HQ Player

[Miska]

7 hours ago, Nkam said:

I doubt this Marantz SACD 30n would take HQPlayer correct? 

 

I think according to Marantz documentation it plays DSD inputs bit-perfect without touching the data. So it should work fine with HQPlayer DSD256 output.

 

Of course you end up paying extra for something you don't need.

 

[Miska]

12 hours ago, dericchan1 said:

As for ifi burr brown chips, it only upsamples pcm to 24/192, does it mean as long as I feed pcm over 24/192 then it should bypass the dac chip filters other than the basic zero and hold filter?

 

352.8/384 and higher inputs to those bypass the digital filter and it leaves just the zero order hold oversampling (ugly) and 3rd order modulator in place.

 

For TI/BB chips, all DSD inputs always go straight to the D/A conversion section. There are just four possible different D/A section configurations that act as analog filters. Newer iFi devices unfortunately don't have configuration option to select which of the four configurations are used. Some earlier models like Micro iDSD had three switch options for selecting one of three out of those total four options.

 

[kelvinwsy]

Yes Sir @Miska it has arrived and opening it for photos!

And the good news , the Gustard A26 with factory firmware plays Hqplayer NAA DSD512 , EC7v2 smooth as butter!

SQ hard to say ad I hv not hooked ip my fibre optic converters and the isolation netgear switch(😱actually the 12v unit burnt, and I seem to be unable to locate the other 5v unit!

So both Hqplayer server and A26 straight into the modem that is already downstresm of the IP provider's modem

A quick sound check.. fr memory .. it is comparable to direct USB

BUT against DDC..Master clock .. usb/i2s I think HMMMH🤔🤔🤔

 

 

[kelvinwsy]

Here are the closeup shots of the internals !

The inside of the top plate has many weights .. to anchor the unit down when audiophiles connect super heavy gauge ethernet cables???

 

[kelvinwsy]

I think it's gonna be fun upgrading the network chain ( in my case to prepare for hires streaming)

The NAA connection sounds very promising

[kelvinwsy]

Dont think the crystals are Crystek at all 🤬

Just oscillator chips??

[Miska]

18 minutes ago, kelvinwsy said:

Here are the closeup shots of the internals !

 

 

This is not a CCHD-957:

 

This is how CCHD-957 looks like, just took photo of mine, couple of pieces of those from a cut tape:

[kelvinwsy]

Hmmh shuld I lodge a complaint and return the unit??

I think i will do a sq chk .. it may help the SQ after all ! 

I will report back

[kelvinwsy]

Useless unit blocks  the ethernet connection! Submitted a claim for return and refund to vendor/ thru aliexpress

DONT BUY THIS THING!!

[kelvinwsy]

Ethernet NAA SQ really does not measure up to USB/I2S thru the Gustard U18

 

Immediate difference on USB/I2S is the pin point focus of the soundstage ! Yet still smooth and dynamic

Enough said

I am staying with USB / I2S chain

[Pregent]

Question for @Miska regarding the "iir" plugin.  Is there a plugin type that would simulate a xover?  I see Low-pass filter and High-pass filter, but these are not the same a xover.  With a xover, it is possible to specify a slope, such as 12 dB/octave or 24 dB/octave as well as a filter type such as Linkwitz-Riley or Butterworth.  The ability to have xover functionality in HQPlayer would be very useful.

[Miska]

3 minutes ago, Pregent said:

Question for @Miska regarding the "iir" plugin.  Is there a plugin type that would simulate a xover?  I see Low-pass filter and High-pass filter, but these are not the same a xover.  With a xover, it is possible to specify a slope, such as 12 dB/octave or 24 dB/octave as well as a filter type such as Linkwitz-Riley or Butterworth.  The ability to have xover functionality in HQPlayer would be very useful.

 

You can build all those types out of the already provided low-pass and high-pass filters. Based on biquads you can define each as 1st or 2nd order section and cascade multiple of those. Of course it is not as straightforward, but on the other hand it is more flexible.

