HQ Player

[Luca72c]

14 hours ago, Chodi said:

I've been an HQPlayer user since forever. I read but don't post. I have not posted on this forum in a very long time. I have the latest version and I have always used it at home  on my Windows computer. Don't use any streaming service I have thousands of classical and pop music files stored on several hard disks in lossless flac. So now we get to the point. I recently upgraded to AMD 5800X processor. I was not happy with the improvement in windows with HQPlayer 4 so I decided to take the plunge. I loaded and configured my system for dual boot with Windows 10 and Linux Mint. I have never used Linux in my life but I consider myself very computer wise so I went for it.

After a day of learning I got HQplayer 4 working in Linux with my many ntfs hard disk music files and the sound is glorious. It is like the greatest upgrade I have ever experienced. Absolutely no comparison with listening to the same files in windows. I don't even want to suggest why, I'm sure Miska, our fearless leader, knows the reasons. My only conclusion from this is that it is a crime to listen to music through HQplayer on windows if you have any way to do it with Linux. The difference in sound on my system is astounding.

Yes there is a learning curve to install and dual boot windows and Linux. It took me a day and a half to get it right. Don't even think about it unless you have a backup program like Acronis. Saved me from disaster more than once. Leaning Linux Mint took several hours but boy was it worth the effort. Just wanted to share my experience with Linux. Unbelievable sound difference from windows. I never would have thought that or I would have made the move long ago.

 

I made something similar to what you did during a pair of years, driven by what many users wrote on the subject (Jussi, "our fearless leader" himself in first place). Dealing wiht linux was a bit of an effort, like you say, but i forced myself to try many combinations (with the precious help of some linux-savy friends): Ubuntu studio install, minimal HQPOS on a thumb drive, other complete distros on thumb drive, using a NAA or directly connecting dac to HQP PC via USB, using different PCs.

But i always came to an opposite conclusion of what you report: in my experience, HQPlayer on a properly configured windows 10 pro PC sounds (slightly) better than on the same PC running linux, even if linux is on a very minimal image (i say slightly because the difference is very little, i wouldn't say there is a marked difference as you say). More, in my experience if windows 10 is correctly configured just for music playback, there's absolutely no performance difference compared to linux. I even thought maybe i couldn't experience linux superiority due to my PC being a bit old (about 2015), but now i have a completely brand new server based on an overclocked Intel i9-10850K, with Z590 motherboard, Intel NIC, all ssd drives, fast RAM and all the suggested hardware. But still my findings have not changed...

 

Now, i surely would be very very stupid and arrogant if i should think your and many other users’ reports are purely fake or self-illusion driven. But at the same time i’m leaning towards never taking anything for sure without direct trials and i can’t ignore the fact that my direct experience doesn’t meet yours. So i tried to figure out what can make our findings so different:

1) Use of NAA: surely in my system NAA is based on linux, so even if my server is windows based, linux is doing the real playing work. Unfortunately, I can't try windows on my NAA, as my NAA is on a SBC, connected to my dac via I2S. But i tried directly connecting my dac to the PC via USB and i have to admit the difference between windows and linux is a bit more distinct this way, but i don't find a clear winner. In my system, windows sounds fuller and richer, linux more airy and separated. None of them in a bad way (i.e. windows sounding congested or linux sounding thin). So personal taste here, but i can easily believe that if my system sounded a bit on the congested/unresolving side, i would consider windows bad sounding; or if it sounded a bit on the thin/body lacking side i would consider linux bad sounding (to be honest, upon my experience, i think hifi systems of the first kind are way more common than those of the second kind, expecially in lower price market half). More, in this configuration you have to consider the influence by USB drivers, that may be different in different OSes (some in windows’ favour, others in linux’ favour). But if you use a NAA, a different server OS shouldn't lead to a sound difference so marked - to be honest, it shouldn't officially lead to any difference in sound at all...

2) Use of AMD cpu (in your case): i always used Intel PCs in all my tests, so my findings are related to that context. It seems HQPlayer on windows have some problems with AMD recent cpus (say Zen 2 and 3), so Jussi released a specific linux version to better exploit AMD cpus capabilities. That should only affect PC performance instead of sound (expecially if using NAA), but i can't say that for sure, as i never directly tried. Maybe sound is affected too.

