Jump to content
IGNORED

HQ Player


Recommended Posts

...

Few questions though, from what I can tell, it can't play sacd isos? Also, if you create a playlist with PCM and DSD doesn't the player switch format automatically?

 

No issues here with stereo playback.

HQPlayer does not play sacd iso. I think ading this fature it is not on Miska's agenda.

HQPlayer doea not switch format automatically. Output is either PCM or SDM regardless of input and it is selected in your desktop mode.

Link to comment
As you explore and experiment with HQ Player, do try playback with and without volume control in HQ Player.

 

Start your testing sessions with no volume control, and after you have gotten used to the glorious sound of HQ Player, then try with volume control if you would like to have the convenience

I always leave volume at -3dB, both with PCM and SDM output, to avoid sample overload which is present on a quite a few recordings. Such setting is totally inifluential in terms of SQ. In the TIME box there is a "Limited" indicator to help you on this matter.

For DSD I have it set at +6dB compensation, so with my volume setting playback it's always at -3dB.

Link to comment
On a track with no sample overload, can you try with no volume adjustment and let us know what your observations are. Can you do this with both a PCM track for PCM to DSD128/256 and a native DSD64 track to do DSD to DSD128/256 ?

I just did and in both cases I cannot detect any difference (I have a ES9018 based volume control).

Do you?

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
Hi Alex,

 

Mac Core audio is the new kid on the block, but judging by the posting traffic here and on the Italian website there seems to have been a lot of downloads and successful installations of the MAC Core Audio beta.

 

In contrast I have only seen one post about the SOTM SMS-100 implementation, and a number of posts by users in Italy who have been struggling with the NAA on various boxes, who were then delighted when the MAC Core Audio beta was released

 

As to Windows users, I am feeling kind of lonely. (Geoff has both !)

 

My perception that the big driver in recent interest has been PCM to DSD conversion which HQ Player does so well

 

Best Regards

 

Ed

If I can report my experiece about Italian users (I set up a forum for HQPlayer and gathered users there as I helped them to buy a licence), about 22% of them are on Mac/Linux and the rest on Windows. This may change now that Core Audio capabality has been implemented. The vast majority employs a CuBox-i as NAA and users are very happy about it. Mac users bought a HQPlayer licence when direct DAC connection was not possible in their system. We have also verified that it is often better to use a LPS for CuBox-i in place of the normal "brick" ps.

I can also say that in Italy, like here in CA, including PCM>DSD, the interest for HQPlayer is on the rise :)

Link to comment
  • 4 weeks later...
Same way as on Windows, you need special drivers provided by the DAC manufacturer. At the moment exaSound is the only one providing such.

 

There still seems to be some problem with the ASIO driver loading/initialization, so most likely it doesn't work yet on HQPlayer. I need to get my hands on exaSound DAC to test & fix it...

Do you think that HQPlayer will work with CoreAudio2Asio patch?

Info here

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
...

Main usage model is still album mode (like changing CD's in a CD player or vinyls in LP player) and there the album information is not relevant because it can be seen from the above view. And anyway from the status information view when a song is playing.

As I asked you before, I will be waiting for you to add multi-selection to library in desktop mode so I can playback continuosly those 2 o3 CDs classical albums. :)

Link to comment
That really will be nice to have because, even if I adopt Miska's somewhat old fashioned analog paradigm of listening to one album at a time... I have 4,000 physical LPs, and when I pick out what to listen to, I pick a handful. I don't go back to my shelves after each record!

That ties in with my request to have Album name viewable in the Transport window (as opposed to just once I start playing the track): Often I am in the mood to survey a few albums from an artist in my library. If I load up 6 albums of say, Miles Davis, there is no way to tell when one album is going to end and the next begin--until it happens. Even just being able to see the track number would help that (numbers would go 1-to-x and then you would see 1 again and know that is the start of the next album).

 

I know Miska would like us to use the full screen/touchscreen interface more, but in some ways I am a bit old fashion myself! (and I don't often want to give up my entire display to a player; lots of empty space on my 27" monitor--a bit wasteful)

I agree with you.

In desktop mode it would be useful to be able to identify Album when various albums are in playback.

If a new column cannot be added easily, even a tooltip (like for the top icons) with the path of each song would help. Perhaps some songs may have a very long path though...

Link to comment
  • 1 month later...

Chodi,

I do not know cue tools, but for my large flac files splitting I have used XRecode II. You can use the demo version which is perfectly functioning. It allows to load as many cue files as you like and launch the splitting in the b.g., with immediate file replacement. So you can do large chuncks at the same time without much time wasting.

Link to comment

One and a half,

 

In Settings under SDM Pack try to change to DoP, eventually 2 wire.

