HQ Player

[bibo01]

6 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

Makes sense. I'll have to see what kind of load I get with the non-2s filter. Is the non-2s filter significantly better? I didn't notice a huge difference between the two.

The -2s filter is calculated in two stages. There shouldn't be a huge difference compared to non-2s.

Most people prefer non-2s version, however, some have reported gains in quality by going up in frequency with -2s version although supposedly losing a bit in quality through double stage calculation. You need to see in your system.

[mfsoa]

31 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

 

Almost certainly. You'll need the latest firmware for SU-1 (2.22) and a Holo Spring XMOS USB driver that supports native DSD up to DSD512. SU-1 will need to be connected to the DAC by a short I2S cable.

 

That's the configuration I'm using with X20Pro and SU-1 and DSD512 works great!

But is the fact that I'm using a Raspberry Pi going to matter? Isn't that driver for Windows?

 

Are you using a Windows machine as your NAA?

 

Thanks for your reply

 

-Mike

[pkane2001]

5 minutes ago, mfsoa said:

But is the fact that I'm using a Raspberry Pi going to matter? Isn't that driver for Windows?

Oops! Missed that part. Yes, you'll need something that works with Pi and SU-1. Don't know if such a driver exists. And yes, I'm using WIndows 10 running on an Apple laptop as NAA.

[pkane2001]

42 minutes ago, bibo01 said:

The -2s filter is calculated in two stages. There shouldn't be a huge difference compared to non-2s.

Most people prefer non-2s version, however, some have reported gains in quality by going up in frequency with -2s version although supposedly losing a bit in quality through double stage calculation. You need to see in your system.

The non-2s filter stutters badly on this computer even with CUDA offload, so I assume I need a whole lot more power to run this filter

 

[tboooe]

18 minutes ago, mfsoa said:

But is the fact that I'm using a Raspberry Pi going to matter? Isn't that driver for Windows?

 

Are you using a Windows machine as your NAA?

 

Thanks for your reply

 

-Mike

There is a patch on GitHub to allow native DSD to the SU-1 from a Linux machine.  Your kernel needs this patch.  As mentioned you also need the firmware upgrade for the SU-1 to allow dsd512.

[mfsoa]

21 minutes ago, pkane2001 said:

Oops! Missed that part. Yes, you'll need something that works with Pi and SU-1. Don't know if such a driver exists. And yes, I'm using WIndows 10 running on an Apple laptop as NAA.

Miska, will a linux-based NAA pass 512?

Thanks

[Jud]

9 hours ago, mfsoa said:

Miska, will a linux-based NAA pass 512?

Thanks

 

If the DAC works at DSD512 with the Linux driver, yes.

[ChrisVH]

My Mytek Manhattan II arrives tomorrow… Looking for suggestions on settings for Roon >  HQ Player > MicroRendu.

 

Her's a thumbnail sketch of my setup, which uses a high-end PC workstation as my server: 

•    All files (about 10 TB worth) are on a 6TB X 3 in RAID5 configuration on my workstation, located in my home office, which is one floor above and adjacent to, my listening room. 
•    My workstation is a high-end Dell Precision T7910 (running Win7 Ultimate) with dual quadcore Xeon processors and 128 GB of RAM, and I have Roon Core setup on this machine, as well as HQ Player software. It’s plugged into ethernet via structured wiring throughout my home. From there it goes through my router via Ethernet and then to my ethernet jack in my listening room. From the ethernet port, I decouple electrically with an ethernet to fiber converter, and then back from fiber to ethernet (recommendation of an Engineer at Roon Labs). The ethernet then gets plugged into a Sonore MicroRendu, which outputs to USB (or AES or SPDIF)… I control the Roon core on the Workstation with Roon remote on my iPad Pro, connected via my wireless network.
•    I access my Tidal library via Roon. Roon is my primary UI for my entire library (incl hard drive).
•    I have many DSD files, but also many hi-rez PCM and redbook files.
•    My current configuration has the MicroRendu in HQPlayer/NAA mode. 

 

A few scenarios:

 

Example 1) upsample EVERYTHING to DSD256 with HQ Player and then feed to Manhattan II

 

Example 2) Leave all PCM files in PCM, but upsample to highest PCM rate the DAC can handle. Then upsample all DSD to 256.

 

Example 3) Leave everything in native format, and let the DAC ‘do it’s thing’.

 

* Within all these sample rate conversions for examples 1 & 2, there are options for how the filters are implemented during the processing (pages 8-11 here: http://www.icat-inc.com/image/HQPlayer-manual.pdf). 

