HQ Player

[elan120]

This is what I am currently doing, but it was working fine just the other day, but now even the original equipment/setup show exactly the same issue...could be SU-1 after all...will try few more test to confirm.

[Miska]

If the DAC works fine PCM & DSD with direct connection without SU-1, then it means both the driver and DAC are fine. That leaves only the SU-1 as possible issue (or the I2S link between the two).

 

I have Spring L2, but I use it only with direct USB connection...

[elan120]

3 hours ago, Miska said:

If the DAC works fine PCM & DSD with direct connection without SU-1, then it means both the driver and DAC are fine. That leaves only the SU-1 as possible issue (or the I2S link between the two).

 

I have Spring L2, but I use it only with direct USB connection...

Hi Miska,

 

That is the confusing part that the direct connection play PCM fine with different frequencies, but cannot play DSD.  HQPlayer will crash regardless of rate used.  I started with 512, reduced to 256, and then 64, every time when DSD is played, it will have the same error message that HQPlayer encountered unrecoverable error, looking for solution...and then close the application.  This issue adds more puzzle to define the true root cause...

[scan80269]

There are some volume control sliders within the Spring XMOS USB driver control panel (launched via tray icon).  I don't know what the default volume settings are, but for DSD I'd think all the volume controls need to be set to max (sliders all the way up).

 

Also, the I2S HDMI receptacle on my Spring DAC makes for a VERY loose cable connection.  When my Spring DAC acted up, it was due to the I2S /HDMI cable not being fully plugged in or seated slightly crooked.  Can you try a different I2S/HDMI cable to see if the symptoms remain?

 

[elan120]

Checked the Spring XMOS USB driver volume control, it is set at max (0db).

 

Changed I2S cable, but DSD still can't be played with direct connection to Spring DAC.  The connection point seem to be working fine but HQPlayer still crash though.

[pkane2001]

2 hours ago, elan120 said:

Checked the Spring XMOS USB driver volume control, it is set at max (0db).

 

Changed I2S cable, but DSD still can't be played with direct connection to Spring DAC.  The connection point seem to be working fine but HQPlayer still crash though.

 

Be careful playing with Spring driver volume controls. I had the uncontrollable urge to adjust something, and so moved the SPDIF volume control in the driver settings to its minimum value to see what it'll do. The DAC went crazy and started feeding high pitched noise at 0dB into my amps that blew out the right tweeter! Thankfully I was able to repair it (just a melted lead wire).

[elan120]

Just now, pkane2001 said:

 

Be careful playing with Spring driver volume controls. I had the uncontrollable urge to adjust something, and so moved the SPDIF volume control in the driver settings to its minimum value to see what it'll do. The DAC went crazy and started feeding high pitched noise at 0dB into my amps that blew out the right tweeter! Thankfully I was able to repair it (just a melted lead wire).

Thank you, and this is good knowledge, I only checked the settings and didn't think I need to do anything there, so left the settings alone, now there is more reason not to bother with them...

 

My troubleshooting journey continues...to this point, the first thing I wish to figure out would be why HQPlayer would crash if DSD is played even with direct PC USB to Spring DAC USB connection.  If this problem is solved, culprit likely can be defined as SU-1, but with both DSD not able to play without SU-1 connected and only 48K family frequencies can be played with SU-1 connected, it is hard to pin point to just one possible root cause...

[Altabay]

Can you play DSD with HQP 3.16 on Win 8.1, USB into the DAC?  Does DoP work?  Does the OS/NOS button make any difference?  Power cycle the DAC again, maybe keep it off for a bit to make sure it's in a clean state.  I hope the problem is on the computer side.

[elan120]

HQPlayer crash on both 3.16.3 and 3.17 on Win 8.1 trying to play DSD native.

 

I have neither checked DoP nor OS/NOS operations, but certainly be a good test later this afternoon when I get home from work.  Maybe DoP will work since I can play all PCM frequencies.

 

DAC seem to be in proper working order and I have left power off for more than an hour few times during troubleshooting, but won't hurt to try again just to be sure.  Will report back when I get more test results later.

