HQ Player

[Jean Paul D]

Hello, I have just ordered a Mac mini M1 and I'm very tempted to test its horsepower with HQPlayer.

For the time being I'm a user of Audirvana, from France like me. I have done some homework and I'm puzzled : testing and maybe then acquiring HQP Embedded would allow be to keep my Library management on Audirvana and I would like that but it seems that HQPlayer plays on the M1 only in a special Mac desktop offer.

Has anybody tried Embedded on a M1? or at least tried to run Linux on it either the Correllium or Parallels route and checked performance?

Merci in advance

 

[Jean Paul D]

22 hours ago, Jean Paul D said:

Hello, I have just ordered a Mac mini M1 and I'm very tempted to test its horsepower with HQPlayer.

For the time being I'm a user of Audirvana, from France like me. I have done some homework and I'm puzzled : testing and maybe then acquiring HQP Embedded would allow be to keep my Library management on Audirvana and I would like that but it seems that HQPlayer plays on the M1 only in a special Mac desktop offer.

Has anybody tried Embedded on a M1? or at least tried to run Linux on it either the Correllium or Parallels route and checked performance?

Merci in advance

 

Hello, I'm new here ; maybe I did not post the question above in the right thread ? Where should I ask ?

Also I could not resist and started to have a functional look to HQP Desktop on my Mac laptop. I get to play music files fine by D&Drop but I also intend to use the Mac mini to stream videos and listen to France Musique web radio. For the sound I understood I could capture, in exemple, Safari with Audio hijack, set Loopback as an Output to hijack and then select Loopback as an Input to HQP. But no joy. I can see Hijack and Loopback's meters move but sound outputs only to built-in speakers. I can pick the Loopback instance as input in HQP's preferences but it does not stick and keep reverting to default. Loopback offers only built in outputs. 

[Jean Paul D]

4 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

I find it highly unlikely that there would be any decent Linux on Apple silicon.

 

Even via virtualization by Parallels ?

[Jean Paul D]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

It doesn't help, because you would still need OS and HQPlayer code built and optimized for the ARM variant that the CPU has.

 

Since you have been able to build and optimize an ARM variant of HQP for MacOS, may I conclude that what we would need is the success of the teams working at delivering a decent ARM/Apple Silicon compliant Linux and that it is those efforts you don't believe in? 

Too bad for I loved the idea of using your dedicated OS + I would have kept a better integration with Audirvana (I think I'll keep using it for Library mgmt with 2 more steps : reveal in Finder on my laptop the folder containing the music files and then D&Drop them in HQP)

Is it a good idea to trim MacOS in order to optimize SQ since I will use it only for music and films ? How?

I read that some run their Mini not only headless but even without Screen Share : how is it possible ? ethernet cable to a machine running HQP Client ? simply wifi ? does it improve SQ?

One advantage I perceived as belonging to Desktop was the capability to run all sound (Netflix, Web radios, IINA for videos, etc) via Audio Hijack/Loopback but I failed (see my second post) ; is there a better alternative or something I did wrong ?

Thank you

[Jean Paul D]

17 hours ago, Miska said:

 

 

 

 

In any case it won't work decently for video use, because there is over one second processing delay.

 

back to my Hijack/Loopback question : why does it not stick in Preferences ? (I can choose a Loopback instance as Input but Desktop says it can't assign requested address and reverts to default.

 

Delay can be taken care of for videos in VLC or IINA and would not be a problem while capturing radio web site

[Jean Paul D]

it's my pleasure to announce that it did not take me long to purchase HQPlayer4 for M1 ; I'm now a registered user !

 

 

[Jean Paul D]

Miska, what SDM integrator would you recommend with a BB 1795 ?

[Jean Paul D]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Integrator or modulator? Integrator choice is more like choosing upsampling filter, depends on your personal preferences. Of modulators, ASDM7EC is fine especially with the AFIR4 filter setting of the 1795 chip.

 

SDM Integrator (IIR IIR2 3 FIR CIC

[Jean Paul D]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

Of modulators, ASDM7EC is fine especially with the AFIR4 filter setting of the 1795 chip.

 

Oh yes !! fabulous SQ, especially precise dynamic bass lines

[Jean Paul D]

33 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

That is up to your choice. Depends more on DSD source material and your personal preferences. There's some amount of description in the manual table as well.

 

lots of claims of favorite filters* but seems nobody ever committed on SDM Integrator ; I picked IIR2 based on description. 

*BTW is it bad taste to like mqa mp with 24/192 rock/pop ?

[Jean Paul D]

On 3/25/2021 at 11:33 PM, jimdukey said:

FIR/Wide for me!

