March 9, 2022, 11:48pm

Yesterday I reinstalled again Volumio and it seems to work fine .
Unfortunately today the issue came again… I powered off and then on again my hip dac 2 and the problem disappeared… can’t understand what happens. I also sent an email to Volumio support with a video of the problem… I hope someone can help me understand which is the root cause…

Alessandro.

volumio · March 11, 2022, 4:09pm

Can it be that Volumio + MQA is triggering a bug in the Ifi DAC?
Can you see if there are firmware updates available for the DAC?

Ale_82 · March 15, 2022, 7:08pm

Hi Volumio guys, the firmware is the latest one in my hip dac 2. I have no issues streaming from the native Tidal application from my laptop (with Passthrough MQA actived for sure). Also streaming MQAs from Android (with Usb pro audio) or from Android Tidal native application shows no problems as well! It’s a problem of the files streamed from Volumio to the DAC otherwise I should have the same issue streaming MQA from every sources! This is a big issue because Tidal native app in Volumio is unusable.
I’m very disappointed…
Michelangelo I also opened a ticket sending you an email and a video showing the issue about 10 days ago.
I think the problem is the trasmission of data from Volumio Tidal application to the dac is not bitperfect : this brings the dac to go mad not correctly recognizing mqa.
Honestly speaking one of the most important reasons I decided to use Volumio was the Tidal mqa passthrough function …
I tried to reinstall firmware driver on my hipdac 2… I’ll let you know if it will solve the issue!