HQ Player

[Miska]

3 hours ago, tedevang said:

Using Roon > HQPlayer 4 and DSD output is not working. I click play in Roon and it stays at 0:00. If I try it with HQPlayer 3 it works fine. Here are my settings for both. Any recommendations? I tried changing SDM Pack under Input Device Settings to none rather than DoP and still nothing happens.

 

 

 

What kind of source are you trying to play? Here you are asking PCM->PCM and DSD->DSD. For DSD sources, what are your settings in DSD Sources dialog?

 

[DancingSea]

Miska,

 

In both HQP 3 & 4, I have DSD files (dsf) that will not load into HQP.  Tragically, both copies of Kind of Blue will not load.  The same dsf files load fine into Audirvana, Roon and Swinsian. 

 

By not load I mean the dsf files will not be accepted by HQP via drag and drop, or library importation (HQP 3).

 

Any guidance would be appreciated.

[AnotherSpin]

28 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

Miska,

 

In both HQP 3 & 4, I have DSD files (dsf) that will not load into HQP.  Tragically, both copies of Kind of Blue will not load.  The same dsf files load fine into Audirvana, Roon and Swinsian. 

 

By not load I mean the dsf files will not be accepted by HQP via drag and drop, or library importation (HQP 3).

 

Any guidance would be appreciated.

 

Try to change filter

[tedevang]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

What kind of source are you trying to play? Here you are asking PCM->PCM and DSD->DSD. For DSD sources, what are your settings in DSD Sources dialog?

 

 

Hi Miska - I upgraded to 4.0.4 and it appears to work now. Here are the DSD Source Settings (I'm playing a DSF file):

 

[DancingSea]

1 hour ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

Try to change filter

 

The dsf files don’t get into HQP to begin with. 

 

When I drag them into HQP, instead of entering the play queue, they are rejected.  Most of my DSD files will drag and drop like normal.  I don’t see any difference between, for instance, my two Kind of Blue releases, and the ones that drag and drop like normal.

 

I did try your suggestion,  but it had no bearing on drag and drop.  Thanks.

 

And when I say "drag and drop",  mean from outside of HQP.  Also, library importation from within HQP will not accept these dsf files.  But the same files are acceptable to Amarra, A+, Swinsian, Roon, etc....

 

[AnotherSpin]

38 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

 

The dsf files don’t get into HQP to begin with. 

 

When I drag them into HQP, instead of entering the play queue, they are rejected.  Most of my DSD files will drag and drop like normal.  I don’t see any difference between, for instance, my two Kind of Blue releases, and the ones that drag and drop like normal.

 

I did try your suggestion,  but it had no bearing on drag and drop.  Thanks.

 

And when I say "drag and drop",  mean from outside of HQP.  Also, library importation from within HQP will not accept these dsf files.  But the same files are acceptable to Amarra, A+, Swinsian, Roon, etc....

 

 

That's exactly what I was thinking about. I also use dnd, and I had similar issue as well – couldn't load certain dsf files with dnd. After changing settings within preferences it was ok. 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, tedevang said:

Hi Miska - I upgraded to 4.0.4 and it appears to work now. Here are the DSD Source Settings (I'm playing a DSF file):

 

OK, good, then you were likely just hitting one of the bugs in earlier versions I've fixed.

 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, DancingSea said:

In both HQP 3 & 4, I have DSD files (dsf) that will not load into HQP.  Tragically, both copies of Kind of Blue will not load.  The same dsf files load fine into Audirvana, Roon and Swinsian. 

 

By not load I mean the dsf files will not be accepted by HQP via drag and drop, or library importation (HQP 3).

 

Maybe there is some error in the log file after drop operation? But please send log files over email, because this thread has already so much content that it is better to try to keep it clean of information that is not interesting to other readers.

 

[DancingSea]

50 minutes ago, AnotherSpin said:

 

That's exactly what I was thinking about. I also use dnd, and I had similar issue as well – couldn't load certain dsf files with dnd. After changing settings within preferences it was ok. 

 

What is “dnd”?  Thanks.

[DancingSea]

30 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Maybe there is some error in the log file after drop operation? But please send log files over email, because this thread has already so much content that it is better to try to keep it clean of information that is not interesting to other readers.

