HQ Player

[Miska]

18 minutes ago, Fredc said:

Flagging the ifi pro idsd as 48k dac do not work for me (win11 pro). There is sound coming out but for 96k tracks, it sound terrible. 

 

What does HQPlayer say about the output rate? The other iFi products I have work fine on 48k multiples.

 

But if it doesn't work, it belongs to the majority of DACs where it doesn't work, and then best option is to use a filter that can convert between rate families, without extra external processing.

 

[kelvinwsy]

Unfortunately Apple Music has all the lossless and hires music I like

And

Qobuz and HRA Streaming are not available where I am!

And Tidal is not to my liking.. Spotify is glorified high rate MP3

Guess i will stick with what I can get out of Apple Music on Win11 pro

 

Latest - I hv downloaded both the VB Cable and the HiFi Cable and ASIO Bridge

1. Took me a while but managed to get 44.1 in and out of the Hifi Cable ASIO Bridge but not the VB Cable which works with KS and not ASIO devices 

 

The SQ is test for itunes playbk continues( yes it works)

But unless there is some sort of hardware device to take the ASIO stream, I dont see this as any loopbk method to feed the itunes stream thru HQplayer!

Maybe we dont need to !

I will also chk for any auto rate conversion

HiFi cable supposed go for up to 352.8 khz SR! 

 

 

 

 

[1125FPS]

Miska,

I have a Small Green Computer Sonic Orbiter i5 (new app. 2018) for which I later purchased from you HQ Player embedded.  Can a subsequent owner of the i5 employ the embedded HQ Player?  (Andrew at SGC already said yes but I have to check with you.)  If yes, must the subsequent owner pay a fee? 

 

Thank you for your consideration.

 

IMO HQ Player offers the best music and audio performance of all known music player apps. 

 

James 

[Miska]

2 minutes ago, 1125FPS said:

I have a Small Green Computer Sonic Orbiter i5 (new app. 2018) for which I later purchased from you HQ Player embedded.  Can a subsequent owner of the i5 employ the embedded HQ Player?  (Andrew at SGC already said yes but I have to check with you.)  If yes, must the subsequent owner pay a fee? 

 

The licenses you purchase from SGC are "hardware licenses". These go with the hardware, they cannot be relocated to another hardware, they belong to the SGC machine as part of the entire thing. These don't include personal information, just the unit's serial number. So such can be sold forward along with the hardware.

 

Licenses purchased from my web shop are "named user licenses". These include your name and email address and belong to you, not to the hardware. These can be also relocated to another hardware. But you cannot sell these forward.

 

You can see this information from /about page of HQPlayer web interface, if it shows your name as "Registered to", it is named user license. If it shows just the device serial number, it is hardware license.

 

[1125FPS]

8 hours ago, Miska said:

 

The licenses you purchase from SGC are "hardware licenses". These go with the hardware, they cannot be relocated to another hardware, they belong to the SGC machine as part of the entire thing. These don't include personal information, just the unit's serial number. So such can be sold forward along with the hardware.

 

Licenses purchased from my web shop are "named user licenses". These include your name and email address and belong to you, not to the hardware. These can be also relocated to another hardware. But you cannot sell these forward.

 

You can see this information from /about page of HQPlayer web interface, if it shows your name as "Registered to", it is named user license. If it shows just the device serial number, it is hardware license.

 

Thank you, Miska.  Your answer is exactly as I thought.  I asked only because 2 trusted sources (my friend/another of your many fans like myself and Andrew @ Small Green Computer) suggested I must confirm because I advertise HQ Player with the server for sale.  

[Argon]

I am trying to track down the source of drop-outs in my system.

 

My process flow is as follows:

 

SGC SonicTransport i9 -> SOTM Switch -> Fiber Cable -> UltraRendu Signature SE -> USB cable -> DAC 

 

I get the following error in the HQPlayer (embedded) log:

! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): not connected to adapter
! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 clHQPlayerEngine::Execute(): push to FIFO failed

It's always the same error and I don't understand what this means.  Is it loss of the NAA endpoint to the HQ Player Server or loss of the DAC to the endpoint?

