Jump to content
IGNORED

HQPlayer Desktop 3.4.0 for Windows, Linux and Mac OS X released!


juliocat

Recommended Posts

System requirements, Windows version:

Windows Vista SP1 or newer, Windows 7, Windows 8/8.1

Audio interface with support for WASAPI Exclusive or ASIO

CPU support for SSE3 instruction set (all modern ones)

PDF reader software (such as Adobe Reader)

System requirements, Linux version:

Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) or one of the variants (Ubuntu Studio is recommended as optimized version)

Audio interface with ALSA-drivers

CPU support for SSE3 instruction set (all modern ones)

System requirements, Mac OS X version:

OS X version 10.8 or later

Audio interface with CoreAudio or ASIO drivers

 

Signalyst

Hackintosh I7 16GB Ram, Roon, HQPlayer, Drobo 8 TB NAS, Raspberry Pi 3 NAA, Gustard X20 ES 9018 Xmos, Audio GD C39 Preamp, The First ONE DIY Amp, Monitor Audio GS20 Speakers, Monitor Audio RSW12 Subwoofer, PI Audio MagikBuss filter.

Link to comment

A note on a download page tells: "Use of any audiophile system optimization application or script will likely make HQPlayer malfunction or crash and thus any use of such is strongly discouraged".

 

Good-bye to CAD script? In fact, 3.4 didn't launch at all in my system with CAD script enabled. After script resetting everything works fine.

Link to comment
A note on a download page tells: "Use of any audiophile system optimization application or script will likely make HQPlayer malfunction or crash and thus any use of such is strongly discouraged".

 

Good-bye to CAD script? In fact, 3.4 didn't launch at all in my system with CAD script enabled. After script resetting everything works fine.

Opposite experience here with Win 8.1. It's all fine.

Link to comment

I'm happy to see that 3.4.0. is now working much better for Qobuz streaming using the XBMCQobuz add-on from within XBMC.

 

This involves setting up HQPlayer as external player for XBMC. When you do this you can ask XBMCQobuz to play a streaming file and it will cause HQP to launch and the url for that file will appear in HQP's transport area. Clicking on the URL will then play the stream.

 

It's still not possible to send an entire album or playlist from XBMCQobuz to HQP; but this is due to limitations on the side of XBMCQobuz, which will only fetch the url for one file at a time from Qobuz.

 

I would like HQP to add the option to start to play the file(s) in its transport area automatically once they are loaded. This could be a user selected setting.

 

On the Windows side, there is now one integrated version for ASIO, Network Player and WASAPI rather than 3 separate versions as before. This is in line with how HQP has been working in the beta and latest version on the Mac side and is much better.

 

Thanks Miska!

Owner of: Sound Galleries, High-End Audio Dealer, Monaco

Link to comment

I notice that when i exit HQPlayer in OSX, the USB interface that i use to play music sounds but very distorted, so in order to used it again with other player or the system i need to disconnect it.

Hackintosh I7 16GB Ram, Roon, HQPlayer, Drobo 8 TB NAS, Raspberry Pi 3 NAA, Gustard X20 ES 9018 Xmos, Audio GD C39 Preamp, The First ONE DIY Amp, Monitor Audio GS20 Speakers, Monitor Audio RSW12 Subwoofer, PI Audio MagikBuss filter.

Link to comment
I notice that when i exit HQPlayer in OSX, the USB interface that i use to play music sounds but very distorted, so in order to used it again with other player or the system i need to disconnect it.

 

Now the final release restores all parameters back to original values at exit, so this shouldn't happen...

 

I just checked once more with iFi iDSD Nano by playing some DSD128 on HQPlayer, then exit and launch Spotify and play some music, no problems sound is correct.

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

Link to comment

Miska:

I noticed ASIO as a new "back end" option in HQP for OS X. If I undestand correctly, exaSound DACs are coming with ASIO driver for OS X specific just their USB input. Does HQP OS X use that driver to drive exaSound DACs via ASIO? And is that the only time when HQP will allow the selection of ASIO instead of CoreAudio?

 

Are you aware of any other DACs (or USB>I2S) presently offering ASIO drivers for OS X?

 

I guess if HQP is supporting ASIO, how does it know where to look for the driver? Does one choose that for their device in AudioMidi Setup? I wonder what it will take for someone to provide an OS X ASIO driver for XMOS USB interfaces. Do you know if everyone has to pay a license fee to Steinberg for use of ASIO? I did find one firm selling for $60 an OS X ASIO driver for a defined list of prosound brand interfaces and mixing boards.

 

Seperately, with your NAA under Linux, what type of USB audio drivers do you use? Are they different for your ARM NAA than for AMD64 or i386 NAAs?

 

Thanks,

--Alex

Link to comment
I noticed ASIO as a new "back end" option in HQP for OS X. If I undestand correctly, exaSound DACs are coming with ASIO driver for OS X specific just their USB input. Does HQP OS X use that driver to drive exaSound DACs via ASIO? And is that the only time when HQP will allow the selection of ASIO instead of CoreAudio?

 

I have tested it with exaSound e28. The Devices-list will show all found ASIO drivers and you can select which one to use.