[Altabay]

Can you show your HQP settings?  Does DSD work with any other player? (foobar, roon, jriver)

[elan120]

I will do a screen shot of HQP settings when I get home this afternoon.

 

I have not tried DSD with foobar, and have not figure out why I can't get ROON to play output to Spring DAC using Holo Spring driver at the moment as time have been solely spent on troubleshooting HQP...

[Miska]

58 minutes ago, elan120 said:

HQPlayer crash on both 3.16.3 and 3.17 on Win 8.1 trying to play DSD native.

 

Are you sure you haven't accidentally enabled "AltDSD" setting?

[elan120]

6 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Are you sure you haven't accidentally enabled "AltDSD" setting?

Ahhh...no, I am not sure about this, and will check on this first thing when I get home later this afternoon.  Hopefully this will solved the DSD playing issue...thank you for point this out.

[elan120]

6 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Are you sure you haven't accidentally enabled "AltDSD" setting?

Things are looking up slightly, and I want to express my gratitude to @Miska, @scan80269, @Altabay, @tboooe, and @pkane2001 for providing valuable suggestion and experience in the past few days.  Meanwhile, I also want to thank everyone else patiently let me have this space to work this issue.

 

Just checked the AltDSD setting with direct connection from PC to Spring DAC without SU-1 in between, and is surprised that I did somehow enabled this selection.  Unchecked the box get all DSD playback working all the way up to 512, and this continue to work after moving everything back to the new PC with direct connection running HQP version 3.17. 

 

The culprit likely now narrow down to SU-1, and this may not be a right thread to continue the troubleshooting since HQP setup related issue is now lifted.

[scan80269]

That's a good bit of troubleshooting!

 

I still have a hunch your issue is related to the I2S link between SU-1 and Spring DAC.  One thing you can try is to temporarily replace the I2S link with S/PDIF or AES (using the appropriate cable of course) to see if the Spring DAC can play PCM up to 192K and DSD64 DoP.  If these work OK then it would suggest the I2S connection from SU-1 to Spring DAC has been somehow compromised.

 

I mentioned the very loose fit between my Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle and the cable, and I suspect it's rather easy for the cable to have over-strained that Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle to the point that some of the signals are not making electrical contact at the connector matings.  If the Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle has been mechanically compromised then even another HDMI cable may not help.  My gut feel is that this is more likely to be a mechanical issue than an electrical issue.  Just a thought.

 

[bigbear2003]

Hi,

 

This is my 1st post on the forum 8))

 

I just implemented HQPlayer NAA on RPi3/iOne successfully.

 

I am wondering if I can install additional RPi3/DAC on the network and choose which one to play on the HQPlayer setup?

The 2nd question, do I still need to install the DAC driver on my laptop?

 

 

Thx.

[elan120]

1 hour ago, scan80269 said:

That's a good bit of troubleshooting!

 

I still have a hunch your issue is related to the I2S link between SU-1 and Spring DAC.  One thing you can try is to temporarily replace the I2S link with S/PDIF or AES (using the appropriate cable of course) to see if the Spring DAC can play PCM up to 192K and DSD64 DoP.  If these work OK then it would suggest the I2S connection from SU-1 to Spring DAC has been somehow compromised.

 

I mentioned the very loose fit between my Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle and the cable, and I suspect it's rather easy for the cable to have over-strained that Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle to the point that some of the signals are not making electrical contact at the connector matings.  If the Spring DAC I2S-HDMI receptacle has been mechanically compromised then even another HDMI cable may not help.  My gut feel is that this is more likely to be a mechanical issue than an electrical issue.  Just a thought.

 

It is still inconclusive at this point.  I tried using coax1 out from SU-1 to Spring DAC coax1 in, per your suggestion, and that didn't make any difference.  I then again move back to I2S connection, and it will play 384K all the way to Spring DAC, but when HQP playing 352.8K, SU-1 does show signal came in (middle blue LED on), but no signal out to Spring DAC (LED showing ---- ---- ---- ---- ----).

