HQ Player

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2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

If it works for a while and then you start getting dropouts, it could be CPU running into thermal throttling. Would be good idea to check core temperatures, especially if you have passive cooling.

 

That was the cause. I monitored the temps (using Speccy for Win 10) while it was playing. While the overall CPU temp was around 80 C, individual core temps were hitting 100 C in short bursts. With 2s filters the overall CPU load is about 50-55 %, but with sinc-S it was running 65-70 %. The additional load was pushing the CPU to thermal throttling. I am sure that the other issue is that Roon is also running on this machine so sinc-S left very little to no available headroom for when Roon or an errant Windows process would kick in.

 

My next server will be a more powerful unit so for now I will just stick with 2s filters. I am looking at the Mac Mini with the new 1X chip later in the year and then I will also separate Roon and HQP with Roon staying on the Win 10 machine and HQP on the Mini.

 

Thanks for the helpful suggestion.

[Account Closed]

3 hours ago, FlashingBlade said:

Could you share your settings please? I'm running an i7 9700 and cant get 5EC or 7EC to run without stuttering. Closest I came was Sync M which would run for about 15 seconds between stutters. 

 

I could go for a i9 9900 but thats the limit due to the 65w limit on my passive case and I'm not convinced that would work either given you can get it to work on an i5 but I cant on an i7. 

I forgot to mention that the one thing in your BIOS that must be activated is the XMP Profile. This allows the memory to run at full speed and allows the CPU to run at a higher performance level. You did not mention what MB you are using but a quick Google search will show how to check this for your MB. This alone may be all you need to do.

[bipet]

43 minutes ago, Miska said:

network control allowed from HQPlayer

Ahhhhh, no, I had'nt! I had been going around painstakingly checking everything! Its working now. Thank you!!

[FlashingBlade]

57 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Depends on your OS and HQPlayer build. For me, minimum needed is i5-7600T (Ubuntu Server 20.04 and the "AMD" build).

 

 

Windows 10 and its 4.10.3 for HQ player. 

 

1 hour ago, bobflood said:

I spoke too soon. I had to switch back to poly-sinc lp 2s. I started to get drops although they were infrequent, they were annoying enough that I switched back. Too bad as I liked sinc-S.

 

I would check your BIOS and make sure that you have the settings for your system that will give the best performance. If you are using Windows make sure your power plan is set to high performance.

 

There has been much discussion on this subject on this thread so try searching it. You should be able to get ASDM7EC/256 with any 2s filter (and that includes poly-sinc ext2 which is 2s when in SDM) with that chip.

 

The motherboard is Aorus Z390 I Pro. I've changed the XMP settings but it doesnt seem to have made a difference. I get stuttering with any of the EC filters, even with poly-sinc ext2

 

CPU temps remain below 60 and utilisation is at about 70%. 

[bipet]

I am running an i7-9700 @FlashingBlade and on an Auros Z390 Ultra mobo. I am running ASDM7EC and poly-sinc-ext2 and DSD256 into my Topping D90. I am on about 40% load, but my CPU is watercooled, temps are around 55c.

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33 minutes ago, FlashingBlade said:

 

Windows 10 and its 4.10.3 for HQ player. 

 

 

The motherboard is Aorus Z390 I Pro. I've changed the XMP settings but it doesnt seem to have made a difference. I get stuttering with any of the EC filters, even with poly-sinc ext2

 

CPU temps remain below 60 and utilisation is at about 70%. 

It should be working. The 70% utilization seems high to me. I seem to remember that Aorus Bios has a setting to enhance multi-core performance. I don't remember the exact nomenclature but check that out and give it a try. Also, download Speccy for Win 10 and then you can monitor the CPU on a per core basis and see if it is running too hot on a few individual cores. Also, as I mentioned earlier, make sure your power plan in Win 10 is set to High Performance. My MB is a ASUS Z370 I so I am more familiar with ASUS BIOS. As I said, it should be working. Maybe someone here who is more familiar with Aorus Bios could help. There are a lot of possible solutions. Try doing a search for a tutorial on your BIOS and make sure your BIOS has been updated.

[FlashingBlade]

1 hour ago, bobflood said:

It should be working. The 70% utilization seems high to me. I seem to remember that Aorus Bios has a setting to enhance multi-core performance. I don't remember the exact nomenclature but check that out and give it a try. Also, download Speccy for Win 10 and then you can monitor the CPU on a per core basis and see if it is running too hot on a few individual cores. Also, as I mentioned earlier, make sure your power plan in Win 10 is set to High Performance. My MB is a ASUS Z370 I so I am more familiar with ASUS BIOS. As I said, it should be working. Maybe someone here who is more familiar with Aorus Bios could help. There are a lot of possible solutions. Try doing a search for a tutorial on your BIOS and make sure your BIOS has been updated.

I've managed to get it working. I turned off multicore DSP and adaptive output rate and it'll work. I cant run any of the Sinc S/M/L oversampling though, I guess they're just too much with the EC modulators for the CPU to handle. 

