HQ Player

[semente]

8 hours ago, MemoryPlayer said:

Did you try Sinc-Mx with NS9?
For me the best match for PCM up!

 

Sorry, I can't understand why you are asking me this. I don't even do PCM upsampling, I upconvert to DSD256.

[semente]

1 hour ago, jhoenck said:

 

NS5 sounds not as natural as TPDF to me in my system with said settings. NS5 resolves a tad better but I experience it as more siblant in my speaker setup. It works fine with my headphone rig though.

Which speakers are you using, do they have metal domed tweeters?

[semente]

18 hours ago, MemoryPlayer said:

Do you upsample to DSD256 with NS5?

 

Because my HQPlayer doesn't upsample to DSD256 with NS5, if your do, I'd like to know how...

 

No. Yours is working as intended.

[semente]

What is an adequate or perhaps maximum advisable processing activity?

My Mac mini is at 78-80% when doing DSD256>ext3>ASDM5EC and a little EQ.

The DAC is connected over USB to a NAA.

[semente]

8 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Is it an M1 mini?

 

It's a 2018 i3.

[semente]

16 hours ago, Miska said:

If it overheats and slows down too much, you will start having audio drop-outs, and you will surely notice. Until then it won't affect sound quality etc.

 

 

What about D/A-affecting "noise"?

Have you observed any correlation between high levels of processing and measured or audible deterioration?

And if so, will the use of a network bridge NAA rectify this issue?

[semente]

13 hours ago, Miska said:

2) If you use REW, export the filter settings .txt file and use that instead of convolution filter.

 

To clarify, could you confirm that we should we use "Export filter settings as text" from REW and not "Export filter impulse response as WAV"?

What is the reasoning behind this?

 

When I use "Export filter settings as text" option I am no longer able to select 32-bit or sample rate.

Should I select "Expand HF" option in HQPlayer when using .txt instead of .wav filters?

 

Thanks,

Ricardo

[semente]

35 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Yes, exactly.

 

 

It simplifies the chain a lot and reduces amount of CPU time you burn processing those correction filters.

 

Instead of REW converting parametric EQ filters to a fixed sample rate convolution filter, using text file instead allows HQPlayer to create those parametric EQ filters directly for the needed sampling rate. This is also lighter to process (bunch of IIR biquads instead of convolution filter).

 

 

Sampling rate is not applicable anymore, those filter specification just have their frequency, Q, gain, etc. Expand HF doesn't apply to these filters either. I'd recommend to disable convolution engine and select those files for the matrix pipelines in question.

 

Please note that selecting more files for the same pipeline appends those to the process, so if you make changes, pay attention to what is on the "Process" line.

 

 

Thanks, @Miska.

The part about the "matrix pipeline" is not completely clear but I will read the manual before I ask for help.

[semente]

21 hours ago, Miska said:

Please note that selecting more files for the same pipeline appends those to the process, so if you make changes, pay attention to what is on the "Process" line.

 

Is there a way to clear the pipeline?

 

I accidentaly summed two different EQ files and then had to do a complete "Clear data" reset.

[semente]

Can I control HQPlayer Embedded over Ethernet from a Mac, or do I need to use the phone and Wi-Fi?

[semente]

2 hours ago, k6davis said:

 

Yes, you can. Any web browser on the network will work. 

 

Thanks.

Does Embedded require a different license or can I use my Desktop license?

[semente]

On 11/11/2021 at 12:12 PM, stefano_mbp said:

@semente it’s a different one

It'll have to wait until HQP version 5.

[semente]

On 11/18/2021 at 8:34 PM, k6davis said:

 

I am 100% ignorant about Macs, but I use CloneZilla to make quick and easy full backups of my Windows OS drives. It boots from USB and knows nothing about the OS. In this sense, it really does work like a "Time Machine". You can fully restore to any backed up state without restrictions. And it's free. 

 

Isn't something like this possible for Macs?

https://support.apple.com/en-gb/HT201250

[semente]

Hi @Miska, "Plot" in "Matrix processing" no longer shows filter effects after I updated from 4.13.1 to 4.14.0.

[semente]

On 11/28/2021 at 11:04 PM, camott said:

I had this too. It’s because 4.14 is not properly loading from files and your eq or whatever processes you have are not actually being applied. Miska has already acknowledged and fixed it for next release. In the meantime you can directly enter into the box next to browse, and then plot will work and more importantly actually applied to the stream.

