HQ Player

[AudioDoctor]

So, if my player uses DoP (Core Audio) to send DSD to my DAC, I can't go all the way to the max of my Luxman DAC which is 5.64 MHz?  Is that 256 or 512?  Does Audirvana use DoP as well?

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, Jud said:

 

Audirvana supports DoP; I assume it would support native DSD as well if the DAC had that capability with its driver.

 

I don't see anyplace in the literature that Luxman says it doesn't accept native DSD, I am pretty sure A+ does support native DSD if my understanding of their manual is correct.  This is all so confusing, and I wonder where some of you guys are digging up this info.  Also, a read through this thread has guaranteed I wont be trying HQ Player anytime soon.

 

Ha!

[AudioDoctor]

I suppose I can go get a DSD265 file and try to play it, and see what happens.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, ted_b said:

1). I read Jud's comment as asking whether anyone had written dac drivers for Mac.  I answered it.  Yes of course exaSound is dsd256 but native, not DoP.

2). AudioDoctor, if you are not going to use HQPlayer then why post here?  Give it a try, man, its significantly better sounding than any other player IMHO.

 

because I learned, possibly, something about both Mac OS, which I use, and the Luxman DA-06, which I also use, and which is also relevant to my use case.

[AudioDoctor]

SO far, been listening to 4.5.0 for a few hours tonight and not had a single issue. Giving the Sinc-m and Sinc-s filters a listen. Haven't come to any conclusions yet.

 

edit: It's running alongside Roon server on my 2011 Mac mini running Mojave 10.14.6 sending music out over my net to my Sonore device.

[AudioDoctor]

32 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

 

What has now replaced T2 function in current Mac?

 

I just want to make sure I avoid T2 chip with a new Macbook purchase

 

With a new MacBook you can't avoid it, and there really is no reason to avoid it.

[AudioDoctor]

11 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

 

Jussi just hinted a reason to avoid the T2 chip.

 

It's a good reason to move to network streaming, which as I found out, works better, and sounds better in my opinion.

[AudioDoctor]

10 hours ago, Miska said:

Just search the internet for something like "mac t2 audio problems" and you'll know more. There's a thread here too, and the solution found is to use an external Thunderbolt dock to reimplement USB ports. Since Thunderbolt is essentially PCIe, having USB ports behind it means having another PCIe USB controller. But it comes with extra cost and extra dongle.

 

I'm aware, I think it's just more incentive to move to network streaming rather than a direct USB connection.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, asdf1000 said:

 

I use multiple NAA’s in different zones... have done for a few years.. I don’t have just one listening setup.

 

Anyway Jussi explained the issue with T2 chip. Lots of Pro Audio users have made complaints on Gearslutz forum.

 

The T2 chip doesn't effect network protocols... ask me how I know. Its deleterious effects are on direct connected USB devices.

[AudioDoctor]

@Miska, what is the process HQPlayer goes through when using it's volume control and sending a file that is already at the max bit rate?

[AudioDoctor]

24 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

It is the same as in all other cases too, there is actually no difference at all in such case to any other case.

 

 

So, it upsamples the file, applies volume control, and resamples it to the original bit/sample rate?

[AudioDoctor]

I am just trying to figure out how the volume control works when the file being sent is already at the max sample rate? Is it happening in-between the 24 and 32 bits? Am I somehow losing resolution when I do this?

[AudioDoctor]

3 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

8 extra bits going from 24-bit source to 32-bit output gives you 48 dB of extra headroom. NS9 noise shaper gives you a bunch more. Then take into account that recordings from analog domain (microphones and such) have less dynamic range than 24-bit data can hold. So you are well safe from any loss.

 

What is the output to? Is this normal listening volume? 50 dB is quite a lot of attenuation, so the total gain in analog domain looks a bit excessive for normal listening levels. Looks more like night time quiet listening volume setting.

 

 

Ok, now I am getting it. Thanks for explaining that to me.

 

Currently it is my DAC into my McIntosh MAC7200 with the volume turned to full. It is not loud, that's for sure. I can hear it, but not trying to crank the levels either.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Is it an iMac with the T2 security chip?

 

It matters for network audio too?  Damn, strike 2 against a new mini for a Roon Core.

[AudioDoctor]

7 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Not sure, I was just asking :~)

 

Ahhh, okay.

[AudioDoctor]

2 hours ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

There are plenty of ways to do it. This is just how I do it. 

 

AS you mention Chris, there are a million ways to do this. I set min and max to -3 in HQPlayer settings and leave it at that if I am not using the volume control in HQP.

[AudioDoctor]

9 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Please send me email again, I may have missed something... (had a motorcycle accident and spent some time in hospital, etc)

 

 

Geez, I hope you get well soon!

[AudioDoctor]

@Miska What do you think the chances are that the just announced Nvidia 3090 will enable significantly more upsampling capability?

[AudioDoctor]

@Miska Any ideas if your NAA image on a Raspberry Pi 4 will continue to work when Roon enforces their Roon Certified program on the 21st?

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

Roon doesn't know anything about NAAs, it is totally invisible to Roon. Roon only knows and sees HQPlayer. HQPlayer support in Roon is separate from their Roon Ready endpoint support.

 

 

 

Thanks Miska!

[AudioDoctor]

14 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

That is quite close to CUDA and maybe usable. I would need to check if the library of support functions covers the needs.

 

Some support for Intel GPUs may be coming at some point too.

 

 

Miska, it's my understanding that AMD cards works better with Linux than nVidia cards do.

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

Based on my experience that is certainly not the case, the AMD driver has been horrible battle always when I've tried it...

 

 

nVidias latest driver for me has been an absolute disaster. I had to reinstall my entire system. And I am not alone.

[AudioDoctor]

9 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Which OS are you using? I haven't got any trouble on Ubuntu.

 

 

My personal desktop running Manjaro KDE (Arch)

 

The NVIDIA drivers are proprietary while the AMD drivers are open sourced.

[AudioDoctor]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

While just horribly buggy and broken... They also don't have the latest and greatest features their Windows drivers have, because of the open source nature. While Nvidia drivers are the same for Windows and Linux.

 

So far every ATI/AMD GPU I've tried have pretty quickly ended up into electronics waste recycling.

 

 

Nvidia doesn't officially support it, while they do support Ubuntu...

 

 

Nvidia doesn't support Wayland, and that's what even Ubuntu is heading towards unless you use some other version of it than normal plain Ubuntu with Gnome.

 

I hear you saying this, and I see every Linux forum saying the exact opposite. I don't know who to believe. Either way, my CAPs is running Ubuntu server and none of this has anything to do with that which is running just fine.

[AudioDoctor]

@Miska Have you ever considered playing with one of these as an all in one HQP box with upsampling?

https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-agx-xavier-developer-kit