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Maybe it was you or bad timing? I say that as Jussi of Signalyst is very responsive, but I think is a one man show. You may see him here as "Miska". I'd try it again, it is worth it. His upsampling is considered one of, if not the foremost in the DIY circles, and one sees it compared as a benchmark to which others aspire. If you are looking to convert to DSD, well, Jussi has been a proponent of it longer than anyone I can recall around here.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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It should be in your downloaded folder, and take care to set it up per his instructions to start with.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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I do not know as I have not tried DSD as of yet. My three i2s solutions predate DSD popularity, and it was not a strong interest at the time. I am considering an iDSD for kicks while I rebuild my DAC.

Can your TP Buffalo II input DSD128 ?

 

What are your listening observations on PCM converted to DSD64 or DSD128 ?

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 1 month later...

OK, so I have played around with DSD some after auditioning the lil iDSD Nano and rebuilding my DAC in so that I can run two different i2s signals and change with a digital switch. I am now smitten to the point where I did some analog/DSD observations yesterday on the same content. Although different, the DSD is decidedly more analog-esq. There is a bit less attack, but the whole is more cohesive and simply flows more smoothly than PCM. It was plainly easier to relax and "fall into" the music. Much of what I didn't like about DSD disappeared when adjusting settings in HQPlayer (and abandoning JRiver).

 

My TP Buffalo II/Amanero combo will do up to DSD256 btw.

Can your TP Buffalo II input DSD128 ?

 

What are your listening observations on PCM converted to DSD64 or DSD128 ?

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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There was another thread where Freesteve asked for settings. I ended up discovering my combo after reading the exaSound thread. It would have saved a lot of time if I had seen others settings. On Peter's XXHighend forum, posters put their settings in their signature, maybe that would apply here? Alternately, we could start a thread specifically for HQPlayer hardware/settings combinations. I am thinking it would be not just DSD, but PCM settings as well perhaps- and clearly stated in the title. ;)

 

Any thoughts on this?

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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new buffalo.jpgAlex: TY, but I am not sure one could call this beast exciting. Aesthetically it is a step back for sure. It just a copper/walnut breadboard platform, built almost entirely with stuff I had around. Even the copper was free-some valley flashing I scavenged off a work site.

 

I've a few i2s devices on hand-- Evo, WaveIO, Amanero and a pair of DIYINHK ones. The white one in the photo has the better DXD than the Amanero, but at 178/192k nothing here can touch my home brew clocked Evo. Just today I received DIYINHK's latest, with DSD and clocking on the clean side of isolation. This whole project was from my being tired of having to break things in order to try something else.

 

How much difference in sound in comparison to the iDSD Nano? For one as yourself, quite a bit. Then again, the transformers in mine each cost more than the iDSD. Transformers aren't popular in these parts, but the Sabre chips are very well suited for this purpose.

 

Oh, I am running a regular Windows box, but used to dual boot a mini.

That's VERY exciting Forrest! Can you tell us a little more about your particular Amanero set-up and the 2 different I2S configurations you refer to?

Also, what is your i5 computer? (I almost recall you running Win8 on a Mac mini?)

 

Did your TP Buffalo II/Amanero combo trounce the iDSD Nano by a lot?

 

Cheers,

ALEX

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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Alex: Yes, they are all flawed devices. This whole thing started as a search for the front end on a pcm1704 DAC I was going to build four-five years ago. I am now in a holding pattern in hopes to get DSD/DXD i2s directly out of a Beaglebone or RasPi. This device is simply the proto board while I wait. It is easy to swap and switch w/o wrecking what is working. It is pre drilled for a couple of other regulator boards and has 4 different transformers under the copper associated with the four switches at the front of the unit.

 

Just last week I sort of gave up and bought an SOtM sMS 100 (upper right) to use as an NAA. In all fairness, the best sounding device here is my M2Tech Evo with shunt PS and my little clock. I really think these buggers are under rated. They are sterile out of the box, but it is obvious that they intended it to be supplemented. Sadly there is no DSD or DXD and I have become, err-umm, smitten.

 

My WaveIO is an older one, I have debated on sending it back for a retro fit. I was an early adopter, same with my Evo. It was serial number 35. Oh, and the black box on top of the transformers is a powered USB hub. I removed the input power and the 5v is supplied by one of the regulators. The Amanero has no separated power in, and the difference is noticeable.

 

If you and JS decide to build a board that will do DSD256, count me in!

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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Eurodriver: I am sorry, but I have no DSD64 content to upsample- sorry Edward. Generally I am listening to: poly sinc-2s, DSD7 @ 5.6MHz (DSD128). I have some issue where there is an occasional tick using DSD 256.