 

I have tried multiple DAC's w/ the same problem, I am not stressing the HQPlayer server and only upsampling to 96 kHz PCM (less than 5% CPU load). At this time, I think It is either the USB cable to the DAC or the Fiber cable to the endpoint;  understanding the nature of the "Push to FIFO" error would be extremely helpful in my troubleshooting.  TIA

[ripples]

 

if you have to restart NAA to have it running again,   

then likely "NAA endpoint to the HQ Player Server"   at point(r2)

 

 

 

 

 

if you can just restart hqplayer  and it runs again then it was (s1)

 

(had my fair share of digging in this stuff last week....)

 

 

 

 

 

[kelvinwsy]

22 hours ago, kelvinwsy said:

Unfortunately Apple Music has all the lossless and hires music I like

And

Qobuz and HRA Streaming are not available where I am!

And Tidal is not to my liking.. Spotify is glorified high rate MP3

Guess i will stick with what I can get out of Apple Music on Win11 pro

 

Latest - I hv downloaded both the VB Cable and the HiFi Cable and ASIO Bridge

1. Took me a while but managed to get 44.1 in and out of the Hifi Cable ASIO Bridge but not the VB Cable which works with KS and not ASIO devices 

 

The SQ is test for itunes playbk continues( yes it works)

But unless there is some sort of hardware device to take the ASIO stream, I dont see this as any loopbk method to feed the itunes stream thru HQplayer!

Maybe we dont need to !

I will also chk for any auto rate conversion

HiFi cable supposed go for up to 352.8 khz SR! 

 

 

 

 

I hv the following SQ result on all my PC 's and laptop playing itunes with the Hificable:>>

HifiCable brings the itunes sound images into focus. Not digital sounding but highs are crystal clear. If your system leans towards a brighter sound with emphasis on the high freq, this may be a bit too much.

But definitely much closer to Hqplayer 44.1khz PCM Playbk!

Hqplayer still edges ahead with more air, sweeter highs and wider stereo spread!

The worst was using the normal dac driver, as Speaker- DAC Asio driver option 

 

 

[bogi]

Double post happened after editing ...

[bogi]

@kelvinwsy If I well understand your posts here as well as in the other thread, you are not playing Apple Music through HQPlayer. Although without automatic sample rate adaption, you could connect Apple Music to WASAPI input of HQPlayer with a virtual audio cable product, without the need to use ASIO bridge.

If Apple music does not allow to set output audio device, you can set a virtual cable product as output audio device in Windows settings. That can be done as general setting for all Windows sounds but Win11 allows also per application output device selection. On the picture below you see output device choices specifically for Deezer application:


Then, go to HQPlayer settings and set the other end of the virtual cable as WASAPI input device:



After that, set your Gustard DAC as ASIO output device in HQPlayer. With upsampling to DSD in HQPlayer you could get improved sound quality out of your Gustard DAC.

I like more other virtual audio cable product named VAC but it works for me also with the VB-Audio one.

If you perceive too bright sound then you can set tilt filter in Matrix pipeline to make sound a bit darker.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/?do=findComment&comment=1165623

Yet one note. ASIO bridge which I mentioned few days ago could be potentially helpful with automatic sample rate switching. But since HQPlayer does not provide ASIO proxy device (like foo_dsd_asio or JRiver), without ASIO capable virtual audio cable product (I don't know about such) you are not able to connect ASIO bridge to HQPlayer. That's not possible but you probably did not find that without ASIO bridge WASAPI connection to HQPlayer is possible (with the drawback of missing automatic sample rate switching).

 

[kelvinwsy]

15 minutes ago, bogi said:

@kelvinwsy If I well understand your posts here as well as in the other thread, you are not playing Apple Music through HQPlayer. Although without automatic sample rate adaption, you could connect Apple Music to WASAPI input of HQPlayer with a virtual audio cable product, without the need to use ASIO bridge.