 

 

I’ve enabled Log Files in preferences, but where do I go to see the actual log file?

[Miska]

7 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

I’ve enabled Log Files in preferences, but where do I go to see the actual log file?

 

On macOS and Linux, in folder "~/.hqplayer" and on Windows in folder "%LOCALAPPDATA%\HQPlayer".

 

After enabling log file, it is good to restart HQPlayer to gather full log from startup on.

 

I assume you have either version 3.25.4 or 4.0.4.

 

[Superdad]

15 minutes ago, DancingSea said:

What is “dnd”?  Thanks.

 

Depends upon who you talk to. 

To a gaming nerd it’s “Dungeons and Dragons.”

To a hotelier it’s “Do not disturb?”

To HQ Player users it’s “Drag ‘n Drop.”

[Le Concombre Masqué]

14 minutes ago, Superdad said:

 

Depends upon who you talk to. 

To a gaming nerd it’s “Dungeons and Dragons.”

To a hotelier it’s “Do not disturb?”

To HQ Player users it’s “Drag ‘n Drop.”

have you succeeded in fronting Embedded by Audirvana?

[DancingSea]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

On macOS and Linux, in folder "~/.hqplayer" and on Windows in folder "%LOCALAPPDATA%\HQPlayer".

 

After enabling log file, it is good to restart HQPlayer to gather full log from startup on.

 

I assume you have either version 3.25.4 or 4.0.4.

 

 

On Mac, where is that folder?

[Bob Stern]

On Mac, a folder or file whose name begins with a dot is hidden.  To open the folder specified by Miska, copy the path "~/.hqplayer" to the clipboard (without the quotes), switch to the Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder (shift-cmd-G), paste the previously copied path into the provided field (replacing any previous text), then click Go.

 

This is a useful Mac skill.

[DancingSea]

12 minutes ago, Bob Stern said:

On Mac, a folder or file whose name begins with a dot is hidden.  To open the folder specified by Miska, copy the path "~/.hqplayer" to the clipboard (without the quotes), switch to the Finder, select Go menu > Go to Folder (shift-cmd-G), paste the previously copied path into the provided field (replacing any previous text), then click Go.

 

This is a useful Mac skill.

 

Thanks, that did the trick.  The log file has been PM'd to Jussi...

[perpetualapprentice]

2 hours ago, DancingSea said:

 

Thanks, that did the trick.  The log file has been PM'd to Jussi...

Another option - because there are so many undocumented/not easily remembered Mac keyboard commands - the free menubar utility "Funter" can show/hide hidden items on a Mac (currently 10.10-10.14) as needed. Multiple methods and shareware/freeware utilities have the ability to show 'hidden items' but for some reason this one-click utility has stayed with me since Snow Leopard.

https://nektony.com/products/funter

[Superdad]

4 hours ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

have you succeeded in fronting Embedded by Audirvana?

 

Sadly no.  Got it to work once—and only for PCM, not DSD—but then it started playing only the first two seconds of the track, and now all it says is something like unable to start playback device.  All of that while Embedded>NAA>DAC plays fine either by browsering into HQPe or by using the Client on my desktop iMac.

 

I’m traveling now but when I return in a few days I really want to make this work, because:

a) Audirvana’s UI and flexibility in displaying track information is far more to my liking than Miska’s Client;

 

b) Audirvana can scan and watch local iTunes libraries;

 

c) It is pretty clear to me that getting HQ Player Embedded/Linux to mount and scan Mac network volumes requires Linux expertise and patience beyond what I possess (sorry Jussi, but your instructions so far are for me like giving someone driving directions with the assumption that they already know most of the streets in town). I’m certainly willing to try if given some start-from-the-beginning instructions on how to find and mount volumes shared—by my Mac as smb://192.168.8.xxx.

But even if I manage to get that to work, the HQPe library would stay static—I don’t think it can be told to watch or automatically rescan—and it offers zero ability to edit, so one small folder/artist/album error cascades.

 

For the moment—aside from getting a UPnP/DLNA front end/library  manager to actually work (to control HQPe>NAA)—the question I really want to answer with my own ears is if that setup will preserve the sonic magic that I get from having HQPe play tracks from the USB stick local to it.  Not sure if Audirvana (or any other Mac player)—even with all its DSP turned off—will be as transparent.

