HQ Player

[Bones13]

Anyone run HQPlayer with the Yggdrasil? Yggy also has a closed form filter. How would you set the filters in HQP for the Yggdrasil? I don't have either, but with the new Roon integration I am strongly considering it.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

Roon.... let's hope it doesn't become necessary to get a afaic useless piece of sw to be happy with HQP and this after a clean install to get rid of the most exciting promise (and realization as far as closed form is concerned, which was already great with 3.11 btw) of the latest HQP version

Easy! I can now run Roon (thru HQP 3.12), and I can also use "closed form" now, whereas I could not in 3.11.

[Miska]

Anyone run HQPlayer with the Yggdrasil? Yggy also has a closed form filter. How would you set the filters in HQP for the Yggdrasil? I don't have either, but with the new Roon integration I am strongly considering it.

 

You can try with poly-sinc and closed-form in HQPlayer as an example, and output at 176.4/192k rate which is highest supported by Yggdrasil.

[Miska]

Furthermore, then, what advantage 3.12 offers you that 3.11 did not?

 

At least it fixes an initialization bug in ASDM7, and lowers overhead (total CPU load) of Pipeline SDM mode. Plus number of small fixes for problems with certain files and such.

[Bones13]

Thanks.

 

I will probably try HQP with the dac from my office (w4s Dac2 DSDse) first. The AudioNoteKit 4.1 is a fine sounding DAC, but it is getting further from the mainstream.

[1markr]

Roon is not necessary for HQP, and that's not why I got Roon. HQP does extremely well on it's own.

 

Roon is serving as my front end for my entire music collection (mostly on hard drives now), and for Tidal.

 

Life is good!

 

 

Roon.... let's hope it doesn't become necessary to get a afaic useless piece of sw to be happy with HQP and this after a clean install to get rid of the most exciting promise (and realization as far as closed form is concerned, which was already great with 3.11 btw) of the latest HQP version

[gldgate]

Anyone run HQPlayer with the Yggdrasil? Yggy also has a closed form filter. How would you set the filters in HQP for the Yggdrasil? I don't have either, but with the new Roon integration I am strongly considering it.

 

Yes, I've been going back and forth between Yggy "native" mode and closed form filter in HQ Filter for a while now. Going thru HQPlayer gives me a larger soundstage while I think Yggy in native mode provides imaging that is a bit more locked in. YMMV. It's great to be able to switch back and forth so quickly by setting up separate Roon zones. Good stuff.

[zackthedog]

I have a small issue and thought I'd ask if there's a solution. I have my NAA running on a littlle Dell netbook, which is directly connect to my Mac Mini running Yosemite via a closed ethernet network. In order for HQ Player to see the NAA, I have to make sure the Ethernet connection is ordered first in Network Preferences. If I add a WiFi connection next and open my web browser, the browser keeps trying to access the closed Ethernet connection and I get "Resolving host" errors. Conversly, if I order WiFi first and Ethernet second, my browser works but HQ Player cannot find the NAA. Currently I have two network "locations" and have to switch back and forth depending on whether I want to browse or listen to music. So my question is, is there some way to "point" HQ Player toward the Ethernet connection, or can I somehow "point" my browser to the WiFi connection, regardless of their order? It's not a big deal but sometimes I like to do both. :-)

[ted_b]

I have a small issue and thought I'd ask if there's a solution. I have my NAA running on a littlle Dell netbook, which is directly connect to my Mac Mini running Yosemite via a closed ethernet network. In order for HQ Player to see the NAA, I have to make sure the Ethernet connection is ordered first in Network Preferences. If I add a WiFi connection next and open my web browser, the browser keeps trying to access the closed Ethernet connection and I get "Resolving host" errors. Conversly, if I order WiFi first and Ethernet second, my browser works but HQ Player cannot find the NAA. Currently I have two network "locations" and have to switch back and forth depending on whether I want to browse or listen to music. So my question is, is there some way to "point" HQ Player toward the Ethernet connection, or can I somehow "point" my browser to the WiFi connection, regardless of their order? It's not a big deal but sometimes I like to do both. :-)

 

Why not hang the NAA off your LAN?

[zackthedog]

Why not hang the NAA off your LAN?