3a) Proper configuration of windows PC: i noticed that, while users of linux HQPlayer servers tend to have a PC dedicated to HQPlayer use, windows users often tend to run HQPlayer on a normal windows PC that they use to run others programs/home functions too (ex. Email, social, office, internet browsing, Microsoft/Google accounts, media streaming, etc…). In my experience, if you begin loading a windows 10 PC with various programs/functionalities/accounts it will soon start performing very bad. So in my PC i install nearly nothing except HQPlayer and small supporting applications and i carefully avoid any kind of accounts, email clients, registrations, browsers, cpu/energy/threads optimizers (with a single exception), unneeded softwares and so on (no installations -> no uninstallations, that often can lead to problems if unproperly executed). I avoid setting anything outside what is really needed to run HQPlayer itself well. More, drivers have to be efficient, updated and stable, even the smallest limping windows driver can cause so much problems to destroy PC’s performance: so use only the necessary hardware needed, as any other peripheral (including USB ones) can be a potential source of performance issues. This way, many processes are running at any time, but they practically do nothing and occupy less than 2% computing power.

3b) windows updates: these are a substantial source of problems and unexplicable slowdowns if not correctly dealt with. In these years i learned to never install a new windows release until forced by microsoft at the end of the proper testing period; and to often keep an eye on what windows is doing about updates. I find preferable to gain a certain control upon this, selecting lower risk updates and voluntarily performing them all in a single time every 3/4 months, instead of passively waiting for windows to download/install them when it wants and without my knowledge. That's a simple and mild thing to do, but it gives very good results.

4) Simple and useful optimizer (unsure about it): some time ago i tried many windows players to directly test their performance and sound, including Bug Head Emperor. Inside BHE package i found a small resident optimizer called “all cores any cure”, that i honestly couldn’t understand what exactly was meant to do. However, i found that from its installation on, my PC started performing and sounding better every day. I really can’t understand how this could be, but i perceived the benefits of its action in an absolutely clear way. It’s an old program, but a sort of a replacement has been released by its author, it’s called Minority Clean. I’m in testing phase still, but everyone using a windows server/player could have a try on it, just in case.

5) Personal taste: i see we audiophiles (including myself, of course) are often exaggerating our personal perceptions, talking about any tiny difference in sound as it was an "astounding" difference. Neverending debates start every day and it will never be possible to objectively prove who is right, as we’re talking about personal perceptions in this context… Our ears are not a reliable measuring tool and nobody ever proved what exactly sounds good/pleasant for anybody and what doesn’t. But if we talk about sounding better/worse, personal taste surely plays a substantial role here. I sometimes met some audiophiles that, in an A/B comparison, considered as better-sounding the system that i was finding clearly worse-sounding... Ideally, everyone should only trust his own ears and always personally test any statement. Maybe many would find that differences are not so clear or unambiguous to justify other sacrifices...

 

I am not saying the difference in our experiences is biased by all these points, as they’re only a general guess; but maybe just one or two of them (or maybe others i didn’t think about) could explain why your findings are totally different (or even opposite) from my (and many other’s) direct experience, so that they could not be taken as a general absolute rule about using HQPlayer on windows being "a crime" (i hope no policemen squad is going to break into my home next days) 😉.

 

[Account Closed]

8 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

Well, got the NUC set up with windows yesterday. Switched to linux (ubuntu 20.04) today. Won't run 1.536mhz via NAA :(
768khz is fine, but 1.536mhz is a no go.

Additionally with the HQP NAA OS installed on another intel x5 mini pc, that 'works' but I get pauses every few seconds. Whereas with windows installed on it it's fine.

Looks like windows might be the only option to run roon and HQP NAA without issues :(

You may need to separate the two functions each to its own machine. That way you use can use Win 10 for Roon on one and Jussi's image for the NAA on the other. 

[Lio_B]

9 hours ago, Miska said:

 

ext3 is much steeper version of ext2, I posted the responses on Roon forum, so I can do the same here too.