If Apple music does not allow to set output audio device, you can set a virtual cable product as output audio device. That can be done as general setting for all Windows sounds but Win11 allows also per application output device selection. On the picture below you see output device selection specifically for Deezer application:


Then, go to HQPlayer settings and set the other end of the virtual cable as WASAPI input device:



After that, set your Gustard DAC as ASIO output device in HQPlayer. With upsampling to DSD in HQPlayer you could get improved sound quality out of your Gustard DAC.

I like more other virtual audio cable product named VAC but it works for me also with the VB-Audio one.

If you perceive too bright sound then you can set tilt filter in Matrix pipeline to make sound a bit darker.
https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/?do=findComment&comment=1165623

Yet one note. ASIO bridge which I mentioned few days ago could be potentially helpful with automatic sample rate switching. But since HQPlayer does not provide ASIO proxy device (like foo_dsd_asio or JRiver), without ASIO capable virtual audio cable product (I don't know about such) you are not able to connect ASIO bridge to HQPlayer. That's not possible. But without ASIO bridge WASAPI connection of any app to HQPlayer is possible (with the drawback of missing automatic sample rate switching).

 

I did download the vb cable .. i was aware that since it is MMX? KS variant Wasapi would be the way to go!

This was just my first attempt to get it working with itunes standalone player

 

Thx for yr pointers abv!

So far results SQ wise is already v promising! Just goes to show what a SQ MESS Windows Mixer does!!!

 

Under Win11 environmt hires tracks are showing up as Lossless (44.1) while on my iphone I get occasional 96, 176.4 n 192 tracks!

So no pressing need to route thru HQplayer

I will try what u suggest next!

I hv started A NEW TOPIC under SW Apple Music ! Do contribute to that thread too

[kelvinwsy]

Asio bridge PASS thru Mode NO sound ! Sound output only when ASIO panel is on!

But Sample Rate is still set at the Windows Sound Setting! Anything other than 16bit 44.1 will mean resampling by Windows hv occurred! The effect on SQ v questionable??? I am still trying out these 2 SW products out.. 

Thx again

[kelvinwsy]

 

[MikePid]

4 hours ago, Argon said:

I am trying to track down the source of drop-outs in my system.

 

My process flow is as follows:

 

SGC SonicTransport i9 -> SOTM Switch -> Fiber Cable -> UltraRendu Signature SE -> USB cable -> DAC 

 

I get the following error in the HQPlayer (embedded) log:

! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): not connected to adapter
! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 clHQPlayerEngine::Execute(): push to FIFO failed

It's always the same error and I don't understand what this means.  Is it loss of the NAA endpoint to the HQ Player Server or loss of the DAC to the endpoint?

 

I have tried multiple DAC's w/ the same problem, I am not stressing the HQPlayer server and only upsampling to 96 kHz PCM (less than 5% CPU load). At this time, I think It is either the USB cable to the DAC or the Fiber cable to the endpoint;  understanding the nature of the "Push to FIFO" error would be extremely helpful in my troubleshooting.  TIA

I have ultraRendu -> USB -> DAC, and occasionally (at random, but more often during rate switch between tracks) HQPlayer gives me a FIFO error (not sure if it is the same one).  I have reduced the recovery of that down to powering the DAC off and back on, which usually works.  Sometimes have to kick HQPlayer (select Preferences and then OK without changing anything). On rare occasions, I have to restart all the devices (including EtherRegen).  I can sometimes go for weeks without the problem, sometimes it will happen several times in one day.  Unfortunately, my DAC is not supported by HQP NAA, so I don't know if it is SonicOrbitorOS glitch, or ultraRendu hardware related.  Seems that HQP loses some handshake somehow.

[bogi]

57 minutes ago, kelvinwsy said:

Asio bridge PASS thru Mode NO sound ! Sound output only when ASIO panel is on!

But Sample Rate is still set at the Windows Sound Setting! Anything other than 16bit 44.1 will mean resampling by Windows hv occurred! The effect on SQ v questionable??? I am still trying out these 2 SW products out.. 

