Bitrate

Answered

Kristian Lehne

• February 16, 2020 01:30

Hi. I just bought a Node 2 and connected it to my Audiolab MDac+ via toslink. When I play music from either Spotify or Tidal my dac tells me I'm playing with 44khz bitrate and 88khz on Tidal Master. Before the Node 2 purchase I played music through a simple Argon Audio Bluetooth streamer that gave me 192khz via toslink. Am I doing something wrong? I have ticked off the MQA-output in the settings. Would there be any difference if I used a coaxial cable instead? The quality is good, but It could be better. Thanks. K

0

• Official comment

  

  Wesley P.

  • February 18, 2020 19:49

  Hello Kristian,
  
  When streaming MQA content, the internal DAC of the Node 2 handles the rendering stages. By bypassing the internal DAC of the Node 2 by using the coaxial or optical output, you will get at most 96/24 out of the digital outputs. By using the RCA outputs of the Node 2, the internal DAC can handle these rendering stages and provide up to 192/24 playback if the source file supports it.

  With that being said, the only time you will want to enable the MQA External DAC setting is if your DAC is MQA certified and your Node 2 is connected to it by either coaxial or optical.

  Regards,
  Wesley P.
• 

  Kristian Lehne

  • February 18, 2020 20:30

  Hi Wesley.

  Ok, I understand. My DAC does not support MQA, but I still want to make the most out of it. Would a RCA to Coaxial/Optical converter do the trick, or would that just be a waste? My DAC only has digital inputs. Would I be able to hear the difference?

  Thanks!

  K

  0
• 

  Wesley P.

  • February 18, 2020 21:07

  Hello Kristian,

  By using the RCA outputs of the Node 2, the internal DAC will handle the MQA rendering stages and output full 192/24 audio if the source file provides it. 

  By connecting an RCA to Coaxial/Optical converter, this should work in theory, however, I can not speak to any limitations of the converter or external DAC being used in this setup.

  Regards,
  Wesley P.

  0
• 

  Hessel van Kleffens

  • March 06, 2020 09:43

  Dear Kristian,

   

  Just out of curiosity: which Argon streamer are you referring to? According to the Argon website, the Stream 2M and 3M offer a maximum resolution of 16 bit / 44.1 kHz 

   

  Cheers,

  Hessel 

  0

Please sign in to leave a comment.