HQ Player

[bibo01]

Yes, you can, but I doubt it would solve anything.

Try HQPlayer on its own.

Try also to remove Auto from your frequency drop-list. You might be sending DSD128e (6144000) instead of DSD128 (5644800) which might not be supported by your down the line devices.

[Miska]

Hi Miska, any change to vive me a hand with this?

 

If you swapped USB cables with such result, then USB cables are likely your problem.

 

Try with some standard USB HiSpeed certified cables, those typically cost 5 - 10 € per piece and work flawlessly.

[tboooe]

Just curious if anyone has compared running HQP on Linux versus Server R2 or any other variant of Windows. I am going to try this out this weekend. In my case, I will compare HQP running on Lubuntu versus Server + AO + Fidelizer.

[blue2]

Hi Miska

 

How does the CUDA offload work? Does it load share with the CPU or does HQPlayer offload all calculations to the graphics card if it's recognised as CUDA and more FPU capable than the CPU? I'm just wondering if buying something like a GeForce GTX 970 and installing in a PC otherwise not capable of DSD512 would be enough as a means to try it out?

 

Thanks

[tboooe]

OK, got Lubuntu installed and HQP and Roon playing together! After just listening for about 30 mins (before HQP trial times out!), I am pretty happy with the sound. My first impression is that HQP sounds a bit more clear which is allowing me to hear a bit more detail and nuance. I havent played around with HQP settings too much. Right now, I am using poly-sinc-mp not converting to DSD.

 

Question, has anyone compared using HQP on a single pc directly connected to the DAC versus using an NAA?

[Priaptor]

i7 6700K versus i7 5930K

 

My desire is to upsample to DSD512. Any advantages of one over the other. My current system i7 3960x can't do the job. There is only a few bucks difference in the systems I am looking to build

 

Thanks

[EuroDriver]

OK, got Lubuntu installed and HQP and Roon playing together! After just listening for about 30 mins (before HQP trial times out!), I am pretty happy with the sound. My first impression is that HQP sounds a bit more clear which is allowing me to hear a bit more detail and nuance. I havent played around with HQP settings too much. Right now, I am using poly-sinc-mp not converting to DSD.

 

Question, has anyone compared using HQP on a single pc directly connected to the DAC versus using an NAA?

 

We have done that with the Sound Galleries Music Server SGM 2015. The SGM converting everything to DSD 512, sounds better alone than the SGM sending the audio data stream ever Ethernet to a Windows 10 (optimized) NAA connected to the T+A DAC 8 DSD

 

We have not tested the SGM sending PCM to a NAA. Since we started listening to DSD 512 3 months ago, we do nothing else

[EuroDriver]

i7 6700K versus i7 5930K

 

My desire is to upsample to DSD512. Any advantages of one over the other. My current system i7 3960x can't do the job. There is only a few bucks difference in the systems I am looking to build

 

Thanks

 

Hi There,

 

We have tested a quadcore Haswell on a ASROCK super low latency mobo, and a Haswell Octocore on a premium ASUS mobo, and in both cases it was completely sonically outclassed by a i7 6700K

 

We have run Skylake mobos from several manufacturers, and each mobo sounds significantly different. Pick you poison, but we have yet to hear a Skylake build we did not like.

 

BIOS settings, RAM tweaks and settings, SSD power, and mobo power supply sonic differences seem to be amplified at DSD 512

[Priaptor]

Hi There,

 

We have tested a quadcore Haswell on a ASROCK super low latency mobo, and a Haswell Octocore on a premium ASUS mobo, and in both cases it was completely sonically outclassed by a i7 6700K

 

We have run Skylake mobos from several manufacturers, and each mobo sounds significantly different. Pick you poison, but we have yet to hear a Skylake build we did not like.

 

BIOS settings, RAM tweaks and settings, SSD power, and mobo power supply sonic differences seem to be amplified at DSD 512

 

Thanks. I was hoping that was "the answer" as it is a cheaper alternative in my build setup.

[tboooe]

 

We have not tested the SGM sending PCM to a NAA. Since we started listening to DSD 512 3 months ago, we do nothing else

 

Thank you for the reply. Both my DAC and Mutec 3+ reclocker cannot handle DSD so I am only listening to PCM. I am going to try the NAA to see if the sound via ethernet and spdif is better than usb. I will be using a Pi3 with a modified spdif output board similar to a Digi+.

[EuroDriver]

Thank you for the reply. Both my DAC and Mutec 3+ reclocker cannot handle DSD so I am only listening to PCM. I am going to try the NAA to see if the sound via ethernet and spdif is better than usb. I will be using a Pi3 with a modified spdif output board similar to a Digi+.

