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For a while trying HQPlayer has been on my 'to do' list, in particular since Roon integration. One issue I have is that (unfortunately) I have over 10K of tracks ripped in ALAC, together with much metadata tweaking and most of the tracks are individually track rated, all stuff that is important to me. With HQPlayer not being compatible with ALAC, I would need to perform a file conversion to FLAC or similar, and hence loose the metadata. Recently I have been trying the upsampling offered as part of Roon 1.3. To be honest, the results of this have been a little underwhelming, so trying HQPlayer still appeals. The Roon offering does lead to a question though, if Roon can happily upsample ALAC, why is this not possible in HQPlayer? Plus, is it actually impossible or just a case that ALAC compatibility has been deliberately avoided? Or to ask another question, is ALAC support in HQPlayer something that may be offered in the future, or will it be permanently excluded?

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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I, of course, can't answer for the future features. I'm guessing you are on a OS X so doesn't XLD keep your metadata if you convert to AIFF and maybe even FLAC? Somebody here will know for sure. Been a while since I've messed with music on OS X.

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

 

No, I'm firmly on Windows 10 these days......

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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Sorry 'bout that. I'm not sure what will convert ALAC but pretty sure there is a way to keep your metadata intact. Which program do you use to rip?

 

I use dbPoweramp and I think it will do it fine. And, I quickly found this link that says it keeps id3 tags.

 

ALAC to FLAC - Convert ALAC to FLAC, ALAC to FLAC Converter, ALAC to FLAC Conversion

 

 

Sent from my iPad using Computer Audiophile

I too use dbPoweramp, and it is possible to move iTunes track ratings to the id3 tags, so probably quite doable with a bit of care.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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If you use Roon as a front end HQ Payer will play your ALAC files so no need to convert.

 

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]33190[/ATTACH]

Ah, OK - Thanks for this ckpiv. This makes things a lot easier for me.

 

I had looked at the Signalist website, which simply does not list ALAC as being supported. Maybe they should clarify this point, it might tempt a few others to jump in via the Roon route? I'm sure I'm not the only one put off by this, mistakenly as it happens.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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I don't know the history of the ALAC debate here, but it does leave me with some key questions. I'm thinking of trying HQPlayer via Roon. An earlier poster advised that Roon can 'uncompress' an ALAC file, which can then be fed to HQPlayer.

 

Firstly, is this correct? Assuming this is the case, does playing ALAC like this result in any sound quality deficits, if say upsampling 16/44.1 to DSD. Or in other words, if ultimate sound quality is the aim, is it best to convert ALAC to wav, flac or similar?

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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Latest Muso release now also supports ALAC.

I do have an addiction to individual track ratings, that Muso supports but Roon does not. So yes, this might be worth checking out, thanks.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 3 months later...

OK - I have to declare myself as an absolute newbie with respect to HQPlayer, I am on the first morning of the free trial.  Anyway, so far so good.  Anyway, I have downloaded HQPlayer, a bit of faffing around with settings to get Roon to talk to HQPlayer and HQPlayer to talk to the microRendu, and I had music playing without issue in no time.


I sat down for a quick listen with HQPlayer simply set the whatever it was set to as default, it was working, so I listened. Very interesting! I did notice that per the default settings HQPlayer was upsampling to 196kHZ. I was picking up some extra detail and could see some positives but at the same time I cannot say I was particularly enjoying the experience. At some level I did not like it, but for sure there was something different going on.  It was almost like there was too much detail and too much happening in the high frequencies that it was not a pleasant listen and almost appeared to be upsetting the overall tonal balance. After a quick read of the HQPlayer manual, I thought I would try minphaseFIR / NS1 / poly-sinc-2s. This I could listen to all day, much better. So far so good. It works, and clearly the settings are doing something that my ears and brain are reacting to. Due to this early result and the fact that set up and use are far easier than I anticipated, I am thinking I will probably be continuing with HQPlayer after the 30 day trial, but time will tell. In fact, looking at the number of options I think it will take more than 30 days to work out what all the options do in my system and what suits best. Looking at the settings, if you multiply out all the options and combinations there are literally 1000's to choose from, so a little bit mesmerising.

