HQPlayer Linux Desktop and HQplayer embedded

[bodiebill]

22 hours ago, jabbr said:

@bodiebill ... and others ... Let me give my overall impressions:

 

1) The best thing you can do with HQPlayer is NAA which gives Ethernet isolation and a low powered quiet machine attached to the DAC.

Agreed. NAA enables me to run a very low footprint endpoint. I have one without any harddisk or SSD (SATA is disabled in BIOS) which runs GentooPlayer or Audiolinux from RAM. I once measured the maximum current draw and it was very low. It is easily powered by a 2A SR4.

 

Quote

2) I use fiberoptic Ethernet for isolation

Me too. However I found that I like the sound best if the last bit downstream is copper ethernet (RJ45), however counterintuitive this may seem. It makes the sound less thin/strident.

 

Quote

3) I got my Mellanox (100gbe) switch because I got a fantastic deal on it, and I got my prior Brocade (10Gbe) switch for the same reason.

A few days ago I received a Cisco 2960G and I prefer it to the MikroTik it should be replacing. However, it is much too noisy, so I ordered one without a fan. Luckily they are cheap (approx. € 50).

The JCAT net card FEMTO arrived today. I will try it in the endpoint PC.

 

Quote

4) I find that Wifi works reliably for me up to DSD256 where wired is reliable to DSD512, so I'm currently looking at whether ASDM7EC/DSD256 compares with AMSDM7/DSD512 that said, I think the dropouts/latency with Wifi is likely much more of a factor regarding SQ than perhaps EMI (my house has a *very* active Wifi situation going on right now with multiple kids doing home schooling/videoconferencing on laptops, also TVs which wifi netflix/amazon etc) 

 

Thoughts on ASDM7EC/DSD256 compared with AMSDM7 etc./DSD512?

I definitely prefer ASDM7EC/DSD256 to AMSDM7/DSD512 and even to AMSDM7/DSD1024 (which my Denafrips DAC accepts).

[bodiebill]

Just now, bodiebill said:

Agreed. NAA enables me to run a very low footprint endpoint. I have one without any harddisk or SSD (SATA is disabled in BIOS) which runs GentooPlayer or Audiolinux from RAM. I once measured the maximum current draw and it was very low. It is easily powered by a 2A SR4.

 

Me too. However I found that I like the sound best if the last bit downstream is copper ethernet (RJ45), however counterintuitive this may seem. It makes the sound less thin/strident. I don't know why.

 

A few days ago I received a Cisco 2960G and I prefer it to the MikroTik it should be replacing. However, it is much too noisy, so I ordered one without a fan. Luckily theyare cheap (approx. € 50).

The JCAT net card FEMTO arrived today. I will try it in the endpoint PC.

 

I definitely prefer ASDM7EC/DSD256 to AMSDM7/DSD512 and even to AMSDM7/DSD1024 (which my Denafrips DAC accepts).

 

[craighartley]

19 minutes ago, bodiebill said:

 

I can hear enough between the dropouts to know that I definitely prefer ASDM7EC/DSD512 to ASDM7EC/DSD256. Very tantalising!  
 

This is with T+A DAC8 DSD. 

[bodiebill]

16 minutes ago, craighartley said:

I can hear enough between the dropouts to know that I definitely prefer ASDM7EC/DSD512 to ASDM7EC/DSD256. Very tantalising!  
 

This is with T+A DAC8 DSD. 

 

Better not to know 🙂

I only compared dropout-free settings...

[Miska]

2 hours ago, bodiebill said:

Agreed. NAA enables me to run a very low footprint endpoint. I have one without any harddisk or SSD (SATA is disabled in BIOS) which runs GentooPlayer or Audiolinux from RAM. I once measured the maximum current draw and it was very low. It is easily powered by a 2A SR4.

 

Those are still very large compared to the bootable NAA image...

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - I'm adding convolution filters created for me by Mitch in Audiolense. I have two questions.

 

1. Do I need separate left and right filters or can I just add the same one to both channels?

2. Does HQP only use a single filter sample rate or will it automatically switch filters baed on the incoming rate? I have a filter for each sample rate up through 352.8 and Roon and JRiver both switch filters based on the rate of the music.

