Signalyst HQPlayer settings

[Mark Manner]

I just bought a license to Miska's fine HQPlayer software, and wondered if anyone had settings suggestions for an Auralic Vega DAC or for a McIntosh internal DAC in a C50? I use USB from a dedicated Win8 PC to the Vega; USB from a SOtM MiniServer on the network to the McIntosh C50 DAC (I sometimes reverse that and use the SOtM with the Vega, and PC to the C50).

The Vega will accept pcm up toDXD(352.8KS/s, 384KS/s in 32bit) as well as DSD stream at 2.8224MHz and 5.6448MHz. The C50 is PCM only, 32/192 via USB.Thanks for you thoughts,

Mark

[k6davis]

I'm wondering the exact same thing.

 

I'm using JRiver to upsample all of my content to DSD128, but I've heard that I need to try HQPlayer. However, there are a *lot* of options for re/oversampling and filtering and people with more experience than I initially got disappointing results until they got some guidance on the settings.

[wisnon]

I just bought a license to Miska's fine HQPlayer software, and wondered if anyone had settings suggestions for an Auralic Vega DAC or for a McIntosh internal DAC in a C50? I use USB from a dedicated Win8 PC to the Vega; USB from a SOtM MiniServer on the network to the McIntosh C50 DAC (I sometimes reverse that and use the SOtM with the Vega, and PC to the C50).

The Vega will accept pcm up toDXD(352.8KS/s, 384KS/s in 32bit) as well as DSD stream at 2.8224MHz and 5.6448MHz. The C50 is PCM only, 32/192 via USB.Thanks for you thoughts,

Mark

 

I would assume that Miska would have the best ideas, as he is the creator...

 

Did you get Mac or PC version?

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

HQPlayer comes with a Manual that describes the different filters used for re-sampling and conversion from PCM to DSD. In this manual Miska states; "Different variants of "poly-sinc" are the most recommended by the author".

 

I have had excellent results using the poly-sinc family of filters. poly-sinc itself benefits space and poly-sinc-mp transients, so this will depend on the music you are playing.

 

Both of these are very demanding of CPU; but they also come in "2s" variants (the name of the filter with "-2s" appended) these are almost as good and much less demanding of CPU at the same time. Then there are the noise shaping/dithering options, which will depend on your DAC. Miska may have some specific recommendations for your DAC; but of course, he can't have tried them all.

 

I find that for an exasound E20, poly-sinc-2s and DSD7 are the best for conversion of rebook CD to DSD256. The results are simply stunning. Until I heard this, I never imagined we could squeeze this kind of quality out of ordinary 16bit 44.1khz files.

 

geoff

[manisandher]

Mark, I would try the Vega with 'poly-sinc-short-mp & NS5' for PCM. This is what I settled on quite a while ago for PCM playback with my Phasure NOS1(a) - though I take 16/44.1 up to 32/705.6. I'm not sure how CPU intensive it is, but I've never had any issues whatsoever (but I do use a powerful i7 PC). You could then compare this to the 'poly-sinc-2s and DSD7' that Geoffrey suggests for DSD conversion.

 

Interestingly, with the iFi Nano iDSD in my office system, I prefer sending 16/44.1 natively to the DAC and not upsampling to DSD64 or DSD128. But I'll give Geoffrey's HQP settings a go. (Again, I have a powerful dedicated i7 music PC in my office that seems to have no issues with any of the HQP conversion settings.)

 

Mani.

[Mark Manner]

I would assume that Miska would have the best ideas, as he is the creator...

 

Did you get Mac or PC version?

 

I have the PC version, it is running on a Win 8 system. It is an i7, and has 16 GB ram.

[4est]

Mani: I agree with your take on the Nano iDSD during the two day period I had one here. If I may ask, when you say you have no problems with conversion settings, do you mean simply no drop outs and such? I am curious because of the load time on 6.14MHz is too long here, 30-40 seconds. You mentioned using XXHighend to reduce processes. On my machine I am only seeing use of one core. I am wondering if that is by nature of the DSD stream, or a lack of set up on my part.

Mark, I would try the Vega with 'poly-sinc-short-mp & NS5' for PCM. This is what I settled on quite a while ago for PCM playback with my Phasure NOS1(a) - though I take 16/44.1 up to 32/705.6. I'm not sure how CPU intensive it is, but I've never had any issues whatsoever (but I do use a powerful i7 PC). You could then compare this to the 'poly-sinc-2s and DSD7' that Geoffrey suggests for DSD conversion.

 

Interestingly, with the iFi Nano iDSD in my office system, I prefer sending 16/44.1 natively to the DAC and not upsampling to DSD64 or DSD128. But I'll give Geoffrey's HQP settings a go. (Again, I have a powerful dedicated i7 music PC in my office that seems to have no issues with any of the HQP conversion settings.)

 

Mani.

[freesteve]

... just a really fun player...

[Mark Manner]

Mark, I would try the Vega with 'poly-sinc-short-mp & NS5' for PCM. This is what I settled on quite a while ago for PCM playback with my Phasure NOS1(a) - though I take 16/44.1 up to 32/705.6. I'm not sure how CPU intensive it is, but I've never had any issues whatsoever (but I do use a powerful i7 PC). You could then compare this to the 'poly-sinc-2s and DSD7' that Geoffrey suggests for DSD conversion.

 

Interestingly, with the iFi Nano iDSD in my office system, I prefer sending 16/44.1 natively to the DAC and not upsampling to DSD64 or DSD128. But I'll give Geoffrey's HQP settings a go. (Again, I have a powerful dedicated i7 music PC in my office that seems to have no issues with any of the HQP conversion settings.)

 

Mani.

 

 

Thanks Geoff and Mani, I will give those settings a try,

[manisandher]

... the load time on 6.14MHz is too long here, 30-40 seconds.

 

Hi Forrest, the load time here for 16/44.1 to quad DSD (11.29MHz) is around the same, 30 seconds or so. That's with the settings 'poly-sinc-short-mp and DSD7'. This halves for 5.64MHz. I'm using an i7 3770K CPU in my office PC, but as you say, I'm putting the PC into 'Minimize OS' mode using XXHighEnd. Not sure what difference, if any, this makes to the load times though. I'll take the PC out of 'Minimize OS' mode and let you know.

 

Mani.

[4est]

Thank you Mani! I am running an i5 2500k, and it is squirrely at quad rates and wondering if it is me and my machine or simply the way it is. Are you on one core? Mine will max out only one. I suppose hyper threading will not work due to the nature of DSD or Miska would have dealt with it.

Hi Forrest, the load time here for 16/44.1 to quad DSD (11.29MHz) is around the same, 30 seconds or so. That's with the settings 'poly-sinc-short-mp and DSD7'. This halves for 5.64MHz. I'm using an i7 3770K CPU in my office PC, but as you say, I'm putting the PC into 'Minimize OS' mode using XXHighEnd. Not sure what difference, if any, this makes to the load times though. I'll take the PC out of 'Minimize OS' mode and let you know.

 

Mani.

[wisnon]

I have the PC version, it is running on a Win 8 system. It is an i7, and has 16 GB ram.

 

Thanx,

 

Sound like you are set then..Lots of horsepower.

 

I have a MM i7 with 8GB and that should be also good enuff.

 

BTW, good thread start...anwers really flowing now.

[4est]

Yes, a very good call!

 

BTW, good thread start...anwers really flowing now.