 

So here's ext2 (RedBook source):

 

And here's ext3:

 

Very interesting 

I’ve just tested ext3, I usually use sinc-lp, ext3 sounds good on my system 

Is it possible to have poly-sinc-lp responses ?
Thanks

[GoldenOne]

@Miskado you know what might be causing intermittent pausing with an NAA?
I have an intel atom x5 based device running HQPlayer NAA x64 image.

768khz works 100% fine.
1.536mhz works mostly fine, but every 5-10 seconds it'll pause and then resume after ~2 secs. It's almost as if my PC running the HQP server can't keep up, even though if I play locally it's fine. And if I do a bench with the HQP Pro trial then I'm upsampling >10x realtime.

Changing filter settings doesn't help :(
When running the NAA on windows on the same device the issue was not present

[bibo01]

"Support for HTTPS network streams."

@MiskaCan you please explain this new feature of v4.11, perhaps with some example.

[GoldenOne]

So I don't know if anyone else has had the same issue but I've been fighting trying to get 1.536mhz working for a while now:

i7NUC/Windows: Works fine
i7NUC/Ubuntu20.04: 768khz fine but 1.536mhz is static/awful
x5miniPC/Windows: Works fine but gets hot enough that fans come on so not ideal
x5miniPC/NAAimage: sounds fine, but pauses every couple seconds on 1.536mhz. 768khz is fine
x5miniPC/Ubuntu: same as NUC, 768khz is fine but 1.536mhz is awful

So it seems like Ubuntu just does not work regardless of hardware. And NAA image I can't get to work without it pausing every few seconds.
The only software option which is working fine is windows which is....odd.

Anyone got any tips as to why ubuntu isn't working or why NAA image pauses? Would REALLY like to not have to run windows as @Miska said that for NAA linux is better, but also cause with windows it gets hotter and the fans come on whereas with linux temps were low enough for them to stay off

[The Computer Audiophile]

9 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

So I don't know if anyone else has had the same issue but I've been fighting trying to get 1.536mhz working for a while now:

i7NUC/Windows: Works fine
i7NUC/Ubuntu20.04: 768khz fine but 1.536mhz is static/awful
x5miniPC/Windows: Works fine but gets hot enough that fans come on so not ideal
x5miniPC/NAAimage: sounds fine, but pauses every couple seconds on 1.536mhz. 768khz is fine
x5miniPC/Ubuntu: same as NUC, 768khz is fine but 1.536mhz is awful

So it seems like Ubuntu just does not work regardless of hardware. And NAA image I can't get to work without it pausing every few seconds.
The only software option which is working fine is windows which is....odd.

Anyone got any tips as to why ubuntu isn't working or why NAA image pauses? Would REALLY like to not have to run windows as @Miska said that for NAA linux is better, but also cause with windows it gets hotter and the fans come on whereas with linux temps were low enough for them to stay off

Make sure to say which DAC you’re using. It could have issues with the Linux driver. 

[GoldenOne]

16 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Make sure to say which DAC you’re using. It could have issues with the Linux driver. 

It's the holo audio may.
I'm not sure why it sort of works on the NAA (but seemingly limited by something given the stuttering) but then not at all on ubuntu?

Pulling my hair out a bit 😕
Couldn't use my previous streamer because 1.536mhz seemingly won't work without intel.
Ordered and was hoping to use the NUC for everything but it's far too loud to have in the same room.
So figured I'd use this but it's looking like that's not going to be an option either.

Really hoping there is a 'simple' way to get 1.536mhz working without literally having to just replace my entire main PC with an intel machine


EDIT: seems like the issue on this device might possibly be because it doesn't seem to have an actual intel USB controller?

 

cameron@audioendpoint:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0620 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB3.2 Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0d8c:0014 C-Media Electronics, Inc. Audio Adapter (Unitek Y-247A)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 152a:87c0 Thesycon Systemsoftware & Consulting GmbH 802.11ac NIC
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:c820 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11ac NIC
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Not entirely sure. But that wouldn't explain why it does mostly work with the NAA image

[lpost]

Sorry you're pulling your hair out. This can be frustrating. Do you have just the two machines in the mix? Your existing powerful PC and the new NUC (which model?)? Are you trying to get to a single machine or what is the goal with the NUC?

