U1 Mini not playing MQA

[atlerovik]

Hi all,

I am new to this forum, and pretty new to Lumin. But I love it so far! I have had it for a few weeks, and everything has been working perfectly, including playing MQA from Tidal. However, Friday I brought the U1 Mini to a friend. (BTW, he also loved it, and he’s going to buy one )

But after plugging it in again at home, it does not play MQA when MQA Mode is set to Digital Out. I see the song is playing in the display and the app, but no sound is coming out of the speakers. There is sound when I choose MQA Mode Off, AND when I choose Passthrough, for some reason. The dac is a Audio Note dac without any MQA support, by the way.

What I have tried so far:
A factory reset
Power off-on
Disabling Lumin streaming, Roon Ready, Spotify Connect
Disabling re-sampling
Disabling volume control and Leedh
Toggle the digital output on and off

But so far, no solution. When setting MQA Mode to Digital Out, everything is going quiet.

Can anybody help?

 

[joeinid]

Welcome to the forum.

You should probably be getting the first unfold of MQA but won’t or didn’t get full MQA unfolding.

 

[wklie]

MQA Core decoding (first unfold) yields 88.2kHz or 96kHz.

A DAC would have to support both of these rates for Lumin MQA Digital Output Mode == MQA Core decoding (first unfold) to play.

Audio Note does NOT list 88.2kHz as a supported input in its specs. In this case, I suggest setting Lumin MQA to Passthrough, so you can still get 24-bit Tidal instead of 16-bit Tidal (with Lumin MQA set to Off).

 

[NewakGoline]

Hi,

Did you manage to solve the issue?

I have the same problem…

Have a u1 mini connected via usb to an Anthem STR Pre, plays everything from the U1 including high res and dsd, but is only pulling Tidal AAC from Tidal - cannot get it to pull and process MQA.

Have tried the same stuff as you and toggling options under MQA mode, ideally wanting digital out, but no luck…

Hoping you found the answer!

 

[NewakGoline]

Sorry, to be a little more specific…

The anthem STR pre is acting as DAC.

I am getting sound, but the U1 mini will only fetch the 16bit aac file from Tidal.

Same issue using roon for MQA, tried a bunch of masters files but always the same.

Qobuz it will pull anything and play at its native rate.

 

[Jack]

According to the Anthem website the the DAC in the STR is not listed as MQA certified. If that is the case you might as well follow Peter's advice and set the digital output on the U1 to pass through. That way you will get whatever rate the file is set for or whatever Roon processes it at.

 

[NewakGoline]

According to the Anthem website the the DAC in the STR is not listed as MQA certified. If that is the case you might as well follow Peter's advice and set the digital output on the U1 to pass through. That way you will get whatever rate the file is set for or whatever Roon processes it at.

So, basically, I am a complete moron.

The issue was that I had somehow switched my Tidal subscription to Premium.

And am both mortified and overjoyed. But thanks for taking the time to revert. Yes, I knew I wasn’t going to get the second unfold, just wanted the first, which I now have….

 

[wklie]

I am getting sound, but the U1 mini will only fetch the 16bit aac file from Tidal.

You need HiFi subscription to access FLAC or MQA. Premium subscription will limit you to AAC (or MP3) only which is not MQA.

If a lower cost is desired, you may also check out Spotify..

 

[NewakGoline]

You need HiFi subscription to access FLAC or MQA. Premium subscription will limit you to AAC (or MP3) only which is not MQA.

If a lower cost is desired, you may also check out Spotify..

Yup, you hit the nail on the head. I realised that was the issue and now rectified with a HiFi subscription. I feel like an idiot! I have been mucking around with different streaming options and completely forgot I have downgraded Tidal.

But thank you so much for replying, great customer service.