HQ Player

[MasterWarzombie]

 

Back after installing the new version. I uninstalled the old version then activate my key. I installed under windows 11. Without changing the settings, with the same modulator I have the sound that cuts out. I don't have a cutoff if I go down from 44k 128 to 44k64! I uninstalled the new version version then reinstalled the old one. Everything works on 44K 128. My streamer is an ultra Neo sotm 200. I do not understand why it cuts with the new version. Do I have to go my way?

[Miska]

5 minutes ago, SunYang said:

Stock Windows 10. Morning I used 4.13.1 with no problem. Without another HW or SW changes I only upgraded HQP. New version has the same problem with ASIO and NAA and with different DACs.

 

OK, really strange... Especially given that there are no changes at all in that area of code. For NAA PCM output there's a fix for issue where 16-bit output was occasionally selected when it should have selected 24- or 32-bit output insteead.

 

[Luca72c]

Hello Miska, i don't know what you did in 4.14, but it raised by a noteworthy amount the weight of hqplayer in my system (i9 10850K, all core clocked to 5,2 ghz, win10 20H2, no AO or the likes, just plain win10).

Now i have frequent stutters using any filter with ASDM7EC, while i could play easily with practically any filter using that modulator with hqp 4.13.1; that's playing 44.1 PCM files converted to DSD256. I tried any Multicore DSP combination, but no way. HWinfo shows nearly the same core load on any core as 4.13.1, so i don't know what can be wrong in 4.14.

Using ASDM5EC i can play with not-too-heavy filters, but using ASDM5ECv2 i have stutters again. Library scan time is also very very much higher now, i don't know if that is due to MP3 support, but i don't have many MP3 files in my library, still the time is more than 5x before.

Rolling back to 4.13.1, everything works normally and fast again.

So PC performance request from 4.14 in win10 is MUCH higher than from 4.13.1, at same settings... even if cpu load is the same...

Could you fix that please? 🙏

[Miska]

2 minutes ago, MasterWarzombie said:

I do not understand why it cuts with the new version. Do I have to go my way?

 

Somewhat higher CPU loads on the new version?

[MasterWarzombie]

When the settings menu, on the new version, the open window is too large compared to the old version. I have to adjust it but the window after closing is still large after reopening. It's not pratical

[oldfirm]

I continue to have problems in getting HQPlayer to function.

Had the Roon Core + HQPlayer combined in one laptop .

 Opted for a combined Roon Core + 2nd i7 laptop dedicated to HQP.

Had it running briefly as PCM only and then it crashed .

Read post above re A03 , which I have running in primary laptop .

Could this application really be issue?

What I can't understand is why when I attempt to try various setting changes in HQP , they are not retained and certainly not activated -I use task manager to check on increased CPU activity .

[MasterWarzombie]

9 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Somewhat higher CPU loads on the new version?

CPU load new version : 28 %

CPU load old version : 20 %

 

with same settings

[Yviena]

44 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Yes, exactly. I use it for things like listening somafm.com internet radio. Note that for URLs with "https" it will take some time to load playlists and such because of the TLS handshake etc.

 

You can paste internet radio URLs to the content URI entry box on HQPlayer Desktop main window and hit enter.

 

In future release I will try to figure out some nice way to feed those URLs also through HQPlayer Client. (works remotely using hqp-control2 though)

Ohhh nice I had a quite a big collection of 320kbps mp3 that I needed to convert to flac to use with HQP.

[Miska]

32 minutes ago, Luca72c said:

Hello Miska, i don't know what you did in 4.14, but it raised by a noteworthy amount the weight of hqplayer in my system (i9 10850K, all core clocked to 5,2 ghz, win10 20H2).

 

New compiler version and new GUI toolkit version. Old compiler is discontinued and doesn't work with the new toolkit version either. Old toolkit doesn't work for the features I want to do and is anyway discontinued too.

 

And also some quality improvements increased CPU load to some extent.

 

32 minutes ago, Luca72c said:

So PC performance request from 4.14 in win10 is MUCH higher than from 4.13.1, at same settings... even if cpu load is the same...

Could you fix that please? 🙏

 

I don't think I can do much about it...

 

[AudioDoctor]

With all the doom and gloom here I think I should add that on Ubuntu Linux, HQP Desktop is running great, there were zero problems updating, and I think it's even a teeny bit more efficient.

[Miska]

20 minutes ago, MasterWarzombie said:

When the settings menu, on the new version, the open window is too large compared to the old version. I have to adjust it but the window after closing is still large after reopening. It's not pratical

 

New toolkit version has much improved support for high DPU scaling. This makes dialog larger depending on your desktop scaling settings. Luckily there shouldn't any need to visit settings dialog frequently.

 

[bogi]

I am always fully uninstalling HQPlayer (through Start Menu entry) and then installing the new one. The fixed installation now works for me. Since I borrowed my Topping E50 to a friend for testing, currently I have at home only my old Gustard DAC-X10 with DSD limit to DSD128 DoP, which I am using always with this DAC.