 

[Mahler and Bach on Computer]

On 12/19/2022 at 7:50 AM, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, Jussi, thank you for your instruction.

 

 

So I finally took the Mutec out and converted all files to PCM including DSF files through HQPlayer.  The first time I played, it appeared that high volume, the information were largely distorted.  So I needed to reduce the max volume of HQPLAYER from -6dB to -15db to have everything worked out properly.

 

Not quite understand the reason but did it anyway. 

[Pregent]

9 hours ago, Miska said:

 

You can build all those types out of the already provided low-pass and high-pass filters. Based on biquads you can define each as 1st or 2nd order section and cascade multiple of those. Of course it is not as straightforward, but on the other hand it is more flexible.

 

Thanks for the quick reply Miska.  I'll look into biquad filters.

[Miska]

7 hours ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

So I finally took the Mutec out and converted all files to PCM including DSF files through HQPlayer.  The first time I played, it appeared that high volume, the information were largely distorted.  So I needed to reduce the max volume of HQPLAYER from -6dB to -15db to have everything worked out properly.

 

Not quite understand the reason but did it anyway. 

 

Do you have the 6 dB gain enabled or disabled? When it is enabled, there's no distortion as long as you don't turn HQPlayer volume higher than -3 dB or -4 dB.  You can look at the "limited" counter, if it increments from 0. If it stays 0, there's no distortion due to limiting (the soft knee limiter is anyway very very low distortion).

 

You can also pay attention to the conversion parameters you use. What kind of output format you use to what DAC?

 

[Mahler and Bach on Computer]

13 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Do you have the 6 dB gain enabled or disabled? When it is enabled, there's no distortion as long as you don't turn HQPlayer volume higher than -3 dB or -4 dB.  You can look at the "limited" counter, if it increments from 0. If it stays 0, there's no distortion due to limiting (the soft knee limiter is anyway very very low distortion).

 

You can also pay attention to the conversion parameters you use. What kind of output format you use to what DAC?

 

Hi, @Miska, when I posted the message last night, the 6dB gain was enabled.  The DAC I used is Sonnet Pasithea which takes 352kHz PCM through USB connection.  At that time, I still heard the distortion occasionally.  It appeared that after 6dB gain was disabled, the distortion had not reappear, of course, it was only another extra hour.  Will look at the limited counter tonight.  For the HQP settings, at PCM side, it was poly-sinc-Gaussian-long, with Gauss1 Dither.  Sampling rate 352.8k.

 

Thank you very much again, @Miska! 

[Miska]

20 minutes ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

Hi, @Miska, when I posted the message last night, the 6dB gain was enabled.  The DAC I used is Sonnet Pasithea which takes 352kHz PCM through USB connection.  At that time, I still heard the distortion occasionally.  It appeared that after 6dB gain was disabled, the distortion had not reappear, of course, it was only another extra hour.  Will look at the limited counter tonight.  For the HQP settings, at PCM side, it was poly-sinc-Gaussian-long, with Gauss1 Dither.  Sampling rate 352.8k.

 

Thank you very much again, @Miska! 

 

To some extent depending on content also the selected noise filter and PCM conversion algorithm play role on likelihood of hitting limiting in the conversion process.

 

By the specification, maximum momentarily allowed DSD level is +3.15 dB. And 0 dB DSD is equivalent of -6 dBFS PCM, so for that reason there's the 6 dB gain option to bring 0 dB DSD = 0 dBFS PCM. However, now if the content has those peaks going above 0 dB DSD level, it would go above 0 dBFS PCM. This is not a problem for HQPlayer's internal DSP pipeline which has practically unlimited headroom. However, it is not possible to output PCM exceeding 0 dBFS since we run out of maximum possible sample values. Now, if your HQPlayer volume is set to -3 dBFS, this will still result in maximum -2.85 dBFS output level. Except that now there's not enough headroom for inter-sample overs anymore.

 

Some DSD content may still technically contain peaks actually exceeding the +3.15 dB! (but not +6 dB)

 

Hopefully this explanation wasn't too confusing... 😅 I think I tried to also say something about it in the manual...