 

There are countless permutations to explore, so hoping someone else out there has a similar config with the Manhattan II, and can share what's working best for them... or one of the many smart people around here can save me a little time with some recos ;-) Thanks in advance.

[juanitox]

for the experts  how too choose HQplayer as outptut device for KODI ?   can't find a simple solution

[Confused]

OK - I have to declare myself as an absolute newbie with respect to HQPlayer, I am on the first morning of the free trial.  Anyway, so far so good.  Anyway, I have downloaded HQPlayer, a bit of faffing around with settings to get Roon to talk to HQPlayer and HQPlayer to talk to the microRendu, and I had music playing without issue in no time.

I sat down for a quick listen with HQPlayer simply set the whatever it was set to as default, it was working, so I listened. Very interesting! I did notice that per the default settings HQPlayer was upsampling to 196kHZ. I was picking up some extra detail and could see some positives but at the same time I cannot say I was particularly enjoying the experience. At some level I did not like it, but for sure there was something different going on.  It was almost like there was too much detail and too much happening in the high frequencies that it was not a pleasant listen and almost appeared to be upsetting the overall tonal balance. After a quick read of the HQPlayer manual, I thought I would try minphaseFIR / NS1 / poly-sinc-2s. This I could listen to all day, much better. So far so good. It works, and clearly the settings are doing something that my ears and brain are reacting to. Due to this early result and the fact that set up and use are far easier than I anticipated, I am thinking I will probably be continuing with HQPlayer after the 30 day trial, but time will tell. In fact, looking at the number of options I think it will take more than 30 days to work out what all the options do in my system and what suits best. Looking at the settings, if you multiply out all the options and combinations there are literally 1000's to choose from, so a little bit mesmerising.

 

Obviously to find the absolute best settings for my ears and system will take much time, graft and trial and error, I have no problem with this.  What I think I could do with is some pointers as to what a good starting point would be, or what the key settings are to play with to establish what works best for me.  That is, what settings make the big differences and which are perhaps more for fine tuning?  Maybe there are some pointers to some relevant reading material?  Although I do plan to have a careful read of the HQPlayer manual.  I am running HQPlayer on an quad core i5 Windows 10 PC, to microRendu, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000 Pro, KEF Blade speakers.  Music wise, I am more at the rock, indie, electronica end of the scale rather than jazz or classical, but I do listen to most genres at some time or another.

 

If anyone has any pointers for a slightly mesmerised but otherwise enthusiastic and currently happy it at least works newbie, I would be very grateful!

[AnotherSpin]

1 hour ago, Confused said:

OK - I have to declare myself as an absolute newbie with respect to HQPlayer, I am on the first morning of the free trial.  Anyway, so far so good.  Anyway, I have downloaded HQPlayer, a bit of faffing around with settings to get Roon to talk to HQPlayer and HQPlayer to talk to the microRendu, and I had music playing without issue in no time.

I sat down for a quick listen with HQPlayer simply set the whatever it was set to as default, it was working, so I listened. Very interesting! I did notice that per the default settings HQPlayer was upsampling to 196kHZ. I was picking up some extra detail and could see some positives but at the same time I cannot say I was particularly enjoying the experience. At some level I did not like it, but for sure there was something different going on.  It was almost like there was too much detail and too much happening in the high frequencies that it was not a pleasant listen and almost appeared to be upsetting the overall tonal balance. After a quick read of the HQPlayer manual, I thought I would try minphaseFIR / NS1 / poly-sinc-2s. This I could listen to all day, much better. So far so good. It works, and clearly the settings are doing something that my ears and brain are reacting to. Due to this early result and the fact that set up and use are far easier than I anticipated, I am thinking I will probably be continuing with HQPlayer after the 30 day trial, but time will tell. In fact, looking at the number of options I think it will take more than 30 days to work out what all the options do in my system and what suits best. Looking at the settings, if you multiply out all the options and combinations there are literally 1000's to choose from, so a little bit mesmerising.

 

Obviously to find the absolute best settings for my ears and system will take much time, graft and trial and error, I have no problem with this.  What I think I could do with is some pointers as to what a good starting point would be, or what the key settings are to play with to establish what works best for me.  That is, what settings make the big differences and which are perhaps more for fine tuning?  Maybe there are some pointers to some relevant reading material?  Although I do plan to have a careful read of the HQPlayer manual.  I am running HQPlayer on an quad core i5 Windows 10 PC, to microRendu, Mutec MC3+USB, Devialet 1000 Pro, KEF Blade speakers.  Music wise, I am more at the rock, indie, electronica end of the scale rather than jazz or classical, but I do listen to most genres at some time or another.