 

I've had success by separating Roon on Windows, HQPe image and NAA image on three separate machines. The most powerful is the HQPe machine but only a i7-6770 retired business machine from 2017. The NAA is the inexpensive, silent and cool running UP-board gateway SoC. It does 32fs 20-bit perfectly for several months nearly continuously while running my May in.

 

Seems like a NUC is overkill for a NAA device and clearly the one you have doesn't work well at all for the job. Jussi's bootable NAA image is the best bet in my opinion. He's done all the hard work for us.

 

P.S. I'd like to try the new filters, patiently waiting for HQPe to be updated/released.

[The Computer Audiophile]

27 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

It's the holo audio may.
I'm not sure why it sort of works on the NAA (but seemingly limited by something given the stuttering) but then not at all on ubuntu?

Pulling my hair out a bit 😕
Couldn't use my previous streamer because 1.536mhz seemingly won't work without intel.
Ordered and was hoping to use the NUC for everything but it's far too loud to have in the same room.
So figured I'd use this but it's looking like that's not going to be an option either.

Really hoping there is a 'simple' way to get 1.536mhz working without literally having to just replace my entire main PC with an intel machine


EDIT: seems like the issue on this device might possibly be because it doesn't seem to have an actual intel USB controller?

 

cameron@audioendpoint:~$ lsusb
Bus 002 Device 002: ID 05e3:0620 Genesys Logic, Inc. USB3.2 Hub
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0003 Linux Foundation 3.0 root hub
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0d8c:0014 C-Media Electronics, Inc. Audio Adapter (Unitek Y-247A)
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 152a:87c0 Thesycon Systemsoftware & Consulting GmbH 802.11ac NIC
Bus 001 Device 005: ID 1a40:0101 Terminus Technology Inc. Hub
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0bda:c820 Realtek Semiconductor Corp. 802.11ac NIC
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Not entirely sure. But that wouldn't explain why it does mostly work with the NAA image

This SBC with NAA image and fanless case work awesome at 32fs. 
 

 

https://www.lattepanda.com/products/lattepanda-alpha-864s.html

 

https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1901.html

[GoldenOne]

4 minutes ago, lpost said:

Sorry you're pulling your hair out. This can be frustrating. Do you have just the two machines in the mix? Your existing powerful PC and the new NUC (which model?)? Are you trying to get to a single machine or what is the goal with the NUC?

 

I've had success by separating Roon on Windows, HQPe image and NAA image on three separate machines. The most powerful is the HQPe machine but only a i7-6770 retired business machine from 2017. The NAA is the inexpensive, silent and cool running UP-board gateway SoC. It does 32fs 20-bit perfectly for several months nearly continuously while running my May in.

 

Seems like a NUC is overkill for a NAA device and clearly the one you have doesn't work well at all for the job. Jussi's bootable NAA image is the best bet in my opinion. He's done all the hard work for us.

 

P.S. I'd like to try the new filters, patiently waiting for HQPe to be updated/released.

No need for an apology, it's hardly your fault! 😆
Thank you though

Three machines in all.
- Main AMD PC
- Intel NUC8i7INH
- Small atom x5 based mini PC
Plus a handful of streamers/raspberry pis etc which don't work either because they aren't intel.

Problem is the main PC is AMD so won't work for 1.536mhz
Intel NUC is far too loud to have in the same room (and didn't work with 1.536mhz when I put ubuntu on it to check)
And then the mini PC I can't seem to get working properly no matter what.

The UP Board is seemingly not easy to find in the UK and would cost probably ~£300 by the time shipping&VAT was factored in so that's not an ideal option unfortunately. 
The NAA image on the mini pc is the closest to "working" that I've gotten things, but still no luck. I'm just not sure what the limiting factor is that's causing the intermittent pausing.

I don't really know what else to try other than buying a used chromebook and trying to put the NAA image on that but that's hardly the most elegant solution and isn't guaranteed to work either.
Even the intel compute stick which I did think about for a while has a fan in it so that could potentially be too noisy as well.