 

Because it sounds much better this way. :-)

[KMan]

I am now able to play Redbook->DSD256 with poly-sinc-*-2s and Redbook->DSD512 closed-form both with ASDM7. I have a 2014 MacBookPro. I have enabled CUDA and pipeline SDM, I also use the convolution engine for applying EQ. Previously I had stuttering only when HQplayer was not in the foreground. Not sure How I missed it but AppNap was enabled for HQplayer. I was not able to right click on HQPlayer app and select prevent app nap (as the option was not available).

 

I had to use command 'defaults write -app HQPlayerDesktop NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES' This did the magic and now I am back to enjoying Roon + HQplayer without any issues.

 

Hope this helps anyone having similar issues.

[bibo01]

I am now able to play Redbook->DSD256 with poly-sinc-*-2s and Redbook->DSD512 closed-form both with ASDM7. I have a 2014 MacBookPro. I have enabled CUDA and pipeline SDM, I also use the convolution engine for applying EQ. Previously I had stuttering only when HQplayer was not in the foreground. Not sure How I missed it but AppNap was enabled for HQplayer. I was not able to right click on HQPlayer app and select prevent app nap (as the option was not available).

 

I had to use command 'defaults write -app HQPlayerDesktop NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES' This did the magic and now I am back to enjoying Roon + HQplayer without any issues.

 

Hope this helps anyone having similar issues.

+1

I am glad you solved your issue.

 

Although I do not know OSX well, I said in the beginning that it could be HQPlayer not working well in b.g. (resources or priorities not allocated as necessary).

[paulpaul]

I have been using HQPlayer for a few months and wonder which setup will have the best SQ. Today I did tried out the following 2 settings (with no Wifi)

 

1. HQPlayer (Macbook Air i7) -> direct connect with Ethernet cable -> Mac mini 2008 (NAA)

2. HQPlayer (Macbook Air i7) -> Ethernet connection go through small home network with Apple Express as a router -> Mac mini 2008 (NAA)

 

The option 1 has a very good sound quality especially the whole sound stage is very close and the separation is clear, but option 2 gives a lot of flexibility in computer usage, no dedicated PC is required. Any other comments on the above settings? Any other better options to share?

[Miska]

1. HQPlayer (Macbook Air i7) -> direct connect with Ethernet cable -> Mac mini 2008 (NAA)

2. HQPlayer (Macbook Air i7) -> Ethernet connection go through small home network with Apple Express as a router -> Mac mini 2008 (NAA)

 

I use setup similar to (2), because the house is wired with CAT6 and I have NAAs in different rooms while I can run HQPlayer on my powerful desktop. It makes sense to pay attention to the ethernet switch in the middle, I'm using a gigabit smart switch. Apple AirPort Extreme is also suitable since it has gigabit ports and pretty good dual-band WiFi AP.

 

There shouldn't be any notable sound quality difference between (1) and (2), as long as the switch in the (2) is not becoming a bottleneck.

[Miska]

Not sure How I missed it but AppNap was enabled for HQplayer. I was not able to right click on HQPlayer app and select prevent app nap (as the option was not available).

 

AppNap is always an issue when it hits audio player. OS X should understand this and keep it out when using CoreAudio straight, but with NAA it may sometimes decide to use AppNap anyway. HQPlayer is trying to opt-out of AppNap, but sometimes OS X doesn't obey it.

 

I had to use command 'defaults write -app HQPlayerDesktop NSAppSleepDisabled -bool YES' This did the magic and now I am back to enjoying Roon + HQplayer without any issues.

 

There are also reports that this becomes reset over reboots or something else, sometimes OS X can be stubborn about AppNap.

[paulpaul]

Hi Miska

 

I am using STAX 007 for my audition. Option 1 gives me a 3D presentation with details but option 2 is plain. I don't know what's go wrong with the setting. I am also using Cat 6 cable.

 

Anyway, HQPlayer is a very great player.

