HQ Player

[clipper]

Figure I try asking in this thread...

 

Roon/HQplayer integration both on Mac Mini. Have the mac connected by ethernet to a bridge as the main router is on the other side of the house. Finally got music to play without stuttering but then everything froze after hitting pause on Roon app. Relaunched hqplayer and now I constantly get the "failed to open audio device" warning and can't get hqplayer to recognize my ip address.

 

Any ideas?

 

I'm using a Sonore microRednu hooked to my dac and have the sonore app selected to hqplayer/naa...

 

Try going into the microRendu settings (MySonicorbiter). Run the Audio App Switcher and switch from HQPlayer NAA to something else (Squeezelite, for instance). Then switch back to HQPlayer NAA.

 

Then see if HQPlayer running on your computer picks up your microRendu and DAC.

[clipper]

I am running HQP on a Lubuntu machine. I just re-read the manual and it unclear to me what Auto does:

 

Auto setting automatically selects a highest rate that is equal or less than the limit set in the Settings dialog and is possible using the chosen filter.

 

Also, I tested and I did not see the behavior I requested above. I have HQP set to a max sample rate of 176. When I play a file that is at 48 or 192, shouldnt HQP convert it to 96? Instead my DAC still shows 176. In fact, according to my DAC the sample rate never changes.

 

Am I missing something?

 

Hi tboooe.

 

In the HQP settings, set Sample rate (/Limit) to your dac's highest rate. Sounds like that might be 192 in your case...

 

Then check Auto rate family.

[clipper]

Thank you for the reply. Sample rate in settings is set to 176 and Auto is set in the drop down. And the max rate my DAC can handle is 176. Actually in the documentation its 96 (my DAC is kind of old), but it can play up to 176. If I try to play a file at 192 I get no sound.

 

That is interesting...

 

I think in your case, then, the auto rate family feature isn't going to help you.

 

Sounds like if you prefer 44.1 and 88.2 upsampled to 176.4, you're stuck setting max rate to 176.4 and then just manually overriding any 48 or 96 content (if you don't want it upsampled to 176.4).

 

Does 96 content played back at 96 definitely sound better than when it's upsampled to 176.4?

[clipper]

Actually I do not know. I havent really tried comparing. LOL! I was just asking for this feature because I think it makes sense. Now I am curious what the Auto feature in the drop down is supposed to do. Does anyone know for sure?

 

Yeah.

 

I could be wrong, but I think your dac that tops out at 176.4 is a pretty odd case.

 

Typically you'll see 96 (some older dacs), 192 or 384 as the max PCM rates a dac will do. The iFi micro iDSD will do 768.

 

So let's say I have a dac that tops out at 192. I'd set the HQP Sample rate (/Limit) to 192. Then I'd check Auto rate family.

 

Then, assuming I was upsampling, all 44.1 or 88.2 content would get upsampled to 176.4. 176.4 content (assuming you had any) would get sent at 176.4. All 48 or 96 content would get upsampled to 192. 192 content would get sent at 192.

 

Edit - Whoops. Just realized I read your question wrong. You were asking about the auto dropdown and not the auto rate family feature.

 

From the manual: Auto setting automatically selects a highest rate that is equal or less than the limit set in the Settings dialog and is possible using the chosen filter.

[clipper]

But the weird thing is HQP does not seem to be sending music at any rate other than 176. I have the max rate set for 176 in settings. Shouldnt HQP only resample music that is at 48, and 192 to 96? In my system music is always sent as 176 so Auto does not seem to be working for me. Does it work for you?

 

The Auto dropdown and the Auto rate family setting work for me, but that's because my dacs are typical and top out at 192, 384, 768, etc.

 

Example:

If I'm using a dac with a max rate of 384, and I 1) set 384 as the max rate, 2) check Auto rate family, 3) upsample by picking a filter other than none and 4) have the 3rd of the 4 dropdowns set at Auto, here's what will happen:

 

content in the 44.1 family (44.1, 88.2, 176.4, 352.8) will be sent to the dac at 352.8;

content in the 48 family (48, 96, 192, 384) will be sent to the dac at 384.

 

Your max rate of 176.4 (accompanied by an inability to do 192) is very unusual I think. That's why it's not making any sense...

[clipper]

Brooklyn manual only tell - up to 11.2Mhz DSD256 and that's it. Solstice.

 

Solstice380 is right.

 

So go into Settings and change your Bit rate (/ Limit) under SDM Defaults.

 

Try 12,288,000 in case your DAC can do that (even though the Mytek manual says it tops out at 11.2). Test by playing a file that's 48, 96 or 192 (if you have one).