I'm trying really hard to avoid spending >£300 on a fanless intel build but it's incredibly frustrating that none of the stuff I have here is working even when it should.
If I could find out what the limiting factor is on the atom x5 based mini PC that would be ideal. But unfortunately it doesn't seem that the NAA itself keeps logs

[GoldenOne]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

This SBC with NAA image and fanless case work awesome at 32fs. 
 

 

https://www.lattepanda.com/products/lattepanda-alpha-864s.html

 

https://www.dfrobot.com/product-1901.html

That does look like quite a neat product!

Though for now I'm trying not to spend too much on an endpoint as I'm already spending more than I wanted to given as the NUC didn't work out as I'd hoped. 

[The Computer Audiophile]

2 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

That does look like quite a neat product!

Though for now I'm trying not to spend too much on an endpoint as I'm already spending more than I wanted to given as the NUC didn't work out as I'd hoped. 

I hear ya. It should work on a NUC with NAA image. Have you tried adjusting the bit depth from 24 to 20 to 16 etc…?

 

It just seems like a Linux driver issue with the USB interface in the May DAC, because the NUC hardware is fine. 

[lpost]

17 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

The UP Board is seemingly not easy to find in the UK and would cost probably ~£300 by the time shipping&VAT was factored in so that's not an ideal option unfortunately. 
 

Just a little show of sympathy and empathy. There is seemingly too little of it in the world.  Strange the Atom x5 doesn't work. The UP uses the same. 

 

Mouser UK normally stocks UP board...backordered currently. £184.32

 

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/AAEON-UP/UP-GWS01-A20-1432-A11?qs=%2Fha2pyFaduiqPaKHsTvEIjDEYu4O6sHmLjD52%2BUzjidN3XUuBDi9QCRZsVSwAsJS

 

or here's the bare board. In stock, £110.01

 

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/AAEON-UP/UP-CHT01-A20-0216-A11?qs=XeJtXLiO41S5VBmZJeFPIw%3D%3D

[GoldenOne]

25 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I hear ya. It should work on a NUC with NAA image. Have you tried adjusting the bit depth from 24 to 20 to 16 etc…?

 

It just seems like a Linux driver issue with the USB interface in the May DAC, because the NUC hardware is fine. 

Yeah the NUC hardware is definitely fine. And I think the x5 mini pc is too given as it worked fine on windows. But this pausing issue is difficult to find the cause of. In HQPlayer logs there is nothing at all indicating a problem and it just looks as if playback was started/stopped normally.

I'm guessing it must be a driver thing, but then others have it working (and it's kinda working for me) on the NAA image so I'm stumped as to what the problem is.

 

25 minutes ago, lpost said:

Just a little show of sympathy and empathy. There is seemingly too little of it in the world.  Strange the Atom x5 doesn't work. The UP uses the same. 

 

Mouser UK normally stocks UP board...backordered currently. £184.32

 

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/AAEON-UP/UP-GWS01-A20-1432-A11?qs=%2Fha2pyFaduiqPaKHsTvEIjDEYu4O6sHmLjD52%2BUzjidN3XUuBDi9QCRZsVSwAsJS

 

or here's the bare board. In stock, £110.01

 

https://www.mouser.co.uk/ProductDetail/AAEON-UP/UP-CHT01-A20-0216-A11?qs=XeJtXLiO41S5VBmZJeFPIw%3D%3D

Thanks!
I'll have to see about what can be done in regards to cooling the bare-board one. But it might be the only option. 
I'm going to see if I can find a cheap used intel chromebook on ebay first as that might be an easier option.
Thank you though!

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

Yeah the NUC hardware is definitely fine. And I think the x5 mini pc is too given as it worked fine on windows. But this pausing issue is difficult to find the cause of. In HQPlayer logs there is nothing at all indicating a problem and it just looks as if playback was started/stopped normally.

I'm guessing it must be a driver thing, but then others have it working (and it's kinda working for me) on the NAA image so I'm stumped as to what the problem is.

