J River to HQPlayer

[rikirk]

It works like a charm! I also applied the JR library filters as you suggested in the HQP thread, although HQP does not switch to the different filters like PCM vs DSD in playback .

 

I coded all my redbook to be played in poly-sinc-2/ASDM7/SDM (DSD), all hires PCM except 88Hz for poly-sinc/NS5/PCM and 88Hz+DSD in upsampling as the redbook.

 

By the way, since there are some many filters out there would you still consider the ones in above a good option for classical music using ESS9018AQ2M?

[rikirk]

@teodorom Hope by now you and your professor had a chance to try HQP with your own ears. In case you could not prove him wrong, I suggest a quote from a wellknown local song: "lascia stare..."

 

@Miska thank you as always for the valuable feedback. Besides the "Math" there is a reason why many well regarded companies in the audio industry took the pill and adpoted HQP in their systems.

 

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

16 minutes ago, rikirk said:

It works like a charm! I also applied the JR library filters as you suggested in the HQP thread, although HQP does not switch to the different filters like PCM vs DSD in playback .

 

I coded all my redbook to be played in poly-sinc-2/ASDM7/SDM (DSD), all hires PCM except 88Hz for poly-sinc/NS5/PCM and 88Hz+DSD in upsampling as the redbook.

 

By the way, since there are some many filters out there would you still consider the ones in above a good option for classical music using ESS9018AQ2M?

Thanks also for the feedback Rick.

 

Sorry, I didn’t quite get your “HQP doesn’t switch…” comment. Could you explain a bit further and I’ll see if I can help.

 

Best,

 

Geoff

[rikirk]

From the other post I was under the impression that your magic software was able to change the filters in HQP on the fly according to the custom tags in JR, so that there is no need to do it manually in HQP. 

 

Another point, is it possible to create the temp files to be played from memory in an external SD card? 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

9 hours ago, rikirk said:

From the other post I was under the impression that your magic software was able to change the filters in HQP on the fly according to the custom tags in JR, so that there is no need to do it manually in HQP. 

 

Another point, is it possible to create the temp files to be played from memory in an external SD card? 

It can change them on the fly. Not while the music is playing, of course; but when it loads new music into hqp. As long as it’s a valid combination for the music being loaded.

 

You shouldn’t need to change them manually.

 

You must use the long argument string when calling the custom external app (set in J River’s File Type setting). The long argument string references the contents of those custom tags, each time my script is called.

 

See the ‘arguments’ file. You can copy the long argument string from here if you need to.

 

Of course you can create the temp files on an external SD card. You just have to change the temp file path in the settings file ‘call-jr-ps’.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Well Rick, it turns out you did find an issue. You're quite right the HQPlayer Filters were not always applied on the fly.

 

Sometimes they were being applied and others not. I must have lucked out when I tested, because for me they were working. I did some further testing and realised they were not being applied at least 75% percent of the time though.

 

The new version here, corrects this problem. It also adds a number of improvements to application of HQPlayer settings.

 

Here are the new features:

 

1/ The "default.xml" settings file is now loaded by my script every time it's run. So please make sure your default.xml settings file contains, just that; your default settings. If necessary make any changes and export the new version, replacing the current "default.xml" file. This means you only need to apply the custom tags (HQPlayer Filter, HQPlayer Shaper, HQPlayer SR and HQPlayer Type) to music files where you want exceptions to apply. Obviously you only change the necessary tag. e.g. if for one album you want to apply 'ADSM5' instead of your default 'ADSM7', then just apply the HQPlayer Shaper 'ASDM5' to the files of that album.

 

2/ There is now a new 'HQPlayer Settings' tag. The long arguments list has been expanded to include this, and you will need to amend the arguments list in J River File associations, for every file type where you want my script to be called.

 

Just copy and paste the new long arguments list from here as necessary. Or from the included 'arguments.txt' file.

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[HQPlayer Settings],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

When you set this tag for any music files, the settings file whose name corresponds with the name you entered in this tag will be applied (if the file exists). Just put the file name in the tag, don't include the '.xml'.

 

Any exceptions you apply using the; HQPlayer Filter, HQPlayer Shaper, HQPlayer SR and HQPlayer Type tags will override this settings file as they are applied later in the script.

 

3/ Finally if the HQPlayer Filter tag has either 'poly-sinc-xtr' or 'poly-sinc-xtr-mp' applied, I attempt to load a settings file named 'extreme'. The reason I do this is that I found these filters work best with the 'Multicore DSP' settings set with a check mark rather than being greyed out, whereas other filters work well with this box greyed. This may only be applicable to my systems. Perhaps Miska can comment?

 

If the same applies on your system, you'll probably want to create a settings file named 'extreme' with a check box for the 'Multicore DSP' setting. Don't worry; I only attempt to load this file, if it exists. If it doesn't no changes are applied.