 

If 12,288,000 doesn't work (for 48/96/192 files), knock the limit (in Settings) down to 11,289,600.

[clipper]

After having played music for some time with HQP 3.14b5 on Server 2012 R2 in core mode with JPLAY, suddenly HQP crashes on me every time I either start it or when I try to play a track. I went back to GUI and re-installed 3.14b5: no change. I un-installed AO and Fidelizer (still in GUI): same problem. I uninstalled HQP and installed a previous version 3.133 and then it worked again. When I installed 3.14b5 again: same problem, it always crashes.

 

Any ideas?

 

Maybe try deleting or temporarily renaming HQPlayer.xml in \Users\<username>\AppData\Local\HQPlayer\.

 

If you can't find the AppData directory, you'll need to have Windows show hidden files and folders.

[clipper]

Every once in a while when switching to a new track, HQPlayer hisses like crazy. I actually have to restart HQP to make the hissing stop. It only happens when I upsample PCM to higher rate PCM. Any ideas why this may be happening?

 

I'm using Roon integration and the microRendu is in NAA mode. DAC is a Chord Mojo.

 

You're not alone.

 

The same thing happens to me with a microRendu as NAA/Chord Mojo combination.

 

To me, the Mojo sounds best when fed 705,600 PCM (from 44.1/88.2/176.4 and DSD sources) and 768,000 PCM (from 48/96/192 sources). So I have Auto rate family checked.

 

But sometimes when switching to a new track (usually it's a 192 track that causes the problem), I get the hissing/white noise/static sound.

 

I still have the same issue if I uncheck Auto rate family and upsample everything to 768 (instead of 705.6 for some things and 768 for others).

 

Instead of quitting HQPlayer, I play a 44.1 track for a few seconds and then try the high res track that caused the static. It usually works after playing the 44.1 track (for some reason).

 

I have this issue only with the Mojo (and not with other DACs that I have).

[clipper]

Same here. Which filter do you prefer?

 

I've been going with poly-sinc-short-mp and TPDF with the Mojo.

 

How about you?

[clipper]

My question is: If the CPU is powerful enough to do the DSD512 upsample, i.e. I7 6950X, is it still necessary to use a powerful GPU card to do the CUDA offload? if the GPU takes part in even with the CPU that is powerful enough, will the addition of GPU such as K20X, TITAN improve the sound quality further?

 

I don't know the answer to your question.

 

But maybe the addition of the GPU will allow you to use poly-sinc instead of poly-sinc-2s. And poly-sinc will sound better.

[clipper]

Thanks for the reply and sorry for getting you a bit confused.

 

I was actually arguing with my friends. Because in my opinion, if a CPU is powerful enough, run all the setting at maximum performance, like poly-sinc, DSD7 or best modulator, highest sampling rate. There is no need to use the GPU to do the offload. I think there will be no SQ improvement. However, my friend is superstitious about GPU, thinking powerful GPU like TITAN will even make the sound better even the CPU is powerful and capable enough.

 

What do you think?

 

I'm not sure, so I'll let somebody else answer.

 

My audio PCs have always (purposely) not had a video card. If I had one of those sweet new DACs (like the T+A Dac 8 DSD, for instance), I'm sure I'd have a video card.

 

Off-topic - Are the Tung Sol 6SN7s in your headphone amp round plates?

[clipper]

I would like to upconvert DSD64 and DSD128 to DSD256 in HQP. I can't figure out how to do it. I can upconvert my PCM files to DSD256 by using the bar in the middle of the screen. Help please. Thanks, Larry

 

If DSD material isn't upconverting for you, you probably have the DirectSDM box checked (in DSDIFF/DSF Settings). Uncheck it.

[clipper]

On 7/22/2017 at 0:33 PM, firedog said:

I have the same issue. Playlists in HQP/Roon pairing stop at the end of songs. Seemingly randomly. It works for a few songs and then randomly stops at the end of a given song. 

My understanding is that Miska is working on a solution. 

I'd guess that seeing more log files of such an event could only help him. Unless he tells us otherwise.

I have the same stopping issue here with Roon/HQP.

 

Just recently I noticed that it only happens when the song queued up next has a different sampling rate than the song that just finished playing.

[clipper]

On 7/30/2017 at 9:03 PM, k6davis said:

Songs are randomly stopping just before they end for me too with my HQP/Roon combo. But for me, it's not happening because of sample rate changes. It happens for me even when I'm repeating a single track, but not in any predictable way.

I went back to HQP version 3.15.1.  

 

No problem now.  It will play all day without stopping.