HQ Player

[bibo01]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

ASIO4ALL and JPlay need fixing. Other ASIO drivers don't crash.

 

....

Then perhaps you can help me solve a problem where ASIO driver does crash.

With EMU1212 ASIO driver HQplayer works fine on Win 7 32bit. On Win 10 64bit, HQPlayer crashes with 32 and 64 bit version.
With Foobar2000 it is fine.

[bibo01]

@Miska

There is a problem with HQPlayer latest version:

Quote

 

$ dpkg -l hqplayer

Desired=Unknown/Install/Remove/Purge/Hold

| Status=Not/Inst/Conf-files/Unpacked/halF-conf/Half-inst/trig-aWait/Trig-pend

|/ Err?=(none)/Reinst-required (Status,Err: uppercase=bad)

||/ Name                                    Version                  Architecture             Description

+++-=======================================-========================-    

ii  hqplayer                   3.16.0-59                          amd64                      Signalyst HQPlayer Desktop

 

    

in Debian Stretch crashes immediately:

 

Quote

 

$ hqplayer

locale=C, country=Default, language=C

Illegal instruction

 

 

It happens with official kernel of Stretch (linux-image-4.9.0-2-amd64) and with kernel 4.10.
 

[bibo01]

7 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Illegal instruction exception happens when CPU encounters an instruction it doesn't understand (support). What is the CPU in question?

 

Please provide "model name" and "flags" lines from "cat /proc/cpuinfo" output.

This is the PC that crashes with HQPlayer Desktop:

 

Quote

 

model name      : Pentium(R) Dual-Core  CPU      E5200  @ 2.50GHz
flags           : fpu vme de pse tsc msr pae mce cx8 apic sep mtrr pge mca cmov pat pse36 clflush dts acpi mmx fxsr sse sse2 ss ht tm pbe syscall nx lm constant_tsc arch_perfmon pebs bts rep_good nopl aperfmperf pni dtes64 monitor ds_cpl est tm2 ssse3 cx16 xtpr pdcm lahf_lm dtherm

 

It's dated, but it still does its job. With previous version of HQP (tested up to 3.13) was capable of conversion PCM to DSD128.

 

As far as NAD, (I get a crash with the same error), a verified on an old thin-client, a Fujitsu "Futro S550". CPU is AMD (an old Opteron, if I am not mistaken). 

 

This is the data for the options used to compile a dedicated Linux kernel:

 

Quote

 

# cpuinfo2cpuflags-x86
CPU_FLAGS_X86="3dnow 3dnowext mmx mmxext sse sse2 sse3"

# gcc -march=native -E -v - </dev/null 2>&1 | grep cc1
/usr/libexec/gcc/x86_64-pc-linux-gnu/4.9.3/cc1 -E -quiet -v - -march=k8-sse3 -mmmx -m3dnow -msse -msse2 -msse3 -mno-ssse3 -mno-sse4a -mcx16 -msahf -mno-movbe -mno-aes -mno-sha -mno-pclmul -mno-popcnt -mno-abm -mno-lwp -mno-fma -mno-fma4 -mno-xop -mno-bmi -mno-bmi2 -mno-tbm -mno-avx -mno-avx2 -mno-sse4.2 -mno-sse4.1 -mno-lzcnt -mno-rtm -mno-hle -mno-rdrnd -mno-f16c -mno-fsgsbase -mno-rdseed -mprfchw -mno-adx -mfxsr -mno-xsave -mno-xsaveopt -mno-avx512f -mno-avx512er -mno-avx512cd -mno-avx512pf -mno-prefetchwt1 --param l1-cache-size=64 --param l1-cache-line-size=64 --param l2-cache-size=512 -mtune=k8 -fstack-protector-strong

 

 

[bibo01]

10 hours ago, Miska said:

 

In this case, the kernel doesn't matter. In first case, CPU is missing the needed minimum features (SSE 4.2)  and that's why the process exits. With Windows you can use the 32-bit binary on this particular hardware.

 

...

 

Thanks.

One can use an older version like 3.13 (I'm not sure about 3.14). However, the problem is that in up to date systems (Ubuntu 16.04 / Mint 18.x / Debian Stretch) old versions cannot be installed. Indeed, HQP versions compiled for Ubuntu 14.04 (also working on Debian 8 "Jessie") depend on "libqt5declarative5" library, which it does not exist nor installable in Ubuntu 16.04 and Debian 9 "Stretch". 

