HQ Player

[toddrhodes]

Thank you both! Admittedly it was late last night when I was playing with the Firmware tool, but I was having a bit of a hard time even figuring out what the "newest" options were through their tool. 

 

But, the good news is it is not hard to do, so I just kinda need to figure out what versions of CPLD and CPU to flash and go from there.

 

To be clear - I couldn't care less about DSD512 from Windows as I'll never use it with Windows. I was having other issues on top of the firmware side of things so that was just my way of making sure all was working as it should, even if the scenario I tested isn't one I intend to use - it was just the easiest one to mock up at the time.

 

Hope that helps, and thank you.

If anyone knows what versions of FW to run off the top of your heads, I'd be indebted to you. Otherwise, I'll start digging :D

[Solstice380]

24 minutes ago, toddrhodes said:

Otherwise, I'll start digging :D

Just find the T+A thread.   The numbering is confusing... 11 or 12be is the one.  I think, maybe, could be.... 😜

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, semente said:

would this require that I run Apple Remote Desktop?

I just use ‘screen sharing’ on the MBP to control the mac mini M1, plus the HQPD app on iPad for remote music selection.

[toddrhodes]

3 hours ago, Solstice380 said:

Just find the T+A thread.   The numbering is confusing... 11 or 12be is the one.  I think, maybe, could be.... 😜

Turns out this was the secret sauce in my setup:

 

Amanero Combo384 Native DSD512 for Linux:

 

Not much of a secret really, but for posterity's sake, here she is :)

 

And just for grins, here is the setup I'm running this in (it's crude for now):

 

Stuff in that pic:

LifePO4 mkiii on left, powered by a Dell laptop 19V/300W power supply
On the right, bottom to top:
Optical Ethernet converter and
Pi4 hardwired, both converter and Pi are running fine off LifePO4 5V DC
Amanero Combo384
BridgePi
FifoPi Q3 with AccuSilicon 90/95 oscillators - both "sides" are run off 3.3V sections of LifePO4
HDMIPi Mk I i2S/LVDS transmitter

Vinyl boxsets I haven't touched since playing with HQPlayer

[Miska]

4 minutes ago, toddrhodes said:

Turns out this was the secret sauce in my setup:

 

Great! Just in case check out that left/right channels are correct, sometimes DSD channel swap is needed.

 

[toddrhodes]

I saw that option, but haven't had a chance to figure out if they correct yet. Good call - thank you!

[clang]

On 2/22/2021 at 8:01 AM, Miska said:

Many DACs, like Holo Spring 1 may seem to play 48k-base DSD, but actually play it at wrong speed, using 44.1k-base clock. Which means that for example HQPlayer would convert to 12.288M, but DAC would actually play it at 11.2896M rate - thus too slow. Most DACs though either just go mute (Marantz), or play it plain wrong (Mytek Brooklyn).

 

That was what happened to me. I've got the Mytek DAC and last week tried to play 48-base DSD. Everything was a bit slow and low-pitched. I was wondering why. Now Jussi has made things clear.

[GoldenOne]

@Miskawould you be able to explain what the differences between asdm7ec and asdm7ec 512+fs are? I'm not sure which one is in theory better or why.

 

(also, what exactly is the difference between the ec and non ec modulators?) 

 

Thank you! 

[Pogballistics]

18 hours ago, Pogballistics said:

With new HQPlayer updates rolling out pretty fast, I was curious to know what would be the expected upgrade price for HQPlayer Desktop 5?

 

Also, for new users who would be starting their HQPlayer Desktop journey from version 5 itself what would be the first time price for them?

 

Will the HQ Player 4 users get any price advantage once the 5 is released?

 

Thank you

 

 

Please help. This will help me make a purchase decision. My wife is against recurring expenses 😂

[AudioDoctor]

11 minutes ago, Pogballistics said:

Please help. This will help me make a purchase decision. My wife is against recurring expenses 😂

 

HQPlayer is food for your soul, just like groceries are food for your body...  Both also reoccur.  ;-)

Is that helpful?

 

I don't know what HQP 5 will cost, IIRC HQP 4 Desktop was ~$240 USD

[Pogballistics]

38 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

s that helpful?

Yes, kinda :)

38 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I don't know what HQP 5 will cost, IIRC HQP 4 Desktop was ~$240 USD

But, will HQ Player 4 Desktop users get some discount for upgrade or is the price generalized regardless you are an existing user or new joinee?

 

Maybe someone who has been with the software since the 3rd gen will know.

[bibo01]

17 minutes ago, Pogballistics said:

But, will HQ Player 4 Desktop users get some discount for upgrade or is the price generalized regardless you are an existing user or new joinee?

As an ex-international reseller of the software and user for many years, I can tell you that Jussi/Miska has always given a bonus discount to existing users when we went from v2-v3 and v3-v4. Obviously, I don't know what he is going to do for v5 update and I assume that he doesn't know himself as we are perhaps at the half way point in the developing stage of v4. He would not say it anyway. He announces it when things/decisions are set/made. 

[ted_b]

2 hours ago, Pogballistics said:

But, will HQ Player 4 Desktop users get some discount for upgrade or is the price generalized regardless you are an existing user or new joinee?

 

Maybe someone who has been with the software since the 3rd gen will know.

First off, what is this talk of HQP 5 all of a sudden?  Jump in, man, HQP 4 is just fine. And yes, of course existing users are treated well.  To go from 3 to 4 you simply had to enter your HQP 3 key into the online purchase form and 25% was deducted.  I think there are times when addtl discounts can be had....Jussi is a fair gentleman in business and in technology.  This is not really a line item in your overall audio investment that you should be worried about IMHO.  You'll pay more to have heavy amplifiers shipped.