 

Thanks!
I'll have to see about what can be done in regards to cooling the bare-board one. But it might be the only option. 
I'm going to see if I can find a cheap used intel chromebook on ebay first as that might be an easier option.
Thank you though!

Have you matched the exact HQP settings (that others have success with) for testing, even if you don’t use them long term?

[GoldenOne]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Have you matched the exact HQP settings (that others have success with) for testing, even if you don’t use them long term?

Im not sure, though I've tried a variety of settings on just about every part including using 16 bit depth, altering buffer size etc.

In any case at the moment I've put windows back on it and it's working with HQP NAA and Roon Bridge simultaneously without any issues so I guess I'll stick with windows for now and try to find a way to keep it cool enough to keep the fan off

[Account Closed]

25 minutes ago, GoldenOne said:

Im not sure, though I've tried a variety of settings on just about every part including using 16 bit depth, altering buffer size etc.

In any case at the moment I've put windows back on it and it's working with HQP NAA and Roon Bridge simultaneously without any issues so I guess I'll stick with windows for now and try to find a way to keep it cool enough to keep the fan off

There should be a fanless passive cool case available.

[ted_b]

Just to add datapoints:

My Intel NUC (i7-8650U quad core) in a fanless Akasa case is running Jussi's NAA image and plays 32fs flawlessly into a Holo May.  It is fed by a Windows 10 (i7 6700k) HQPlayer server, which currently is fed by my old Win 7 desktop running everything in the world (like me typing now)..and a roon core.  Roon, like everyone else, is stopping Win 7 support, so my NUC will boot into a pre-configured @lmitchecustomized roon core, and I will look elsewhere for a fanless NUC to run Jussi's NAA image.  And yes, I'm very interested in what NAA can run 32fs into a May.

[AudioDoctor]

16 hours ago, Miska said:

 

I guess your initial problem was missing dependencies, since there are some new ones with 4.11? First install new HQPlayer package with "sudo dpkg -i" and then ensure all dependencies are in with "sudo apt install -f".

 

 

Ok, thanks for the answer Miska. That was indeed the problem.

[LoryWiv]

18 hours ago, Miska said:

sinc-Mx is constant time, meaning that it has variable number of taps but it's length (delay) is constant for each rate multiple. It has 1M taps at 16x output rate, 0.5M taps at 8x output rate, and 16M taps at 256x output rate. And if you have enough GPU power, you can do 64M taps at 1024x rate. Note that processing for example 16M taps at 256x (~12 MHz) rate is 16 times heavier than it would be to process that number of taps at 16x (~750 kHz) rate. This makes sinc-Mx work sensibly also for lower output rates like 192k since it gets shorter.

Thank you Jussi, Sinc-Mx sounds spacious and natural to me, perhaps a bit better than Sinc-M with equivalent or better CPU / GPU usagege in most scenarios. I may be too unsophisticated to fully understand your explanation above so I'll just ask: are the variable # taps with constant length at each multiple applicable to PCM sources whether they are upsampled tp higher rate PCM or output to SDM / DSD?

[Luca72c]

6 hours ago, GoldenOne said:

So I don't know if anyone else has had the same issue but I've been fighting trying to get 1.536mhz working for a while now:
i7NUC/Windows: Works fine
i7NUC/Ubuntu20.04: 768khz fine but 1.536mhz is static/awful
x5miniPC/Windows: Works fine but gets hot enough that fans come on so not ideal
x5miniPC/NAAimage: sounds fine, but pauses every couple seconds on 1.536mhz. 768khz is fine
x5miniPC/Ubuntu: same as NUC, 768khz is fine but 1.536mhz is awful

So it seems like Ubuntu just does not work regardless of hardware. And NAA image I can't get to work without it pausing every few seconds.
The only software option which is working fine is windows which is....odd.

 

... Many of us use windows for a reason... or more than one...

I really can't understand what's the problem using the i7NUC (or x5minipc) with windows, if it works fine. I hope you didn't credit the fairy tale about HQPlayer sounding better on linux than on windows... Jussi himself once answered that on server PC there is no sound difference using windows or linux, the difference may only be in performance (in my experience no difference), but in your case this difference is clearly in favour of windows, so what's the problem?

