Ronnie; thanks for your input.

I do understand your comments about needing a Bitperfect input to the Explorer2 to work and the merits of Roon. As I have said elsewhere I think Roon is fantastic. I think the way you can search your library or use the metadata to find connections between albums and artists is amazing. But I'm not sure that I either need or want that. I should not have to buy Roon just get MQA files into my Explorer2 from my PC.

With hindsight; I shouldn't have set Foobars output to just below maximum - it's my fault. But that said; not one the kind (and I'm sure much smarter than me) people who were trying to help me suggested setting the volume to maximum either...

What would have really helped is if the Explorer2 user guide included the words 'ensure your music player is set to maximum output otherwise MQA decoding cannot happen' and not just assume that is what people will do.

I may well look at Roon in the future, but if I do use it, it will be for it was originally designed to do.

Forum Idiot