HQ Player

[Jud]

9 minutes ago, firedog said:

you can't hear the server unless nothing else at all is going on in the room, and then only if you are close to it

 

What I always wonder is not whether you can hear the fans (though if you can of course that's not optimal), but how much the noise floor is raised that you have to try to listen to music through.  Anyone bothered to measure?

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

This is also reason why I power down all warm running audio equipment when not in use, such amps, DACs etc. Especially hotter running ones like Holo Audio etc.

 

Well that opened up a can of worms! (Don't know if something like this expression is common outside the US.)

 

Pretty much any DAC? Especially those with more large discrete parts? Any notion what the tradeoff might be between heat cycling (warming up when turning on then cooling down when turned off) and constant warm temperature (always on)?

[Jud]

Hi @Miska, I think this may be a feature request. If not, I'm missing how to do this with HQP and HQP Client.

 

I often want to search artists or albums (less often tracks) in Qobuz.  I can't see how to do that with HQP and HQP Client.  Is there a way?  If not, would it be a bother to implement?

[Jud]

Guess I’m one of the lucky ones. Ventura 13.2 beta on an M1 Max MacBook Pro, 4.21 Desktop and 4.21 Client both running, plays flawlessly at DSD256 via NAA.

[Jud]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

One DAC I was measuring couple of days ago, was showing some noise patterns at around -130 dB. Reason was that the (balanced) analog output cable was too close to the SMPS power cable. Increasing distance of the cables made that noise go away...

Good to have well shielded (as well as balanced) cables.

[Jud]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

I have typical shielded XLR audio cables, but there are always limits to CMRR and such. We are talking about nV level things here... Would you need to shield the shield, or shield the shield's shield? The PSU cable is also shielded, but obviously it still possible to have this kind of effect.

Yes, not advocating for exotic or expensive cables (mine are neither). Back when I did have expensive cables, they were sometimes not well shielded.

 

My current DAC can run with a power cord or without, and I hear no noise either way, so at least there’s nothing audible.

 

2 hours ago, Miska said:

Cheapest and most effective solution to these kind of problems is to do proper cable dressing... This was just a reminder.

 

Yes, though sometimes manufacturers like to place inputs, outputs and power in rather close proximity. 🙂 (To be fair, some equipment is quite compact these days, so physical separation is difficult.)

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

With shielded cable this doesn't happen as the shield connects device grounds together.

 

Though there are cables with some shielding (don't know how effective) where the grounds are not connected at both ends.

[Jud]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

For remotely accessing couple of my Windows computers I use TightVNC Server. And the same company has viewer called RemoteRipple.

 

But since I use mostly desktop Linux, I use the "vncviewer" shipped with Ubuntu.

 

 

2 hours ago, dericchan1 said:

Thanks Miska, but is it not easy to include a web UI feature for desktop version so if I simply type in a local web IP with my phone or an ipad or another laptop then I can control playback and other features for desktop, similar to what Embedded users are using?

 

I use and like RealVNC.  Particularly on an iPad I think you might be surprised at how nice a VNC app can be.  It essentially gives you a remote desktop display with a touch screen.

[Jud]

19 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

You forgot to mention about the official GUI - HQPlayer Client:

 

Which is for example the only way at the moment to play Qobuz or HRA streaming services natively on HQPlayer. Embedded or Desktop product. In addition to the local library.

 

 

Hi, Miska. What is meant by "natively" in your sentence above, since besides HQPlayer Client and JPlay, one can also play Qobuz through HQP Embedded using for example the Linn Kazoo, MConnect, or Lumin apps on iOS. Are you referring to use of HQP Embedded's UPnP renderer capability as non-native?

 

Just curious - I happily use HQP Client as well as these other apps.

 

[Jud]

In my particular case, my speakers have linear phase crossovers and are “time-aligned,” both of which contribute to their abilities to project a soundstage and locate instruments within that soundstage. This inclines me very strongly toward linear phase software filters, because I (imagine that I?) can hear the difference when the system is not linear phase all the way through.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Nkam said:

 

I think those don’t sound as good off axis as in the sweet spot 

 

 

That’s why it’s called the sweet spot. 😄 (Though I will say that very little toe-in is advised in the very thorough setup section of the manual, and I have followed those directions.)

[Jud]

45 minutes ago, Nkam said:

ha yeah well. 
 

are those the Vandersteens ? 
 

 

Yes, have owned the 2 series or 3 series for about 35 years.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, copy_of_a said:

well, what I‘ve said is not an assumption.

It‘s simply a characteristic of minimum phase filters that they shift phase - that‘s how they work by design.

Then again, in how far phase shift is audible might be up to debate. But that would be a debate I wouldn‘t join 😉

“Smear” is kind of pejorative. We can be a little kinder and more precise by saying (1) they do shift phase (timing) of the input signal, and (2) how much the timing is shifted is frequency-dependent (group delay). Among those who think this is audible are folks who think it can give a pleasing sense of depth. And of course in room equalization filtering, if the timing/phase problems are caused by room configuration, only minimum or intermediate phase filters can alter that timing and correct it.

[Jud]

5 hours ago, Nkam said:

@Miska

 

 

My friend ,   Listen.  

and please. I hope you do not take offense.  
i am a classical musician of over 40 years.  
I think my ears have been a bit trained over all this time 
 

most hifi users do not listen to DSD and they do not own NOS DACs.  
you should post measurements or details on what your filters do in AKM, ESS and Cirrus chips.  Being the most common.   
 

