HQ Player

[jamesg11]

11 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Can you share a screenshot of your HQPlayer settings?

 

Will do ... later today ...

[jamesg11]

12 hours ago, Em2016 said:

 

Probably the same reason as:

 

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/602/?tab=comments#comment-970797

Yep, fully expecting this to be a heavy cpu load thing ... aged macmini is likely in need of replacing; leaning towards a SonicTransporter with HQP embedded, or ... suggestions are always welcome, but it’s gotta be relatively simples to run.

[jamesg11]

On 7/17/2019 at 6:17 AM, Superdad said:

 

Of course not.  Full on Intel i9 8-core processor. It's listed right on the Small Green Computer's SonicTransporter web page:

https://www.smallgreencomputer.com/collections/audio-server/products/sonictransporter-roon-server-hqplayer?variant=21739021508

 

New-ish model I think - presumably this will enable at least dsd256 upsampling (without stutters!) for all files, incl 24-192 & dxd thru most HQP filters? Anyone able to confirm.

[tboooe]

21 minutes ago, jamesg11 said:

New-ish model I think - presumably this will enable at least dsd256 upsampling (without stutters!) for all files, incl 24-192 & dxd thru most HQP filters? Anyone able to confirm.

I have an old i7-6700 cpu and I am able to convert PCM to DSD512 without issue though my cpu utilization is at 60%.  I can use most of the HQP filters except the most demanding like non -2s.  I also have some stuttering when converting DSD64 or 128 to DSD512.  For this reason I will be building a new pc with a new cpu like the i7-9700K and overclock it a bit.

[jamesg11]

It seems that there is more intensive cpu heavy lifting required for these higher pcm rates (24-96 thru dxd) than redbook pcm or dsd64.

[k6davis]

1 hour ago, tboooe said:

I have an old i7-6700 cpu and I am able to convert PCM to DSD512 without issue though my cpu utilization is at 60%.  I can use most of the HQP filters except the most demanding like non -2s.  I also have some stuttering when converting DSD64 or 128 to DSD512.  For this reason I will be building a new pc with a new cpu like the i7-9700K and overclock it a bit.

 

I've loving the sound of these new EC modulators in HQP Embedded, coming soon to HQP Desktop. They need a *very* powerful server though.

 

My current AMD Ryzen 2700x can upsample anything (DSD, 24-192) to DSD512 with the most of the modulators, but only to DSD128 using the new EC modulators. I'm waiting for the next gen AMD Ryzen 9 3950x, which won't be out until September - hoping it can do at least RedBook with EC modulators to DSD512. On paper, it looks to be the most powerful "consumer" CPU yet for HQP. 

[tboooe]

55 minutes ago, k6davis said:

 

I've loving the sound of these new EC modulators in HQP Embedded, coming soon to HQP Desktop. They need a *very* powerful server though.

 

My current AMD Ryzen 2700x can upsample anything (DSD, 24-192) to DSD512 with the most of the modulators, but only to DSD128 using the new EC modulators. I'm waiting for the next gen AMD Ryzen 9 3950x, which won't be out until September - hoping it can do at least RedBook with EC modulators to DSD512. On paper, it looks to be the most powerful "consumer" CPU yet for HQP. 

Oh man, not what I wanted to hear.  I am hoping I can use the new EC modulators without having to get a GPU.

[JTS]

4 hours ago, sdmarquart said:

I just bit the bullet on the Freya +.

 

I have the original Freya and really like it. With HQP feeding the RME ADI-2 DAC fs in DSD direct mode and the Freya in Tube gain mode, it's a beautiful thing. I imagine the + to be a step up from my OG Freya.

[sdmarquart]

18 minutes ago, JTS said:

 

I have the original Freya and really like it. With HQP feeding the RME ADI-2 DAC fs in DSD direct mode and the Freya in Tube gain mode, it's a beautiful thing. I imagine the + to be a step up from my OG Freya.

I'm very much looking forward to playing with this thing! So, did running DSD Direct with the Tube gain give the digital sound some warmth? That's what I'm wanting. Less digital sound coming out of HQPlayer. And I'll have a turntable plugged in too! Will report back after spending some time with this guy.

[JTS]

1 minute ago, sdmarquart said:

So, did running DSD Direct with the Tube gain give the digital sound some warmth?

 

It'll depend on your monitors and your room, but here yes, the tubes add to the experience! It is the reason I went for the Freya.

 

I run Neumann's (PCM with Freya in passive) for work - they're quite unforgiving and great for picking apart mixes. For listening pleasure, though, HQP DSD>RME in DSD direct>Freya in Tube mode is pretty engaging. Of course YMMV, but I dig it.

[sdmarquart]

5 minutes ago, JTS said:

 

It'll depend on your monitors and your room, but here yes, the tubes add to the experience! It is the reason I went for the Freya.

 

I run Neumann's (PCM with Freya in passive) for work - they're quite unforgiving and great for picking apart mixes. For listening pleasure, though, HQP DSD>RME in DSD direct>Freya in Tube mode is pretty engaging. Of course YMMV, but I dig it.

