HQ Player

[DancingSea]

I’m giving 4 an audition.  I’m on a Mac.  How do I save the Preference settings?  No matter what I set them to, HQP4 reverts back to its own ideas.  For instance, it’s downsampling DSD files to PCM with it set on “Auto”.  When I set it to “SDM”, it reverts back to auto and converts DSD to PCM.  In HQP 3 we had to “save” the Preference settings, but I see no save option.  Ideas?

 

[edit]. I tried making the Preference window full screen, and was able to see the “Ok” to save the preferences.  Otherwise, it doesn’t appear on my screen without doing that.  I’m using a 13” MacBook Pro.

[dean70]

Running v4.01 and unable to connect via remote control. Getting the follow log entries:

 

* 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Control server allow remote control
& 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Convolution enabled
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53185
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53186
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53187
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:04 Control connection from [::1]:53188

 

Same errors also occur with hqp-control2.exe

 

Can reproduce the errors on Windows 8.1

 

[jimdukey]

Check "OK" in the lower right corner, just like before, BTW.

[Bob Stern]

1 hour ago, DancingSea said:

I tried making the Preference window full screen, and was able to see the “Ok” to save the preferences.  Otherwise, it doesn’t appear on my screen without doing that.  I’m using a 13” MacBook Pro.

 

See my post above re same problem with 15" MacBook Pro.  Option-click green dot to scale dialog to fit without switching to full screen mode.

[Hammer]

3 hours ago, dean70 said:

Running v4.01 and unable to connect via remote control. Getting the follow log entries:

 

* 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Control server allow remote control
& 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Convolution enabled
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53185
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53186
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53187
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:04 Control connection from [::1]:53188

 

Same errors also occur with hqp-control2.exe

 

Can reproduce the errors on Windows 8.1

 

 

I am also seeing the same error connecting from Roon.  My HQP 4 is running on Server 2016 with the latest updates and my Roon Core on a separate Windows 10 machine.  HQP 3 works without issue in this setup playing to a NAA.  How is your system setup?  I've tried it with firewalls disabled and still no luck.

 

  2019/04/29 21:58:0?4 Set volume: -3
* 2019/04/29 21:58:04 Control server allow remote control
& 2019/04/29 21:58:04 Convolution enabled
+ 2019/04/29 21:58:30 Control connection from 192.168.1.154:65355
# 2019/04/29 21:58:30 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/04/29 21:58:39 Control connection from 192.168.1.154:65358
# 2019/04/29 21:58:39 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

On 5/3/2019 at 9:52 AM, AnotherSpin said:

 

After several days listening, I could compare the sound of 3.2.5 and 4.0.1 in my audio set as follows:

3 - more air, more transparency, excellent with jazz and chamber. 

4 - more tight, more focus. The sound collected and has more body. Rock and loud recordings sound better.

 

The sound of 4 is more comfortable, sweet and polished. Keeps attention better, long listening is slightly less tiring with 4. 

 

Also, direct comparing the sound of of HQP with both Roon and A+ gives interesting results. Both Roon and A+ have some slight advantages over HQP 3, but in other respects HQP 3 sounds better than each. However, both Roon and A+ have no important advantages in SQ over HQP 4, while HQP still sounds better overall.

 

The bottom line: I would live with 3 happily, even if 4 has very impressive sound. But, given the fact Miska will not continue with all new developments with 3 I upgraded to 4 already.

I’m afraid I’m not as happy as you with Desktop4.

 

It seems we hear the same phenomena but draw different conclusions.

 

Let’s start by a TV analogy : it’s as if Contrast is too high, crushing the whites. But it’s not too bright for it’s as if Brightness is too low, crushing the blacks and the picture is globally less shiny.

 

Back to SQ : less shiny and crushed blacks probably translate in your less tiring + more body. But, as I wrote before, I loose articulation in the Low end and 4 is less “fruity” with duller highs. 

 

One thing 4 does very well is very clean fast transients on percussive instruments such as a piano and, moreover, snare drums hit hard. And since the less “fruity” perception goes as far as presenting 70s DG piano as more modern, that is there seems to be more tape flutter with 3 in comparison, I’ll be happy to consider there are good reasons to prefer 4, such as less ringing. But why would there be less ringing with the same ext2 filter ?

 

I think we deserve a technical explanation by Miska of why it sounds different and why we should consider that 4 indeed sounds better (another motivation than SQ to make 4 could have been i.e. “easier to maintain cross-platforms” ; I haven't seen any statement by Miska of his motivations ). 

 

If there’s a good reason such as less ringing with 4 I’m ready to adjust my criteria and admit I’m today preferring something euphonic but today I feel like preferring 3’s SQ : richer more fruity and delineated tones. As you can see in my sig I have plenty of Low End and a down slope ; I understand that the beefier bass, duller highs of 4 might suit and be preferred in a different environment.