[Miska]

23 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

1. Do I need separate left and right filters or can I just add the same one to both channels?

 

Filters need to be mono WAV, so from Audiolense you'd typically split stereo WAV into two mono WAVs. For example Audacity can be used for the purpose. If filter for both channels is the same, you can use same filter for both. If the filters are separate, then you'd need left and right filters as separate mono WAV.

 

23 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

2. Does HQP only use a single filter sample rate or will it automatically switch filters baed on the incoming rate? I have a filter for each sample rate up through 352.8 and Roon and JRiver both switch filters based on the rate of the music.

 

HQPlayer will automatically scale single filter to a needed rate and format. So of those filters you've got, I'd recommend using 352.8k one, as then you certainly don't need the HF Expand option in HQPlayer.

 

Without such, you would certainly end up with some challenges regarding DSD material to DSD output. Not sure what Roon and JRiver do in such cases.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

11 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Filters need to be mono WAV, so from Audiolense you'd typically split stereo WAV into two mono WAVs. For example Audacity can be used for the purpose. If filter for both channels is the same, you can use same filter for both. If the filters are separate, then you'd need left and right filters as separate mono WAV.

 

 

HQPlayer will automatically scale single filter to a needed rate and format. So of those filters you've got, I'd recommend using 352.8k one, as then you certainly don't need the HF Expand option in HQPlayer.

 

Without such, you would certainly end up with some challenges regarding DSD material to DSD output. Not sure what Roon and JRiver do in such cases.

 

Ok great. Will do this now. 
 

P.S. Just had a blast of noise come out of my speakers and I’m not doing anything other than the HQP defaults :~(

[sledwards]

Hello All:

 

I just updated HQPe from 4.15.0 to 4.15.2.  Starting and stopping playback is very slow now... 4 to 5 seconds. In 4.15.0, I had set the buffer time to 10 msec and playback and pause took maybe a second or less. Changing the buffer time in 4.15.2 did not change the start/stop time.

I am running Roon with HQPe NAA 3.6.0 running on a SoTM-200 Ultra.  I upsample all music to DSD256 and can run all modulators with no issues.  I do see in the release info on 4.15.2 that the output stream start/stop handling was changed.

[Miska]

41 minutes ago, sledwards said:

I do see in the release info on 4.15.2 that the output stream start/stop handling was changed.

 

Yes, change is the kind of silence played during start/stop. Amount of silence played should be pretty much the same when used with latest NAA version (>= 4.1.1).

 

46 minutes ago, sledwards said:

I am running Roon with HQPe NAA 3.6.0 running on a SoTM-200 Ultra.

 

With old NAA, like 3.6.x, the amount of silence is double at start.

 

[sledwards]

Thanks Miska.

Unfortunately the latest SoTM firmware comes preloaded with NAA 3.6.0. I emailed them to see if I could maniually load the latest NAA.

 

Question:  Anyone out there know how to load a simple OS with NAA only and bypass the antiquated SoTM OS/firmware?

 

[Solstice380]

13 hours ago, sledwards said:

Thanks Miska.

Unfortunately the latest SoTM firmware comes preloaded with NAA 3.6.0. I emailed them to see if I could maniually load the latest NAA.

 

Question:  Anyone out there know how to load a simple OS with NAA only and bypass the antiquated SoTM OS/firmware?

 

I think that there may be a bootable image from @Miska that works.  Search for sms-200 and NAA. 

[Miska]

15 minutes ago, Solstice380 said:

I think that there may be a bootable image from @Miska that works.  Search for sms-200 and NAA. 

 

No, not for sMS-200... I have one that should work on microRendu though.

 

[skipspence]

Is there also one that should work on ClearFog too?

[Miska]

2 hours ago, skipspence said:

Is there also one that should work on ClearFog too?

 

No, on ARM based devices you need to have specific support for each piece of hardware which makes things complicated. This is because the particular hardware configuration needs to be described at the OS level since the hardware is "dumb" and cannot describe itself.

 

On Intel/AMD based hardware things are much simpler and generic because the firmware (BIOS) can describe the hardware configuration to the OS using ACPI.

