HQ Player

[Munchoba]

If you're running a 64-bit OS and you're running a 32-bit version of HQ Player, uninstall HQP and subsequently reinstall the 64-bit version. That should sort it straight away.

 

I have no speed problems with HQ Player.

 

Thx, How do I check if my HQ is 32 or 64?

[Munchoba]

In that case you should try, if your DAC allows it, to output at 3072000 and eventually 6144000

 

How do I play the 24/96 as DSD64? am surely not using the right filters as it lags and the cpu goes crazy. My Ayre seems to stop at 2.8224.

thanks again

[Iain]

A picture is worth a thousand words, as they say:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23238[/ATTACH]

What can you say about this?

 

Metadata is defined correctly, but it's not transferred to the album column in the application.

 

Can you send one such small track to me for testing purposes? The 1:50 long would be suitable unless there's even smaller one that shows the problem.

 

I can't because the maximum file size for uploads are 2 MB. The file sizes I require to upload are 43 Mb for 3 gapless FLAC files, as all 3 acts of work are gapless in configuration.

 

If you could supply at least 2 gapless FLAC files, that might be able to sort it.

[Miska]

I can't because the maximum file size for uploads are 2 MB. The file sizes I require to upload are 43 Mb for 3 gapless FLAC files, as all 3 acts of work are gapless in configuration.

 

If you could supply at least 2 gapless FLAC files, that might be able to sort it.

 

Now I'm not quite following... I'd just see how the metadata is inside a single file.

[Miska]

How do I play the 24/96 as DSD64? am surely not using the right filters as it lags and the cpu goes crazy. My Ayre seems to stop at 2.8224.

 

Just use any of the -2s filter variants, those are lighter for such case.

 

Also normal poly-sinc versions can do it, but the initialization will take some time when starting playback and CPU load is a bit higher.

[dean70]

Small issue with v3.12 - adding a track with a higher PCM sample rate to the playlist when an existing track is playing, may change the pitch (not the speed) of the track that is currently playing.

[Jimmypowder]

I have little experience with HQ player . Does anyone know what the best settings might be with a IMac /MacBook Pro and Schiit Yggdrasil combo using Roon ?

[Jud]

I have little experience with HQ player . Does anyone know what the best settings might be with a IMac /MacBook Pro and Schiit Yggdrasil combo using Roon ?

 

See if you like any of the HQPlayer filters upsampling to 192 better than Yggy's internal filter. That's pretty much the whole decision in a nutshell.

[Ipoci]

 

... If you are planning to HQPlayer, you could try Ubuntu Studio 15.10 Wily Werewolf:

Download Ubuntu Studio « Ubuntu Studio

 

It is very light weight GUI (XFCE) and you shouldn't need to install extra packages in order to run HQPlayer non-DoP (new enough kernel and libasound2). But I'm not 100% sure if the kernel is new enough to have JLsounds support.

 

On Trusty you need to install my patched linux-image, linux-headers and libasound2.

 

Ubuntu Studio 15.10 works. I'm able to play non-DoP DSD stream with JLsounds USB card, I tried with DSD256 upsampling as well and I was able to see DSD256 on DAC display but then my poor i5 can't really stream the file to life.

 

Nice test. I will try to do the same with Linux Mint 17.2

 

Have a nice day. Massimiliano

[semente]

I can't because the maximum file size for uploads are 2 MB. The file sizes I require to upload are 43 Mb for 3 gapless FLAC files, as all 3 acts of work are gapless in configuration.

 

If you could supply at least 2 gapless FLAC files, that might be able to sort it.

 

You can use wesendit.com and send to Jussi's email.

 

R

[Jimmypowder]

See if you like any of the HQPlayer filters upsampling to 192 better than Yggy's internal filter. That's pretty much the whole decision in a nutshell.

 

And if I don't ?

[firedog]

And if I don't ?

 

Then not much reason to use HQP.

[Iain]

I can't because the maximum file size for uploads are 2 MB. The file sizes I require to upload are 43 Mb for 3 gapless FLAC files, as all 3 acts of work are gapless in configuration.

 

If you could supply at least 2 gapless FLAC files, that might be able to sort it.

 

Now I'm not quite following... I'd just see how the metadata is inside a single file.

 

You can use wesendit.com and send to Jussi's email.

 

R

Never used it before, but I believe I'll try wesendit.com to send tracks 4, 5 and 6 from Act 1:

... those are the smallest sequential tracks in the work, as you'll see.

 

BTW I believe the issue is how HQP handles gapless FLAC files, as I don't have this problem with single FLAC files.

[Miska]

Ubuntu Studio 15.10 works. I'm able to play non-DoP DSD stream with JLsounds USB card, I tried with DSD256 upsampling as well and I was able to see DSD256 on DAC display but then my poor i5 can't really stream the file to life.