About NAA, there could be a difference maybe (i can't confirm), but if HQP NAA image doesn't work, why don't you try other linux NAA images like Gentooplayer, for example? Jussi linux images are sometimes a bit too "minimal" to work ok on all machines... Or just stick with windows, find a cooling solution and live peaceful, just enjoy your music avoiding getting stuck in ridicolous paranoia about linux superiority.

[Chodi]

1 hour ago, Luca72c said:

 

... Many of us use windows for a reason... or more than one...

I really can't understand what's the problem using the i7NUC (or x5minipc) with windows, if it works fine. I hope you didn't credit the fairy tale about HQPlayer sounding better on linux than on windows... Jussi himself once answered that on server PC there is no sound difference using windows or linux, the difference may only be in performance (in my experience no difference), but in your case this difference is clearly in favour of windows, so what's the problem?

About NAA, there could be a difference maybe (i can't confirm), but if HQP NAA image doesn't work, why don't you try other linux NAA images like Gentooplayer, for example? Jussi linux images are sometimes a bit too "minimal" to work ok on all machines... Or just stick with windows, find a cooling solution and live peaceful, just enjoy your music avoiding getting stuck in ridicolous paranoia about linux superiority.

With all due respect to yourself and to this forum I was reporting on my own personal experience with my own computer and downstream equipment. This is why I haven't posted on the forum in years. In my own individual case using Windows 10 and Linux Mint on the same computer as dual boot I have the ability to play the same music files in either os using the exact same settings on the same version of HQPlayer 4. I reported my own experience, yours may be different. I do not stream music or use any naa. I don't think it is appropriate for you to report my personal results as a "fairy tale". I have no need of posting such. I stand by what I wrote as my own personal experience. If you have experienced different results I respect your report. I am certain I would not have described your report as a fairy tale.

[Luca72c]

36 minutes ago, Chodi said:

With all due respect to yourself and to this forum I was reporting on my own personal experience with my own computer and downstream equipment. This is why I haven't posted on the forum in years. In my own individual case using Windows 10 and Linux Mint on the same computer as dual boot I have the ability to play the same music files in either os using the exact same settings on the same version of HQPlayer 4. I reported my own experience, yours may be different. I do not stream music or use any naa. I don't think it is appropriate for you to report my personal results as a "fairy tale". I have no need of posting such. I stand by what I wrote as my own personal experience. If you have experienced different results I respect your report. I am certain I would not have described your report as a fairy tale.

 

I was not refferring to your experience, that, as i said, i respect and trust. The "fairy tale", that someone clearly is crediting and spreading, is that linux sound superiority is a rule that is valid for any configuration, as much as the fairy tale about windows sound superiority or mac sound superiority. Like any fairy tale, some people trust them and drop in a paranoia, forcing themselves to face problems and problems to get to a "better sounding OS" that is simply illusory, in my (and others') opinion.

For what i know, HQPlayer does the exact same calculations on any OS and those calculations lead to an audio stream that is transmitted to the dac. There's no reason to think that this audio stream should be different when coming from different OSes, except in particular cases like the AMD one, as HQPlayer computing algorythm, filters and modulators, are the same on linux, windows or mac. I can confirm that, as i tested HQPlayer on the same PCs using (properly configured) windows and linux and i found there's no neat difference, maybe a very very tiny one that is not clearly in favour of linux (i prefer windows sound, instead).

What Jussi talks about when comparing windows to linux - if i understand correctly - is performance, stability, compatibility, user control. But that cannot be seen as a general rule, as it can vary considerably in different systems. So if someone has a working, good performance system he is running HQPlayer on, it would be absurd to switch to a different OS chasing better sound (except, i guess, the particular cases i mentioned above)... In my personal case, to be honest, HQPlayer works very bad in linux even on a brand new modern PC (no performance gains, then, rather the opposite) and managing the PC system is much more complicated and frustrating, so windows simply is the way to go for me... No fairy tales

[madman73]

@GoldenOnehave you tried gentooplayer to run the NAA? i've solved compatibility problems with my Sapphire Pure White E-350 board i use as NAA.