Is it possible to do anything about it (short of keeping an old OS)?

[bibo01]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Yes I did. I don't know about DAC vendors. Since I'm not $$$ customer for Amanero, weight of me saying anything is probably around 0.01

 

When I talked to Amanero a couple of weeks ago, he said that his customers had a DSD512 working version of his firmware. He just had to implement a certain feature (I don't remember exactly what). He seemed VERY close to a final release. Unfortunately, he was also just about to move to a new office. I'll call him on Monday to get an update...if he still has the same number.

[bibo01]

As promised, today I talked to Amanero developer about his ASIO driver and firmware for Linux.

 

Re. Linux, he has implemented a larger buffer and he is now in the process to verify its working order - this should lead to DSD512.

 

I also pointed out about the problem of stopping/restarting DAC and USB not detected, both in ASIO and ALSA, which caused a malfunction with networkaudiodeamon. I am not sure if this problem occurs when receiver takes power from USB and/or internally - it has to be verified. 
Anyhow, he has some clear ideas regarding this and he should be able to fix it, together with the 16 channel output/input bug.

 

Regarding MUTE at sampling rate change, this is slightly more complex. It also depends on the different player - some send a mute signal whilst other send a sequence of zeros only (@Miska, what about HQPlayer?) - and DAC implementation (mosfet, relay,...). 
He was still going to have a look at it.   

[bibo01]

6 hours ago, Miska said:

 

As discussed on the other thread, problem is that the MUTE must be asserted minimum for first and last 50 ms of DSD data. He fixed this with the le1/be1 firmware version, but as side effect the DSD indication stopped working so it was never indicating DSD output regardless of input (DoP or native DSD). Since DSC1 unmutes output only when MUTE is off and there is DSD indication, the "fixed" firmware never output any sound. With the firmware version that didn't have the mute fix (le/be), the DSD indication was working but of course it was loud at start/stop because the mute time window was missing. DSC1 (as well as DAC8 DSD) uses a relay, but the pull/release time of the relay is within about 1 ms so it is so much sorter than the required mute period that it doesn't make any difference.

 

HQPlayer sends DSD silence. But Linux kernel was sending zeros in some cases, and that has been fixed now.

Thanks. I'll pass it on.

I suppose your DSC1 takes power from USB. If you turn it off/on, does it disconnect from nad?

[bibo01]

14 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Yes, the Amanero runs off the USB power so powering down the DAC doesn't cause the device to disappear from USB bus.  The DAC itself is powered from a linear PSU.

 

This is just like for example iFi iDSD Micro.

 

Good!. So the disconnection problem occurs with DAC that have Amanero powered internally.

 

PS: Tomorrow Amanero is going to receive a DAC directly from T&A to test on it...good for development.   

[bibo01]

2 hours ago, AudioAnt said:

Hi, I'm a user of licensed HQPlayer in Windows and I would like to buy the second license in Linux. How to get the discount code for this?

 

Also I would like to have access to HQPlayer Embedded version. How to?

 

Thank you.

 

 

Send a request for 50% coupon discount on a Mac/Linux license to support @ signalyst.com with your  email address you registered your Windows version.

Miska will send you 50% coupon discount for your Linux purchase.

Once you register your Linux version, get a system fingerprint from Help menu. Then, you send it to support requesting a HQPlayer Embedded license.

[bibo01]

3 hours ago, PhilipAC said:

Hi all. I have just bought HQP on linux and it downloaded version 3.13.3.

 

Why didn't it download version 3.16? and can I move to 3.16 under the same licence or do I have to pay more? Indeed, is it worthwhile moving to 3.16?

 

Cheers

 

Philip

If you cannot download HQPlayer latest version, you need to refresh your browser.

Your license is valid for all 3.x versions. For v4.x Miska has not yet established a cost for upgrading.

It's probably worth it to upgrade to the latest version.

[bibo01]

3 hours ago, mirekti said:

 

 

Oh, I wasn't aware there was an upgrade path like this. 
Do you know what features will version 4 have?  

No, Miska has not made them public. He will when v4 is going to be available.

[bibo01]

21 minutes ago, louisxiawei said:

Hey Miska,

...

Since you also mentioned that when HQplayer upsampling DSD files, they are converted to intermediate formats ( 2.8 MHz DSD64 content is converted to 176.4 kHz PCM, 5.6 MHz DSD128 content to 352.8 kHz PCM, 11.2 MHz DSD256 content to 706. kHz). 

...