 

Finally on the subject of settings, you may want to make use of the 'HQPlayer SR' (sample rate tag). This is especially useful if you want to exceptionally apply a filter/shaper combination which won't work at the higher sample rates.

 

When setting up this custom library field in J River, you can use the following string for the allowed values. This doesn't include all possible sample rates. I believe it has all the useful ones though:

 

0;44100;48000;88200;96000;176400;192000;352800;384000;705600;768000;2822400;3072000;4096000;5644800;6144000;8192000;11289600;12000000;12288000;22579200;24000000;24576000

 

One other small bug fix not related to settings is that I found in my last version the 'Stoppause' feature wasn't working when set to 'Yes' in the 'call-jr-ps.cmd' file. This version also fixes that.

 

To upgrade to this version you only need to replace the main script file and apply the new long arguments string as described above.

 

The other files are there for information.

 

Geoff

 

 

J River to HQPlayer v1.17.zip

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

I found a bug in that last release 1.17 which was preventing the sample rate from the 'HQPlayer SR' tag being correctly applied.

 

This is now fixed in new version 1.18 attached. You only need to replace the main script file to apply this fix.

 

Geoff

jrexp.ps1.zip

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Apologies; yet another update as I've just discovered the sample rate doesn't always get set back to 'Auto' after it's been set to something else, even though I load the "default.xml' settings file.

 

This could cause problems if you change to a filter that can't cope with the sample rate, as too high.

 

The attached version makes sure the sample rate is set to Auto to begin with, just after the 'default.xml' settings file is loaded.

 

I need to listen, while testing  

 

Don't worry if you don't follow the reasons for this, just upgrade to this version 1.19 by replace the main script file, …again.

 

Geoff

 

 

jrexp.ps1.zip

[rikirk]

haha, I was finally testing more today and willing to provide a very late feedback and I just found your post from Friday. Will test now and get back to you as usual, maybe in a little more timely fashion :)

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

3 minutes ago, rikirk said:

haha, I was finally testing more today and willing to provide a very late feedback and I just found your post from Friday. Will test now and get back to you as usual, maybe in a little more timely fashion

Whenever you have time that's fine. Always grateful for the feedback.

[rikirk]

You did the magic! It works beautifully!!!

 

Now, please let me take a pebble out of my shoe...in my own unique ears and in my own more mortal audio system, Roon does have an impact in the signal path while using HQP...

 

You can imagine the value of your last implementation, at least for me personally.

 

Always grateful,

 

Riccardo

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

2 minutes ago, rikirk said:

You did the magic! It works beautifully!!!

 

Now, please let me take a pebble out of my shoe...in my own unique ears and in my own more mortal audio system, Roon does have an impact in the signal path while using HQP...

 

You can imagine the value of your last implementation, at least for me personally.

 

Always grateful,

 

Riccardo

 

I'm so glad it's working well for you Riccardo. Thanks for testing and for the positive comments

 

I haven't made any direct comparisons between Roon feeding HQPlayer versus J River feeding HQPlayer. This could be very system dependant. Also it must depend on which features you have turned on or off in either Roon or J River. Perhaps in your case J River is getting out of the way, with less activity.

 

Of course Roon remains the most convenient, and a lot of people will obviously prefer its interface. It's always good to have choices though.

 

Of course, J River lacks support for either Qobuz or Tidal. With this solution you can play just one track at a time through HQPlayer from either mconnect on IOS or Bubble on Android. I sometimes use it that way when I'm being DJ for my family

 

Geoff

 

 

 

 

[rikirk]

Ah! for streaming! sure, a beautiful interface! also a very kind team of people, I made some silly mistake in my router setup and they promptly helped me out even if I was in "trial mode". 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

14 hours ago, rikirk said:

Ah! for streaming! sure, a beautiful interface! also a very kind team of people, I made some silly mistake in my router setup and they promptly helped me out even if I was in "trial mode". 

Agreed, they are a very nice team of people. I had the privilege of meeting and working with them during the introduction of our music server in Munich during 2016.

 

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

During the weekend I discovered a bug related to multi-disc sets. This was preventing correct navigation within the multi-disc set after the files from the album were loaded.

 

This is now fixed in the attached version 1.20.

 

It is only necessary to replace the main script file posted here to apply this fix.

 

Geoff

jrexp.ps1.zip

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Here is an updated manual to reflect all the most recent changes.

 

 

J River front end to HQPlayer.pdf

[rikirk]

Thanks Geoff for all your efforts.

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

7 hours ago, rikirk said:

Thanks Geoff for all your efforts.