 

Obviously to find the absolute best settings for my ears and system will take much time, graft and trial and error, I have no problem with this.  What I think I could do with is some pointers as to what a good starting point would be, or what the key settings are to play with to establish what works best for me.  That is, what settings make the big differences and which are perhaps more for fine tuning?  Maybe there are some pointers to some relevant reading material?  Although I do plan to have a careful read of the HQPlayer manual.  I am running HQPlayer on an quad core i5 Windows 10 PC, to microRendu, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000 Pro, KEF Blade speakers.  Music wise, I am more at the rock, indie, electronica end of the scale rather than jazz or classical, but I do listen to most genres at some time or another.

 

If anyone has any pointers for a slightly mesmerised but otherwise enthusiastic and currently happy it at least works newbie, I would be very grateful!

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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It is my second day of experimenting with HQPlayer and I have simply been trying to see what works and what does not.  I have actually been surprised at how straight forward this has been, and I have been successfully running my mR Mutec MC3+USB at DSD256, DoP128, PCM upsamped, etc.  Everything appears to work fine.  One thing puzzles me though.  In the settings GUI pull down menu Bit Rate (/Limit) if I select 48k x128, then the Mutec indicates 256.  If I then select 44.1k x128, the Mutec shows 128.  This I do not understand!  I have taken a look though the manual which has not clarified this point.  Can anyone explain the specifics of these settings and why the Mutec shows 256 when 48x128 is selected.  So far I have been upsampling with mainly 16/44.1 material.

Capture.PNG

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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42 minutes ago, bibo01 said:

Yes, it is probably a bug in Mutec's driver. It does not support 48x family rates. 

If Mutec supports up to DSD128 through DoP, the fact that it displays DSD256 and plays back confirms the above.

To clarify, the example I gave was not DoP, and in the direct DSD mode the Mutec does support DSD256.   Also, if the Mutec does not support 48x family rates, I would have thought silence would be a more likely result than music?  

 

Edit, I wrote this before seeing Jud's response.  I guess the simple answer is to stick to the 44.1 family rates and stop overthinking things!  Although, more than anything I am just trying to understand this properly.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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23 minutes ago, octaviars said:

 

@Confused what is the output from the Mutec when you run DSD256 and 128 to it? I asume you feed your Devialet with AES? I run HQ Player with Devialet AIR directly so I cant run higher than 44.1 x64.

 

Have you compared upsampled PCM to DSD (Devialet resamples DSD to PCM but many thinks DSD sounds better on Devialet than PCM).

Yes, the Mutec feeds the Devialet via AES.  With both DSD128 and DSD256 the Mutec's output rate is 176.4 kHz.  It is the same with DoP also.  I have not had a chance to do any DSD / PCM sound quality comparisons yet, or even work out which basic settings I prefer within each option.  This morning I was simply trying to figure out what works and what does not.  I will get around to trying some careful comparisons eventually.  The trouble is that work keeps getting in the way of the important stuff!  The options are almost endless though, many individual settings & options for both DSD and PCM upsampling, DSD to PCM conversion in the Mutec, or indeed, I could run DSD64 direct to the Devialet via AIR.  I'll get there eventually!

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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21 hours ago, octaviars said:

 

Have you compared upsampled PCM to DSD (Devialet resamples DSD to PCM but many thinks DSD sounds better on Devialet than PCM).

Today I have been trying PCM versus DSD upsampling, mR to Mutec MC3+USB to Devialet.  Very interesting!  There was a lot I liked about the end result when upsampling to DSD, some aspects seamed more natural, improvement to sound staging, I did like it.  However there were some negatives too.  I felt that some music sounded less dynamic and there was a discernible loss of absolute bass definition.  So it was a bit mixed, after much switching backward and forwards I came to the conclusion that overall I much preferred simply keeping everything in the PCM domain. 