 

If it's not really old i5, then it should work to DSD256 with -2s filter variants...

 

What is the exact i5 model number? You can see it on Linux by doing "cat /proc/cpuinfo" and checking the "model name" line.

[Iain]

Never used it before, but I believe I'll try wesendit.com to send tracks 4, 5 and 6 from Act 1:

[ATTACH=CONFIG]23252[/ATTACH]

... those are the smallest sequential tracks in the work, as you'll see.

 

BTW I believe the issue is how HQP handles gapless FLAC files, as I don't have this problem with single FLAC files.

 

Done.

 

You have mail!

[clipper]

And if I don't ?

 

I use HQPlayer with an Yggdrasil.

 

Though I love HQPlayer's filters with other DACs, the Yggdrasil sounds better to me when I send it native files.

 

So I set both filter and dither/noise shaping to none in HQPlayer.

 

Even though I'm not having HQPlayer do any upsampling or noise shaping with the Yggdrasil, it (HQPlayer) still sounds better to me than other players do.

[Jimmypowder]

I use HQPlayer with an Yggdrasil.

 

Though I love HQPlayer's filters with other DACs, the Yggdrasil sounds better to me when I send it native files.

 

So I set both filter and dither/noise shaping to none in HQPlayer.

 

Even though I'm not having HQPlayer do any upsampling or noise shaping with the Yggdrasil, it (HQPlayer) still sounds better to me than other players do.

 

This is pretty much how I have concluded as well

[bibo01]

I use HQPlayer with an Yggdrasil.

 

Though I love HQPlayer's filters with other DACs, the Yggdrasil sounds better to me when I send it native files.

 

So I set both filter and dither/noise shaping to none in HQPlayer.

 

Even though I'm not having HQPlayer do any upsampling or noise shaping with the Yggdrasil, it (HQPlayer) still sounds better to me than other players do.

 

Out of curiosity, have you tried closed form filter/NS9 as well at PCM4x? What was the difference compared to no filter?

[nautibuoy]

Ubuntu Studio 15.10 works. I'm able to play non-DoP DSD stream with JLsounds USB card, I tried with DSD256 upsampling as well and I was able to see DSD256 on DAC display but then my poor i5 can't really stream the file to life.

 

Nice test. I will try to do the same with Linux Mint 17.2

 

Have a nice day. Massimiliano

 

I thought it might be of interest that I have an NAA working with non-DOP DSD256 (via JLSounds USB board) using Debian Stretch core (no GUI or other extras, just what is required to run NAA). For the NAA hardware I'm using an Intel NUC E3815; Debian Stretch core runs on the onboard 4Gb eMMC (no SSD or HDD required). If anyone is interested the documentation here might be of use;

 

The Best DAC is no DAC - Page 61 - diyAudio

 

though I am conscious that it needs some small updates. Be gentle too, I am no Linux expert.

 

Just to complete the picture, for my main HQPlayer computer I am using a 3-4yr old 3.4GHz quad-core Xeon equipped PC running Windows 10. With Poly-sync-2s and DSD7+257fs at 12288000bit rate CPU loading is around 35%. The main PC has two network cards, one connects to the normal home network (where my FLAC library is hosted on a NAS) and the second connects to a dedicated NAA network, based on a gigabit router/switch (so I can connect several NAA devices in different rooms).

[tboooe]

After following this thread for a while I am going to start taking some initial steps to try out HQPlayer. Right now my system is a 2 PC setup running Minimserver + Jplay. My control PC is just an ATOM based processor so I know its no where near powerful enough to truly maximize the benefits of HQPlayer. I am in the process of building a more powerful PC. In the meantime, I would like start testing actually getting HQPlayer working. I am less interested in sound quality right now and more interested in just getting the setup working so when my new, more powerful PC is built I can get it working right away. So my first question is:

 

Can I use an ATOM 525 based computer to just run HQPlayer without any processing or minimal processing?

 

Assuming I can use this ATOM PC, here is configuration I am planning to use. Please let me know if you see any issues.

 

HQPlayer embedded running on PC#1 and used as a renderer

Minimserver acting as Media Server

BubbleUPnP as control point

Jplay is ASIO output from HQPlayer

 

My network configuration will remain as it is now:

 

NAS >> Wireless router ---- Wireless bridge >> PC#1 >> PC#2

 

>> = wired connection, CAT 6 cable

---- = wifi connection, WIFI AC

 

As you can see, I do not intend to use an NAA on PC#2 as I would like to keep using my 2 PC Jplay set up.

[clipper]

Assuming I can use this ATOM PC, here is configuration I am planning to use. Please let me know if you see any issues.