 

I2s is a crap shoot. When it is good, it is great, but I will take good SPDIF over mediocre i2s any day. With that said, I am a convert and will never go back to SPDIF. If anything, I am looking to eliminate USB too and go straight from computer to i2s. The transformers I am using are UTC HA100x- vintage 1:10 mic transformers. These came out of Electric Lady Studio when they closed. The implementation of the transformers is as important as the transformers themselves. I have no active parts in my IV. The current from the Sabre chip goes into a 20ohm resistor pair across the primary, and the output taken directly off of the secondary. Similar to this diagram but using 10 ohm Vishay tx2575 resistors and a 1:10 transformer. I tried it on a lark because I had the transformers around. I had both the Legato and IVY boards, and this trounces them by no small margin. Be forewarned, these are most likely way better than the Sowter and Lundhal one sees so often. The nice thing is that they are appreciating in value. They are often used as MC step-ups.

330R.gif

thanks for sharing your observations, you have made my morning ! Let's us know when you have had a chance to use HQP to upsample DSD64 content to DSD256 using HQP

 

which noise shaping do you like ? Our current favorite is DSD7

 

on the hardware side, how much of a difference do you think the I2S brings to the system, and how much difference do the transformers make ? Who is the supplier of the transformers ?

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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I am not sure where else to answer. The primary is shunted with 20ohms. Your point is taken however.

Shouldn't this I2S hardware discussion be moved to a new thread?

 

However, I was curious enough to google the UTC HA100x xfmr. The secondary has a 60K impedance. Are you driving a circuit whose input Z is that high? (Please don't reply within this HQ Player thread.)

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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This is a perfect application for Stabliant 22(a). No pun intended!

@jhwalker - I too noticed the loose USB connection, so I make an effort to not move the laptop while playing music, so that's not the issue. Upsampled PCM plays just fine; dropouts when I try to upsample to DSD128. I will need to try DSD64 and DSD256 to see if it's the same with dropouts.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 4 weeks later...

This might say more about the Anker than the wall wart.

For the wall wart to sound better, was quite a surprise for me

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 2 months later...

I have heard that Exa has drivers for their DACs now. I imagine that they might work for the U21. It is possible that some of the newer linux capable boards are better (better clocks and isolation techniques) and it may be cheaper and easier to switch. Sonore has an interesting one. Not to disparage your U21- I am jealous. I am looking for a multi channel i2s solution, and this appears to be the only DIY one ever made. If you or anyone has one to sell, I will pay fair market for it. Feel free to PM me.

I agree with you. It is the best I have tested till today. Like to make some questions to the developer:

1: I have version 3.3.3, can I upgrade to the new 3.4.1 easily? Am using win 2012 R2 as operating system.

2: Want to try HQ-Player with NAA. My problem is, that I have an Exa-U2I Usb-I2s board with Asio driver, but it doesnt support Linux. Is there a chance to find somebody who is able and willing to make a linux driver for that board?

3. What is the most appropriate way to use the player in remote mode with an iPad?

 

Thanks in advance for your help.

Regards

 

Sigi

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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Anyone tried the sotm sms100 with HQP?

How exactly does it work?

The purpose of sms100 it's to act like a network streamer, what's the point of using it together with a computer?

 

I use one daily, all day. It works like a charm! During the day it is used as a LMS server for my girlfriend while she works. In the evening I switch it to NAA and use it via HQPlayer- all that is required is one mouse click. The point is that it is akin to the two PC Jplay (although I believe NAA was first). The server upsamples to DSD and sends it to the sMS100. I am getting the best sound ever around here.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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I am not surprised there is no one looking to part with a U21. If ever one does, I am interested. It is a long term project and I am patient. However, I am surprised that Exadevices will not allow you to download the driver, or at least sell it to you. Seems silly to me and I am sorry to hear it.

Unfortunately at the moment I don't know from anybody who wants to sell a U2I, we are 5 people who have the board. If somebody sells it, I will inform you. The U2I can handle up to 8 channels. Unfortunately Exasound does not support the U2I anymore. I am not sure, but I believe that the DACs they are selling might have also the U2I board inside, but unfortunately I cant download any linux software from Exa if I have not bought one of their DACs.

Best regards

 

Sigi

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 2 weeks later...

AIFF is full size, adding say 40%. I've used XLD to transcode over a terabyte worth of files at a time.

I use XLD a converter that's free for MAC, it will convert, even in batch mode, all ALAC files to AIFF very quickly. I don't know how much bigger, if at all, the converted files would be, but I didn't notice too much difference. But I have terabytes available so I probably wouldn't.;)

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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If you so decide to transcode, try a small batch first and check the metadata. I had an AIFF library with poor tagging making my first attempts with HQPlayer unbearable- I set it aside for a year. I wish I had that year back!

