HQ Player

[giordy60]

17 hours ago, Miska said:

 

 

 

For desktop clients, for streaming services Roon or Audirvana work as front-end and for local content in HQPlayer library you can use HQPlayer Client.

 

 

 

 

Jussi
so is it possible to broadcast the streaming of audirvana on Hqplayer desktop? 

[Gavin1977]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

Yes, exactly...

 

 

Note, you need hardware that has device side type-B USB ports. Host side type-A USB ports cannot be used for input.

 

Nice - thanks

[AudioDoctor]

@Miska Have you ever considered playing with one of these as an all in one HQP box with upsampling?

https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-agx-xavier-developer-kit

[Miska]

6 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

@Miska Have you ever considered playing with one of these as an all in one HQP box with upsampling?

https://developer.nvidia.com/embedded/jetson-agx-xavier-developer-kit

 

I have a Jetson TX, but it was such a pain to deal with that I eventually gave up...

[AudioDoctor]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

I have a Jetson TX, but it was such a pain to deal with that I eventually gave up...

 

haha, okay. Good to know.

[Rune]

On 11/9/2020 at 10:58 PM, Gavin1977 said:

So, HQPlayer embedded really is the very best sounding (and most expensive) ‘endpoint’ I have ever owned.
 

But what uPnP media servers are people using to send their music to HQPlayer embedded?

 

I am thinking that a dedicated network player, with its own app (to serve Tidal, local files on minimserver and all the other services etc... integrated) would be great.  So far only Melcos seem to do this and will output a upnp stream to other devices.

 

Any bits of hardware out there that could, for example take the usb audio stream from a bluesound node and send it onwards via upnp to HQPlayer?

 

I’m using Linn Kazoo at the moment and works really very well, but there is an ease to having a commercial server because of the ecosystem it can bring.

Have you looked at Roon it is by far the best and it can send the stream to HQPlayer.

[Joerg D]

Hello
Would the function "short buffer" be in the setting of the Hqplayer?

Many greetings Jörg

[Joerg D]

Hello
Does the function " Short Buffer" have an influence on the sound?
I find it sounds a bit calmer and more relaxed when " Short Buffer" is not turned on.

Many greetings
Joerg
 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, Joerg D said:

Does the function " Short Buffer" have an influence on the sound?
I find it sounds a bit calmer and more relaxed when " Short Buffer" is not turned on.

 

No, it doesn't. Or if it does, mostly negative because likelihood of drop-outs and stutter increases. It is there just to give faster response times for track changes and pause/un-pause (which has also the additional quick pause option). It cuts the amount of FIFO buffer in RAM to half.

 

[Mahler and Bach on Computer]

@Miska

Hi, Apple just announced their release of M1-based Mac Mini.  It is supposed to be much faster than the Intel-based Mac Mini i7.  Do you think my HQPlayer4Desk will run on this new Mac Mini?

 

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-silicon-mac-mini-vs-intel-mac-mini/

[Miska]

6 hours ago, Mahler and Bach on Computer said:

@Miska

Hi, Apple just announced their release of M1-based Mac Mini.  It is supposed to be much faster than the Intel-based Mac Mini i7.  Do you think my HQPlayer4Desk will run on this new Mac Mini?

 

https://www.macrumors.com/guide/apple-silicon-mac-mini-vs-intel-mac-mini/

 

I doubt it is faster than i7 model, only faster than the cheapest model and likely only on workloads that don't entirely depend on CPU but instead use the GPU. (and Apple is still selling the more powerful Intel powered Mac Mini as well)

 

HQPlayer doesn't work on it yet, but likely will at some point in future.

 

[asdf1000]

On 10/6/2019 at 9:15 PM, Miska said:

I'm planning to get Ares II for some testing.

 

Hi @Miska

 

Did you get Denafrips Ares II for testing? 

[Miska]

9 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

Did you get Denafrips Ares II for testing? 

 

No, I'm a bit low on R&D hardware budget and would need to order it from outside of EU which means extra (customs) pain.

 

At the moment Mac Mini with M1 has priority.

 

[asdf1000]

Great new headphone amp. No channel imbalance issues !

 

https://www.audio “science” review/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-sh-9-thx-headphone-amplifier-review.17519/

 

Would make a nice pairing with RME ADI-2 FS DAC or Holo Audio or Denafrips DACs. With HQP upsampling to DSD

[pcmchild]

I will be buying soon a Zen3 CPU and need some advise.

I am considering the 5800X (8-core 36M unified cache) or the 5900X (12-core 70M split cahe)

I use PCM only (705/768K now, more in the future if I get a dac that supports it).

 

How many cores can HQP use for PCM only?

Is there any advantage (for HQP) in having more than 8 cores or double the cache?

Or can it be better to have 8 cores with unified cache?

 

I don't even know if it is possible or advisable, but i was wondering if HQP could allocate one chiplet to itself (6-core 35M cache, unified for those 6 cores), and leave the other chiplet to everything else (OS, other apps), so that HQP could run more independently of everything else.

 

Also having one of those CPUs, would a GPU be of any help, or is the CPU more than enough for any PCM?
 

[luisma]

5 hours ago, pcmchild said:

How many cores can HQP use for PCM only?

If you use PCM only you don't need that CPU :) PCM uses almost no resources and most of the content out there is natively PCM

 

That said if you are fixed into getting one of these the 5800X will be very good cost wise and it is the CPU in that lineup with the highest base clock. Eventually you might get the itch to try DSD so 5800X is perfect

 

Are you planning to run this with Windows? an possibly run other things along with HQPlayer?