Your filters are magic.  They really are good.   But you need to ‘ market ‘ them correctly and show the simple user what they really can do. 
 

if someone has a ΔΣ DAC , show them what the upside of is owning your software. 
 

I want to spread the news on a large forum I am subscribed to , but I don’t have any measurements to assess what a difference your filters make on the average man’s DAC.   the one with a ΣΔ chip in it. 
 

hope that helps. 
 

honestly.   Your filters for whatever reason do make a huge difference.  
but I would love to back that claim up as well. 

 

If you have business advice, it should probably have been requested (no harm in asking if it is wanted first) and delivered in private.

[Jud]

10 minutes ago, Nkam said:

 

pardon me, but I’m am Greek American and sometimes I think in Greek. 
 

so I wrote that in a Greek manner.  
 

i didn’t mean to offend.  
 

my apologies if it came across that way 

 

Very graciously said.

[Jud]

3 minutes ago, Nkam said:

i didn’t know you posted measurements.   Are those measurements on this forum ?

 

They are just occasional and not collected in any central place here. The last one I recall looking at showed lower distortion with test signals at DSD256 than PCM705.6(?) (or maybe it was PCM768). I don't remember if a particular DAC was named.

[Jud]

26 minutes ago, dericchan1 said:

Thanks for the explanation. But let’s say if the ESS dac does not do native dsd, then it the dac still using its own filters?

Rather than using a term that has been given several meanings ("native DSD"), let's just say that ESS chips will still apply their own digital signal processing even if you send them DSD.

[Jud]

27 minutes ago, dericchan1 said:

As for ifi burr brown chips, it only upsamples pcm to 24/192, does it mean as long as I feed pcm over 24/192 then it should bypass the dac chip filters other than the basic zero and hold filter?

You may be confusing the maximum input sample rate with the internal rate to which the chip upsamples PCM, which is typically "8x" (352.8/384kHz). That is followed internally in the chip by modulation to DSD or a similar format.

[Jud]

6 minutes ago, dericchan1 said:

Thanks. So let’s say for your neo as an example, if you upsample pcm to 24/768, are all digital filters bypassed or does the dac chip still do some internal dsp ?

 

The chip's sigma delta modulator still would convert the bitstream to DSD or similar.

[Jud]

17 minutes ago, e.Latte said:

Does HQ Player perform better if you are using a NAA? I use HQ Player Desktop and I connect USB to my DAC ( TA DAC 200). I have seen on the forums about people using an NAA. They run HQ Player to the NAA into the DAC. Is there a performance advantage going this route? 

 

I'll leave it to others to help answer the other questions, but wanted to chime in on this one. The two potential or actual advantages of using an NAA that I am aware of are as follows:

 

(1) You can use a very powerful computer in another room to run HQPlayer without worrying about how much noise its cooling system might be making, its size, appearance, etc., and then locate a very small, unobtrusive, silent NAA by your DAC in your listening room.

 

(2) There may be an advantage in terms of electrical noise from a small low-powered NAA feeding the DAC vs. a larger high-powered computer running HQPlayer itself.

 

Yes, these questions have been asked before, but you can certainly be forgiven for not combing through an 1100-page thread to find them all.

[Jud]

6 hours ago, Miska said:

 

No, if you need two, you need two licenses.

 

 

This is OK as long as only one copy is running at a time.

 

 

I'm virtually certain this has been asked multiple times before, but I don't know the answer: I have two Linux distros on my desktop machine, Xubuntu LTS 22.04, and ArcoLinux, an Arch-based rolling release. One license because it's the same hardware and I'm not running the two simultaneously, or two because the two distros will make the hardware fingerprint different (in which case I presume I'd want the dongle instead)?

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

But for technical things it seems to produce totally nonsensical babble that sounds fancy but contains absolutely no information that makes sense.

 

Not just technical things.

 

It can actually work fine some of the time (for instance it got 18 of 20 answers correct in a complexity theory exam - complexity theory has to do with, among other things, where quantum speedup can be achieved in computing; the speedup doesn't apply to all problems), but this is very much a random hit or miss thing. As you have seen, it can easily rattle off utter nonsense with a confident tone much of the time.

[Jud]

1 hour ago, Audionumber3 said:

Hello again

 

So…update on my situation. I was asking everyone for recommendations for filters and setting for my Spring 3, because I found playing some rock that weren’t recorded that well became fatiguing and sounded a bit harsh.

 

A couple days ago, we got Qobuz here in Canada….so I thought I would try it out instead of Tidal.

 

All I have to say….it completely fixed my problem. I have been playing for hours, and on the Spring….Qobuz it a huge improvement. 
 

So I guess my question now is different. In general, what are the best settings to use for a Spring 3 KTE? I’ll mostly be keeping it on DSD256.

 

thanks again guys

 

Welcome to the benefits of listening to music that didn't go through the much vaunted but technically questionable (to be polite) MQA process.

 

Depending on what your computer is capable of, you'll want to try to use one of the EC or ECv2 modulators. Filter choices abound and there are many opinions. Try the defaults first, read the manual and see what else might work well, and very likely others here will chime in. You can also do advanced searching in the forum for comments Miska has made about your DAC.

[Jud]

2 hours ago, bogi said:

Thanks. I roughly remember those values. My issue was I confused " and ' signs. Not often used here.

 

I wish they weren't used here! 🙂 (imperial units)

[Jud]

Hi @Miska. There are a few DACs that can take DSD1024 input. Which of these (that you know of) can take DSD512 input on MacOS via DoP?