Thx again

Try to setup what I suggested on pictures. No resampling by Windows mixer. Windows settings are ignored.

[Miska]

4 hours ago, Argon said:

I get the following error in the HQPlayer (embedded) log:

! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): not connected to adapter
! 2023/03/27 17:43:09 clHQPlayerEngine::Execute(): push to FIFO failed

It's always the same error and I don't understand what this means.  Is it loss of the NAA endpoint to the HQ Player Server or loss of the DAC to the endpoint?

 

If you were already playing, that means HQPlayer has lost connection to the NAA. Reason may be lost connection or lost DAC that eventually leads to this disconnected state. But the actual reason is somewhere before that.

 

If you weren't already playing, then it can also mean that HQPlayer has not yet been able to acquire connection to the NAA+DAC combo.

 

4 hours ago, Argon said:

At this time, I think It is either the USB cable to the DAC or the Fiber cable to the endpoint;  understanding the nature of the "Push to FIFO" error would be extremely helpful in my troubleshooting.  TIA

 

There's some failure before that, and it would indicate the reason. Maybe something marked with '#'.

 

[pesciolino]

Hi @Miska apologies for the "please tell me how to do this" when I can just look in the manual, but I have just a simple question (that may help others too)

I'm testing out HQPlayer for Mac because I have a DAC (Topping E70V) for which you can't change the DSD filter setting, so the only way to get a higher cutoff filter is to feed it a higher DSD rate. (See here - https://www.euphonicreview.com/reviews-home/topping-e70v-velvet-dac-review)

 

So... to that end, I just need a software player that can oversample DSD 64 to 128 / 256 / etc. 

 

And that's it! 

 

I have to admit I find all the filter settings in HQPlayer daunting, so (and here's the question) what would you recommend I select just to make this happen?

 

Appreciate!

[Miska]

2 hours ago, pesciolino said:

I have to admit I find all the filter settings in HQPlayer daunting, so (and here's the question) what would you recommend I select just to make this happen?

 

Default settings should be generally fine. On macOS, remember to set "SDM Pack" to "DoP" to enable DSD output. Set SDM rate limit to 44.1k x256. PCM rate limit to 768k.

 

I recommend to set "Default output mode" to SDM (DSD). That will give you DSD output always, for both PCM and DSD sources. Leaving it at "[source]" will switch between the two, but keeping output at constant DSD256 gives better results...

 

[kelvinwsy]

No good as Win 11 volume mixer does not hv individual app uption to set tge properties!

I will try it anyway

[kelvinwsy]

I will try to run volsnd,exe to get the old win 10 sound mixer bk

[Argon]

16 hours ago, Miska said:

 

If you were already playing, that means HQPlayer has lost connection to the NAA. Reason may be lost connection or lost DAC that eventually leads to this disconnected state. But the actual reason is somewhere before that.

 

If you weren't already playing, then it can also mean that HQPlayer has not yet been able to acquire connection to the NAA+DAC combo.

 

 

There's some failure before that, and it would indicate the reason. Maybe something marked with '#'.

 

I have searched the logs and don't see any "#" marked events..

 

These dropouts / Push to FIFO failures happen randomly after playing for an hour or up to a few hours.  I have changed the fiber cable and SFP modules as well as USB cable to no effect.  If something is happening upstream, does this section of my log help ID what that is?  Everything seems fine at 1:11:29, the next track starts playing but then at 1:14:14 it seems to unravel, @Miskacan you help decode "NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): clNetEngine::SendStreamPCM(): clSemaphore::Wait() (1438)"

 

To restart playback I just press play in Roon, no need to restart the NAA endpoint of HQPlayer server...