IIR3/WIDE based upon my bill Evans à Montreux SHM SACD rip. 

[Jean Paul D]

I keep on exploring...

 

Seems that I could have no regret I can't feed HQP from my Audirvana library for Client seems fine BUT:

 

How do I select Beethoven by Richter ? I can list my recordings by Richer fine and all recordings of LvB works but the intersection?

How do I feed HQP with Qobuz?

How can I get France Musique web radio or podcasts processed by HQP ?

 

I'm also having a look at convolution. For the time being I'm using with great success the 3 first bands of a Meyer CP10 analog parametric equalizer to adapt bass response of my speakers in my room. I could duplicate these settings in digital domain and try them OK with HQP and I could probably obtain a (visually at least) better correction since I am not limited to 3 bands per channel in digital domain (but isn't multiplying eQpoints a liability?) while dedicating the Meyer to my vinyl rig. But, say I read Steve Hoffman recommends to notch or add a dB there with said BW or criticises this or that mastering and suggests shelving down the HF for it has been wrongly boosted IHO: can I keep the settings duplicated from the Meyer as a base and on case by case add a tweaking or should I create each time a new entry in Pipeline?

 

I have also explored MCH mixdown :

 

with success with  DVDAudio, ie America or Steely Dan, as it seems they offer remixes not mere remastering, much in the line of what Tony Visconti has done with remixes of Bowie : bass and drums sound more live (remember the days of freedom?) and less shied in the mixes. And the sound is perfectly consistent with enhanced but sound soundstage. But when I tried Bitches Brew 4.0 from SACD it was just n 'importe quoi : completely incoherent effects : the mixdown does not translate rightly.

Was it good luck/bad luck or some standards justify that MCH DVDA translate well as 2.0 and MCH SACD not ?

[Jean Paul D]

10 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

"+richter +beethoven" as search term.

 

 

For example from Roon at the moment.

 

 

I don't know what these are, how they are accessed and what format are they in?

 

 

You can have HQPlayer process EQ also for vinyl...

 

 

You could use Pipeline profiles for this. Allows you to later easily pick one of those from the Clinet.

 

 

It should be similar for both, but the results vary depending on material. Since there are different kind of multichannel mixes.

 

adding pluses works, thanks

 

I don't want Roon, ie with Embedded Audirvana, much cheaper and less cumbersome, would work. I have Audirvana 

 

I access France Musique via Safari :https://www.francemusique.fr/concerts and don't know how to determine the format

 

processing vinyl via HQP would require the replacement of the Meyer by an ADC, wouldn't it? Might be objectively stupid or at least moot but I like the idea of keeping analog analog. Actually, I don't rule out euphony or better dynamic compression on LPs I unshelved recently, such as Kind of Blue as 45 rpm one sided discs by Classic Records, but comparisons with matched eQ were in favour of vinyl vs  my DSD 128 limited DAC that I find very very good HQP fed 7EC, when not comparing ; should I expect much from, say, a T+A DSD 8 fed 256 via a Mac M1 ? other suggestion? 

 

I was hoping it was possible to use the 

<plugin>:[arg1[=val]];[arg2[=val]];...;[argn[=val]] syntax on top of .wav or whatever format I would end with depending of the DRC solution I would opt for in order to create by base correction...

 

I had no miss when applying the mixdown formula you provide to DVDA (rather, I'd say it's gorgeous !) ; the process of ripping extracting tagging etc being pretty cumbersome, I stopped at the first SACD, that was a miss. Do you have other magic formulas I could try on SACD ? that would be mainly from Columbia Quadrophonic origin, maybe some 3 channels jazz too

[Jean Paul D]

9 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Yes it would, but allows more flexibility than analog EQ and likely at higher signal fidelity. But of course you can do it the way you prefer.

 

 

Yes, you can combine the two that way.

 

any mixdown recipe for mch SACD originated from Columbia Quadrophonic ?

should I expect much from T+A or another DAC you would recommend @ 256 ?

I remember reading a post from a HQP user who was disappointed after he changed his BB1795 DAC for a RME 256 capable 

[Jean Paul D]

On 1/27/2021 at 3:16 PM, semente said:

RME ADI-2 DAC FS question.

Have only had mine for one day, replacing a Teac UD-501.

 

I detect a slight graininess in the treble, noticeable with sibilance.

Is this normal, wrong dither settings, "noisy" USB port, something else?

 

I am using an old 2012 15" MBP, DSD256/poly-sinc-ext2/DSD5v2 256+fs, USB straight into the DAC (DSD direct mode), amplifier is wide-bandwidth.

