HQPlayer's Network Audio Adapter

[semente]

I browsed the first pages of the topic and could not find a description for the workflow of playing files with HQPlayer NAA.

 

I am currently using a laptop with iTunes and BitPerfect but it's laying in the living room rather small floorspace an has been kicked and stepped on a few times.

I am looking at replacing it with a small box like than can take HQPlayer, which I have been evaluating and sounds better than the competition; iTunes is my favourite browser and I have found that one can combine both effectively by using iTunes for selecting tracks or albums, then right-click for Show In Finder and drag-and-drop the content into HQPlayer.

 

 

Here are a few questions that I can't find answers for:

 

What is the role of the little box?

 

Which little boxes should I be looking at (I've seen mention of SOTM, Vortexbox, iCube), preferably below $500/£300?

 

How can I control the playback (can I use my iMac or Macbook)?

 

How do I setup the network (router, HDD fileserver, little box, computers, D/AC)?

 

My Teac D/AC has a Mac and a Windows driver but not a Linux one; is this a problem (I've been able to use it with an RPi and Volumio, if that's of any help)?

 

 

Thanks in advance,

Ricardo

[semente]

The short version:

HQP on your server.

NAA on the small box

Both of the above connected to your network

Define output of the HQP as the NAA

NAA output connected to input on your DAC

 

Yes, you can use your iMAC or Macbook to playback music in HQP, the output in this type of setup will be from the NAA;

Yes the box with the NAA needs to have an output (driver) that works with your DAC. So in your case the box with the NAA would need to be either Windows or OSX based, unless there is a Linux driver available for your DAC.

 

 

Thanks.

 

What do you mean by HQPlayer on my server?

I am currently storing the files in an ethernet WD MyBook which is directly connected to the MBP.

 

Would it still be possible to use iTunes for browsing, then drop the files on HQPlayer in one of the Macs?

 

There's no Linux driver for my D/AC but I can get a new one.

 

R

[semente]

The server is what you would run the HQP program on. In this case, it is your MBP. The NAA can be run on Win/OSX/Linux, but deemed best with a low power Linux "appliance". Typically you can drag/drop onto the transport window. I do not use OSX, but likely iTunes would work.

 

That sounds jolly.

 

All I need now is a list of existing NAAs.

Where can I find such a thing?

 

R

[semente]

Does HQP on OSX like dealing with ALAC? I would assume using an iTunes front end would be an ok place to drag and drop from; I'd be more worried that the file format is HQP friendly.

 

I use itunes for browsing, right click to get the folder with file open in finder then drag it to hqplayer. It works.

R

[semente]

Let's see if I got this right:

 

Hqplayer reads the track from HDD into NAA which then feeds it to the D/AC.

 

I wish to have a small box feeding my D/AC.

I am considering upgrading my TEAC.

I wish to use itunes for browsing and hqplayer for playing.

I can run the previous software in an imac or an mbp.

I plan to buy a router and use optical between it and NAA.

I wish to get a hot rod little box with hot rod OS.

 

It would be great if someone could point me to a list of dedicated little boxes.

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

A $120 NUC will work as an NAA, or a $35 ODROID C1 if the DAC likes Linux. But we don't know what Ricardo's budget preferences are.

 

Hi Jud,

 

I was thinking of spending around £300 including a router.

I can buy used if available.

 

I'm currently using a mid2009 MBP with OS 10.9 and CAD optimizer.

The new setup must improve on that.

 

I still have pop, rock and ethnic/traditional files in ALAC but will convert to AIFF.

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

I think we are saying that although there are "dedicated little boxes" (which means NAA software is pre-loaded) you do not need to reduce your choice pool to that small number. Any box running OSX or Windows (or Linux if you upgrade to a Linux friendly DAC) can be a candidate, just make sure it only runs NAA and your DAC driver. For that reason (running few processes) it can be a little thing with low cpu horsepower. But limiting yourself to pre-loaded dedicated machines (that today are not Linux cuz we don't know what dac you'll buy to eventually replace your Teac..if it's a dac like exaSound you don't want Linux, for example) is not needed. If you can load a dac driver (which you will likely be asked to do) then you can load NAA software.

 

My reasoning could be wrong but I got the impression that the "dedicated little boxes" running Linux would perform better because it could be optimised for purpose both hardware and software wise.

If this is correct and the best setup for an hqplayer based computer transport system then I would like to take that route.

 

I don't really want to have WinOS at home but I guess that I could get a used mac mini for that purpose... Would any Intel model do?

 

R

[semente]

Sure, but it won't talk to your DAC. So, then you need to upgrade/replace your DAC with one that talks to Linux boxes. Seems to me to be the cart before the horse, but that's just me. I would choose a DAC based solely on sonics, but if you are saying that NAA MUST be in your signal path, and that a Linux NAA is higher on the list than a DAC selection, then go for it. There are plenty of DACs that are UAC2 compatible.

 

Thank you for you comments.

 

I had settled on replacing the D/AC for sonic reasons long before I learnt about the possibility of adding an NAA to my file playback system.

This would replace the MBP that's usually lying on the living floor in front of the stereo rack with a small box than fits next to the D/AC.

My (iTunes) music libraries are currently stored in an Ethernet NAS that's connected directly to the MBP.

 

By replacing the MBP with a little box I would free the laptop for other uses and could use an iMac that I have close by to control the little box.

I wish to use HQPlayer to process/play my files and would rather not use remote desktop for that.

NAA seemed like a good idea.