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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I suppose you are correct. I was thinking of it as 40% compression.

Just as an experiment, I went ahead and converted a subset of my recent purchases (200 albums, 153GB) to AIFF for use with HQPlayer.

 

Resulting file size was 295GB, a growth of over 90% :/ which means converting my full library (~4,600 albums, 1.5TB - some of that is iTunes / MP3) a complete non-starter, at least for now. I can't afford enough storage to convert my existing library, mirror that for backup, etc.

 

So my strategy will be to convert individual albums when I *really* want to use HQPlayer and hope that someday, ALAC compatibility will work it's way up in the queue for implementation in HQPlayer.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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Ha! I still look for it at the top of the screen from having been such a long time Mac user.

It's just like for Windows or Linux user switching to OS X and finding it's GUI logic really awkward. I personally still cannot understand the idiotic logic of detaching active window menu bar to top of the screen instead of keeping it attached to the window where it belongs to... :) I didn't understand it when it came out in first Macs in 80's and still cannot. For me, good thing is that OS X on command line is pretty much familiar to any long time *nix user.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 2 weeks later...

Yes, it does take a lot of power to PCM>DSD using the best filters in HQPlayer.

Can one of you tell me if this statement is accurate as regards the processor power needed for PCM to DSD on the fly conversion:

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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Redbook> DXD is a pittance compared to Redbook>DSD256/512 using the poly-sinc filter. I am sure Miska can elaborate. It loads down my 3.3GHz 4 core i5 2500k hard. Interestingly I bought that chip in so that I could under clock. These days I have been thinking about overclocking it.

I cannot tell you whether those specifics are absolutely necessary and nothing less will do. I will tell you my mid-2009 MacBook Pro with Core 2 Duo cannot utilize PCM -> DSD or vice versa with HQPlayer, and if I remember correctly it cannot run HQPlayer's DSD modulators to play native DSD. It does have enough power to upsample PCM to higher res PCM using HQPlayer's filters, but that's it.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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One just came in from FedEx! :) I wanted a new Mac, and didn't wish to downgrade my performance with the 2014 ones. The i7 2.3 ghz 3615QM in the Mini is about the exact equal in performance to the 2500k. I may still bulid a super machine. By the sounds of it, I should run Ubuntu Studio on it as well with Miska's PulseAudio bypass...

Better hurry and get that quad-core mini while you still can! :) Or go to the dark side (Windows) and build your own super machine. Better yet, run a Linux and HQP.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 6 months later...

Miska:I am having a similar issue- cracks/glitches every 30 seconds or so randomly with an Amanero. I have tried to access the ASIO pull down, but nothing appears. Does the Amanero have ASIO parameters accessible? I have set buffer to 100ms and turned off DoP under the Setting window.

If your audio device is USB and you are using WASAPI backend, change "Buffer time" setting to 100 ms. The OS default 10 ms is a bit too short with USB for many computers.

 

If you are using ASIO backend, try increasing buffer size from the ASIO driver's control panel which you can open from the Tools-menu.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 3 weeks later...

If it does, you can bet JRiver is not happy about it!

Is it possible to use Jriver as the interface and HQplayer as the soundplayer?

this combo could solve the limitations of both.

 

please hear us out :)

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thank you and Miska for this. I liked Muso for my sms100 and lms.

Muso is a Windows application that gives a graphical user interface for music library management - a front end - and it is capable of sending albums/tracks to various players, HQPlayer among them. The recent introduction of control for HQPlayer through hqp-control allowed this; indeed, users require v3.8.xx of HQPlayer that is downloadable here.

 

[ATTACH=CONFIG]19362[/ATTACH]

 

It is very simple to setup. Under Tools/Options we have to point at the directories of our Music Library and of HQPlayer. That's it!

For now, the only drawback is to open an instance of HQPlayer before launching playlist.

 

On the NextHardware site I have written a mini guide. This is the link to English translation:

https://translate.google.co.id/translate?sl=it&tl=en&js=y&prev=_t&hl=en&ie=UTF-8&u=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.nexthardware.com%2Fforum%2Fcmp2-cmp-cplay%2F86229-muso-un-library-manager-per-hqplayer-sotto-windows.html&edit-text=

 

Muso has been google translated as "Muzzle" eheheheheh

 

If you want to contribute, please report to Muso forum here.

Forrest:

Win10 i9 9900KS/GTX1060 HQPlayer4>Win10 NAA

DSD>Pavel's DSC2.6>Bent Audio TAP>

Parasound JC1>"Naked" Quad ESL63/Tannoy PS350B subs<100Hz

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