 

One result that surprised me a little is that I found that I had a definite preference for upsampling to direct DSD, rather than DoP.  I am sure that I read something a while back explaining that DoP should sound better, but to my ears with the mR / Mutec, I felt that a little bit was lost with DoP.  Have other Mutec users found anything similar?  I was wondering if this is related to how the Mutec does the DSD to PCM conversion, but I am just guessing here.  This one puzzles me.

 

In addition, I am still very much on a leaning curve with HQPlayer.  For example, I discovered today that with Sample Rate (/Limit) set to 192kHz, I get an output of 176.4kHz if say using minphaseFIR, where as I get 192kHz if I use poly-sinc-shrt-mp.  I presume this is normal behaviour?  I will be completely honest, I do not fully understand why this is, I think I have much reading up and learning to do!  I have to say I am quite enjoying the HQPlayer experience so far, I doubt I have found my optimum settings yet, but the end results so far are very positive. 

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 2 weeks later...

I am part way through my 30 day HQPlayer 'free trial' and enjoying what I'm hearing so far.  Currently I am using a Windows 10 PC, microRendu, Mutec MC3+USB to Devialet set up.

 

Recently I have been thinking about upgrading the 'front end' of my system and have been pondering what might be the best sounding solution, keeping with an 'end point' set up.  So what is the highest possiblle quality NAA compatible end point?  One obvious option is the SMS-200Ultra. (Maybe with Mutec REF10 and my existing MC3)  Is there anything superior?  

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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16 minutes ago, firedog said:

There is the ultraRendu about to come out. If you have a big budget, there is the dCS network bridge.

I was very interested in the Network bridge as the Devialet seams to work much better via Its AES/EBU input.  The problem is that although it is 'Roon Ready', it is not NAA compatible.....

 

It will be interesting to see how the ultraRendu performs, time will tell, although the sMS-200 edges ahead on spec currently as it has the option for clock input.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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2 hours ago, firedog said:

I'm not sure what you mean by this. If you had the bridge you wouldn't need the NAA, as I understand it.  You'd just use either Roon or HQP (or Roon+HQP) and output directly to the bridge, and from the bridge to your Devialet.

My understanding is that the Network Bridge is compatible with Roon RAAT, UPnP, Tidal, Spotify, and Airplay, streaming protocols, but it is not compatible with HQPlayer's 'NAA' streaming protocol.  I would imagine that dCS see HQPlayer as a kind of virtual rival to there own hardware based Vivaldi Upsampler. 

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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29 minutes ago, Dr Tone said:

 

How do your Blades react to linear vs mp?

Ah, Dr Tone, there you are!  We have missed your dry wit in Devialet land.  Anyway, I have to be honest here, I simply have not had time to properly evaluate the various options. A couple of weeks ago I did manage to try some basic DSD vs PCM comparisons but since then I have not had any 'quiet time' with my system.  The good news is that I this weekend I should have plenty time to run through some of the filter options.  It should be interesting!

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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22 hours ago, Dr Tone said:

@Confused What filters are you liking?  I find with my Wilson's the linear phase filters sound the best, the sound stage gets a little blurry for me with mp filters.  Messing with phase at all, similar to SAM just didn't work well with them.

 

poly-sinc-xtr into my Ayre Codex DAC.  Even though the Ayre can do DSD128, I'm sending PCM 384 with auto rate turned on.  My system is now voiced to be fuller/warmer and more forgiving with the McIntosh gear so going DSD can be too much in that direction most of the time.

 

How do your Blades react to linear vs mp?