 

Are you aware of any other DACs (or USB>I2S) presently offering ASIO drivers for OS X?

 

Not yet...

 

I guess if HQP is supporting ASIO, how does it know where to look for the driver?

 

Similar way as on Windows too, information about ASIO drivers is stored in the system configuration data.

 

Does one choose that for their device in AudioMidi Setup?

 

No, it doesn't appear there. Just as ASIO drivers don't appear in Windows Control Panel / Sound devices either. HQPlayer doesn't care much about Audio MIDI Setup anyway, it can optionally use information of default device set there, but you can also select any other (non-default) device from HQPlayer Preferences.

 

I wonder what it will take for someone to provide an OS X ASIO driver for XMOS USB interfaces.

 

You need to write a driver first, then you can put ASIO interface on it. Currently in most cases XMOS USB is used together with the OS X built-in UAC driver and a separate custom driver (by Thesycon) is used only on Windows. Thesycon has also ASIO driver for Windows. So someone would need to make a new driver first.

 

Most likely candidate for next ASIO support would probably be RigiSystems USBPAL used for example in Mytek DAC (was it also it Audio Research?), because they anyway already have a separate OS X driver and also have ASIO support on Windows.

 

Do you know if everyone has to pay a license fee to Steinberg for use of ASIO?

 

ASIO doesn't cost anything...

 

Seperately, with your NAA under Linux, what type of USB audio drivers do you use? Are they different for your ARM NAA than for AMD64 or i386 NAAs?

 

Linux kernel contains ALSA audio drivers and the same driver code is used on all architectures. The only architecture specific part of the driver stack is low level USB driver. On PC hardware side there's EHCI standard for the hardware interface. On ARM the hardware interface towards USB controller varies from chip to chip.

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

Link to comment

Linux kernel contains ALSA audio drivers and the same driver code is used on all architectures. The only architecture specific part of the driver stack is low level USB driver. On PC hardware side there's EHCI standard for the hardware interface. On ARM the hardware interface towards USB controller varies from chip to chip.

 

Thanks for all those clear answers!

Gets me thinking about sponsoring development of an XMOS ASIO driver for OS X--and of course a board to support it.

 

With the exaSound e28 and and OS X Mac, have you done a direct comparison between using CoreAudio versus exaSound's ASIO driver? Would you care to describe the quality and magnitude of the sonic difference?

 

BTW, I did the comparison this week between NAA on CuBox-i4Pro versus NAA on i7 Mac mini. Both were supplied by my JS-2 LPS, both with same Ethernet cable, same USB cable, same instance of HQP 3.4 on OS X from across the room (on a 2nd i7 Mac mini). I want to post my (somewhat shocking results), but I need to e-mail Miska a couple of questions first.

Link to comment

System requirements, Linux version:

Ubuntu 14.04 (64-bit) or one of the variants (Ubuntu Studio is recommended as optimized version)

Audio interface with ALSA-drivers

Signalyst

 

The last month I had some spare time and I experimented with Ubuntu on my Mac Mini. The results were so good that I installed it alongside a small OSX partion. HQplayer sounds great in Ubuntu, as it did in OSX btw. Better? Hard to say because I cant test that easily. Last week however I tested Lubuntu. I was thrilled about the minimalist concept of it. HQPlayer was the only process running according to the activity monitor, using approximately 3% of CPU power... First listening tests however werent too well, but that could have been easily a state of mind at my side.

Now I read that Ubuntu Studio is optimized in above quote. Does it mean this version could make the sound of HQP better?

I wonder what experiences are.

 

Btw: I am installing Studio right now and left Lubuntu. Nice job for a sunny Sunday ;)

Link to comment
Thanks for all those clear answers!

Gets me thinking about sponsoring development of an XMOS ASIO driver for OS X--and of course a board to support it.

 

With the exaSound e28 and and OS X Mac, have you done a direct comparison between using CoreAudio versus exaSound's ASIO driver? Would you care to describe the quality and magnitude of the sonic difference?

 

BTW, I did the comparison this week between NAA on CuBox-i4Pro versus NAA on i7 Mac mini. Both were supplied by my JS-2 LPS, both with same Ethernet cable, same USB cable, same instance of HQP 3.4 on OS X from across the room (on a 2nd i7 Mac mini). I want to post my (somewhat shocking results), but I need to e-mail Miska a couple of questions first.

 

@Superdad

 

I'm pretty new to HQPlayer and NAA....would you be so kind to explain how I can get 'NAA on iX Mac mini'?...especially if it improves SQ vs Mac mini alone

I read before about NAA on CuBox but never about NAA on Mac Mini....

 

Thanks

Fabio

Link to comment

Many thanks to Miska ! As a long time lover of HQ-NAA( Linux version), the SQ of HQP 3.4.0 is better than all these older versions.

I am reporting here that HQP 3.4.0 originally for Ubuntu 14.04 can also run under Ubuntu 12.04 patched with real time kernel.

I do hope HQP and NAA can be connected directly via two optical NIC which can be done in Windows server 2012 dual PC system.