 

Deleted, I mis-read your system description and thought you had a DA-06

 

Time to get a nice DSD capable DAC ;-)

[tboooe]

I believe your Luxman DA-06 is a pretty competent DSD128 DAC

 

Suggest your try HQ Player converting to DSD128 and delivering over USB to your DA-06 and leave the Mutec out of the loop and see how you like the SQ

 

Actually I do not have the DA-06. I have the D-06 cd player. This unit only has spdif digital input and only does pcm up to 24/176.

 

I need to upgrade my dac!

[tboooe]

Ok noob question guys...how do I convert DSF to PCM? I have to far right dropdown box set to PCM and it looks like HQ Player is converting the DSF file to the 176 freq I set. However, I get no sound. I can play my flac files fine.

 

I think I need to install additional files but I am not sure which ones. When I look in the Trusty file on the HQPlayer website there are so many to choose from. If I do indeed need to install some additional files can someone please let me know which ones? I am running Lubuntu, latest version.

[bibo01]

I don't think you need additional files.

Have you tried to convert to 192kHz?

[tboooe]

I don't think you need additional files.

Have you tried to convert to 192kHz?

 

Yes, I tried converting to different sample rates but still no sound. The weird thing is my DAC shows that it is receiving the music and the sample rate indicator changes matches what I set HQP to convert to. But I don't get any sound.

[bibo01]

Yes, I tried converting to different sample rates but still no sound. The weird thing is my DAC shows that it is receiving the music and the sample rate indicator changes matches what I set HQP to convert to. But I don't get any sound.

 

Ummm... Are you sure that the problem is not down the line after the dac?!

Try to make a small playlist with one 44.1 file and one DSF64 converting both to PCM 176.4. Do you hear sound for the 1st track and not for the 2nd track?

[tboooe]

Ummm... Are you sure that the problem is not down the line after the dac?!

Try to make a small playlist with one 44.1 file and one DSF64 converting both to PCM 176.4. Do you hear sound for the 1st track and not for the 2nd track?

I got it to play but I am not sure how. I went into the DSDIFF/DSF settings and changed the poly-short-lin. So now I can convert DSD to PCM but I cant play DSD directly because I do not have that option in the far right drop down list. That is why I think I need to install additional files. I just dont know which ones.

[ted_b]

I got it to play but I am not sure how. I went into the DSDIFF/DSF settings and changed the poly-short-lin. So now I can convert DSD to PCM but I cant play DSD directly because I do not have that option in the far right drop down list. That is why I think I need to install additional files. I just dont know which ones.

 

Your Dac/reclocker doesn't allow for direct DSD. HQplayer looks at your driver and if there are no DSD bit rates included then it doesn't list them, nor show them as playable.

[tboooe]

Your Dac/reclocker doesn't allow for direct DSD. HQplayer looks at your driver and if there are no DSD bit rates included then it doesn't list them, nor show them as playable.

 

That's strange. I was sure the Mutec 3+ accepts DoP and native DSF files. I know that the Mutec converts DoP and DSF to pcm before reclocking but I just want to make sure I can get HQP to play native DSD since I am planning to get a DSD dac soon. The HQP website even says I need to dowoad some files for native DSD, I just don't know which ones.

[bibo01]

That's strange. I was sure the Mutec 3+ accepts DoP and native DSF files. I know that the Mutec converts DoP and DSF to pcm before reclocking but I just want to make sure I can get HQP to play native DSD since I am planning to get a DSD dac soon. The HQP website even says I need to dowoad some files for native DSD, I just don't know which ones.

 

If your DAC supports DSD through DoP, then in Settings/SDM set DoP. You should then be able to select SDM in the far right desktop drop-list.

If your DAC supports native DSD (non-DoP), you should install the following libasound2 and kernel packages from here, accordingly to your Linux version. After download, in Settings/SDM you should set "None" and be allowed to select SDM in the far right desktop drop-list.

[tboooe]

If your DAC supports DSD through DoP, then in Settings/SDM set DoP. You should then be able to select SDM in the far right desktop drop-list.

If your DAC supports native DSD (non-DoP), you should install the following libasound2 and kernel packages from here, accordingly to your Linux version. After download, in Settings/SDM you should set "None" and be allowed to select SDM in the far right desktop drop-list.

 

Thank you but my problem is I don't know which files to download. If I go into the Trusty folder I see so many different files. It looks like many are just different versions of the same file but still i am not sure which ones to install. That's what I need help with.

[bibo01]

Thank you but my problem is I don't know which files to download. If I go into the Trusty folder I see so many different files. It looks like many are just different versions of the same file but still i am not sure which ones to install. That's what I need help with.