 

 

[twluke]

Please ignore.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

 

Sadly no.  Got it to work once—and only for PCM, not DSD—but then it started playing only the first two seconds of the track, and now all it says is something like unable to start playback device.  All of that while Embedded>NAA>DAC plays fine either by browsering into HQPe or by using the Client on my desktop iMac.

 

I’m traveling now but when I return in a few days I really want to make this work, because:

a) Audirvana’s UI and flexibility in displaying track information is far more to my liking than Miska’s Client;

 

b) Audirvana can scan and watch local iTunes libraries;

 

c) It is pretty clear to me that getting HQ Player Embedded/Linux to mount and scan Mac network volumes requires Linux expertise and patience beyond what I possess (sorry Jussi, but your instructions so far are for me like giving someone driving directions with the assumption that they already know most of the streets in town). I’m certainly willing to try if given some start-from-the-beginning instructions on how to find and mount volumes shared—by my Mac as smb://192.168.8.xxx.

But even if I manage to get that to work, the HQPe library would stay static—I don’t think it can be told to watch or automatically rescan—and it offers zero ability to edit, so one small folder/artist/album error cascades.

 

For the moment—aside from getting a UPnP/DLNA front end/library  manager to actually work (to control HQPe>NAA)—the question I really want to answer with my own ears is if that setup will preserve the sonic magic that I get from having HQPe play tracks from the USB stick local to it.  Not sure if Audirvana (or any other Mac player)—even with all its DSP turned off—will be as transparent.

 

 

Very good questions

SMB is no panacea : some albums just won't appear in the Library although I have used A Better Finder Rename to make sure the syntax was SMB kosher ;  I have tried to move folders etc, no chance. I'm loosing patience too. I just can't understand why some appear like a charm some don't...

4 is better than 3, very clearly so with DSD files and Embedded is simply BEST as of SQ but, big but

Maybe you would have success with Roon. Audirvana handles DSD files in its library and it's very special, maybe too special to be compatible...

BTW NAA does not work for me ; it works fine with 3 & 4 and PCM but as soon as I check dop and/or choose to output SDM it does not work 

The NAA being on macOS:

Windows based Desktop 3 or 4 : works with PCM output but it times out in queuing and disconnects with SDM output, with or without dop checked

Embedded : initialisation failure "not an integer" whether with PCM or SDM

Main issue is heat causing cpu throttles and interruptions quickly with DSD files. But this morning comparing sacd rips and 24/48 of PG’s So it's on a 24/48 track that it stopped..

@Miska I think there's less heat since I have gone SMB

Can you please confirm that Thunderbolt to Ethernet will work with the image? I would get rid of the usb hub and hopefully it would help the cpu stay cool and working

Do you have a clue why some files/albums don’t appear in Library?

Including with modified folder name i.e. 

Jordi Savall_ Le Concert des Nations - Mozart - Le Testament Symphonique (2019) _24-88_ 

Containing such files (dsd or pcm does not matter there) as :

01. Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major_ K. 543 I. Adagio – Allegro

Strangely enough, non modified, supposingly non SBM kosher (because of comma for instance, I read) folder and files appear just fine :

El Cant de La Sibil·la I - Catalunya (La Capella Reial de Catalunya feat. conductor_ Jordi Savall soprano_ Montserrat Figueras)

01 Sibilla Latine (Barcelona, X-XIèmes siècles)

 

Is it because of the “dots” that ABFR left behind?

[Miska]

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

b) Audirvana can scan and watch local iTunes libraries;

 

I'm not sure if Audirvana supports transcoding, but probably it does. Just in case you have ALAC or AAC content (I don't have any and never tested this aspect). I don't right now remember if it sends FLAC or decoded PCM when playing a FLAC file.

 

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

It is pretty clear to me that getting HQ Player Embedded/Linux to mount and scan Mac network volumes requires Linux expertise and patience beyond what I possess (sorry Jussi, but your instructions so far are for me like giving someone driving directions with the assumption that they already know most of the streets in town).

 

As name suggests, HQPlayer Embedded is intended as a building block for hardware manufacturers building network streamers/servers. But I also offer it for DIY'ers. So if you want to use it, you just need to figure out how to set things up, or buy some ready made hardware with it (there are currently hardware from four different manufacturers).