 

HQPlayer embedded running on PC#1 and used as a renderer

Minimserver acting as Media Server

BubbleUPnP as control point

Jplay is ASIO output from HQPlayer

 

My network configuration will remain as it is now:

 

NAS >> Wireless router ---- Wireless bridge >> PC#1 >> PC#2

 

>> = wired connection, CAT 6 cable

---- = wifi connection, WIFI AC

 

As you can see, I do not intend to use an NAA on PC#2 as I would like to keep using my 2 PC Jplay set up.

 

 

I'm pretty sure HQPlayer embedded is only for Linux.

 

Is that what you intended?

 

I use HQPlayer (desktop, not embedded) in a 2-PC JPLAY setup with Windows on both machines.

[tboooe]

I'm pretty sure HQPlayer embedded is only for Linux.

 

Is that what you intended?

 

I use HQPlayer (desktop, not embedded) in a 2-PC JPLAY setup with Windows on both machines.

 

Sorry about that. I read somewhere that if I want to use HQPlayer as a renderer I need the embedded version? It looks like from your experience I can just use desktop version of HQPlayer. So am I correct in that to use Jplay I need to set the output of HQPlayer to Jplay ASIO?

 

Any thoughts on running HQPlayer on ATOM based PC?

[clipper]

Sorry about that. I read somewhere that if I want to use HQPlayer as a renderer I need the embedded version? It looks like from your experience I can just use desktop version of HQPlayer. So am I correct in that to use Jplay I need to set the output of HQPlayer to Jplay ASIO?

 

Any thoughts on running HQPlayer on ATOM based PC?

 

Yeah, you can just use the desktop version of HQPlayer.

 

You can even use Roon as a "front end" if you want.

 

Before Roon added HQPlayer compatibility, I controlled HQPlayer by RDPing into my control pc and dragging and dropping music into the HQPlayer window.

 

Yep. In HQPlayer set Backend to ASIO and device to JPLAY Driver. This assumes the right drivers are available for your DAC.

 

What DAC will you be using? The Luxman in your sig via a USB converter?

 

I'm looking at the 6moons review of the Luxman and it says: "The unit is compatible with S/PDIF data from 32kHz to 96kHz and supports 44.1, 48 and 88.2kHz in-between."

 

If that's the case, your control pc (running HQPlayer) doesn't need a ton of horsepower (since you won't be doing any PCM to DSD conversions, for instance). Upsampling redbook to 88.2 or 48 material to 96 isn't very CPU intensive (even with some of the better filters). So I'd definitely give it a shot with the Atom-based PC and see what happens.

[tboooe]

Thank you for the reply. Yeah my poor old outdated Luxman CDP/DAC. I am planning to upgrade that so that I can get rid of the USB converter. I also want to try DSD conversion which is why I am also upgrading my control PC soon. Based on your comments I will give HQPlayer a try on my ATOM.

 

Last question, I assume you think HQPlayer outputting to Jplay is better than Jplay by itself? What was your configuration prior to using HQPlayer? I am hoping to pretty much keep my configuration the same using Minimserver and BubbleUpnP. Looks like the only change will be to specify HQPlayer as renderer in Bubble.

 

Yeah, you can just use the desktop version of HQPlayer.

 

You can even use Roon as a "front end" if you want.

 

Before Roon added HQPlayer compatibility, I controlled HQPlayer by RDPing into my control pc and dragging and dropping music into the HQPlayer window.

 

Yep. In HQPlayer set Backend to ASIO and device to JPLAY Driver. This assumes the right drivers are available for your DAC.

 

What DAC will you be using? The Luxman in your sig via a USB converter?

 

I'm looking at the 6moons review of the Luxman and it says: "The unit is compatible with S/PDIF data from 32kHz to 96kHz and supports 44.1, 48 and 88.2kHz in-between."

 

If that's the case, your control pc (running HQPlayer) doesn't need a ton of horsepower (since you won't be doing any PCM to DSD conversions, for instance). Upsampling redbook to 88.2 or 48 material to 96 isn't very CPU intensive (even with some of the better filters). So I'd definitely give it a shot with the Atom-based PC and see what happens.

[clipper]

Out of curiosity, have you tried closed form filter/NS9 as well at PCM4x? What was the difference compared to no filter?

 

I have tried that (and probably every conceivable filter/noise shaping/upsampling combination as well).

 

Just tried closed form/NS9/PCM4x again though. I still feel the same way.

 

Compared to closed form/NS9/PCM4x, no filter and no upsampling sounds more natural, more organic, more holographic, less constricted and has better dynamics and better bass response.

 

It doesn't sound bad with closed form/NS9/PCM4x. It just sounds better the other way.

 

I should reiterate that with all the other DACs I've used with HQPlayer (other than the Yggdrasil), HQPlayer's filters and upsampling blew away what the DACs themselves could do.