 

In DSDDIFF/DSF settings, if you tick SDM direct, all your DSD files will output at native rate therefore in Settings your SDM bit-rate (at the moment your output is on 5644800) has no effect. If you want to upsample your DSD64 to DSD128, you have to remove tick from SDM Direct.

Link to comment

I have no problem displaying cover art with Win 7 in desktop and full screen mode.

Every album folder has a jpg file in it called folder.jpg. Each file size is always between 300x300 and 700x700, athough I doubt it is a problem to show larger cover art.

I once could not display art because the directory name contained unusual characters like "&%..." (it was an album by Aimee Mann).

Sometimes, if you want to force HQPlayer to see the cover art you just added, I noticed that it is better to delete the album directory from the Library, save, exit, and then re-add the album directory to the Library.

A problem one may encounter is cover art disappears after initial displaying. This may be due to some "house keeping" on either system HD or library HD that the user is involved during playback, after initial start.

 

Other than this you should not have problems displaying cover art.

Link to comment
When I try that from here, I am only offered HQP 3.4.1 for download, despite a mention of HQP 3.5.0 having been released on the main page.

At the bottom of the "Consumer" page you find a paragraph regarding HQPlayer 3.5.0. By clicking on the OS you have, you start downloading 3.5.0 - it works, I tried with Win, OSX and Linux versions. If on the other hand you cannot see such paragraph or the links point to a wrong DL, try to refrech your browser by deleting your cache files.

 

@Chiodi

3.5.0 was released yesterday. 3.5.1 is not out yet.

Link to comment
  • 2 weeks later...
Jussi, Thanks for the explanation. I still have some questions.

1) There is "settings" and then there is "DSDIFF/DFF settings". Is "settings" purely for PCM->DSD? And "DSDIFF/DFF settings" for DSD->DSD in the case of B.2?

2) What is AltDSD for?

Thanks in advance.

1) Setting is for general setup of your audio device and the output you prefer in either PCM and SDM.

DSDIFF/DFF settings is for how to handle DSD in a DSD>PCM conversion process. However, if you choose DirectSDM, the DSD signal will go untouched. For example, if your output is set at DSD128 (5644800) and you play a DSD64 file with DirectSDM enabled, your output will be DSD64 (2822400).

2) I quote from the manual: "For ASIO on Windows, AltDSD changes units of the DSD sample from bit to a byte, use this only when experiencing incorrect DSD playback, incorrectly enabling this will make application crash."

This feature is usefull for Merging Horus and Playback Design DACs.

Link to comment
I've only read through two-thirds of the thread so forgive me if this has been discussed or is common knowledge: Does HQ Player not play mp3 files? I have a whole bunch of them in my library from before I started ripping losslessly.

 

Also, if I were to convert ALAC to AIFF files using something like XLD, should I expect a downgrade in audio quality? Would doing this result in larger file sizes than I'd get if I just ripped the same CDs straight to AIFF using XLD?

 

The way this player sounds it'd be great if it could play everything the other players do. It has them all licked in terms of sound quality.

 

Thanks for any answers.

HQPlayer does not play MP3.

 

You don't have a downgrade in audio by converting ALAC to AIFF. You should have the size than if you rip the same CDs straight to AIFF.

Link to comment
Miska some help please.

 

My setup; 2012 Mac Mini i7 2,3 GhzQuad Core-16GB Ram-128GB SSD with just OS Mavericks 10.9.2 and sever software> exaSound e20 MKIII .082 clock with ASIO driver by USB to Mac Mini>Veritas Mono Amps. No Preamp. My music is external on a HD to Mac Mini by Thunderbolt. I use an iPad with splashtop to control the Mac Mini and software. Hand remote to control the volume in the exaSound DAC.

 

 

I am trying to play back both PCM (all rates, 16/24-44/384) and DSD (64/128) all up-sampled to quad rate (256) DSD.

 

Can you please recommend what should be the best settings to start with/try. This would be for your latest software version 3.5.1 as I pleased with what I am hearing with the limited time I have so far spent with your trial version and plan to upgrade.

 

Also would it be a benefit to upgrade to Yosemite OS.

IMHO, you have to run some listening tests to decide what's best for your equipment/ears.

In general

- Poly-sinc o Poly-sinc-short for classical or acoustic music with few microphones during recording;

- Poly-sinc-mp o Poly-sinc-mp-short for studio productions of non classical music.

 

"Short" version filters improve transients; non-short version filters improve scene representation.

 

For dither, at 384kHz you can use NS5.

 

For DSD256 filters are like the above.

For modulator use DSD7 or ASDM.

If you upsample DSD, remember to untick DirectSDM in DSD/DIFF menu.

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...