 

If anyone has any pointers for a slightly mesmerised but otherwise enthusiastic and currently happy it at least works newbie, I would be very grateful!

Congratulations! You are discovering a great piece of audio software. I am not sure there is any objective recommendations for settings, it greatly depends from personal preferences and audio set. I would only suggest to go through this thread, people have been discussing their findings in a great length and detail here. Some of these findings add manual which seem to be laconic to say the least..)

[k-man]

Based on some recommendations on threads elsewhere, I like the poly-sinc-xtr mp, NS5 (your i5 will handle it) for Rock and Indie. I most often select the linear for classical and Jazz.

[Kilauea50]

I have a computer that I am considering install Linux on just for HQ Player.  It is cooking my MacPro.  I have not used Linux in years.  Is Lubuntu a good choice? 

[arglebargle]

33 minutes ago, Kilauea50 said:

I have a computer that I am considering install Linux on just for HQ Player.  It is cooking my MacPro.  I have not used Linux in years.  Is Lubuntu a good choice? 

 

I believe Miska currently does most of HQPlayer development and testing on Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 so variations on that (such as Lubuntu) are a safe bet. He also has some custom kernels built for Xenial if you get adventurous later. 

[Kilauea50]

12 hours ago, arglebargle said:

 

I believe Miska currently does most of HQPlayer development and testing on Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 so variations on that (such as Lubuntu) are a safe bet. He also has some custom kernels built for Xenial if you get adventurous later. 

Thank you.  I will download the iso.  I definitely want his kernel too

[Embz72]

14 hours ago, Kilauea50 said:

I have a computer that I am considering install Linux on just for HQ Player.  It is cooking my MacPro.  I have not used Linux in years.  Is Lubuntu a good choice? 

I've found that Archlinux + Enlightenment desktop is the best performer for me.  I don't know why, but it's the only combination I've tried where I can upsample to DSD256 with the poly-sinc-xtr filter (I'm running on a E5-2630v4).  I've tried Fedora, Ubuntu variations, and Debian.  Debian was very good too.

[Miska]

On 6/4/2017 at 7:12 AM, arglebargle said:

 

I believe Miska currently does most of HQPlayer development and testing on Ubuntu Xenial 16.04 so variations on that (such as Lubuntu) are a safe bet. He also has some custom kernels built for Xenial if you get adventurous later. 

 

Yes, to be precise I'm using Ubuntu Studio (with custom kernel), but as you say, any of the variants should work fine.

 

Ubuntu Studio uses XFCE desktop.

[Kilauea50]

I am in the process of installing Lubuntu.  My GPU is GTX 980.  Do you still have to install the display drivers or is that in the installer now?  

[Miska]

7 hours ago, Kilauea50 said:

I am in the process of installing Lubuntu.  My GPU is GTX 980.  Do you still have to install the display drivers or is that in the installer now?  

 

You need to install Nvidia display drivers if you want to utilize CUDA. If you don't need/want CUDA, you can use any other display drivers (like nouveau for Nvidia).

 

[Guf Gufler]

If I'm switching from OSX  hqplayer to windows hqplayer  do I need to buy a new license?  

[bibo01]

4 hours ago, Guf Gufler said:

If I'm switching from OSX  hqplayer to windows hqplayer  do I need to buy a new license?  

Yes.

Send a request to support at signalyst.com and Miska will send you a 50% discount coupon for the 2nd license.

[Kilauea50]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

You need to install Nvidia display drivers if you want to utilize CUDA. If you don't need/want CUDA, you can use any other display drivers (like nouveau for Nvidia).

 

Thank you.  The installer crashed and I think I finally got things going in the right direction.  I forgot all about UEFI and had to reformat and make another bootable disc.  This computer will only be used for HQ Player so I want do everything you recommend including installing your kernel.  Thank you @Miska

[Guf Gufler]

2 hours ago, bibo01 said:

Yes.

Send a request to support at signalyst.com and Miska will send you a 50% discount coupon for the 2nd license.

thanks! 

[Kilauea50]

@Miska Finally up and running.  Where can I find your custom kernel? Thank you

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Kilauea50 said:

@Miska Finally up and running.  Where can I find your custom kernel? Thank you

 

https://www.sonarnerd.net/src/