 

Without knowing more about SU-1 circuit, it is getting a bit more challenging to continue.  I did measure SU-1 22.5792MHz oscillator pin-1 and pin-3 output, when I play Foobar at 44.1K and HQP at 352.8K output, pin-1 will go from low to high (0VDC to 3.3VDC), and pin-3 will have output (1.6x VDC), and same result also applied to 24.576MHz oscillator when playing the 48K output families.  This shows that incoming portion of SU-1 is working correctly, but I am a bit lost where the signal goes after that to continue measure and trace the signal, especially why 44.1K and 352.8K output signal isn't going to the I2S output when the output from oscillator (pin-3) is correct.

[bigbear2003]

Another question.

 

When I start playing the music, it always starts a big click/clark sound.

Is there any settings or anything to stop it?

 

 

[bibo01]

2 hours ago, bigbear2003 said:

Hi,

 

This is my 1st post on the forum 8))

 

I just implemented HQPlayer NAA on RPi3/iOne successfully.

 

I am wondering if I can install additional RPi3/DAC on the network and choose which one to play on the HQPlayer setup?

The 2nd question, do I still need to install the DAC driver on my laptop?

 

 

Thx.

If DAC is seen by ALSA, NAA will play back to it.

No.

[bibo01]

1 hour ago, bigbear2003 said:

Another question.

 

When I start playing the music, it always starts a big click/clark sound.

Is there any settings or anything to stop it?

 

 

It depends on implementation of DAC's driver on RPi3 and hardware of DAC's receiver.

Nothing to do with HQP.

Does it happen when you change resolution and/or change format (PCM<->DSD)?

[bigbear2003]

15 hours ago, bibo01 said:

If DAC is seen by ALSA, NAA will play back to it.

No.

 

What is ALSA?  Thanks.

[bibo01]

ALSA is the framework that provides audio to Linux.

[bigbear2003]

16 hours ago, bibo01 said:

It depends on implementation of DAC's driver on RPi3 and hardware of DAC's receiver.

Nothing to do with HQP.

Does it happen when you change resolution and/or change format (PCM<->DSD)?

 

It does not matter if it is native DSD or PCM upsample to DSD256 (I uses the iFi iOne).

It only happens in the beginnging on the 1st track of an album and not between tracks.

 

It only happens when using RPi3 NAA.  Not recalled having such issue when my laptop was directly connected to the iOne DAC via USB.

 

ps. I already uppped the buffer to 250ms.

 

Thx.

[bigbear2003]

18 hours ago, bigbear2003 said:

 

It does not matter if it is native DSD or PCM upsample to DSD256 (I uses the iFi iOne).

It only happens in the beginnging on the 1st track of an album and not between tracks.

 

It only happens when using RPi3 NAA.  Not recalled having such issue when my laptop was directly connected to the iOne DAC via USB.

 

ps. I already uppped the buffer to 250ms.

 

Thx.

 

I did some more experiments with some interesting findings.

I have a spare LG HiFi plus sitting around so I pulled the iOne out and replaces it with the LG.

 

To my surprise & happiness, the LG works.

On the LG, also hear the click/clark sound.  Seems it happens when I switch between PCM <-> DSD (with SDM/DSD) albums/tracks.  Not sure is it the DACs does not recognize if the PCM or DSD in the first instance.  I am wondering if HQplayer can "mute" the first sec to silent this noise.

 

[mahi]

On 8/21/2017 at 3:51 AM, Miska said:

 

Yes, in general, as the name says DSDIFF/DSF Settings only affect DSD sources. Only exception being "Direct SDM" which has effect that volume control is locked when doing PCM -> DSD for safety reasons. Because otherwise there could be huge volume difference between PCM and DSD sources...

 

 

I have some dsd 256 files but I can only play dsd 128 in my current setup. So I will need to look into those dsdiff/dsf settings, which i have not done before.

 

But is it true that the filter and modulator settings in the main interface also apply to dsd resampling as well? 

 

Best regards