I have just spent a happy morning playing around with the filters.  The main conclusion so far is that there is no definitive best filter for the system.  Depending on the track played and what I happen to be specifically listening to in the track, I reach different conclusions.  I tried to listen through the various filters without reading the descriptions in the instructions or worrying about which was linear or minimum phase, I was at first just trying to hear which my ears and brain preferred.  I did makes some notes as I ran through the options, so you might be interested that I wrote 'details' next to poly-sinc-ext, thinking this filter seamed to give me that little extra insight into individual instruments, although I found poly-sinc-xtr to be similar in most respects.  I'm not sure what the difference is to be honest, there is not much in it.  I was very impressed with detail and clarity with things like cymbals when trying poly-sinc-shrt, but with some music I found this to be a bit much, it would get fatiguing I think, so interesting but not something I could live with overall.  As I said before though, no definitive best, I think there is a compromise to be made, I did find myself coming back to poly-sinc-mp and poly-sinc-shrt-mp (the latter certainly with one electronic track).  So I did not notice the blurry sound stage you mentioned, although today I was definitely focusing mainly on aspects other than sound stage.  To be honest, it is going to take a very long time with lots of varied listening to pick a favourite, but I think I am getting somewhere with shortlisting preferences.  As to how the Blades react to linear versus mp, I found this to be more track dependant, so settling for one final filter is going to be a tricky call!

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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1 hour ago, Dr Tone said:

 

poly-sinc-ext/NS9 was always my favourite with the Devialet.

 

Interesting.  I was running exactly these settings earlier and it was one option that genuinely caught my attention with respect to insight and apparent realism, so maybe there is some Devialet synergy here?  It's definitely one for my short list, at least as I work out my preferences.

16 minutes ago, m3lraaHnevetS said:

don't forget that no filter is also an option

Ah.....  OK, to be honest there was zero chance of me forgetting this, it had not really occurred to me that it might be an option.  I will give this a try.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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15 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

If you will not use filters there will be no upsampling and you will not need HQP, you may use any basic player which supports files of different formats, VOX will work for you, for example.

I spent quite a lot of time last Sunday trying various filter options.  Once done, I did try running through a few tracks with the poly-sinc-ext filter I liked, and then performed a direct comparison with Roon RAAT, so 'bit perfect'.  I preferred HQPlayer.  I have not had time for any extended listening since, I know first impressions can change some times, but so far I am enjoying the results with HQPlayer.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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9 hours ago, m3lraaHnevetS said:

good stuff, hopefully you can now forget and enjoy the music!

That almost reads as a bit of a throwaway comment, but you don't know how right you are.  It is my typical modus operandi, to endlessly tweak and experiment to get everything such that I am satisfied it is as good as it can be.  This is not for it's own sake, it is so that when I do sit down to actually enjoy the music, I am not worrying or thinking about the system, should I change this or that, I am actually enjoying the music! 

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 1 month later...

I posted this a while back in the 'other' HQ Player thread, but with no response, possibly because it was not the right thread for the query!

 

Anyway, Is there a list of HQ Player NAA's anywhere?  (Meaning commercially available 'End point' type products)  I note that the Signalyst website has a list of 'recommended hardware', but this does not include kit such as the sMS-200 or Antipodes Edge.  In the absence of a list anywhere, if looking for commercially available HQPlayer NAA 'Network Endpoints', is there anything to add beyond Sonore, SOtM and Antipodes products?

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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8 hours ago, Jud said:

 

I think beyond your list (there may be others, but I don’t know them; a Roon forum may be a place to look), many people like to DIY things by installing the NAA software on small, inexpensive Linux or Windows minicomputers. So that may be why you’re not seeing a lot of responses.

Yes, I think you are right Jud!  Posting my previous query amongst the mini computer specialists on the 'other' HQ Player thread was not my best move, I am sure those guys treated my query with the disdain it rightly deserved!  I have had a very good look around I must say, so I am reasonably sure there are no commercially available HQ Player endpoints beyond Sonore, SOtM and Antipodes products, basically anything that runs Sonicorbiter, or software 'closely related' to Sonicorbier.  You never know though, maybe there is a product out there lurking in the shadows, I have been surprised before.  But if nobody else chimes in on this one, I'll assume not.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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On ‎11‎/‎08‎/‎2017 at 2:12 PM, firedog said:

The commercial devices have an advantage of enabling you to use multiple software platforms.