 

Paul

[AnotherSpin]

Miska, I want to inform/update about the same bug, also because it didn't happened with builds previous to 3.12 (it started with second or third beta, IIRC). I do not use library option, just drag an album to play from other folder, located internally or externally. After playing the album I clean playlist with broom and drag another album. So, the bug is: after dragging new album and hitting the 'play' button it stays selected for a second, then turns to unselected mode, playback not starting. If I broom the playlist, close HQP, open again, drag the same album and hit 'play' playback starts. Or, if I broom the playlist, drag the album, broom and drag the same album again it may start to play without closing and opening HQP - sometimes yes, sometimes no, again - repeating routine may work. All this happens not in every case, maybe in every second time. Again, all major settings didn't change from previous builds, I use closed form, ASDM7, SDM.

 

This bug is not a big issue, I am just doing little more clicking, but, anyway, I would love to see great piece of software becoming even better.

[JohanJ]

I am trying Roon with HQP. It is all working fine. However I have a question about the signal path.

My setup is:

-Windows server 2012 with HQP (with the "allow control through network" option) to Lampizator Dac. This PC is connected wired to a switch.

-NAS wired to the network as source of my music files.

-iMac with Roon, wireless connected to the network

 

Does HQP play the files directly from the NAS, that is what I expect actually, or are the files routed trough Roon in the iMac and then towards HQP? The signal path option in Roon isn't clear about this.

Thanks for clearing this up.

[Miska]

Miska, I want to inform/update about the same bug, also because it didn't happened with builds previous to 3.12 (it started with second or third beta, IIRC). I do not use library option, just drag an album to play from other folder, located internally or externally. After playing the album I clean playlist with broom and drag another album. So, the bug is: after dragging new album and hitting the 'play' button it stays selected for a second, then turns to unselected mode, playback not starting.

 

OK, thank you for reporting this! I'll try to reproduce and fix the problem here. It may be related to change in sampling rate of the album.

 

Which OS and DAC do you have? Note that if the source is for example 96k and the DAC or driver doesn't support the 48-base DSD rates, playback cannot be started with closed-form filter (drop list for sampling rates remain empty).

[Miska]

Does HQP play the files directly from the NAS, that is what I expect actually, or are the files routed trough Roon in the iMac and then towards HQP? The signal path option in Roon isn't clear about this.

 

With Roon, the data is always coming from Roon and not from the source file. There's a new raw data transport in HQPlayer 3.12 used for this purpose. This makes it possible to play file types not supported by HQPlayer, but supported by Roon, because Roon does the decoding (for example ALAC/AAC from iTunes).

[zackthedog]

I use setup similar to (2), because the house is wired with CAT6 and I have NAAs in different rooms while I can run HQPlayer on my powerful desktop. It makes sense to pay attention to the ethernet switch in the middle, I'm using a gigabit smart switch. Apple AirPort Extreme is also suitable since it has gigabit ports and pretty good dual-band WiFi AP.

 

There shouldn't be any notable sound quality difference between (1) and (2), as long as the switch in the (2) is not becoming a bottleneck.

 

Well, I guess this answers my previous question about a closed network. I'll try using my LAN and see if that degrades the sound at all.

[AnotherSpin]

It may be related to change in sampling rate of the album.

It was my guess as well, although I din't confirmed it yet. I have Schiit Loki and Yosemite OS. No such problem with closed form and same DAC/OS with 3.11.

[JohanJ]

With Roon, the data is always coming from Roon and not from the source file. There's a new raw data transport in HQPlayer 3.12 used for this purpose. This makes it possible to play file types not supported by HQPlayer, but supported by Roon, because Roon does the decoding (for example ALAC/AAC from iTunes).

 

Thank you for answering this. So if I understand right, flac, wav and dsf is sent from the Nas to Roon and sent out as raw data to HQP? Roon doesn't do anything with this kind of files?

Probably better to do the transport to And from Roon wired instead of wireless?

[Miska]

Thank you for answering this. So if I understand right, flac, wav and dsf is sent from the Nas to Roon and sent out as raw data to HQP? Roon doesn't do anything with this kind of files?

 

Yes, Roon should be also bit-perfect unless you explicitly enable cross-fades or volume normalization there. It should correctly display this information in the signal path -popup window.

 

Probably better to do the transport to And from Roon wired instead of wireless?

 

It may be more reliable yes, but with new wireless networks in uncongested areas it should work fine over wireless too. So no need to worry unless you experience drop-outs.

[JohanJ]

Thank you Miska. No drop outs. Perfect understanding now of this Subject. Thanks