 

I have tried a R-Pi with Volumio but it only worked with Wi-Fi and could not read the contents on my backup USB HDD which was formatted by MacOS.

Besides I didn't like browsing with the Android App.

 

Would a dedicated NAA perform better than a MacMini?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

PS : I'm not proficient in IT nor really good at DIY but can resort to a friend to build an NAA with available parts and install minimal/optimized OS.

[semente]

OK, so noiw I am confused even more (I confuse easily). If you jettison the MBP what are you using for your HQPlayer machine? The NAA is, of course, an additional box, not the one the HQPlayer needs for upsampling/playback, etc. The HQPlayer machine should be a heft cpu, not a weakling.

 

The iMac I use for work is standing on a desk next close to the stereo rack.

I would probably use it for playing files, via Ethernet router.

[semente]

Hi Ricardo. What model iMac do you have?

 

Hi Jud,

 

It's a mid2011 i5.

It will need a USB cable with at least 3m to connect to the D/AC...

[semente]

I mentioned £300 which is closer to 500USB.

[semente]

That's the nice part about the NAA. You can connect from computer to NAA with an inexpensive Ethernet cable or no cable (Wi-Fi), then use a short USB cable from NAA to DAC.

 

Is indifferent to choose either one?

I had the impression that Wi-Fi would be more prone to jitter and it might produce more garbage.

On the other hand, it will decouple the computer from the DAC.

[semente]

Thanks for your post.

I have no idea of what a NUC is, though.

Could you give me an example of one that runs on Linux?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

I have a Raspberry Pi lying around and would like to try using it as a NAA but I am not computer-savvy...I have a few questions.

 

Does the NAA Linux image for R-Pi include the OS?

 

My DAC doesn't have a Linux driver but there seems to be a workaround that fixes the problem:

 

Re: [PATCH] USB: fix gathering of interface associations -- Linux USB

 

How/where do I add this to the NAA Linux image contents?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

Accidental reply.

[semente]

I have installed RASPBIAN JESSIE and can control the Pi from MacOS Terminal (via Ethernet).

 

Which NAA image do I install and what command should I use to do it?

 

R

[semente]

Is HQ Player's Network Audio Adapter officially supported?

[semente]

?? What is meant by this question? Of course Jussi supports the product he invented and sells and constantly provides upgrades and support for (esp here on this forum). Do you mean support from some where else?

 

I couldn't find an installation/setup guide for the NAA and got no replies to the questions I have posted, hence my question.

[semente]

Here are the steps I took to set up things with raspbian:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqp-naa-raspberry-pi/6140/26

 

If you are not familiar dealing with Linux. Other alternative is to just download a full (non-raspbian) SD-card image from my website.

 

Note that RasPi has certain issues keeping up with higher sampling rates because the ethernet interface is on the same slow USB bus where a USB connected DAC is supposed to be. However, with HifiBerry DAC+ Pro or HifiBerry Digi+ things work OK since those are connected straight to the internal I2S bus.

 

This patch is so old that it should have been part of the OS for long time already.

 

 

 

That is a kernel patch, requiring rebuild of the operating system kernel. If you are not familiar with such operation and Linux in general, it is not among the easy things...

 

 

Thanks, I'll see what I can do.

My Linux knowledge is 0.

 

 

I have installed the naa-311-raspberrypi.zip image and connected both iMac and R-Pi to the router but HQ Player gives an error message:

 

Failed to open audio device. Please check settings!

 

Does this mean that HQ Player is not connecting to the NAA or that my DAC isn't recognised?

 

 

In any case I will re-install RASPBIAN JESSIE (or RASPBIAN JESSIE LITE) and try to follow the steps described in the link you've mentioned.

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

Ricardo,

 

Make sure that you DAC is connected to Raspberrypi and powered on with NAA running. Once you have done that the first time that you fire up HQPlayer you will have to select Network Audio Adapter under DAC and point it to the NAA IP address.

 

In HQ Player Settings, choose Backend > NetworkAudioAdapter and Device > Name_of_NAA_WithDAC

 

I will post a picture once I get home.

 

Cheers for that!

I'll give it a go this evening.

 

Ricardo

[semente]

Ricardo,

 

Make sure that you DAC is connected to Raspberrypi and powered on with NAA running. Once you have done that the first time that you fire up HQPlayer you will have to select Network Audio Adapter under DAC and point it to the NAA IP address.

 

In HQ Player Settings, choose Backend > NetworkAudioAdapter and Device > Name_of_NAA_WithDAC

 

I will post a picture once I get home.

 

Got home earlier.

As per your instructions I was able to find the NetworkAudioAdapter Naming window in the Tools menu and after selecting and naming the R-Pi I managed to play music through it.

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately the sound is plagued by a high frequency crackling noise...

Could this be happening because the TEAC needs a driver for WinOS and MacOS?

 

I am upsampling the Redbook files to 192KHz to bypass my DAC's ASRC.

 

R

[semente]

This is known side-effect with RasPi because ethernet adapter is connected to the same USB bus where the DAC is. It has some challenges with the data flows. Somewhat depends on the DAC though.

 

Thanks for the info.

What would be a good alternative to an R-Pi?

 

R

[semente]

Thanks.

I think I'll have a go at the Cubox-i then.

I've found a thread about it and will give it a good read: Cubox any one?

 

Cheers,

Ricardo

[semente]

Would it be possible to instal HQP NAA in this R-Pi2+DAC combo?

 

AUDIOPHONICS RaspDAC Kit DIY Network player Raspberry Pi 2.0 & DAC Sabre V3

 

It looks interesting.

 

R