[Miska]

5 hours ago, dean70 said:

Running v4.01 and unable to connect via remote control. Getting the follow log entries:

 

* 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Control server allow remote control
& 2019/05/04 16:14:02 Convolution enabled
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53185
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53186
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:03 Control connection from [::1]:53187
# 2019/05/04 16:14:03 clControlThread::HandleConnection(): clSocket::SetOption(): setsockopt(): Unknown error
+ 2019/05/04 16:14:04 Control connection from [::1]:53188

 

Same errors also occur with hqp-control2.exe

 

Can reproduce the errors on Windows 8.1

 

Only option it is trying to set there is to enable TCP keepalives... I don't know why it seems to be failing in some cases...

 

[Miska]

4 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

See my post above re same problem with 15" MacBook Pro.  Option-click green dot to scale dialog to fit without switching to full screen mode.

 

Interesting, this is a trick I didn't know about. Apple has lot of magic key combinations, but I have never seen those clearly listed anywhere (and of course there's no manual).

 

[sixman]

On 5/3/2019 at 5:52 PM, AnotherSpin said:

 

After several days listening, I could compare the sound of 3.2.5 and 4.0.1 in my audio set as follows:

3 - more air, more transparency, excellent with jazz and chamber. 

4 - more tight, more focus. The sound collected and has more body. Rock and loud recordings sound better.

 

The sound of 4 is more comfortable, sweet and polished. Keeps attention better, long listening is slightly less tiring with 4. 

 

Also, direct comparing the sound of of HQP with both Roon and A+ gives interesting results. Both Roon and A+ have some slight advantages over HQP 3, but in other respects HQP 3 sounds better than each. However, both Roon and A+ have no important advantages in SQ over HQP 4, while HQP still sounds better overall.

 

The bottom line: I would live with 3 happily, even if 4 has very impressive sound. But, given the fact Miska will not continue with all new developments with 3 I upgraded to 4 already.

 

This makes no sense at all. The filters/math has not changed between 3 and 4. Rather, the extra features from embedded have been brought in.

 

I guess this is why Miska has repeatedly not commented on sound quality differences between the 2.....

[Newk Yuler]

What is the best way to get lossy codecs (including playlists) into HQPlayer assuming it has to be by the realtime audio input?  Is there a good reference somewhere for people who deal with the issue?

 

I realize lossy codecs are excluded because "HQP is all about quality" but I have a very hard time believing the world wouldn't be a better place if HQP simply included the ability to play them.  It's like excluding them is just scoffing and resenting the fact they exist and people use them.  High bit rate lossy codecs will undoubtedly benefit from HQP's processes.  I would love to play streaming radio links in HQPlayer.   Frankly it's the biggest reason I haven't dropped the expense on a v4 Desktop license.  I have plenty of lossless materials to play through HQP but I listen to high bitrate MP3 internet radio (like DI.fm and SomaFM) as ambient music much of the time. 😞 Wah.

[DancingSea]

20 hours ago, Bob Stern said:

 

See my post above re same problem with 15" MacBook Pro.  Option-click green dot to scale dialog to fit without switching to full screen mode.

 

For me, Option-click the green dot works the same as just clicking the green dot.  Both go to full screen... I'm on the latest Mac OS

[Le Concombre Masqué]

2 hours ago, Newk Yuler said:

What is the best way to get lossy codecs (including playlists) into HQPlayer assuming it has to be by the realtime audio input?  Is there a good reference somewhere for people who deal with the issue?

 

I realize lossy codecs are excluded because "HQP is all about quality" but I have a very hard time believing the world wouldn't be a better place if HQP simply included the ability to play them.  It's like excluding them is just scoffing and resenting the fact they exist and people use them.  High bit rate lossy codecs will undoubtedly benefit from HQP's processes.  I would love to play streaming radio links in HQPlayer.   Frankly it's the biggest reason I haven't dropped the expense on a v4 Desktop license.  I have plenty of lossless materials to play through HQP but I listen to high bitrate MP3 internet radio (like DI.fm and SomaFM) as ambient music much of the time. 😞 Wah.

Might be the reason why I couldn't get France Musique as Web radio to work ; Notre Dame burns and Radio France is mp3...

[Bob Stern]

54 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

For me, Option-click the green dot works the same as just clicking the green dot.  Both go to full screen... I'm on the latest Mac OS

 

Are you sure you're doing Option-click, not Command-click?

[Le Concombre Masqué]

3 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

 

Are you sure you're doing Option-click, not Command-click?

option, ctrl, cmd, direct click on green dot: all yield same result with Mojave : full screen

[Bob Stern]

2 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

option, ctrl, cmd, direct click on green dot: all yield same result with Mojave : full screen

 

You are right except for the last two words.  "Full screen" mode means the window appears in a separate Space and its title bar is hidden. 