[MemoryPlayer]

2 hours ago, Pogballistics said:

Yes, kinda :)

But, will HQ Player 4 Desktop users get some discount for upgrade or is the price generalized regardless you are an existing user or new joinee?

 

Maybe someone who has been with the software since the 3rd gen will know.

I got 20% OFF for upgrade from version 3 to 4!

In black friday there was an additional 5% OFF...

[Pogballistics]

1 hour ago, ted_b said:

First off, what is this talk of HQP 5 all of a sudden?  Jump in, man, HQP 4 is just fine. And yes, of course existing users are treated well.  To go from 3 to 4 you simply had to enter your HQP 3 key into the online purchase form and 25% was deducted.  I think there are times when addtl discounts can be had....Jussi is a fair gentleman in business and in technology.  This is not really a line item in your overall audio investment that you should be worried about IMHO.  You'll pay more to have heavy amplifiers shipped.

Thank you Ted.

 

Atm I just have a intel NUC8I3BEH which is run as a my Roon Core.

 

It doesn't have Nvidia cards in it and only Intel iris dedicated which cannot do CUDA offload.

 

What do you suggest,

1) Should I first upgrade my core by connecting an eGpu to make the best out of HQ Player Desktop or

2) Buy Hq player desktop license first and try with low CPU extensive filters such as poly-sinc-short-mp-2s with ASDM7 at DSD256 or below.

 

Fyi, the intel nuc8i3beh can upsample to highest available config on Roon internal DSP but struggles with HQ Player filters such as poly-sinc-ext2 and ASDM7EC, ASDM5EC etc.

 

 

[Miska]

6 hours ago, GoldenOne said:

@Miskawould you be able to explain what the differences between asdm7ec and asdm7ec 512+fs are? I'm not sure which one is in theory better or why.

 

ASDM7EC 512+fs is for minimum DSD512 rate, preferably DSD1024 or DSD2048. So not something you can currently run in realtime. It would be useful for those multi-element discrete DSD DACs. At the moment it is more of a curiosity. So just stick to ASDM7EC.

 

6 hours ago, GoldenOne said:

(also, what exactly is the difference between the ec and non ec modulators?)

 

This is something I don't want to discuss in more detail. But EC modulators are notably better than non-EC ones.

 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Pogballistics said:

Atm I just have a intel NUC8I3BEH which is run as a my Roon Core.

 

It doesn't have Nvidia cards in it and only Intel iris dedicated which cannot do CUDA offload.

 

What do you suggest,

1) Should I first upgrade my core by connecting an eGpu to make the best out of HQ Player Desktop or

2) Buy Hq player desktop license first and try with low CPU extensive filters such as poly-sinc-short-mp-2s with ASDM7 at DSD256 or below.

 

Fyi, the intel nuc8i3beh can upsample to highest available config on Roon internal DSP but struggles with HQ Player filters such as poly-sinc-ext2 and ASDM7EC, ASDM5EC etc.

 

Challenge are more likely the modulators rather than the filters. poly-sinc-ext2 should probably work fine on your machine, but ASDM7EC likely won't. However, GPU doesn't help on the modulators, only on filters and convolution.

 

[Pogballistics]

31 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Challenge are more likely the modulators rather than the filters. poly-sinc-ext2 should probably work fine on your machine, but ASDM7EC likely won't. However, GPU doesn't help on the modulators, only on filters and convolution.

 

So this means adding eGPU won't help.

I need to change core to make full use of HQ Player.

[kelvinwsy]

Funny thing - I can run the ASDM7EC 512+fs on DSD256 and poly sinc xtr mp (non-2s)  without stuttering on my i10700k machine on 4.4Ghz on 1st 4 cores and 4.2 on the other 4. Comparing to ASDM7EC plain vanilla, I hear more air and space but it is a tiny bit too thin. And comparing to ASDM5EC is rounder, more mellow. My DAC is a dual AKM4499 Gustard A22. It think that is why ASDM7EC is sort of the balance between the 2 modulators, 512 + fs and 5EC.

No GPU!

Kelvin

[HeeBroG]

I have a Chord DAVE so I set default output to PCM.

My server can play DSD 256 > PCM 705.6kHz with sinc-M/DSD7 256+fs and bit rate set to 44.1k x256 with 2 channel convolution.

It starts to skip when I engage Dither LNS15.

Any ideas why this might be happening.

[Miska]

7 minutes ago, HeeBroG said:

I have a Chord DAVE so I set default output to PCM.

My server can play DSD 256 > PCM 705.6kHz with sinc-M/DSD7 256+fs and bit rate set to 44.1k x256 with 2 channel convolution.

It starts to skip when I engage Dither LNS15.

Any ideas why this might be happening.

 

What are you PCM output settings?

 

[HeeBroG]

768

[Miska]

4 minutes ago, HeeBroG said:

768

 

No, I mean filter and dither settings for PCM output. If you can post a screenshot of your HQPlayer settings it could be helpful.

 

[HeeBroG]

Ah..sorry.

[Miska]

20 minutes ago, HeeBroG said:

Ah..sorry.

 

With these settings it shouldn't make much CPU load difference if you have shaped or LNS15 dither. But of course could be that you are still on the edge of CPU when playing DSD256 sources due to the DSD to PCM conversion. In DSD Source Settings dialog you could try poly-lin for example as conversion algorithm instead of poly-ext2 for example, or just for try sinc-S too.