 

I got a bit curious experience. My settings remained since yesterday on closed-form-fast and ASDM7EC. I started 4.14 and I got dropouts every 7s - something what wasn't present with the previous version - I mostly used this setting in the previous weeks (nicely focused vocals). Then I tried the Multicore DSP setting (full setting, not the half one) and I got playback with higher processor load, but without dropouts. Then I tried ASDM7ECv2 and with Multicore option still on, it played without dropouts and I enjoyed a bit improved sound. :) While playback running, I started Firefox and while playing I am writing this message. No dropout.

My notebook (see my signature) is officially 2.7 GHz 4 core (8 with hyperthreading). With Full Throttle Override tool I'm keeping it on about 3.3 GHz even in Multicore playback mode. Miska, would it be possible to optimize the load somehow? Because processor load is lower without the Multicore setting.Please look at the pictures.

without Multicore DSP, dropouts every 7s

 

multicore DSP on, no dropouts:

 

the switch from multicore on to off (dropouts again)

 

[bogi]

deleted

[bogi]

1 hour ago, Luca72c said:

So PC performance request from 4.14 in win10 is MUCH higher than from 4.13.1, at same settings... even if cpu load is the same...

Could you fix that please? 🙏

+1

[MikePid]

Running ASDM7ECv2 with gauss-long on Mac mini M1 (Big Sur). At 1x main cores at 90%.  At 2x main cores are like 95%, but seems to be fine so far. (It’s a dedicated HQP machine)
 

Had one crash in the last hour. Will keep an eye on it. 

[MasterWarzombie]

if I check multicore DSP I no longer have any sound cuts with DSD 128. Previously, the box was "grayed out" so automatic.
I used the new Modulator: ASDMECV2 and close form 16 M.

[MasterWarzombie]

15 minutes ago, MikePid said:

Running ASDM7ECv2 with gauss-long on Mac mini M1 (Big Sur). At 1x main cores at 90%.  At 2x main cores are like 95%, but seems to be fine so far. (It’s a dedicated HQP machine)
 

Had one crash in the last hour. Will keep an eye on it. 

DSD 256 ?

[MikePid]

Yes, DSD256 🙂

[Miska]

1 hour ago, bogi said:

My notebook (see my signature) is officially 2.7 GHz 4 core (8 with hyperthreading). With Full Throttle Override tool I'm keeping it on about 3.3 GHz even in Multicore playback mode. Miska, would it be possible to optimize the load somehow? Because processor load is lower without the Multicore setting.Please look at the pictures.

 

Note that when you have dropouts, you cannot trust the load figures anymore.

 

But forcing full multicore does indeed work in some cases, but with almost double the total load compared to auto-configuration. All the extra load is just due to the cross-core communication overhead... OTOH, on Apple's M1 that is the default and it doesn't have such load effect because the hardware is so much more efficient on cross-core communication. Only way to optimize this is to tell Intel/AMD to optimize their CPU design to match Apple's.

 

[Miska]

The usual pain and suffering trying to develop anything for Windows environment...

 

Anyway here's an alternative build with slightly tuned build flags, let's see if this is better or worse:

https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/HQPlayer4Desktop-setup-4140-2.exe

 

[StreamFidelity]

I have now made a comparison with HQPlayer 4 Embedded 4.26.2 and HQPlayer 4 Desktop 4.13.1

 

HQPlayer 4 Embedded 4.26.2

 

I copied it to a USB stick with Rufus and booted from there. That works fine. It is easy to see that with 44.1 / 16 -> DSD256 / ASDM7EC two cores are running at full load. I find the tasks of only 17 impressive! Actually, it should work. Unfortunately, it doesn't last. With a load of almost 100%, these cores are throttled at some point and drop outs occur.

 

 

HQPlayer 4 Desktop 4.13.1

 

It is different with the old version. Here, too, two cores are used more than the others, but not to the limit. That makes all the difference.

 

 

 

Fortunately, I already have a plan B in my pocket. 😂

 

 

[Miska]

9 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

doesn't last. With a load of almost 100%, these cores are throttled at some point and drop outs occur.

 

 

 

That is not RedBook with poly-sinc-ext2...

 

[StreamFidelity]

28 minutes ago, Miska said:

Anyway here's an alternative build with slightly tuned build flags

 

I feel with you. You can't please everyone.

Unfortunately, the new version didn't work for me.

 

3 minutes ago, Miska said:

That is not RedBook with poly-sinc-ext2...

 

It's poly-sinc-lp and I mean 44.1khz / 16Bit. But I've tried so much ...

[Miska]

10 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

Unfortunately, the new version didn't work for me.

 

What do you mean by "didn't work"?

 

10 minutes ago, StreamFidelity said:

It's poly-sinc-lp and I mean 44.1khz / 16Bit. But I've tried so much ...

 

Make that poly-sinc-lp-2s and you have much less load on the other cores producing heat.

 

[blueninjasix]

3 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

With all the doom and gloom here I think I should add that on Ubuntu Linux, HQP Desktop is running great, there were zero problems updating, and I think it's even a teeny bit more efficient.

I second this - running very well on UBUNTU 21.10