[Account Closed]

1 minute ago, FlashingBlade said:

I've managed to get it working. I turned off multicore DSP and adaptive output rate and it'll work. I cant run any of the Sinc S/M/L oversampling though, I guess they're just too much with the EC modulators for the CPU to handle. 

GREAT!  Just stick with the 2s filters or ext2 and you should be fine. I cannot get rate family conversion to work either. You would need a GPU to get more of the other stuff to work but I don't think you are missing much.

[Miska]

3 hours ago, FlashingBlade said:

The motherboard is Aorus Z390 I Pro. I've changed the XMP settings but it doesnt seem to have made a difference. I get stuttering with any of the EC filters, even with poly-sinc ext2

 

CPU temps remain below 60 and utilisation is at about 70%. 

 

Generally, with BIOS, you do "Load Optimized Defaults" and then select "XMP Profile 1" as memory profile. This is enough to give good performance. If you have active cooling, you can select "Silent" fan profiles.

 

On stock Windows 10 Pro, select "High Performance" power profile.

 

This is enough to bring things to the same line as my testing environment.

 

On Windows, you will need some more CPU power compared to hardware I referred to earlier.

 

On HQPlayer, make sure you have "Multicore DSP" set to "grayed" (automatic tuning).

 

[Miska]

59 minutes ago, bobflood said:

GREAT!  Just stick with the 2s filters or ext2 and you should be fine. I cannot get rate family conversion to work either. You would need a GPU to get more of the other stuff to work but I don't think you are missing much.

 

sinc-S/M/L don't support conversion between rate families (see table in the manual)...

 

Most -2s and ext2 should work for rate family conversion too, even on weaker CPUs.

 

[highfell]

Hi I am evaluating HQ Player and have a simple question. Excuse me if it’s naive.

 

I am running a new MacBook Air (M1) and using the Sinc-M filter with LNS15 shaper upsampled to 705.6 and it sounds very nice. I am using CD Flac lossless.

 

my question is that whatever filter I use or If I don’t use a filer the number of bits doubled from 16 to 32. Why is this and can I stop HQ player doing this ? 
 

When I feed an old DAC that I happen to have with TDA1541 Chip DAC it won’t play 32 Bit inputs.

 

many thanks 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, highfell said:

my question is that whatever filter I use or If I don’t use a filer the number of bits doubled from 16 to 32. Why is this and can I stop HQ player doing this ? 
 

When I feed an old DAC that I happen to have with TDA1541 Chip DAC it won’t play 32 Bit inputs.

 

You are likely using something like USB-to-S/PDIF converter? In such case sometimes the device "lies" about number of bits it supports. The USB interface transfer could be still 32-bit. And since S/PDIF is unidirectional, there's no way for software to know how many bits the DAC at the other end supports.

 

For this reason there's the "DAC Bits" setting in HQPlayer. Where you can specify how many bits are used for the dither/noise-shaping output. For TDA1541 chip, you set this to 16 bits.

 

[chipvn]

11 hours ago, FlashingBlade said:

 

Windows 10 and its 4.10.3 for HQ player. 

 

 

The motherboard is Aorus Z390 I Pro. I've changed the XMP settings but it doesnt seem to have made a difference. I get stuttering with any of the EC filters, even with poly-sinc ext2

 

CPU temps remain below 60 and utilisation is at about 70%. 

Hi, do you know what is the CPU package power consumption when you run ext2 and DSD256? I'm very surprise that the 65W TDP passive case could cool this 9700 CPU at that load to get temp below 60oC or below 65oC.

 

Thanks

[Jean Paul D]

it's my pleasure to announce that it did not take me long to purchase HQPlayer4 for M1 ; I'm now a registered user !

 

 

[highfell]

12 hours ago, Miska said:

 

You are likely using something like USB-to-S/PDIF converter? In such case sometimes the device "lies" about number of bits it supports. The USB interface transfer could be still 32-bit. And since S/PDIF is unidirectional, there's no way for software to know how many bits the DAC at the other end supports.

 

For this reason there's the "DAC Bits" setting in HQPlayer. Where you can specify how many bits are used for the dither/noise-shaping output. For TDA1541 chip, you set this to 16 bits.

 

hi Miska 

 

Thanks for the reply. Yep got it working my choosing 16bits, so thank you. My set up the the Marantz PM17 DAC input is via the USB DAC input on my Ibasso DX200 and then S/PIF to the Marantz. 
 

I get the potential value of upsampling and do that from HQPlayer to my Chord Hugo2, but back to my beautiful Silver crown TDA1541 chip, upsampling isn’t an option as the Marantz will only accept 16bit at 32, 44.1 or 48. 
 

And the question I have is if I don’t use HQplayer to upsample , then do the various filters and Shapers still make a difference. I realise you mention that the NS9 shaper is good for such chips that I have , but am I over complicating the situation unnecessarily by incorporating HQplayer in the chain versus just playing coaxial out from the IBasso via an SDcard say.