 

023/03/29 01:11:29 Playlist add URI: http://127.0.0.1:30000/7a2c1d597278463ca9825ab7996b4228/stream.raw
& 2023/03/29 01:11:29 Play
  2023/03/29 01:11:30 Offload: resampler=disabled convolution=disabled
  2023/03/29 01:11:30 SDM conversion parameters (8, 0)
  2023/03/29 01:11:30 DSD 6 dB gain enabled
- 2023/03/29 01:11:30 NAA output network engine stopping...
- 2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output network engine stopped
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output set sampling rate: 96000 (96000)
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Automatic output rate: 96000
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Rate or blocksize change triggered
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Rate: 48000, block size: 3840, frame size: 640
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Block size: 3840 (sample: 3)
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Playback engine ratio: 2
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Filter: sinc (adaptive)
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Dither: 15th order linear noise shaping for 24-bit
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Set volume: -3.0103 +
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Offload: resampler=disabled convolution=disabled
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 Initialization complete, starting audio engine
+ 2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output network engine starting...
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output network format: 96000/24/2 [pcm]
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output network PCM streaming
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output sampling rate: 96000 (96000)
  2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output channels: 2 (2)
+ 2023/03/29 01:11:33 NAA output network engine started at: 96000
! 2023/03/29 01:14:14 NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): clNetEngine::SendStreamPCM(): clSemaphore::Wait() (1438)
! 2023/03/29 01:14:14 clHQPlayerEngine::Execute(): push to FIFO failed
  2023/03/29 01:14:14 Stop request (reset)
& 2023/03/29 01:14:14 Stop...
- 2023/03/29 01:14:14 Playback engine stopped
& 2023/03/29 01:14:14 ...stopped
  2023/03/29 01:14:14 Set volume: -3.0103 +
- 2023/03/29 01:14:14 Control ended from 127.0.0.1:52820
  2023/03/29 01:14:19 NAA output network Audio IPv6 support disabled
  2023/03/29 01:14:19 NAA output discovery from 0.0.0.0
& 2023/03/29 01:14:20 NAA output discovered network audio: name='SignatureRendu' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 4.2.5'  @192.168.1.142:43210
& 2023/03/29 01:14:20 NAA output discovered network audio: name='SignatureRendu' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 4.2.5'  @192.168.1.142:43210
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output connect to 192.168.1.142:43210 [ipv4]
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output network endpoint: AudioQuest DragonFly Red v1.0: USB Audio (hw:CARD=v10,DEV=0)
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output discovered 1 Network Audio Adapters
+ 2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output connect to 192.168.1.142:43210 [ipv4]
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output network format: 44100/24/2 [pcm]
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output network format: 48000/24/2 [pcm]
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output network format: 88200/24/2 [pcm]
  2023/03/29 01:14:21 NAA output network format: 96000/24/2 [pcm]

[tieuphi2006]

i'm using roon nas - hqpe ( ios ) - dac

so i feel happy and so good.

[Miska]

2 hours ago, Argon said:

Everything seems fine at 1:11:29, the next track starts playing but then at 1:14:14 it seems to unravel, @Miskacan you help decode "NAA output clNetEngine::PushPCM(): clNetEngine::SendStreamPCM(): clSemaphore::Wait() (1438)"

 

To restart playback I just press play in Roon, no need to restart the NAA endpoint of HQPlayer server...

 

This is timeout when HQPlayer is waiting for data to go to the Rendu. If it takes more than 10 seconds to send 100ms worth of audio, this happens.

 

Have you confirmed that you have 802.3x Flow Control active on your network? First question mark is the switch. And then the optical modules whether they support this.

 

[Account Closed]

13 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

This is timeout when HQPlayer is waiting for data to go to the Rendu. If it takes more than 10 seconds to send 100ms worth of audio, this happens.

 

Have you confirmed that you have 802.3x Flow Control active on your network? First question mark is the switch. And then the optical modules whether they support this.

 

If I am correct, only the latest optical module by Sonore supports flow control.

[GMG]

Appreciate if anyone here has some advice/opinion about Dennafrips Pontus ii Vs Gustard R26 for use with HQPLayer,

 

I realize that Gustard has the built in NAA, but am more interested in which is supposedly better technically for DSD playback with HQPlayer and of course which sounds better after all