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Roon / HQPlayer Integration


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Given that a lot of us are going to be interested in implementing this combination, does anyone have it working to their satisfaction yet, i.e. without stutters, playing back both PCM and DSD without restarting the program, etc?

 

If so, could you share what computer hardware you are using and what your HQP settings are?

 

Much appreciated!

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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Whenever track changes, HQPlayer checks whether the requested settings are possible with the new track. If the requested combination of filter and output rate is not possible, playback stops or refuses to start. Other poly-sinc filters except poly-sinc-ext can do practically any conversion ratio. But poly-sinc-ext is on purpose limited to simple multiples of the source rate.

 

So in case for example you first have a track at 44.1k and select 5.6 MHz output rate and then later choose a 48k track, playback will stop until 6.1 MHz output rate is selected because poly-sinc-ext cannot do 48k to 5.6 MHz.

 

With the remote control API Roon is using, it could manage this situation by stopping the HQPlayer playback and switching output rate (if available) and then resume playback. But for example some DSD capable DAC drivers cannot do 48k-base DSD on Windows (while it may work on Linux like iFi products, or not work at all like Marantz due to DAC firmware limitations), so you may be out of luck with such combinations.

 

Although I understand your answer, it suggests that it would be desirable to have an HQP setting that basically says given the filter choices I have made, upsample to the maximum extent possible and if upsampling is not possible then apply my chosen filter settings to the existing sample rate.

 

Another way to approach it would be to allow us to set and save rules that would say "when I play a 24/48 file do this ... and when I play a 24/192 file do this and when I play a DSD64 do this. That way all of our files would play, even if there was a slight lag time whenever there was a format change to allow the player to adjust settings.

 

Perhaps that is much much harder to do than to say, so forgve me if I am asking for the impossible.

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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With software, almost nothing is impossible. Some things may need more effort than others, and some things may be more practical than others though.

 

External control interfaces/sources like Roon can also implement something like what you are asking. If they like to.

 

Thank you Miska: I would guess that I am not unusual among the more active posters here in that I have music of many sample rates and both PCM and DSD files (I typically look for the closest to original format of the recordings I like). As a result, I have a lot of 16/44, a little 24/48, and a fair amount of 24/96 and 24/192 and little 24/176. I also have a lot of DSD64 and some each of DSD128 and DSD256. So, I would need to construct 7 rules (one for each input format). Being able to save those rules and chose the applicable rule just before playing a piece is obviously preferable to having to remember the HQPlayer settings for each format and manually reset them for each piece. Being able to set universal rules so that HQPlayer looks at the input format, picks up the applicable rule and resets itself to that rule before playing the piece would be even better.

 

I understand that both you and the Roon team might be able to implement that, if there were enough interest here. I for one would vote strongly for that capability (even if it mean an additional charge for that version of HQPlayer or Roon, as applicable).

 

I don't know how others here feel? Comments?

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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  • 4 weeks later...
After trying all the common players I found A+ to be head and shoulder above the rest when it comes to SQ and user experience.

 

Then I tried Roon with HQPlayer plus NAA.

 

Roon make some other player apps look ridiculously amateurish. World class UX and visual design (Im a designer).

 

Roon + HQP + NAA sounds bigger, more fluid and more alive – to my ears/setup. A+ now comes across as hard and congested. This without any kind of up software sampling or filtering in either A+ or HQP.

 

I found my new champion combo.

 

Same here Roon/HQPlayer/NAA upsampling everything to DSD128 and now using Roon build 99 and HQP version 3.13b2. It all works great and sounds great!

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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A question to all the users here:

Has anyone compared music quality of streamed music titles (in tidal hifi quality) with music titles of your own hard disk or server?

In my setup there is still a significant difference but I somehow expected that.

 

Regards,

 

Christian

 

Although I'm never certain whether Tidal has the exact same source material I do, I did yesterday compare several Tidal streams against a ripped CD of the same and consistently heard a slight improvement in the ripped CD. That being said, there are some Tidal streams that sound unbelievably good upsampled to DSD256.

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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How do the new "auto" settings function in Beta 3.13.0? What determines the output rates and choice between DSD and PCM?

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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I don't want to start a "do cables matter" battle here, but I did find that making sure all my runs of Ethernet between my computer and my DAC were Cat7 shielded cable seemed to make a speed difference. I had previously used Cat5e. I'm using a Cisco SR2024T 24 port 10/100/1000 Gigabit Switch but also running the cables through the latest generation Apple Airport Extreme (to get Wifi into the room for my iPad control). No dropouts at DSD256.

Synology NAS>i7-6700/32GB/NVIDIA QUADRO P4000 Win10>Qobuz+Tidal>Roon>HQPlayer>DSD512> Fiber Switch>Ultrarendu (NAA)>Holo Audio May KTE DAC> Bryston SP3 pre>Levinson No. 432 amps>Magnepan (MG20.1x2, CCR and MMC2x6)

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