bibo01 Posted November 22, 2014 Share Posted November 22, 2014 I've been now playing on MacBook Air with Yosemite, same DAC. Playing from "smb://" mount over WLAN there are dropouts, because for some reason the WLAN is pretty slow (afterwards copying the album to local SSD took quite a while). But when playing from the internal SSD storage the playback is still stable after two cycles. Reason I used this DAC for the testing is that I know it being robust on Linux and OS X with the built-in UAC drivers. With the iFi DACs (especially Micro) I know the firmware may/will eventually start acting up and needs unplug/replug cycle to recover. Maybe there have been changes on how the asynchronous USB packet management works, at least I know it has been subject to tuning on Linux kernel recently. So maybe something similar has been ongoing on OS X too. Interoperability depends on UAC2 implementation on both sides. [ATTACH=CONFIG]15540[/ATTACH] Note! AppNap usually activates when window goes completely hidden, so in case you have problems, please take a note if it happens in relation to the player window being visible or not. This information could help... In Thorsten's words (iFi designer) the problem of iFi devices resides in DoP - The iDSD micro does mute when switching, the problem is DoP. If ONE DoP marker is missing (read one sample) the system switches back to outputting PCM. What this means to a DAC that processes DSD natively (without conversion into intermediate formats) is that the DAC becomes in effect stuck at one rail. When it has been switched to PCM this full scale DC offset is suddenly cleared. The problem is that all happens within one sample. Even with interrupt and fast MCU it is often not possible to catch this stream change before it has put a full-scale pulse through the system, as the this pulse happens at the instant the stream changes. This is just too short to engage analogue mute and digital mute will not help, as the DAC needs to be reconfigured between PCM and DSD. .... Right now we have the problem 60-70% licked already. We know how to fix the rest, it just means re-writing/restructuring many lines of code which tend to have knock on effects and then testing the heck out of the code. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted November 24, 2014 Share Posted November 24, 2014 Have you tried the "-2S" filter version and for modulator the "+256" version? What cpu usage do you get? How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 5, 2014 Share Posted December 5, 2014 Regarding the usage of search functions in the library, perhaps this post in the Italian forum could be of some use to you (just Google translate it): HQPlayer: Introduction and Index - Page 7 Search functions in the library How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 15, 2014 Share Posted December 15, 2014 I always have the dumb questions compared to all the cool people here. Anyway, I can no longer get the leftmost full-screen page to work, the one with album art and the nice search function. Simple reinstall? A second question has been a common refrain: will we ever be able to load multiple playlists? My playlists take a full 3 minutes apiece to load; how can anything take so long? When scrolling on my 11" Macbook Air it is often impossible to load a track without playing an unwanted track because of the selection feature. Scrolling with the scrollbar on Mac OS is the only method available. Now that's because the Mac OS (Yosemite and every other OS for years) has a *very* poor GUI wrt scrolling...not Signalyst's fault! But I could use some relief, for example HQP could add its own *non-selecting* scrollbar. And the whole artist/etc filter window is not understandable nor explained in the manual to non-coders like me. A video would help. Thanks! In Touch mode you can use strings of three characters that are equivalent to search "starts with" - eg. "Pin" for "Pink Floyd". Longer strings are equivalent to search "contains" - eg. "Floy" to "Pink Floyd". You can use wildcards such as "*" and above all "?". The latter is used to replace special characters not present on the keyboard - eg. "m?m" to highlight "múm" that would otherwise not be found with the string "mum". Good search! How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 This is a test to check the ability of HQPlayer DSD7 modulator to convert files from PCM to DSD. The two test files were prepared directly by Miska, HQPlayer developer. The signal was then tested by Prof. Romani of Pisa University in native format with a proprietary application. The file Test1 is a 176.4 kHz PCM containing a 1 kHz tone on Left channel and silence on the Right channel, then converted to DSD64 and DSD128. The file Test2 is a 176.4 kHz PCM containing a 1 kHz tone at -70 dB level on Left channel and -130 dB on Right channel, then converted to DSD64 and DSD128. Similar tests (different PCM employed) were done by AudioReview Italian magazine on JRiver and Saracon. Who wants to compare can find the graphics here. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Miska, care to alanalyze the test result?! How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 20, 2014 Share Posted December 20, 2014 Looks OK to me. I get somewhat different results (nothing major), but my test methods are of course also different. I don't really want to say anything in comparison to other software, I leave that for others to interpret... No need to compare to other software. That becomes self-evident. I would like from you, if possible, a "walk-through" over the test for everybody's comprehension How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted December 23, 2014 Share Posted December 23, 2014 The left-most plots of 0 - 20 kHz are most important as it tells about the audio band performance. First plot, "test1", has full scale 1 kHz sine on one channel and silence on the other one. Check that noise floor level and smoothness without discrete tones. If there are tones, check the level and how many of those are. For example for full level 1 kHz and 3rd harmonic at 3 kHz being -150 dB and 5th harmonic at 5 kHz being -170 dB results in (0.000003 + 0.0000003) -> THD=0.0000033%, if there are more than one, distortion is sum of those. Also check that the noise floors between channels are closely matching in shape and level. Dips in the noise floor are normal and there by design for shaping the noise floor response, flattening the slope for audio band. (for comparison with all the results, ESS lists THD = -120 dB = 0.0001% for their best chip) Middle plot gives overall picture of the modulator order and noise shaping. For DSD64, 50 kHz is the specified usable band, for DSD128 it is 100 kHz. For these bands, check same as above. Right-most plot is more of a curiosity, since most of the band is cut out by the analog reconstruction filter in DAC. Mostly useful for people doing fine tuning of modulators. Second plot, "test2", now has -70 dB and -130 dB 1 kHz tones on left and right channels respectively. Same checks as above and you can also determine whether processing has enough resolution for reproducing -130 dB tone cleanly. Also check that the noise floors match within 50 kHz band for DSD64 and 100 kHz band for DSD128, also compare to test1. Thanks a lot. This is kind of easy test, there are other tests that can really stress a modulator... Tell me, I'm all ears How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted January 16, 2015 Share Posted January 16, 2015 Has anyone tried to use WS2012, possibly in core mode, as NAA on a small PC? Eurodriver? How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 I downloaded 3.61 for Windows and installed it over the current installation. It installed and then HQP showed version 3.61. I went to play a selection and it immediately crashed. I tried again same results. I uninstalled the HQP and re-installed using only 3.61. Same results crashed immediately when I try to play anything. I installed 3.60 and it works again as it is supposed to. There seems to be a problem with this new 3.61 on Windows 7x64. Please advise solution. I went from 3.5.1 to 3.6.1 on an untouched Win 7x64 and I had no problem. Do you have any kind optimization on your system? What about your cpu unparking? How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted January 23, 2015 Share Posted January 23, 2015 In the log file what message do you get? How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 Ok, still struggling big time to get this trial version of HQP working properly with my Mytek & macmini mid-2011 (16gb ram) via usb.Read the manual + the quick start guide from the other thread - but this seems clunky as ... maybe it's the trial version. Can get 1xdsd, but 2xdsd upsample has the Mytek readout as the usual Hdsd, but no sound hitting the preamp. Ditto say Cassandra Wilson "Strange Fruit" 24/192 - dac read good, but no sonics. Go figure. Questions re Settings - is "2-wire" relevant for Mytek? - what is "Pipeline SDM"? - left vol on default -3/-60db, but what does the manual's 0/0db vol bypass mean? -the separate DSDIFF/DSF settings are for what? & what is the "Integrator"? Enough already ... I think that 2-wire is pretty essential for DSD on the Mytek. I think that somewhere further back in this thread Miska published his settings for Mytek. PipelineSDM is to distribute CPU work on various cores, however, it's useful for quad cores only. Vol bypass disengage vol DSP. Personally I always leave -3dB for max in order to avoid digital clipping on some recordings. DSDIFF/DSF settings are for DSD>PCM to tell HQPlayer how to handle DSD signal before converting to PCM. However, checking DirectSDM prevents any DSP to DSD signal - it passes untouched; +6dB, if checked, makes DSD signal level equal to PCM, but then -3dB on Vol becomes mandatory. For further info you can consult HQPlayer manual in PDF format which you find in the application directory. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 4, 2015 Share Posted February 4, 2015 It seems that the people having problems with 3.6.x are all on Win 32bit. They have to go back to 3.4, install 3.5.x, then try 3.6.x...this procedure sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't and they have to stop at 3.5.x How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 5, 2015 Share Posted February 5, 2015 Nope, I am using 64bit version. ... Problems of 3.6 64bit have been different and, as far as I know, they have been solved by 3.6.1.1 On the other hand 32bit version is still crashing and giving memory errors...difficult to track it down How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 Here it is another tweak from the Italian NextHardware forum (thanks ciccio1112) for those people who use WinServer + AO and wish to use it in Core mode with HQPlayer without waiting for v1.31. In addition to copy and rename the file avrt.dll as I explained in this post of mine, in order to start in core mode HQPlayer with AO without problems, during AO configuration, when asked to enable/disable services and optimizations, one must enable "Windows Management Instrumentation" otherwise HQPlayer will not start. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 24, 2015 Share Posted February 24, 2015 There is a new modulator ASDM7 ! http://www3.signalyst.com/bins/HQPlayerDesktop3-setup-362b4.exe Hope to be able to try it out in the next day or two Above link from the NextHardware forum HQPlayer: Introduzione e Indice - Pagina 76 There is also a new way to retrieve source files, similar to what has been introduced in the latest OSX versions How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 After having read this thread for a while I decided to get the HQ Player. I have to confess that this player is by far (!) superior to Amarra or Audirvana plus. Congratulations to Miska! Above all I am very pleased that my digital room correction filters (Acourate) work without any problems - at least with PCM-stuff. Now, Miska has stated that DRC filters like Acourate also work with native DSD-files (expanding frequency) which is kind of revolutionary. I tried that and haven`t succeeded so far. My Hardware: Lynx Hilo (DSD 64 capable, Cirrhus logic 4398 Chip), Mac Book late 2008 (Core 2, 2 KHZ, 8 GB RAM (1097), SSD + HD, Amarra Optimization Script running,WLAN/Internet off, HQ Player installed in SSD, Music files stored in HD. As far as I have understood: If the "SDMdirect"-function is unchecked/deactivated convolution is possible ("enable" checked, "expand frequency" checked). I did that, playing native DSD files over DoP (working without problems without convolution filters) but then my DSD files sound kind of compressed and decompressed (louder and quieter, somewhat like a sinus wave). I tried different situations (DSD 5/7, poly sinc-2s ...) without solving the Problem. Has anyone tried to use Acourate filters or other DRC filters together with native DSD files and encountered same problems? best wishes Christian A friend of mine is using convolution on HQPlayer with a Acourate generated filter. As suggested by Miska, you may choose to have Acourate to generate filters at high frequency 2x or 4x, rather than use Expand feature on HQPlayer (less work). He has a pretty powerful machine and has no problem to do convolution of DSD files. After all resources needed to simply convolute DSD files, rather than PCM>DSD + convolution, are rather low. However, please do check your CPU load. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted February 27, 2015 Share Posted February 27, 2015 Just to add to my previous post... He has an Intel i7 4770s system with 8GB of RAM and employs DoP too. Set your volume to -3dB How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted March 6, 2015 Share Posted March 6, 2015 Cooling fans coming on is not cool ! And to ship & import the Lenovo to France, add 120 $... guess I should be patient and stick to my idea of picking a refurbished minimum Mac mini ; less than 2 weeks ago they were for 419 € in France These two thin clients are cheap options for Win or Linux NAA in Europe: HP Thin Client T5735 1GHz CPU 1GB RAM 1GB Flash Lnx S2100 ATI X1200 32MB Top | eBay Fujitsu Futro S450 Thin Client AMD Sempron TF-20 800 MHz 1GB RAM 512MB CF Karte | eBay Both clients can have RAM upgraded (4GB for HP; 2GB for Fujitsu); eventually, also CPU can be upgraded to Amd Turion TL-XX. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted March 15, 2015 Share Posted March 15, 2015 Please could someone post settings for Mytek DSD DAC only to play the files in native mode, I mean 192 files with PCM 192, 96 files with PCM 96 and so on.... Miska, any help please? To play native, no upsampling/dither, in Desktop mode from the main drop-down windows select "none" for both upsampling and dither, leave PCM. Playback will automatically change resolution accordingly to the tracks. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted March 28, 2015 Share Posted March 28, 2015 Hi ciccio112, Can you give some details about your PC's, DAC and playback system I hope to be able to try out Win10 this coming week Regards Ed He is a member of NextHardware - Computer Name: speedyHTPC Processor: Intel i7 3770K Motherboard: asrock Z77 extreme 6 RAM: 8GB DDR3 x1 GSkill DDR3-1600 RipjawsX Video card: ati r9 290 Harddisk: OS: 256gb ssd samsung 840 pro + music: samsung ssd 840 evo + Western Digital Caviar Green 2TB Power Supply: Seasonic Platinum SS-660XP2 Sound Card: modded asus xonar ST, full linear, clock with battery + pre cary audio spl01 valves telefunken + power amp Krell kav 500+ speakers vienna acoustic mozart SE Air cooling: noctua nh-c14 Case: origen x11 How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted March 31, 2015 Share Posted March 31, 2015 Is the NAA separately licensed? For example, if I want to run HQPlayer Desktop on a Windows machine and run NAA on a Mac, do I need to buy both a Windows license and a Mac license ... or can you deploy NAA on any platform you like regardless of which HQPlayer Desktop license you buy? Another question. If I buy HQPlayer Desktop for Mac, and later decide I'd rather run it on Windows (and stop using it on the Mac), do I need to buy dual licenses or can I exchange my Mac license for a Windows license? What's prompting this question is the recently reported good results on Windows 10. OK one more question. When using a DAC with undefeatable oversampling (rather than a NOS DAC) how do I use HQPlayer? I don't want the DAC to use it's own FPGA/DSP stuff, I just want to hear what HQPlayer algorithms has produced. For example, My Ayre QB-9 DSD supports 24/192 and DSD64 via DoP, but the specs say it does 16x one-pass oversampling. Thanks for your help. I'm just starting to try to understand HQPlayer. No, the NAA is not separately licensed. You can run networkaudiod on the OS (Linux/OSX/Windows) of your choice. You just have to make sure that your DAC is supported. With Windows you may have higher DSD support through ASIO driver. If you have a Mac/Linux license and later you wish to buy a Windows one, you can buy a second license under the same name at a discounted price. If you ask me, I may help you If you cannot defeat oversampling in your DAC, you may send signal at highest supported frequency (in your case at 8x or DSD64) as the first stage filtering is the most important, then decide for yourself. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted April 25, 2015 Share Posted April 25, 2015 Hi Ted - is there any way to convert the DFF files to DSF? I have noted the AUL ConverteR, but it seems quite expensive for the purpose. Is there a cheaper solution for this conversion preferably one that have automatic build in tagging? I know I am a complete novice in the world dog tagging ect, but to get something that requires as little effort as possible.. Thanks in advance, Morten Miska has written a little program DFFtoDSF which you can find here with a command interface. It also exists a graphic interface for Windows: Conversion DFF2DSF Context Menu Win7/Win8 v1.1.0 If you search for it, there is a thread for it too. How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 Miska, I have just upgraded to the latest Linux version of HQPlayer. On the desktop I cannot select SDM and I have an Amanero USB receiver. I have no problem with the same version in Windows. I don't know/remember if my system was capable of DSD playback prior to upgrading - my Linux setup is all rather recent. Any idea where to start troubleshooting? PS: I sent you an email request for HQPlayer Embedded's license How curious are you? Link to comment
bibo01 Posted April 30, 2015 Share Posted April 30, 2015 You'll need to enable DoP. Amanero can do raw DSD only on Windows using ASIO driver... eheheheh...silly me Thanks How curious are you? Link to comment
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