If you really "just" want to use an HQP NAA, you might be better off getting one of those inexpensive mini computers. That of course, also depends on if you think one of the commercial devices will give you better SQ. 

To answer the above question from my own personal perspective, yes, I do like to have the option to use multiple platforms.  There is certainly lots of listening that I do outside of HQPlayer / NAA.  Also, I also suspect that the commercial devices do offer the potential to offer marginally better SQ.  Certainly those who are experimenting with chains of SOtM products or upgrading from mR's to uR's would take that view, some of the measurement specialists might disagree of course, but this is not the place for that debate!  My ideal would be something like the SOTM or Sonore products, in terms of both hard and software, but with XLR/AES3 output.  From what I can see, only Antipodes offer this, and although the Antipodes has a great reputation it is not the cheapest kit to take a punt on.  (I currently use a mR +Mutec MC3+) 

 

So back to my original question, I reckon that SOtM, Sonore & Antipodes products do indeed form a complete list of commercially available products that are compatible as HQPayer endpoints.  I thought perhaps I had missed something, but unless someone chimes in with something additional, I will assume the list complete.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 1 month later...
10 hours ago, k6davis said:

HQP just keeps getting better and better.

 

The latest version (3.18.0) features "optimizations". One thing I've noticed is that, with successive updates, the delay I used to experience when switching between tracks of differing resolutions or formats (upsampling everything to DSD256) kept lessening. Now it seems to be gone completely.

 

I also wanted to mention that I'm really enjoying the sound of poly-sync-hb. I've got no idea what "hb" is B|, but I wanted to mention it because I hadn't seen anyone else do so.

 

The combined strengths of Roon & HQPlayer (both continuously improving) have led to a truly gratifying listening experience. 

 

Thanks Miska

 

Some interesting light reading including some words regarding 'hb' filters:

 

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/13071-hqplayer-resampling-filter-setup-guide-for-ordinary-person/

 

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 1 month later...

I have a question regarding HQPlayer's volume control.  In my case I use my amplifier's volume control and never need software control of the volume.  In addition, I exclusively use PCM to PCM upsampling, I do not convert to DSD.  Is there an optimum level at which to set the volume?  Maybe it is not critical.  Currently I have the volume set low enough so that the volume dial is not bright red.  Any ideas or suggestions? 

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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  • 2 weeks later...
12 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Just, checking... Have you checked the included manual, or is it not descriptive enough?

 

I am a relative newcomer to HQPlayer, so I fully understand what @austinpop is suggesting.  Personally, I found the filter table useful and perhaps benefited from the fact that there was not too much explanation as it prompted me to try them all for myself and listen to the results.  It was a bit of a slog, but it was informative and fascinating.  That said, I can see that a bit more explanation for a 'newbe' could be useful.

 

Another point I would make is regarding the instructions for the volume control, this appears to be clear enough to me in the manual, but it makes no mention of the 'limited' counter.  You mentioned this a few posts back in response to a question I had about the volume control.  Next time I used HQPlayer I searched through the various drop down menus trying to find this limited counter but could not find it.  Then I noticed that it was staring me in the face on the main screen!  Doh!  In my defence, I do use HQPlayer with Roon, so I spend very little time looking at the HQPlayer main screen, so it might be a good idea to add a few words on this next time the manual is due for an update.

 

Please take this as a constructive post, I am loving HQPlayer so far.  It has provided me with a nice boost in HQ, with the ability to 'fine tune' exactly how my system sounds.  Tremendous value for money I would say.

Windows 11 PC, Roon, HQPlayer, Focus Fidelity convolutions, iFi Zen Stream, Paul Hynes SR4, Mutec REF10, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000Pro, KEF Blade.  Plus Pro-Ject Signature 12 TT for playing my 'legacy' vinyl collection. Desktop system; RME ADI-2 DAC fs, Meze Empyrean headphones.

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