 

[jamesg11]

On 4/10/2020 at 5:12 AM, Miska said:

Without such, you would certainly end up with some challenges regarding DSD material to DSD output.

Yes, so convolution necessarily will mean, say, conversion of a dsf64 file to a high rate mono WAV file x2 & then re-conversion to dsf256 for dac input?

/& then say as above, for a dsf256 file to dsf256 input to dac ...?

[The Computer Audiophile]

Hi Guys - Is there a way to stop the HQP volume control from going from the minimum to the maximum level ( 0 dBFS) via the shortcut, bottom route? When the volume is spun to the left and the user keeps going, it will jump over to the maximum level without going around the top. This is very dangerous for people using HQP's volume control exclusively. 

 

 

[Miska]

10 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Guys - Is there a way to stop the HQP volume control from going from the minimum to the maximum level ( 0 dBFS) via the shortcut, bottom route? When the volume is spun to the left and the user keeps going, it will jump over to the maximum level without going around the top. This is very dangerous for people using HQP's volume control exclusively. 

 

 

 

No, this is feature of the widget in the toolkit. But always set the volume range in HQPlayer settings to a safe value.

 

These days you'd anyway likely control volume from a client, either the one shipped with HQPlayer, or some other client.

 

[The Computer Audiophile]

Just now, Miska said:

 

No, this is feature of the widget in the toolkit. But always set the volume range in HQPlayer settings to a safe value.

 

These days you'd anyway likely control volume from a client, either the one shipped with HQPlayer, or some other client.

 

Ah yes, you're right. I'm using the round widget because I have an RDP session open to that PC, but I also have Roon open and that controls it as well. 

 

Thanks Jussi. Logic prevails. 

[Miska]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Ah yes, you're right. I'm using the round widget because I have an RDP session open to that PC, but I also have Roon open and that controls it as well. 

 

If you are controlling from another computer, you can install HQPlayer Client on it and control from there. However, Roon usually disconnects if it notices HQPlayer is controlled from somewhere else, including HQPlayer's own GUI. This is to avoid fight over control between multiple applications. I don't remember out of my head if volume was among these properties.

 

[Superdad]

1 hour ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Guys - Is there a way to stop the HQP volume control from going from the minimum to the maximum level ( 0 dBFS) via the shortcut, bottom route? When the volume is spun to the left and the user keeps going, it will jump over to the maximum level without going around the top. This is very dangerous for people using HQP's volume control exclusively. 

 

I have complained to Jussi about that exact "feature" several times over the years. 

 

1 hour ago, Miska said:

No, this is feature of the widget in the toolkit. But always set the volume range in HQPlayer settings to a safe value.

 

Still no fun accidentally going from quiet to blasting--especially if listening late at night.

 

1 hour ago, Miska said:

These days you'd anyway likely control volume from a client, either the one shipped with HQPlayer, or some other client.

 

Are you referring to that very odd numbers in a small circle thing in your Client? The one you have to stoke like mad with a mouse or trackpad to go up and down in 1dB steps? 

 

Sorry man, your filter algorithms are great, and the s/w level control may be very transparent, but your U.I.s do nothing to make people want to use it. 

 

[Miska]

4 minutes ago, Superdad said:

I have complained to Jussi about that exact "feature" several times over the years. 

 

Still no fun accidentally going from quiet to blasting--especially if listening late at night.

 

I can take it away completely, no problem.

 

5 minutes ago, Superdad said:

Are you referring to that very odd numbers in a small circle thing in your Client? The one you have to stoke like mad with a mouse or trackpad to go up and down in 1dB steps?

 

Use mouse wheel on top of it and it is much more comfortable. On touch screen you would swipe it. Alternatively use the popup-slider:

[Miska]

By the way, if you keep mouse pointer far enough from the knob, you don't accidentally flip it around.

 

[Superdad]

58 minutes ago, Miska said:

Alternatively use the popup-slider:

I’ll try that, thanks!

[StreamFidelity]

In my case the digital volume control is sensitive, as I go directly from the Denafrips Terminator DAC to my T+A M10 power amplifiers. I have had a Windows system chime before, where I thought I was right inside the church bell tower.  😄

 

I control the HQPlayer via Roon. A Comfort Limit can be set there.