I am not a Linux expert. However, this should be your list:

 

alsa-lib_1.0.27.2.orig.tar.bz2

 

------------------------

libasound2-data_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2

libasound2-dbg_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2

libasound2-dev_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2

libasound2-udeb_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2

libasound2_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2

libgmpris-dbg_2.2.1-4_amd64.deb

libgmpris-dev_2.2.1-4_amd64.deb

libgmpris_2.2.1-4

 

version amd64 or i386 it depends if you have 64 or 32bit OS

DL the ones in bold perhaps the other ones are DLed automatically

------------------------

Linux-headers

Linux-image

Linux-tools

 

DL all in version 4.0.2-35 low latency

 

I doubt you need linux-lts-willy and linux-cloud-tools. You could DL them later, if it does not recognize DSD native.

[Miska]

Thank you but my problem is I don't know which files to download. If I go into the Trusty folder I see so many different files. It looks like many are just different versions of the same file but still i am not sure which ones to install. That's what I need help with.

 

Note, next version of HQPlayer is likely going to be built on and require Ubuntu 16.04 LTS. That version doesn't require these kind of modified packages since it comes with the necessary things. Upgrading from 14.04 to 16.04 should be easy.

 

You need following packages (current versions), I'm assuming you are on 64-bit version of Ubuntu:

http://www.sonarnerd.net/src/trusty/libasound2_1.0.27.2-3.1jl2_amd64.deb

http://www.sonarnerd.net/src/trusty/linux-headers-4.2.0-35-lowlatency_4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1jl3_amd64.deb

http://www.sonarnerd.net/src/trusty/linux-headers-4.2.0-35_4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1jl3_all.deb

http://www.sonarnerd.net/src/trusty/linux-image-4.2.0-35-lowlatency_4.2.0-35.40~14.04.1jl3_amd64.deb

[AudioTragic]

Hi, Is there a way to disable the “Auto” setting (at least in the PCM / SDM menu) so to force HQ Player to output PCM or SDM/DSD permanently? You can manually change the setting on the playback screen, but every now and then HQPlayer starts with “Auto” selected.

 

I run HQ Player in two different environments. In the first setup it is essential that HQP plays in PCM in the second setup my preference is to play everything as SDM / DSD.

 

1. In the home living room setup HQP runs on a headless Mac Mini in another room and plays via a NAA (mRendu) which is connected to a USB to AES converter (Gustard U12) as my DAC (Weiss DAC202) does not accept USB and does not recognise DSD DOP via spdif. The problem is that HQ Player thinks that the DAC is DSD capable as it only “sees” the the USB to AES/spdif converter (U12) which HQ Player knows is DSD capable. The USB to AES/spdif converter (U12) simply passes through the signal and does not convert DSD to PCM (and I would want any conversion done by HQPlayer in any event). But the DAC is not DSD capable. So when HQ Player is in Auto mode and plays back a DSD file HQ Player outputs a DSD stream, which is played back as full volume white noise by the DAC, which it is pretty painful to the ear (and potentially damaging to the equipment). It is not something you want to happen when other members of the family are in the room.

 

Naturally, I have selected the PCM option on the playback screen. Most of the time when the computer is rebooted, HQ Player remembers that setting, but every now and then it starts with HQ Player in “Auto” mode for both the sample rate and the PCM / SDM output mode selection. The preferences file does not seem to be corrupted, as the options selected in the preferences window are retained. (On the preferences page all of the check boxes are unchecked, pcm: polysinc, NS9, 192000, “DAC bits” is set to 24.) My music library includes all common sample rates for both PCM and DSD.

 

2. In the work setup HQPlayer (again running on a Mac) links to a DSD capable DAC (Exasound e12) via NAA on a Windows 10 computer. I would like HQP to always playback via SDM/DSD on this machine. Again, I have selected SDM/DSD on the playback screen But occasionally, HQPlayer starts up with Auto selected on the playback screen and, when that occurs, and HQ Player receives a PCM file it plays back as PCM not SDM/DSD. As HQP runs on a headless machine (with Roon server), with the music controlled remotely via Roon from my work computer, it is a nuisance to go in and manually change the settings back to SDM/DSD.

 

Ideally there would be option in the Preferences menu to output only PCM or output only DSD.

 

But in the meantime is there any way to disable the Auto output mode setting or force HQP to open with the preferred output mode? I don’t recall this happening, prior to the introduction of the “Auto” output mode settings earlier this year.

 

Thanks

[Lcocozza]

If you swapped USB cables with such result, then USB cables are likely your problem.

 

Try with some standard USB HiSpeed certified cables, those typically cost 5 - 10 € per piece and work flawlessly.

 

Hi Miska,

 

The culprits have been found, the new USB cables were wrecking my system.

 

Thanks for the tip.