 

 I know you are busy so not looking for a huge reply but a sense of the value.  I find it quite confusing about what a filter of a 1M taps will bring and how that works or doesn’t work with the upsampling or no upsampling . Because in my case with the Marantz DAC , I am using a Sinc M filter but keeping the output to 44.1 and not say 768K.

 

I mean I sure sounds nice .......but a brief explanation would be helpful. I realise I am at the bottom end of understanding all of this stuff and how HQPlayer works even though I have read the manual and been skimming this site.

 

cheers 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Jean Paul D]

Miska, what SDM integrator would you recommend with a BB 1795 ?

[Miska]

2 hours ago, highfell said:

I get the potential value of upsampling and do that from HQPlayer to my Chord Hugo2, but back to my beautiful Silver crown TDA1541 chip, upsampling isn’t an option as the Marantz will only accept 16bit at 32, 44.1 or 48. 
 

And the question I have is if I don’t use HQplayer to upsample , then do the various filters and Shapers still make a difference. I realise you mention that the NS9 shaper is good for such chips that I have , but am I over complicating the situation unnecessarily by incorporating HQplayer in the chain versus just playing coaxial out from the IBasso via an SDcard say.

 

You can still use apodizing filters and they still have effect. Inside your Marantz there's likely SAA7220 digital filter chip doing 4x upsampling. You could also output at 48k rate to gain a bit more margin between sampling rate and audio band.

 

2 hours ago, highfell said:

 I know you are busy so not looking for a huge reply but a sense of the value.  I find it quite confusing about what a filter of a 1M taps will bring and how that works or doesn’t work with the upsampling or no upsampling . Because in my case with the Marantz DAC , I am using a Sinc M filter but keeping the output to 44.1 and not say 768K.

 

sinc-M is pretty excessive filter to run at 44.1k output, causing about 12 second delay.

 

It is intended for rates >= 705.6k...

 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Jean Paul D said:

Miska, what SDM integrator would you recommend with a BB 1795 ?

 

Integrator or modulator? Integrator choice is more like choosing upsampling filter, depends on your personal preferences. Of modulators, ASDM7EC is fine especially with the AFIR4 filter setting of the 1795 chip.

 

[Jean Paul D]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Integrator or modulator? Integrator choice is more like choosing upsampling filter, depends on your personal preferences. Of modulators, ASDM7EC is fine especially with the AFIR4 filter setting of the 1795 chip.

 

SDM Integrator (IIR IIR2 3 FIR CIC

[Miska]

40 minutes ago, Jean Paul D said:

SDM Integrator (IIR IIR2 3 FIR CIC

 

That is up to your choice. Depends more on DSD source material and your personal preferences. There's some amount of description in the manual table as well.

 

[Rizlaw]

Two questions:

1. Is there a way to sort "Album View" in the HQP 4 desktop Client so that all albums are sorted by "album name" rather than "artist name"? Sadly, the ability to search and sort the database on metadata in the desktop Client has been seriously limited for some time.

 

2. For those who use Conky, is there a way to use Conky commands like "exec" to extract various metadata (including album art of the currently playing song) from HQP4? Or, to put it another way, does HQP4 have hidden metadata variables that can be accessed with Conky?

[Jean Paul D]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

Of modulators, ASDM7EC is fine especially with the AFIR4 filter setting of the 1795 chip.

 

Oh yes !! fabulous SQ, especially precise dynamic bass lines

[Jean Paul D]

33 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

That is up to your choice. Depends more on DSD source material and your personal preferences. There's some amount of description in the manual table as well.

 

lots of claims of favorite filters* but seems nobody ever committed on SDM Integrator ; I picked IIR2 based on description. 

*BTW is it bad taste to like mqa mp with 24/192 rock/pop ?

[FlashingBlade]

14 hours ago, chipvn said:

Hi, do you know what is the CPU package power consumption when you run ext2 and DSD256? I'm very surprise that the 65W TDP passive case could cool this 9700 CPU at that load to get temp below 60oC or below 65oC.

 

Thanks

 

Sorry I dont (if you tell me how to find it I'll try my best). But that was when the system was stuttering. Once I'd got it working and running consistently temps went up to the mid 60's - 70's after use for an hour or so. 

 

Im probably at the limits of what's realistic with 65w as I cant imagine an AMD 5600x would offer significantly more performance, maybe 5-10% max. 

[lpost]

On 2/11/2021 at 4:07 PM, GoldenOne said:

So I've tried a few things, using different sources, buffer settings, USB 3.0 vs 2.0 port, even changing USB cable, but so far not much luck other than one change;
When I use the HQP NAA image, the music plays at the correct speed, but sounds robotic and distorted (video here: https://streamable.com/mikhdf )

I have precisely this same robotic sound with 1.5Mhz at either 16 or 20bit using AMD onboard USB or Asmedia PCI-e host adaptor(s). I've tried numerous Asmedia chipsets. Did you ever find a solution or just stick with 768k? 

 

Does Intel make PCI-e USB host adaptors? It seems not.