Hi Robert

Decoding is when an MQA encoded file is identified decoded and the rendering information is extracted, in an 818v3 DSP8000 setup this is what the 818v3 does. In Roon 1.5 this is what has just been enabled and is configurable.

Rendering is the additional information passed to the DSP’s if they are SE’s which allows them to playback the highest available resolution from the file, non SE speakers will not do the rendering the negotiation for this takes place between the 818v3 and the DSP over MHR, the speaker capabilities are shared with the processor and only the applicable data is sent, eg: the processor doesn’t just send the full render file and let the DSP try to make the best of it!

As for analog output the full decode and render is done in the 818v3 and passed to the phono/xlr outputs.

The ID40 is an input card, it does not in itself do MQA, it is the processor that determines that.

The 218 does full MQA decode and render to analog and decode with render information for the DSP if it is an SE over SpeakerLink.

I believe this is correct, apologies if there are any errors?

Russ