It's a pleasure to provide something that people can enjoy and a fun little project for me to work on. I never imagined it would go from the three lines of code batch script to what it can do today. Now I probably need to get my teeth into something more challenging,

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

Although all the recent changes up to and including version 1.20 work well, I discovered they broke stop/pause/resume functionality.

 

This new version 1.21 brings back stop/pause/resume functionality along with all the newer features in 1.20.

 

Just replace the main script file to apply the fix.

 

Geoff

jrexp.ps1.zip

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

That last fix for pause/resume wasn't quite right as resume incorrectly started from the beginning of the paused track rather than where playback had been paused. This new version 1.22 fixes that.

 

Geoff

 

 

jrexp.ps1.zip

[liwario]

Got the following error after installation:

 

Transcript started, output file is C:\jr-hqp\log.text
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
 

Any solution to the above ?

 

Thanks !

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

4 hours ago, liwario said:

Got the following error after installation:

 

Transcript started, output file is C:\jr-hqp\log.text
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
Exception calling "Substring" with "1" argument(s): "StartIndex cannot be less than zero.
Parameter name: startIndex"
At C:\jr-hqp\jrexp.ps1:132 char:1
+ $sub =  $correctfile.Substring($filename.IndexOf(":\", $correctfile.I ...
+ ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
    + CategoryInfo          : NotSpecified: (:) [], MethodInvocationException
    + FullyQualifiedErrorId : ArgumentOutOfRangeException
 

Any solution to the above ?

 

Thanks !

Thanks for providing the log, that's useful.

 

The error indicates that my script doesn't recognize the file you're trying to play from J River.

 

Can you provide a full path to the file you're trying to play? There's something about the file path the script isn't liking, so I need to try to figure out what that is.

 

Also please post here the argument string you're using in J River's file associations for passing to my script. I just want to check you're sending the correct argument string.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[liwario]

This is the full filepath:

 

C:\WINDOWS\System32>set filepath=\\NAS\music\DSD ISO\Air Supply - The Definitive Collection (1999) [SACD] (2003 Remaster ISO)\ARISTA - The Definitive Collection.iso;2,,2,[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]

 

FYI, I am playing from a SACD ISO file.

 

And the argument string is 

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

Thanks !

[Geoffrey Armstrong]

9 minutes ago, liwario said:

This is the full filepath:

 

C:\WINDOWS\System32>set filepath=\\NAS\music\DSD ISO\Air Supply - The Definitive Collection (1999) [SACD] (2003 Remaster ISO)\ARISTA - The Definitive Collection.iso;2,,2,[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]

 

FYI, I am playing from a SACD ISO file.

 

And the argument string is 

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

Thanks !

J River to HQPlayer can only support files which HQPlayer itself can play and files which it can send to ffmpeg (bundled) for conversion to an HQPlayer supported format. This means that you can play Apple Lossless. Apple Lossy, MP3 and many other formats; but not SACD ISO, I'm afraid.

 

See this post from Miska (HQPlayer developer):

 

That's an old post; but I don't think the situation has changed, looking at supported formats on the Signalyst web-site

 

https://www.signalyst.com/consumer.html

 

If it has changed, I'm sure he will let us know.

 

If there is a program I could call for making temp dsf/dff files from an ISO, it could be an interesting feature for me to add.

 

Also assuming you are using my latest version of J River to HQPlayer, your arguments list should be:

 

"Replace([Filename], &, ^&),[Disc #],[Track #],[HQPlayer Filter],[HQPlayer

Shaper],[HQPlayer SR],[HQPlayer Type],[HQPlayer Temp Type],[HQPlayer Temp],[HQPlayer

Settings],[Load Playlist],[Playlist Shuffle],[Artist Play All],[Repeat All]"

 

You are missing the new "HQPlayer Settings" argument.

 

 

[Miska]

37 minutes ago, Geoffrey Armstrong said:

If there is a program I could call for making temp dsf/dff files from an ISO, it could be an interesting feature for me to add.

 

@bogi 's ISO2DSF is very nice tool for converting SACD ISO's to DSF. Probably same tooling could be called for temporary conversions too. IIRC you need to call sacd_extract to convert files to DFF and then my dff2dsf tool to further convert to DSF. The latest release of sacd_extract is supposed to have the DSF writing bug fixed, but I have not checked. You could also leave it at intermediate DFF. The very nice extra bogi's tool does is to extract metadata from the SACD ISO and also put that into DSF.

 

But in my opinion, it is certainly best to run ISO2DSF once and then use the DSF files and just archive the ISO's for possible future need...

 

For my ISO's I have extracted two file sets. One set of stereo DSF's and one set of multichannel DSF's. Btw, sometimes it is interesting to listen also stereo downmix, processed in HQPlayer, of the multichannel DSF's instead of the stereo versions... I feel that sometimes I get better sound that way.