 

Thanks. I tried entering the following strings but they don't show any blue line in the plots and when I click a track it does nothing (actually the cover image disappears but the track doesn't play):

 

iir:type=peak;f=49.5;Q=7.5;g=-8.5,iir:type=peak;f=3944;Q=5.0;g=-1.0

iir:type=peak;f=48.05;Q=5.0;g=-9.0,iir:type=peak;f=136.6;Q=7.5;g=-3.3,iir:type=peak;f= 3975;Q=5.0;g=-1.0

 

I wonder if I have made a mistake in my strings...

[semente]

On 12/4/2021 at 11:20 AM, Confused said:

Can I ask why Miska did not recommend the RME ADI-2 with the ESS chip? Is it just the DSP bypass issue?

 

This is a genuine question by the way. I am seriously considering buying the RME ADI-2 for a desktop headphone rig, and like others here I am wondering if the ESS chip is indeed an issue or has any influence on sound quality.

 

(or in other words, do I buy one new with the ESS chip, or hunt for one of the AKM versions second hand)

 

The whole point of using HQPlayer is to bypass on-board interpolator, modulator and filters.

 

AK4493EQ block diagram

[semente]

@Miska does HQPlayer 4 Desktop 4.15.0 run on Mojave?

 

I can't get it to start on my 2018 Mac mini, it crashes while loading...

[semente]

Hi @Miska, I'm getting drop-outs with 4.15.3 doing ext3 on my Mac mini.

It works fine on 4.15.0 with the exact same settings.

What could be causing this?

[semente]

56 minutes ago, jamesg11 said:

What are your full settings? I haven’t been able to do ext3 with ec2 to 256/48 at all yet on the macmini m1 - just ext2.

And yes, 4.15.3 is worse than 4.15.2, which is where I’m at for the time being ...

 

I am using a 2018 i3 Mac mini.

It can upconvert Redbook to DSD256 using ext3+ASDM5EC and matrix processing (2 P-EQ filters per channel) with 4.15.0 and 4.15.1, but not 4.15.3.

It cannot upconvert 16/48 to DSD256 using ext3+ASDM5EC so I have to change the “1x” option manually to ext2 if I wish to listen to such tracks.

[semente]

What else can cause drop-outs other than lack of processing power?

 

My i3 2018 Mini can do ext3 + ASDM5EC without hiccups (w/ CPU @ 82%) but not ext2 + ASDM5ECv2 (w/ CPU @ 62%).

 

My network is Gigabit wired and my NAA is a microRendu 1.3.

[semente]

19 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

By the way, check that you are using latest Intel Mac build. I updated the build yesterday because there was one mistake in the build process. Latest has size 305641926 and SHA256 checksum:

b45610c04f18102c78a31f07e5f95de9dba1aefcc2f045af973a24b563eda7db

 

It is different load pattern to use heavier filter vs heavier modulator. When playback begins stuttering, you cannot trust the CPU load figures anymore. Per-core load of ECv2 is roughly 10 - 15% higher than EC. Also things like CPU cache sizes affect this. But EC is already really good, so no need worry too much if ECv2 doesn't run.

 

From Acitivty Monitor, open the per-core load graphs. It is quite informative usually.

 

 

Thanks for the suggestion. Unfortunately 4.15.4 is even worse than 4.15.3, now I can't even do ext2 + ASDM5EC without hiccups let alone ext3 + ASDM5EC. I'm back to 4.15.1 for the time being.

 

I think that I need to get a 2018 i7 or the M1...

[semente]

46 minutes ago, Miska said:

With that latest build and Multicore DSP set to grayed (auto)? I don't know how many cores your model has, but if it's low on cores, also try turning Multicore DSP off.

 

It's a lowly i3 with only 4 cores. 😕

Interestingly I turned off Multicore DSP on 4.15.1 and it started hiccupping. When it's grey, it works fine.

[semente]

12 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

But in 4.15.4?

 

On 4.15.4 I get dropouts with ext2 + ASDM5EC with Multicore DSP off and also grey.

 

With 4.15.1 I do ext3 + ASDM5EC so don't worry. I'll keep it until I have replace the mini.

[semente]

Can I drag and drop into HQPlayer Client?

I'm thinking of using on my laptop but it would require an OS upgrade to try.

[semente]

11 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

Re MacOS, when updating HQPlayer to the latest version, is it recommended that we remove the existing version (either partially or completely) or just "drag and replace"?

Just drag and replace. What I usually do is to copy into a folder that I create inside Applications and that way I can test before replacing.

 

It has happened that a series of upgrades proved too much for my meagre i3. But 4.20 works fine, I can even do DSD256/ext2/ASDM5ECv2 without drop-outs for the first time.