Link to comment
A basic question: if I install ASIO drivers on my Macbook Pro (no partition for Windows, only OS X...), is HQPlayer recognizing them and what SQ differences (if any) can I expect?

 

If your DAC has ASIO drivers for OS X, yes. I'm currently only aware of exaSound DACs having such, but I'd be happy to learn about others.

 

For sound quality differences, I leave it up to others to listen and comment. :)

Signalyst - Developer of HQPlayer

Pulse & Fidelity - Software Defined Amplifiers

Link to comment
I am so curious about Superdad's NAA comparison cubox vs Macmini. Waiting myself for an ordered cubox pro to arrive.

 

I know that you and a pretty large handful of others have been waiting for me to report on CuBox-i versus Mac mini as NAA. So here goes:

 

I recently bought a CuBox-i4Pro, and using it with a custom slimmed and optimized Linux/NAA image (realtime kernel, virtually all processes off, etc.) that Miska provided to me as his "best build", I hooked it up to my JS-2 choke-filtered LPS ($900 supply for a $100 computer!) and ran it as NAA.

With my work*i7 Mac mini across the room running HQP desktop, the same 25-ft. BlueJeans/Belden Cat6a Ethernet cable, and same USB cable to my DAC, I compared the CuBox to my i7 music Mac mini (with our DC-conversion/Linear Fan Controller installed; fed by same JS-2 LPS)--also running as an NAA using a near identical optimized Linux/NAA image that Miska also provided (kernel, etc. different of course due to iMX6 ARM versus Intel).

 

I did the comparison and wrote the below notes--which I sent to Miska--over a week ago, but delayed going public with them because I have been waiting for an answer from him about what can be told to all the Mac users who may wish to run NAA.

He does not want to distribute the pre-configured Linux/NNA inmate himself due to both internet host bandwidth allowance and because he does not want to have to support it (I guess I was/am enough of a pain).

 

Installing Linux can be a lot of trouble for those who are new at it (that is 95% of us!), and for Mac it is almost impossible to do for a bootable USB stick or SD card--so they have to repartition their internal hard drive (and Debian defaults to making 3 partitions for itself), and this involves risks.

 

I have not heard back from Miska since I asked (a week ago today) what to tell people about availability of the optimized boot-and-play Intel Mac Linux/NAA image of his which I am using, or even what to say about the similarly stripped and optimized CuBox-i/NAA image he gave me (and he said Debian is even harder to install on CuBox-i). So I am going to go ahead and post my results anyway.

------

 

The difference was MUCH, MUCH larger than I expected! *Night and day really. Did not have to go back and forth at all (though I did so I could make some notes).

The CuBox-i as an NAA sounds VERY bad in comparison to my Mac. Verbatim from my notes:

*Horns "drunk"

*Bass light and slow

*Piano lost and not very real in comparison (also lost piano line in multi-instrument ensemble)

*Cymbals sound like zinc and not brass

*Studio room air gone

*Deep bass missing

*General "aliveness" and compelling sense of music missing.

 

So I think people should seek something better sounding than CuBox-i for an NAA. *A Mac with LPS and linear fan controller sounds great, is easy, and looks good, but I am sure there are other good sounding options as well. A SOtM sMS-100 is the obvious next one to compare (though I won't be doing so).

 

The CuBox-i4Pro runs at 1GHz, and my i7 Mac mini is 2.3GHz. *But I don't think that speed is the issue affecting SQ. *It may be because the i7 has much larger L2/L3 cache (and Xenons have even more), or it may be due to other compromises made in the CuBox-i design. *

 

I am not sure why Miska does not hear the flaws with CuBox-i the way we so clearly do in my system. *I admit that my Mac mini is modified to be very good and that my DAC/amplification/speakers are very revealing, but the comparison I made was VERY fair, and the result should be quite audible on other systems.

 

Given that I do not think Miska is currently offering to distribute publicly the plug-and-play optimized Linux/NAA images for Intel Mac or CuBox-i that he gave me, nobody else can make the exact same comparison for themselves at this moment.

 

So there you go…

 

Best,

--Alex C.

Link to comment
I know that you and a pretty large handful of others have been waiting for me to report on CuBox-i versus Mac mini as NAA. So here goes:

 

...

 

(realtime kernel, virtually all processes off, etc.)

 

...

 

Installing Linux can be a lot of trouble for those who are new at it (that is 95% of us!), and for Mac it is almost impossible to do for a bootable USB stick or SD card--so they have to repartition their internal hard drive (and Debian defaults to making 3 partitions for itself), and this involves risks.

 

 

Thanks for the report!

 

However things are getting tougher and tougher in computer music...from simply audiophiles to N.A.S.A. engineers....:-)

Those seems to be the requirement to understand some of the slang used in many posts I read daily on CA forum

 

I really appreciate the sharing and the effort but I'd start to love such posts once they will be understandable enough to stupid music fan like me

 

Regards

Fabio

Link to comment

Create an account or sign in to comment

You need to be a member in order to leave a comment

Create an account

Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!

Register a new account

Sign in

Already have an account? Sign in here.

Sign In Now



×
×
  • Create New...