Meridian Unplugged - Powered by MrTechGuy.co.uk Forums Discussion MQA - Related technology, products and music Trying to play MQA ... with a Roon, SBT, Explorer2 setup

@Joel,

Please can you share the settings you're using in Roon & anything else relevant.

If I use my Explorer2 through my PC or Surface, I can get the expected behaviour (blue lights etc) but when connected to the SBT (with EDO enabled) I only get a white light. Not sure where I'm going wrong.

Ta!

EDIT : EDO is installed, I've selected "USB DAC Explorer2..." under the Audio output menu, Roon is set to "Disable volume control".

Hmm, that sounds correct.

Now I get (from Roon) :-

Transport : Playback has failed due to unexpected error communicating with Audio device.

This only occurs in 1 of my 3 Touches. And sod's law, it's my "Hi-Fi Room" SBT !

If the 3 SBTs are grouped together, they all fail as one.
If the "problem" SBT is isolated / separated, the other 2 will play either independently or grouped (2 SBTs) together.

All SBTs are running firmware 7.8.0-r16754 and they all have the EDO plugin installed.

Will try some factory resets now, but am getting frustrated ! Failing at the first hurdle...

EDIT : Got all 3 SBTs working again (independently & in harmony) but then added the Explorer2, rebooted & the same problem re-occurred. However, this happened when connected to Roon. Will now start from scratch again, disconnected from Roon, and see what happens.
And all this palaver to get connected to my 861v8 !!!!

The problem seems to be when the Explorer2 is connected & selected as the Digital output through the SBT. Roon (or something) doesn't like that combination.
And this is not (music) file-dependent - I can play normal FLAC or MQA into the SBT with the Explorer2 connected, and a power light on, but with "Digital" (SPDIF) output selected.

@Joel : did you do something specific when you connected your Explorer2 ?
Did you (simply) update the firmware on the 4th February, plug-in to the SBT, select the Explorer2 as the output & you were good to go ?
Does it work with a direct headphone connection to the Explorer2, or only with line-out ? Does it work with nothing connected to the outputs at all ?

Ta !

EDIT : Just connected the Explorer2 to my PC & can immediately play MQA - through Roon - with all the lights showing as appropriate. Which means it's not the Explorer2. Well, not when connected to a PC anyway....

EDIT2 : Just tried the same procedure with a different SBT - same problem is reproduced. Frustrating, but consistent.

EDIT3 : Have also posted on the Roon forum in case anyone else has any ideas....

My Explorer2 was brand new (arrived on Saturday) and had the MQA firmware pre-installed.

I hooked it up to the Touch and went to Settings --> Advanced --> Digital Output --> Select Audio Output, and selected the USB Audio - Explorer 2 DAC. It rebooted and everything just worked with green and blue lights.

Is the "Disable Volume Control" setting in Roon persistent?

Hi Joel.
So, nothing specific then... hmmm.

By "Disable Volume Control" as persistent, do you mean always on, or always off ?

It's always been off - unchecked - while I've been testing as far as I know, because I want Roon to control the volume. Should it be checked / on ?

It should be checked!!!! It's not bit perfect without it on!

Aha. Will try that then. Ta.

Nope. Exactly the same result - "Playback failed... communication" error.

Hmm, that suggests a Roon to Touch problem...

BTW, in answer to another of your questions, I've only tried the line out from the Explorer2: my headphones are a Stax rig, but I'm currently doing this:

Roon --> Touch --> Prime PSU --> Explorer2 --> Prime HA --> Yamaha DSP-A2 power amps direct --> 25yo Castle Durham speakers.

i.e. it works for me with and without the Prime PSU in between the Touch and Explorer (as one would expect).

OK, ta, very odd.
The common denominator for me always seems to be the "connected" Explorer2.

Perhaps my Explorer2's also a little bit "sick" - as some others experienced - although it shouldn't be one of the first / early models, as I only received it from Rick a few weeks ago. Serial number is >200.

Furthermore, my Explorer2 works "solo" - it's adding the Touch into the loop that breaks the chain. Therefore I suspect some handshaking-type problem with Roon through the Touch, or from the Touch.

I think it's beyond me now. I'll think about the possibilities for a little longer & hope that perhaps someone on the Roon site has an idea.

Try just sending to the SBT without the EDO mod, ie take a digital feed from SPDIF out of the touch. EDO might be the issue.

Not sure if your DAC has SPDIF in though.