Are you happier nowadays you replaced the Teac by the RME ? Was it worth it ? By using DSD Direct mode aren't you sending mere 64 if sending a SACD rip or Acoustic sounds 64 DSD download?

[Jean Paul D]

On 3/21/2021 at 2:20 PM, Miska said:

 

Yes. poly-sinc-ext2 is also totally different filter from poly-sinc-ext. I like ext2, but never really the ext. So I expect large differences.

 

 

I disagree about this. Since it is non-apodizing it is not very good for uncolored sound, because it leaves the high frequency aliasing mess in place. So cymbals and such will have some unnatural glare and sheen around them due to the aliasing components. It will also put out about million times more (120 dB) ultrasonic noise than ext2 or sinc-S.

 

I'd say sinc-S is the "most resolving" filter, but may have too much edginess and hardness in the sound for many albums.

 

@Miskathis post shied me away but I took an interest in Sinc L  nevertheless after reading the PGGB thing about mining CDs overnight with 64 Gb RAM machines. @ my limit of SDM 128 7EC it matches the description of PGGB mined PCM. Based on the few records I played so far @44.1 piano was disturbing with raised levels of metal strings resonances that might be consistent with sitting next to the piano in a church but not with ie Pollini heard live in a nice venue. But @88.2 I found Savall's Battuta, Bezuidenhout's Mozart or Rachmaninov/All Night Vigil/Hillier quite gorgeous with both density (have to lower the bass volume with my tone control ; might be a benefit the other way round for some)and details enhancements. So, is you condamnation of Sinc L ubiquitous or does it make sense with excellent classical recordings at a rate of 88.2 and above?

[Jean Paul D]

23 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

No, it likely works fine for hires, since at those higher rates there is not so much content energy around Nyquist frequency (half the sampling rate - 44.1 kHz in this case). Apodizing filters are needed primarily for 44.1/48 kHz sampling rate content.

 

So your experience pretty much matches my expectation of the behavior.

 

Thank you ; makes 48 fs capable DAC desirable : still T+A DSD 8 or Holo Spring on my short list unless somebody gets crazy scared of the May's heat and gets rid of his or hers  cheap ! More seriously : not sure a Mini M1 8gB of RAM can do L 7EC @256 or 7 @512 with Sinc L which would give a Holo the edge since I would feel playing PCM PCM more kosher OK what have you on a R2R than on the sigma delta T+A

[Jean Paul D]

5 hours ago, steven.y said:

It would be nice if HQPlayer Desktop provides Web based configuration user interface/experience just like as Embedded version has.  This will allow me to switch filter setting via, say, my iphone (Safari browser) while listening.

Have you checked Client and HQPDcontrol ? A new welcome feature, though, would offer the possibility to limit the listed filters to the ones one actually uses ; that is ie check boxes to select in Preferences ext2, sinc S, poly sinc short mp 2s, mqa mp, sinc L and not see the others appear listed in Client 

[Jean Paul D]

On 11/19/2020 at 10:36 PM, AnotherSpin said:

 

Brilliant!! I downloaded Rogue Amoeba Loopback, followed all instructions above, and now listening Qobuz through HQPlayer Desktop + NAA. Loopback Audio should be selected in Qobuz' Audio output. Also, streaming quality should be set to CD- 16 bit/ 44,1 kHz. Thank you!

I once had it working on my MBP but I tried anew with my MIni M1 and still no joy. Loopback receives Qobuz's input OK but HQP does not play and in Preferences I can't make Loopback as an Input (keeps reverting to Default). 

[Jean Paul D]

20 hours ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

I do not use this anymore. Just a thought - perhaps Loopback should be upgraded? Also, you may try to check VB-Cable which substitutes Loopback with the same functionality. 

I'm using the latest Loopback that is MAC M1 native and seems OK. @Miska why doesn't Loopback stick as Input in Preferences that always reverts to Default ?

[Jean Paul D]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Yeah, this is something where an 8-core or more CPU comes handy. Or a powerful GPU.

 

M1 has 8 cores and can't do it at a mere 128( but/7EC + convo)

[Jean Paul D]

@Miska 

Issues with 4.11 on M1:

 

fade out a few seconds before the end of a track (experienced with pcm to dsd)

need to restart between records (pcm of different SR)

[Jean Paul D]

Client (new version installed from non ARM package since installed on an older MBP) works erratically 

[Jean Paul D]

Wait ! and probably apologies : I have a faulty pair of convo filters : might be the culprit provoking unwanted behaviour (but the fading at end of tracks)

[Jean Paul D]

solved (but fade out a few seconds before end of track)