 

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

But even if I manage to get that to work, the HQPe library would stay static—I don’t think it can be told to watch or automatically rescan—and it offers zero ability to edit, so one small folder/artist/album error cascades.

 

On purpose it doesn't watch and rescan in background. Because I deeply hate any such activity that causes undetermined inconsistent background activity. When I add content I know I've added content and will manually re-trigger scan at that point as part of the process. And after that point, only activity that happens is exactly only the things I explicitly ask to happen, like playback.

 

You can always use the "clean scan" to clear up and rescan everything. Most network streamers don't offer editing capabilities either...

 

9 hours ago, Superdad said:

Not sure if Audirvana (or any other Mac player)—even with all its DSP turned off—will be as transparent.

 

If it's running on a different computer it should be transparent. But some of the features these have don't exist in HQPlayer (Desktop or Embedded) on purpose. Such as background scanning/watching! I don't like risking sound quality for convenience.

 

[Miska]

40 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

But this morning comparing sacd rips and 24/48 of PG’s So it's on a 24/48 track that it stopped..

 

Have you checked that the settings are not incompatible with 48k-family? For example if you ask upsampling to DSD, you don't have "48k DSD" checked (unusual to have it supported by DACs) and you have "Adaptive output rate"/"Auto rate family" checked, or alternatively some filter like closed-form selected that cannot convert between rate families...

 

43 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Do you have a clue why some files/albums don’t appear in Library?

Including with modified folder name i.e. 

Jordi Savall_ Le Concert des Nations - Mozart - Le Testament Symphonique (2019) _24-88_ 

Containing such files (dsd or pcm does not matter there) as :

01. Symphony No. 39 in E-Flat Major_ K. 543 I. Adagio – Allegro

Strangely enough, non modified, supposingly non SBM kosher (because of comma for instance, I read) folder and files appear just fine :

El Cant de La Sibil·la I - Catalunya (La Capella Reial de Catalunya feat. conductor_ Jordi Savall soprano_ Montserrat Figueras)

01 Sibilla Latine (Barcelona, X-XIèmes siècles)

 

Is it because of the “dots” that ABFR left behind?

 

These things depend on how the SMB server does translation for file names. My servers are Linux and run Samba as server with UTF-8 character set using latest SMB protocol version. This works very well.

 

45 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Embedded : initialisation failure "not an integer" whether with PCM or SDM

 

Can you email me the relevant log entries?

 

45 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Rename to make sure the syntax was SMB kosher ;  I have tried to move folders etc, no chance. I'm loosing patience too. I just can't understand why some appear like a charm some don't...

 

Have you checked file sizes? Could be that some old SMB servers don't support files larger than 2 or 4 GB.

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

4 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Have you checked that the settings are not incompatible with 48k-family? For example if you ask upsampling to DSD, you don't have "48k DSD" checked (unusual to have it supported by DACs) and you have "Adaptive output rate"/"Auto rate family" checked, or alternatively some filter like closed-form selected that cannot convert between rate families...

 

No such issue; I think heat continued to build even after I switched from DSD to PCM, as simple as that

These things depend on how the SMB server does translation for file names. My servers are Linux and run Samba as server with UTF-8 character set using latest SMB protocol version. This works very well.

 

I will ask my provider for a more recent bbox

Can you email me the relevant log entries?

 

I will

Have you checked file sizes? Could be that some old SMB servers don't support files larger than 2 or 4 GB.

no no even some CD rips, small folders, small files  don't show

 

Answers above + should I order the T to E adaptor or is it doubtful the image works with it?

[rando]

I understand now the fits people had about this program. 

 

HQP3 never quite captured my interest so much as 4 did.  Client was a big part of that for the high level of similarities classical titles can share.  Still it'd be a shame if the "GUI hoopla" took away too much development time from the more important elements. 

[Miska]

3 hours ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

Answers above + should I order the T to E adaptor or is it doubtful the image works with it?

 

I need to try when I find time and I'm at home to test it... Maybe on Sunday or something... I can try it with Mac Mini or MacBook Air, but it still doesn't guarantee that it works with some other Mac. But gives some sort of indication...