HQ Player

[stefano_mbp]

20 minutes ago, Miska said:

Did you try with SoX etc?

No … I should not know were to begin from …

[Fredc]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

Did you try with SoX etc? HQPlayer Pro supports such for the formats it supports. And if it doesn't work for some application, it should be relatively easy to fix.

 

Certainly Jriver recognise multiple artists for m4a files. It will retain the multiple artists as well when converted to flac. You can get a 30 days trial license to check it out. You can convert to flac and keep the original m4a as backup.

[SunYang]

Hello, on my new music dedicatet computer (7950X, RTX3090 Ti) I have already instaled Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS. But I am not familiar with Linux at all. Can anybody help me how to install HQP low latency kernel, drivers for RTX3090 Ti with CUDA support, and HQP Desktop (AMD AVX2 version)? Thanks a lot

[Quadman]

39 minutes ago, SunYang said:

HQP Desktop (AMD AVX2 version)? Thanks a lot

PM sent

[stefano_mbp]

1 hour ago, Fredc said:

Certainly Jriver recognise multiple artists for m4a files. It will retain the multiple artists as well when converted to flac.

It does (I own a license), as Audirvana does, but they use a “trick” as in ALAC Artist tag is not defined as multi item. They write all the artists separated by comma while in FLAC, that has Artist tag defined as multi item, artists are separated by three semicolon.

You need to use a tag editor to realize this.

MinimServer doesn’t use “tricks” therefore it shows Alac artists as a single string where artists are separated by comma.

As I said before, I’m using Yate/2manyrobots as tag editor (I’m on Mac) and when I realized this “issue” I talked with Simon/Minimserver and Barry/Yate: Simon confirmed Minimserver can read separated artists if the tag is defined as multi item and Barry realized a patch to change Artist tag definition to multi item and I’m totally satisfied with this as converting more than 120000 items from ALAC to FLAC is a veeery long task (unfortunately I started several years ago using iTunes…)

[Jud]

9 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

It does (I own a license), as Audirvana does, but they use a “trick” as in ALAC Artist tag is not defined as multi item. They write all the artists separated by comma while in FLAC, that has Artist tag defined as multi item, artists are separated by three semicolon.

You need to use a tag editor to realize this.

MinimServer doesn’t use “tricks” therefore it shows Alac artists as a single string where artists are separated by comma.

As I said before, I’m using Yate/2manyrobots as tag editor (I’m on Mac) and when I realized this “issue” I talked with Simon/Minimserver and Barry/Yate: Simon confirmed Minimserver can read separated artists if the tag is defined as multi item and Barry realized a patch to change Artist tag definition to multi item and I’m totally satisfied with this as converting more than 120000 items from ALAC to FLAC is a veeery long task (unfortunately I started several years ago using iTunes…)

 

I use Yate myself, excellent program.

 

I wonder if the people working on SoX or kid3-cli could be persuaded to include such capability also. A command line program could possibly make very short work of the conversion if the references I've looked at online are any indication.

 

To that point, I wonder how many folder/directory levels these tools can recurse. I have my stuff organized as Music/artist/album (or sometimes with classical, Music/composer/album), and if I ever needed to do an operation on everything, it sure would be nice to start it off in that top level Music directory and let it go until it finished.

[Account Closed]

1 hour ago, SunYang said:

Hello, on my new music dedicatet computer (7950X, RTX3090 Ti) I have already instaled Ubuntu 22.04.1 LTS. But I am not familiar with Linux at all. Can anybody help me how to install HQP low latency kernel, drivers for RTX3090 Ti with CUDA support, and HQP Desktop (AMD AVX2 version)? Thanks a lot

The low latency kernel is easy:

 

sudo apt update

 

sudo apt -y install linux-lowlatency

The others I can't help with.

[Jud]

41 minutes ago, bobflood said:

The low latency kernel is easy:

 

sudo apt update

 

sudo apt -y install linux-lowlatency

The others I can't help with.

 

Though sometimes (as just happened with me yesterday), if you're using the proprietary Nvidia video driver, it's not automatically used with the newly installed low-latency kernel, so you get a lower display resolution. I played with trying to get the Nvidia driver to work for a couple of minutes unsuccessfully (my Linux knowledge isn't much), and just decided to go back to the generic kernel, as HQP works fine with that for me.

[Account Closed]

1 hour ago, Jud said:

 

Though sometimes (as just happened with me yesterday), if you're using the proprietary Nvidia video driver, it's not automatically used with the newly installed low-latency kernel, so you get a lower display resolution. I played with trying to get the Nvidia driver to work for a couple of minutes unsuccessfully (my Linux knowledge isn't much), and just decided to go back to the generic kernel, as HQP works fine with that for me.