Cool. I’ll play all the different modes. I typically want a flat neutral sound. So, hoping the tubes don’t color things too much. 

 

My speakers are Focal Solo 6be. I’ve done some mixing with them and they’re sweet studio monitors. Maybe just a touch on the trebly side. I have everything flat outside of an HQPlayer filter. But the digital still comes out sounding a bit brittle. Vinyl sounds effing amazing and that’s running the analog out of turntable into a cheap a to d adapter and optical into into the RME. I can’t imagine how good the turntable will sound going straight analog in to the Freya. We shall see and hear!

[JTS]

I have 4.1.0 installed. I have been playing with the EC filters and they were running well here. I was starting to dig in to come comparative listening and HQP keeps crashing now. How might I troubleshoot this? I've rebooted, uninstalled and reinstalled couple times to see if that might help things to no avail.

 

W10 Roon Server>LAN>W10 (i9900k) w GTX1080 ROON>HQP 4.1.0>USB>RME ADI-2

 

I am crashing on any filter combination now.

 

Are there preferences I can delete? Where would I find them?

 

 

 

[JTS]

7 minutes ago, sdmarquart said:

hoping the tubes don’t color things too much.

 

I found that that HQP DSD + DSD Direct on the RME + Tubes on the Freya is less about colour and more about adding to the dynamics and the staging - again, this is dependant on your setup. You can get into tube rolling, too which is a money/rabbit hole. I run the NOS Sylvania GTBs here which are cheap and really like them. (This is PM or another thread, though).

[dc-audiogeek]

I just installed HQPlayer Desktop 4.10 on my Mac. Tried the new modulators. They worked okay. Then tried to run older settings (Closed form 16) and crash, crash, crash. Switch to Windows and install 4.10. Try to run Closed form 16 again. Crash, crash, crash. It can't do it for some reason. Most settings fail.

 

Jussi, did you save a copy of HQPlayer 4.0.4 (was that the last version) somewhere?

[Allan F]

1 hour ago, dc-audiogeek said:

I just installed HQPlayer Desktop 4.10 on my Mac. Tried the new modulators. They worked okay. Then tried to run older settings (Closed form 16) and crash, crash, crash. Switch to Windows and install 4.10. Try to run Closed form 16 again. Crash, crash, crash. It can't do it for some reason. Most settings fail.

 

Jussi, did you save a copy of HQPlayer 4.0.4 (was that the last version) somewhere?

 

Dunno if this old post by Jussi is still of assistance: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/page/498/?tab=comments#comment-894835

[jamesg11]

19 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Can you share a screenshot of your HQPlayer settings?

 

Here tis - from post #15170

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

6 hours ago, k6davis said:

 

I've loving the sound of these new EC modulators in HQP Embedded, coming soon to HQP Desktop. They need a *very* powerful server though.

 

My current AMD Ryzen 2700x can upsample anything (DSD, 24-192) to DSD512 with the most of the modulators, but only to DSD128 using the new EC modulators. I'm waiting for the next gen AMD Ryzen 9 3950x, which won't be out until September - hoping it can do at least RedBook with EC modulators to DSD512. On paper, it looks to be the most powerful "consumer" CPU yet for HQP. 

with my old MBP I can do every format, including PCM MCH turned Stereo, to SDM 128 + full range convo but DSD 64 to 128 : my advice to everyone is : don't be sacred, try !

 

However, I can't do ASDM7 EC and I have to carefully chose the filter ; ie can't do ext2 or xtr 2s/ASDMEC above RB resolution.

 

short lp 2s is a safe bet for above resolutions

 

btw been using minringfir lp*, mqa mp and hb 2s*. Might shine because of their relatively smaller cpu load.

 

But I begin to wonder if I'm not reaching a paradox : Miska did such a great job that filters which are non apodising (*), so let recording/mastering/editing defaults go through, yield very palatable listenings indeed, and maybe with a tone balance and different emphasis on which sounds/instruments shine that it makes the mastering more logical more like someone has actually made eQ etc choices that I can understand.

 

Not saying that the filters act as a predictable eQ though ; for that there's convolution

[Miska]

3 hours ago, dc-audiogeek said:

I just installed HQPlayer Desktop 4.10 on my Mac. Tried the new modulators. They worked okay. Then tried to run older settings (Closed form 16) and crash, crash, crash. Switch to Windows and install 4.10. Try to run Closed form 16 again. Crash, crash, crash. It can't do it for some reason. Most settings fail.

 

Jussi, did you save a copy of HQPlayer 4.0.4 (was that the last version) somewhere?

 

I'll make a fix today. Looks like fixing a bug found during testing created another bug that I didn't realize. I'll make a new build today.

 

Previous version is always downloadable if you modify the download URL with matching version...

 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

Here tis - from post #15170

 

 

If you enable "Auto rate family", you get lighter CPU load for 44.1k base rates. And this can be used since ADI-2 supports DSD also at 48k base rates just fine. Doesn't change things for 96/192k content though.