 

I did not realize that the Prefs dialog window behaves differently from a normal window, such as HQP Desktop's main window.  In the main window, option-clicking expands the window to fill the screen without entering Full Screen mode in which the title bar disappears.  In the Prefs dialog, it does this with or without holding option key, as you say.  I was in the habit of using option key to expand a window, so I never tried clicking the Prefs dialog green dot without the option key!

[antonellocaroli]

@Miska  

in linux, what would be the .deb file that only installs the core?

in other downloads I find only this:
hqplayer4desktop_4.0.0-1_amd64.deb  

but it doesn't seem to me to be just core... it seems to me to be complete.

 

[Miska]

39 minutes ago, antonellocaroli said:

@Miska  

in linux, what would be the .deb file that only installs the core?

in other downloads I find only this:
hqplayer4desktop_4.0.0-1_amd64.deb  

but it doesn't seem to me to be just core... it seems to me to be complete.

 

 

I don't have such package at the moment. Only full package and client-only package...

 

[Miska]

4 hours ago, Newk Yuler said:

What is the best way to get lossy codecs (including playlists) into HQPlayer assuming it has to be by the realtime audio input?  Is there a good reference somewhere for people who deal with the issue?

 

I realize lossy codecs are excluded because "HQP is all about quality" but I have a very hard time believing the world wouldn't be a better place if HQP simply included the ability to play them.  It's like excluding them is just scoffing and resenting the fact they exist and people use them.  High bit rate lossy codecs will undoubtedly benefit from HQP's processes.  I would love to play streaming radio links in HQPlayer.   Frankly it's the biggest reason I haven't dropped the expense on a v4 Desktop license.  I have plenty of lossless materials to play through HQP but I listen to high bitrate MP3 internet radio (like DI.fm and SomaFM) as ambient music much of the time. 😞 Wah.

 

For your uses, which are somewhat similar to mine, although I use more Spotify, using optical input from Google's Chromecast Audio dongle is quite good way. Google has discontinued Chromecast Audio, but it is still available in many shops. I myself purchased bunch of those as backup ones. I have three of such around the house right now.

 

Now MP3 patents have expired, so it doesn't anymore cost minimum $20k/year to include it. I have not asked how much MP3 implementation license would cost, something anyway. AAC still requires licenses so supporting it would also increase price of HQPlayer. OGG/Vorbis could be supported without extra cost.

 

[AnotherSpin]

10 hours ago, sixman said:

 

This makes no sense at all. The filters/math has not changed between 3 and 4. Rather, the extra features from embedded have been brought in.

 

I guess this is why Miska has repeatedly not commented on sound quality differences between the 2.....

 

Miska never commented on SQ since the very beginning of HQP, would you dare demonstrate the opposite? Good for you if you understand better filters/math of both 3 and 4. I could be dreaming if I hear the difference, but I hear it and it is quite good dream. As the rest of life)

[Le Concombre Masqué]

12 hours ago, sixman said:

 

This makes no sense at all. The filters/math has not changed between 3 and 4. Rather, the extra features from embedded have been brought in.

 

I guess this is why Miska has repeatedly not commented on sound quality differences between the 2.....

Beyond the philosophical standpoint that if 2 things are different they are not alike, Miska claimed a new client-server architecture + under DSD settings there's a new (or did I see it when I trialed the first mansr inside A+ ?) wide vs narrow setting. Maybe you can agree that Narrow and Wide sound different? Then you could compare 4/Narrow to 3... I have done it only once and quickly and will draw conclusions only when I'll get time to redo the comparison but.... try both comparisons....

[Hammer]

On 5/4/2019 at 8:33 AM, Miska said:

 

Only option it is trying to set there is to enable TCP keepalives... I don't know why it seems to be failing in some cases...

 

Hi, I tried adding the key KeepAliveTime to the registry and it does not fix the problem...any other thoughts?  HQPlayer 3 works on the same system!

[craighartley]

2 hours ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Beyond the philosophical standpoint that if 2 things are different they are not alike, Miska claimed a new client-server architecture + under DSD settings there's a new (or did I see it when I trialed the first mansr inside A+ ?) wide vs narrow setting. Maybe you can agree that Narrow and Wide sound different? Then you could compare 4/Narrow to 3... I have done it only once and quickly and will draw conclusions only when I'll get time to redo the comparison but.... try both comparisons....

Where is the ‘Narrow’ vs ‘Wide’ setting’?!

[Le Concombre Masqué]

File>DSD source settings ; see manual p20

[craighartley]

33 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

File>DSD source settings ; see manual p20

Thanks. I’d missed that in the manual and seeing it in the dialogue I had assumed it was for DSD to PCM conversion and had ignored it as I only output DSD.

 

I’d assumed the same for the Integrator: can someone please tell me how I can inform my choice of Integrator? Does it depend on the source material? (I’m processing mainly highres files to DSD 512 into the T&A DAC8).

[Superdad]

On 5/2/2019 at 10:46 PM, Le Concombre Masqué said:

do you convolve? 

 

I’ve been convolving for decades.  Ever wider in the middle, and ever less hair on top.