I don't have a GPU so I was not sure about that. One could also use Jussi's kernel which is low latency and I am pretty sure from what I remember that it supports the Nvidia drivers. It is also best for when the DAC is connected directly (no NAA). It will be interesting when the real-time kernel goes mainstream soon. It is beta right now.

[Miska]

11 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

It does (I own a license), as Audirvana does, but they use a “trick” as in ALAC Artist tag is not defined as multi item. They write all the artists separated by comma while in FLAC, that has Artist tag defined as multi item, artists are separated by three semicolon.

You need to use a tag editor to realize this.

 

Where is that defined? In ID3v2 spec it says the same tag can appear multiple times. With FLAC actually too. But comma separated list is most standard approach..

 

But I have never seen any standard specification mentioning three semicolons. Can you share a link to such standard?

 

11 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

MinimServer doesn’t use “tricks” therefore it shows Alac artists as a single string where artists are separated by comma.

 

This is also what HQPlayer does when there are multiple items of same tag. (ID3v2, FLAC, etc)

 

SImilar is for Qobuz too:

In this example for Performer.

 

[stefano_mbp]

@Miskaseparators and how they are rendered are afaik a convention and different separators can be used depending on the editor/player, Yate uses three semicolon, Audirvana and JRiver use comma, MP3tag use slash and so on …

I can better explain reporting here what was done in Yate/2manyrobots to make multi item possible in ALAC.

Barry, Yate developer, wrote:

“I've had a few discussions with the creator of MinimServer and made a few changes to accommodate his implementation as he doesn't parse the separator characters in fields. 

The default value is Single Atom which is what Yate previously did.  For any field such as Artist, Yate will write the multi value delimiter to a single ©ART atom with a single data child.  This is 100% within spec.  
The second value is Single Atom/Multiple Data. In this setting Yate will write a multi value Artist field to a single ©ART atom with multiple data child atoms. While this is in spec I can only find a single application other than MinimServer which processes the data.”

I adopted the solution described as second value.

The “trick” I mentioned in my previous post is that for ALAC files Audirvana and JRiver parse the separator character in tags simulating in this way a multi item definition.

Hope this can help to understand

[Fredc]

48 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

@Miskaseparators and how they are rendered are afaik a convention and different separators can be used depending on the editor/player, Yate uses three semicolon, Audirvana and JRiver use comma, MP3tag use slash and so on …

I can better explain reporting here what was done in Yate/2manyrobots to make multi item possible in ALAC.

Barry, Yate developer, wrote:

“I've had a few discussions with the creator of MinimServer and made a few changes to accommodate his implementation as he doesn't parse the separator characters in fields. 

The default value is Single Atom which is what Yate previously did.  For any field such as Artist, Yate will write the multi value delimiter to a single ©ART atom with a single data child.  This is 100% within spec.  
The second value is Single Atom/Multiple Data. In this setting Yate will write a multi value Artist field to a single ©ART atom with multiple data child atoms. While this is in spec I can only find a single application other than MinimServer which processes the data.”

I adopted the solution described as second value.

The “trick” I mentioned in my previous post is that for ALAC files Audirvana and JRiver parse the separator character in tags simulating in this way a multi item definition.

Hope this can help to understand

If only a single application other than MinimServer does it your way, would you say they are the exception rather than the rule. My experience is using delimiter to denote multiple artists is the way just about all applications work. 

[stefano_mbp]

27 minutes ago, Fredc said:

If only a single application other than MinimServer does it your way, would you say they are the exception rather than the rule. My experience is using delimiter to denote multiple artists is the way just about all applications work. 

Do you have Alac files?

[stefano_mbp]

@Fredc another example of different tag definition is the Style tag, for flac files it is a multi item tag while for dsf file it is not … so exceptions are everywhere like HQPlayer that is one of the very few players that is not Alac compatible.

So let's navigate a sea of exceptions and choose the solutions that are the best for each of us ...

[Fredc]

1 hour ago, stefano_mbp said:

Do you have Alac files?

I have Alac files. Actually I tested out the conversion. The m4a files with multiple artists are delimited by semi colon. When converted to flac in jriver, the artists tag stays the same artist1;artists2 etc. When opened in HQPlayer, it's display the same way artists1;artists2.  For me, as long as you can see all the artists in the display, it doesn't matter much how it's formatted. 

[stefano_mbp]

24 minutes ago, Fredc said:

I have Alac files. Actually I tested out the conversion. The m4a files with multiple artists are delimited by semi colon. When converted to flac in jriver, the artists tag stays the same artist1;artists2 etc. When opened in HQPlayer, it's display the same way artists1;artists2.  For me, as long as you can see all the artists in the display, it doesn't matter much how it's formatted. 