 

Assuming your MacMini is dual-core like mine, other settings are fine. But you can still experiment if setting "Multicore DSP" to grayed (auto) helps.

 

HQPlayer 4 Desktop has separate filter setting for hires. To check whether that would make a difference for you, you could try setting some other filter in main window when playing hires content on v3. Such as poly-sinc-mqa-mp.

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

24 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

I'll make a fix today. Looks like fixing a bug found during testing created another bug that I didn't realize. I'll make a new build today.

 

Previous version is always downloadable if you modify the download URL with matching version...

 

tried D 4.1 and it works perfectly fine provisio the limitations, for me, I have already stated (no DSD source with EC mod with my machine)

 

Took seconds to set up and I'm in a lucky day with 3 MBooks

 

NAA Linux on Air

D 4.1 on the WS2012 Bootcamp partition of the MBP15

client on MBP13 running macOS

 

would really appreciate if Client allowed to browse the D4 machine, that itself was connected to my WIFI main drive. 

 

Haven't compared to Embedded but it sounded so good (24/44 ext2/ASDM5EC) that I just enjoyed my 30 minutes

[k6davis]

33 minutes ago, Miska said:

HQPlayer 4 Desktop has separate filter setting for hires.

 

I just realized that there is no separate modulator setting for hires. It would be extremely helpful to be able to set HQP to run EC for lowres and non-EC for hires. I'm sure you understand why.

 

Would you consider making this change for both desktop & embedded?

 

In fact, while I'm asking... due to the demands that EC places on the server, it would be ideal if we could have a second set of settings (perhaps hidden with a checkbox to simplify the UI?) for filter, modulator and sample rate. 

 

I realize that's a significant request, but it would allow us to get the best performance from HQP our that servers can provide without having to continually change settings manually.

 

For example, if HQP allowed me to, I'd set it like this:

• lowres: [ext2  DSD5EC  DSD128]
• hires:    [ext2  DSD7 256+fs  DSD512]

... because I like those and that's what my current server is capable of.

[Le Concombre Masqué]

43 minutes ago, k6davis said:

 

I just realized that there is no separate modulator setting for hires. It would be extremely helpful to be able to set HQP to run EC for lowres and non-EC for hires. I'm sure you understand why.

 

Would you consider making this change for both desktop & embedded?

 

In fact, while I'm asking... due to the demands that EC places on the server, it would be ideal if we could have a second set of settings (perhaps hidden with a checkbox to simplify the UI?) for filter, modulator and sample rate. 

 

I realize that's a significant request, but it would allow us to get the best performance from HQP our that servers can provide without having to continually change settings manually.

 

For example, if HQP allowed me to, I'd set it like this:

• lowres: [ext2  DSD5EC  DSD128]
• hires:    [ext2  DSD7 256+fs  DSD512]

... because I like those and that's what my current server is capable of.

on the other hand, it's easy to change when you have a control machine on your laps or by your side: via web page for embedded via client for D

[k6davis]

48 minutes ago, Le Concombre Masqué said:

on the other hand, it's easy to change when you have a control machine on your laps or by your side: via web page for embedded via client for D

 

But why would I want to manually change the settings each time I pick a song, or when Roon Radio picks one? 

 

I think my request makes sense, given that there is now a big difference between what the same server is capable of with the variables of EC/non-EC and RedBook/Hires.

 

When I get a server that can do RedBook EC DSD512 or DSD256, that server will require me to lower the settings in order to play hires music. Then switch them back to get the most out of the RedBook. I switch songs & formats freely. That would be a real hassle. 

 

I get that it's not a trivial request but I think it's going to be necessary. 

[luisma]

1 hour ago, k6davis said:

 

But why would I want to manually change the settings each time I pick a song, or when Roon Radio picks one? 

 

I think my request makes sense, given that there is now a big difference between what the same server is capable of with the variables of EC/non-EC and RedBook/Hires.

 

When I get a server that can do RedBook EC DSD512 or DSD256, that server will require me to lower the settings in order to play hires music. Then switch them back to get the most out of the RedBook. I switch songs & formats freely. That would be a real hassle. 

 

I get that it's not a trivial request but I think it's going to be necessary. 

This is something interesting and that could be very useful, not an apples to apples comparison but euphony for example has a PCM conversion table where you select a conversion rate for each source material 44.1, 48, 88, 96, here we are talking about dsd with more complex options of course and will still need the auto rate option etc. Let's see what @Miskathinks about it

 

[Le Concombre Masqué]

10 minutes ago, luisma said:

This is something interesting and that could be very useful, not an apples to apples comparison but euphony for example has a PCM conversion table where you select a conversion rate for each source material 44.1, 48, 88, 96, here we are talking about dsd with more complex options of course and will still need the auto rate option etc. Let's see what @Miskathinks about it

 

but then we'll also need entries per music style mastering style and maybe even a mood detector.

 

I have become quick in fiddling with filters; this being, I think I would fill a table with settings for 44 48 88 96 176 192 (ie I can do minringfir lp only with n44)