[asdf1000]

15 hours ago, Miska said:

 

No, I'm a bit low on R&D hardware budget and would need to order it from outside of EU which means extra (customs) pain.

 

At the moment Mac Mini with M1 has priority.

 

 

Measurement looks good though for ARES II :

 

https://www.audio “science” review/forum/index.php?threads/denafrips-ares-ii-usb-r2r-dac-review.11166/

 

in HQPlayer settings for PCM upsampling (to PCM ~1500 kHz) would you set "bits" to 18 bits? Based on:

 

[pcmchild]

3 hours ago, luisma said:

If you use PCM only you don't need that CPU :) PCM uses almost no resources and most of the content out there is natively PCM

 

That said if you are fixed into getting one of these the 5800X will be very good cost wise and it is the CPU in that lineup with the highest base clock. Eventually you might get the itch to try DSD so 5800X is perfect

 

Are you planning to run this with Windows? an possibly run other things along with HQPlayer?

I am not buying the Zen3 for an audio box, it will be my main PC, used for everything, 12 hours per day. Including playing HQP in the background. Windows for now, possibly Linux in the future.

So I need to know how many cores does HQP use for PCM only, for the most demanding PCM processing (1536, Sinc-L, etc). 

No, no DSD content or processing for me, no itch will come for that :-)

[jimdukey]

Does anyone listen to music?

Or just the equipment?

Background Music is an Oxymoron.

[Miska]

4 hours ago, pcmchild said:

I am not buying the Zen3 for an audio box, it will be my main PC, used for everything, 12 hours per day. Including playing HQP in the background. Windows for now, possibly Linux in the future.

So I need to know how many cores does HQP use for PCM only, for the most demanding PCM processing (1536, Sinc-L, etc). 

 

My Xeon W-2245 is doing such job, it is my main development workstation running Linux. But I also do most of my listening on it (while working), through either of two headphone systems.

 

Depending on filter as many cores as the CPU has physical cores. In most cases, threads are left for other tasks. So especially for PCM case you shouldn't have any worries running lot of other stuff at the same time.

 

4 hours ago, jimdukey said:

Does anyone listen to music?

Or just the equipment?

Background Music is an Oxymoron.

 

Yes, I listen a lot of music, most of the time through headphones while working. This is also good way to test things, because in for example four hour listening session you will notice if you need to make changes. I think both the initial and long term impressions both need to be good.

 

[Miska]

9 hours ago, asdf1000 said:

 

Measurement looks good though for ARES II :

 

https://www.audio “science” review/forum/index.php?threads/denafrips-ares-ii-usb-r2r-dac-review.11166/

 

in HQPlayer settings for PCM upsampling (to PCM ~1500 kHz) would you set "bits" to 18 bits? Based on:

 

 

If using PCM mode (like in the test), I would set "DAC Bits" to 16 or 17 with LNS15 noise shaper. This keeps linearity in the very flat range, while providing 20+ bits worth of practical dynamic range in audio band.

 

[pcmchild]

5 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Depending on filter as many cores as the CPU has physical cores. In most cases, threads are left for other tasks. So especially for PCM case you shouldn't have any worries running lot of other stuff at the same time.

 

Thanks Jussi. So HQP can make real use of all cores available, so I may be better with a 12-core. I was afraid most work could not be parallelized.

Do you forecast that even for PCM only, you will be putting out more demanding filters, specially at 1536?

Regarding cache, which is better for HQP, 36M unified on 8 cores or 70 split on 12-cores?

 

[Miska]

26 minutes ago, pcmchild said:

Thanks Jussi. So HQP can make real use of all cores available, so I may be better with a 12-core. I was afraid most work could not be parallelized.

 

Some algorithms less, it depends. But for example poly-sinc filters can be parallelized to almost no limit.

 

But adding more cores doesn't necessarily help, it lowers per-core clocks and adds some overhead for cross-core communication. So it is a fragile balance.

 

27 minutes ago, pcmchild said:

Do you forecast that even for PCM only, you will be putting out more demanding filters, specially at 1536?

 

It is already pretty much as demanding as it can get. 1.5M is still so low sampling rate that it doesn't pose much challenge. And you don't have big things like modulators running. OTOH, you need an R2R or similar ladder DAC to really use PCM. Such things are quite rare these days.

 

But you need to pay attention to correct "DAC Bits" and noise-shaper selection.

 

30 minutes ago, pcmchild said:

Regarding cache, which is better for HQP, 36M unified on 8 cores or 70 split on 12-cores?

 

Only someone running HQPlayer benchmark head-to-head could tell...

 

[pcmchild]

6 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

OTOH, you need an R2R or similar ladder DAC to really use PCM. Such things are quite rare these days.

 

 

 

Thank you so much for the explanations.

And I apologize for my ignorance, but could you explain why ladder DAC is required for full benefit of PCM? As PCM adept, that is really important for me to know.

I would have jumped on a AresII if it had headphone output...

 

[asdf1000]

4 hours ago, pcmchild said:

I would have jumped on a AresII if it had headphone output...

 

Here's a stellar new and very transparent headamp ($300) that should pair nicely with Ares II :

 

https://www.audio “science” review/forum/index.php?threads/smsl-sh-9-thx-headphone-amplifier-review.17519/

 

ASR links don't work here for some reason