Should you use Minimserver and Lumin app you’ll face some important limitations regarding cross reference functionality: instead of having a list of artists you’ll end having a single string where all artists are referenced ie 

single string:

artist A; artist B; artist C …

list:

artist A

artist B

artist C

With a list of artists you’ll be able to find with one tap all the albums where each artist is referenced while with a single string this is impossible.

[Miska]

7 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

@Miskaseparators and how they are rendered are afaik a convention and different separators can be used depending on the editor/player, Yate uses three semicolon, Audirvana and JRiver use comma, MP3tag use slash and so on …

I can better explain reporting here what was done in Yate/2manyrobots to make multi item possible in ALAC.

Barry, Yate developer, wrote:

“I've had a few discussions with the creator of MinimServer and made a few changes to accommodate his implementation as he doesn't parse the separator characters in fields. 

The default value is Single Atom which is what Yate previously did.  For any field such as Artist, Yate will write the multi value delimiter to a single ©ART atom with a single data child.  This is 100% within spec.  
The second value is Single Atom/Multiple Data. In this setting Yate will write a multi value Artist field to a single ©ART atom with multiple data child atoms. While this is in spec I can only find a single application other than MinimServer which processes the data.”

I adopted the solution described as second value.

The “trick” I mentioned in my previous post is that for ALAC files Audirvana and JRiver parse the separator character in tags simulating in this way a multi item definition.

Hope this can help to understand

 

Yeah, you can have a single metadata item with comma separated list, or multiple individual metadata items. HQPlayer supports both. But such semicolon stuff shouldn't end up in the file itself, because it is not specified in the standard. It is just application's own internal representational thing.

 

[Miska]

6 hours ago, stefano_mbp said:

@Fredc another example of different tag definition is the Style tag, for flac files it is a multi item tag while for dsf file it is not …

 

It is possible same way for both FLAC (Vorbis comments) and DSF (ID3v2). WavPack uses APE tags. While ALAC uses MPEG4 container tags. There's however no clear 1:1 mapping for all tag things between these.

 

Quote

HQPlayer that is one of the very few players that is not Alac compatible

 

If there would be suitable clean implementation, it could be included. Unfortunately that is not the case right now.

 

[Kalpesh]

I have been experiencing with web radios

kind of stutter (not of the overload type) with mp3 flux and worked quite well with 24/96 HD radios, so it definitely does not look like cpu bandwidth ram buffer what have you limitation

does not work at all with aac while some radios of major interest (I dare not to add afaic) such as France Musique which offers a broad choice of direct and recorded live classical and jazz performances use that tech.

I understand HQP does not support aac

beyond wishful thinking it would, is there a way to direct aac to HQP desktop Mac even if a third party app is required?? Looked into HQPD control with my iPhone but no luck

[Spoon102]

This might be a very stupid question but are any of the PCM filters, noise shaping and sample rate settings relevant if PCM is being converted to SDM output? I understand that the DSD side has filter and modulator settings but does that mean that all of the PCM entries are ignored unless the output is PCM?

[sbenyo]

I am testing HQP with T+A DAC8. I am able to run Sinc-LI with any of the EC modulators with DSD256, but DSD512 with none.

 

Both options sound amazing. I still find the DSD512 a bit better to me than DSD256 + EC. Does anyone have the same experience?

Do you know if EC with DSD512 is going to be a significant difference?

[Rovo]

no significant difference, a small step up, but all the small steps add up to a significant difference

[sbenyo]

3 hours ago, Rovo said:

no significant difference, a small step up, but all the small steps add up to a significant difference

 

Thanks. I did feel step up using sinc-M and sinc-L filters (the ones I can use). I did not feel a big difference with EC modulators in DSD256. The DSD512 without EC, sounds a bit better to me. It may also be specific to T+A DAC. May be that DSD512 is the sweet spot for this DAC.

[musicjunkie917]

With the May KTE, the 7ECv2 modulator is so much better than the non-EC modulators that I am happy to stay at DSD256 using it..

[Schafheide]

On 11/3/2022 at 7:51 AM, Spoon102 said:

This might be a very stupid question but are any of the PCM filters, noise shaping and sample rate settings relevant if PCM is being converted to SDM output? I understand that the DSD side has filter and modulator settings but does that mean that all of the PCM entries are ignored unless the output is PCM?

Perhaps a knowledgeable person can find the time to help us ab initios by summarising the 4 scenarios e.g.

Scenario 1 PCM - PCM. You need to select this, this & this.

Scenario 2 PCM - SDM. ditto

Scenario 3 SDM - PCM. ditto

Scenario 4 SDM - SDM. ditto