 

[Mahler and Bach on Computer]

3 hours ago, Miska said:

 

To some extent depending on content also the selected noise filter and PCM conversion algorithm play role on likelihood of hitting limiting in the conversion process.

 

By the specification, maximum momentarily allowed DSD level is +3.15 dB. And 0 dB DSD is equivalent of -6 dBFS PCM, so for that reason there's the 6 dB gain option to bring 0 dB DSD = 0 dBFS PCM. However, now if the content has those peaks going above 0 dB DSD level, it would go above 0 dBFS PCM. This is not a problem for HQPlayer's internal DSP pipeline which has practically unlimited headroom. However, it is not possible to output PCM exceeding 0 dBFS since we run out of maximum possible sample values. Now, if your HQPlayer volume is set to -3 dBFS, this will still result in maximum -2.85 dBFS output level. Except that now there's not enough headroom for inter-sample overs anymore.

 

Some DSD content may still technically contain peaks actually exceeding the +3.15 dB! (but not +6 dB)

 

Hopefully this explanation wasn't too confusing... 😅 I think I tried to also say something about it in the manual...

 

I hope I fully understand your explanation.  So if I understand correctly, running out maximum is more likely the problem for DSD-based material delivered using PCM.  But it appears that all the Max-out have occurred to the PCM-based material so far.  Based on your explanation, I believe that I can understand why I have occurred this issue in the past three years since I have always converted everything into DSD.  Thank you again for your time, @Miska.

[Mahler and Bach on Computer]

33 minutes ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

I hope I fully understand your explanation.  So if I understand correctly, running out maximum is more likely the problem for DSD-based material delivered using PCM.  But it appears that all the Max-out have occurred to the PCM-based material so far.  Based on your explanation, I believe that I can understand why I have occurred this issue in the past three years since I have always converted everything into DSD.  Thank you again for your time, @Miska.

Correction: I meant I have never encountered this issue in the past three years since I have always converted everything into DSD format until now.  

[CJH]

Currently using HQP to play PCM 44-176 along with 12 PEQs per channel at 512DSD with ASDM7ECv2 machine successfully on a W11 10850K with no additional graphics card. I am considering going full DRC Accurate Sound (like Chris) instead of PEQs. Anyone have an idea if this uses a lot more CPU and may force me down to 256DSD?

CJH

[Miska]

24 minutes ago, CJH said:

Currently using HQP to play PCM 44-176 along with 12 PEQs per channel at 512DSD with ASDM7ECv2 machine successfully on a W11 10850K with no additional graphics card. I am considering going full DRC Accurate Sound (like Chris) instead of PEQs. Anyone have an idea if this uses a lot more CPU and may force me down to 256DSD?

CJH

 

As long as the source is PCM with 44 - 192k rates, it is not particularly heavy to run convolution. It becomes particularly heavy when you process it for DSD sources and your output is DSD.

 

[jamesg11]

16 hours ago, Miska said:

 

As long as the source is PCM with 44 - 192k rates, it is not particularly heavy to run convolution. It becomes particularly heavy when you process it for DSD sources and your output is DSD.

 

Too heavy for 2 channel dsd with M1 mini?

[semente]

What's the mini M1 fan noise level like?

 

I am considering replacing the 2018 Mac mini i7 with an M1.

Noise fan, particularly when upconverting 24/48 to DSD256/poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp/ASDM7v2, is a bit too much and I am currently not performing any EQ, but I only have a few 24/48 files and with other rates it makes significantly less noise.

I need to try a couple of random PEQ filters on each channel and see how bad it gets.

[Miska]

7 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

Too heavy for 2 channel dsd with M1 mini?

 

I would say yes, even parametric EQ for DSD sources is on the edge for M1 Mini.

 

2 minutes ago, semente said:

What's the mini M1 fan noise level like?

 

At leas my first generation M1 Mini is very quiet, even at full load. And so is my MacBook Pro with M1Max.

 

[jamesg11]

Guess I’m then looking toward the M3 … or whenever Apple get to a significant step fwd re HQP.