Where Miska mentioned the above?! I sincerely doubt it.

 

Re. your issue of format choice, I would go for DXD master.

[bibo01]

2 minutes ago, louisxiawei said:

Here it is the link as Miska mentioned it.

 

Thanks for your opinion. I need to check DSD256 file further from nativeDSD. 

 

In that quote Miska was referring to a conversion DSD->PCM. Nothing to do with your case - you want to output to DSD256 or 512.

[bibo01]

3 minutes ago, louisxiawei said:

Exactly. But what if my input file is DSD signal and want to get an DSD512 output? Let's say DSD64.

 

Then from my point of understanding, must be DSD64 - PCM - DSD512.

 

So that conversion DSD->PCM also happens during DSD64->DSD512 conversion. Am I understanding correctly?

No, you are not.

There is NO midway conversion to PCM - it is DSD64->DSD512 direct.

This is a major selling point of HQPlayer, even for convolution! 

[bibo01]

1 hour ago, Silly goose said:

Has anyone compared the latest DSD direct up sampling in Roon to Hqplayer up sampling? Blizzard says Daphile sounds better but I am going to need multichannel for my active speakers and Daphile won't do multichannel. 

Quite a few have compared Roon upsampling to HQPlayer. I have not found one that preferred the former (not even Blizzard), but you better test it yourself.

There are various reasons why Blizzard prefers Daphile. However, a personal preference is...personal

Anyhow, I told him that I measured Mansr's modulator (Daphile's DSD upsampler/converter) and it's rather basic/coarse. I published the results here (you can google translate).

[bibo01]

18 minutes ago, Silly goose said:

2-3 days ago a brand new Roon up sampling was released with lots of improvements. Blizzard says they implemented lots of the requests he asked for. But he said he hasn't had a chance to listen to it yet. On the Roon forum some people are saying it's a vast improvement over the first generation Roon up sampling. But Blizzard also hasn't heard the Hqplayer 2.16 update either. But I do like the idea of 1 simple software so I'm hoping Roon on it's own is good. Regarding Daphile, he said both him and every one of his clients prefer it over Hqplayer. But that was before 2.16 so who know's now. 

I am aware of Roon upgrade. That's why I told you to test listen yourself. Convenience is good.

For the rest, it says it all!

[bibo01]

Is v3.16.3 working properly with NAA?

[bibo01]

1 hour ago, bibo01 said:

Is v3.16.3 working properly with NAA?

@Miska

It seems that, if NAA is based on Win10, communication is interrupted too even with 3.16.3. Tested with 3.5 and 3.5.1 

[bibo01]

2 minutes ago, JoeyGS said:

Will HQ Player work with Windows Server 2012 R2?

Yes, it will. Many people use that OS, but it is not supported by developer, therefore not encouraged.

[bibo01]

1 minute ago, Theobetley said:

Ok I have been very busy in my life and did not head it off. I woke up this morning , my pc was updated overnight and now I can't even launch HQP.  It seems to me (after reading these pages) that my options are

 

Change my 64 bit Hqp to 32

 

Get rid of kb4016841 (what is this anyway...a driver?)

 

change HQP to version 3.16.x

 

What is my best option?

Change to HQP 3.16.3.

If you have an NAA based on Win10, you might have to do something on that system too.

[bibo01]

Just now, Theobetley said:

I do use Naa on w10 what is the other thing I need to do?

Probably Miska will soon update the deamon for this too.

For the moment it would be good to get rid of the trouble MS update. 

[bibo01]

Just now, Miska said:

 

networkaudiod is not affected by the problem because the problematic part doesn't exist there... If there's a problem, it is something totally different..

Then it is the network which is affected by MS update too,

[bibo01]

8 hours ago, Miska said:

 

networkaudiod is not affected by the problem because the problematic part doesn't exist there... If there's a problem, it is something totally different..

Now it is explained: what happened on the NAA was that MS update installed a new network driver so NAA was not seen by HQPlayer PC. Once reinstalled the proper network driver, everything was fine.

[bibo01]

11 minutes ago, steveoat said:

No it is not.  I have tried 3.16.3 on three different machine with different DACs and HQ Player crashes while opening on each one of them.  Is there anything else I can try?

I cannot help you further but maybe, as a temporary measure, you can try 32 bit version of HQPlayer and to reinstall drivers.

[bibo01]

1 minute ago, steveoat said:

Would it help if I sent you the crash log.  If so, where do I send it?

support at signalyst.com