Originally Posted by VirusKiller
To clarify, my current hypothesis is that RENDERING means application of the DAC-specific filter; and it is completely independent of the decode.

In MQA-certified DACs, both decode and rendering will take place. This is true in the 8x8, where we know that decoding takes place on the digital input card and rendering takes place on the analogue output card. The decoded (but not rendered) MQA is sent over SpeakerLink (MQA over MHR) to SE loudspeakers which render it.
Yes, I assume that ADC and DAC matching is taking place in the SEs as well as DAC. I assume this is where all the hugely increased processing power of the SEs is being used. It must have been added to do something!

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