HQPlayer Linux Desktop and HQplayer embedded

[WenYee]

Do you have the version for ARM64? upsample to dsd128 is ok,

if so, it would be good for portable device.

[Miska]

3 hours ago, WenYee said:

Do you have the version for ARM64? upsample to dsd128 is ok,

if so, it would be good for portable device.

 

Not yet, I'm still waiting for suitable hardware (*). But we'll see how the most recent hardware will perform.

 

*) To be honest I have one piece of hardware, but it is so much effort to get that one up and running that I haven't got time to work on it yet and it has not been high priority.

 

[WenYee]

18 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Not yet, I'm still waiting for suitable hardware (*). But we'll see how the most recent hardware will perform.

 

*) To be honest I have one piece of hardware, but it is so much effort to get that one up and running that I haven't got time to work on it yet and it has not been high priority.

 

I guess that RK3399 is enough for dsd128?

Can you do a special version for arm64, just dsd128 and with fewer filters at  good prices? So I could develop a mini HQ audio device.

[Miska]

2 hours ago, WenYee said:

I guess that RK3399 is enough for dsd128?

Can you do a special version for arm64, just dsd128 and with fewer filters at  good prices? So I could develop a mini HQ audio device.

 

Hard to say without testing... Price will be the same, I usually don't limit filters or other functionality. But it will need some extra work and need to check if NEON now supports 64-bit floating point. Earlier ARM attempts were shot down because 64-bit floating point performance was totally unacceptable and even when dropping to 32-bit floating point still needed additional performance degrading ugly things to make upsampling even to DSD64 work on quad-core Cortex-A9.

 

Edit: based on this and this it should have 64-bit FP support in NEON (full ARM-v8-A).

 

[luchoh]

@Miska

I'm having a weird issue with the embedded version and SMS-200: It won't be discovered.

 

I pulled the desktop version and there is no problem whatsoever. I even went ahead and copied the line from HQPlayer.xml and replaced the respective line in hqplayerd.xml. No joy.

 

I think what is happening is normally the NAA reports the sample rates, but with the embedded version and SMS-200 this doesn't happen.

 

This is what the log says:

 

2018/03/24 10:44:49 Discovery from 0.0.0.0
& 2018/03/24 10:44:49 Discovered network audio: name='NAA' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.2'  @10.10.1.25:43210
& 2018/03/24 10:44:49 Discovered network audio: name='NAA' version='Signalyst Network Audio Daemon 3.5.2'  @10.10.1.25:43210
  2018/03/24 10:44:50  Network endpoint: iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio: USB Audio (hw:CARD=Audio,DEV=0)
  2018/03/24 10:44:50 Discovered 1 Network Audio Adapters
  2018/03/24 10:44:50 Set channels: 2 (2)
  2018/03/24 10:44:50 DAC bits: 24
! 2018/03/24 10:44:50 clPlayerDaemon::CreateEngine(): clHQPlayerEngine::Initialize(): clNetMiniEngine::Initialize(): adapter not found
- 2018/03/24 10:44:50 Network engine stopping...

 

And this is the info from SMS-200:

 

**** List of PLAYBACK Hardware Devices ****
card 0: Audio [iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio], device 0: USB Audio [USB Audio]
  Subdevices: 1/1
  Subdevice #0: subdevice #0
Bus 004 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 002 Device 007: ID 20b1:3008 XMOS Ltd 
Bus 002 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
Bus 003 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0001 Linux Foundation 1.1 root hub
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 05e3:0610 Genesys Logic, Inc. 4-port hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub
 0 [Audio          ]: USB-Audio - iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio
                      iFi (by AMR) iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio at usb-1c1c000.usb-1, high speed
iFi (by AMR) iFi (by AMR) HD USB Audio at usb-1c1c000.usb-1, high speed : USB Audio

Playback:
  Status: Stop
  Interface 1
    Altset 1
    Format: S32_LE
    Channels: 2
    Endpoint: 1 OUT (ASYNC)
    Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
    Data packet interval: 125 us
  Interface 1
    Altset 2
    Format: SPECIAL DSD_U32_BE
    Channels: 2
    Endpoint: 1 OUT (ASYNC)
    Rates: 44100, 48000, 88200, 96000, 176400, 192000, 352800, 384000
    Data packet interval: 125 us

And

Kernel Version	4.4.14-209.fc22.armv7hl (SMP) armv7l
Distro Name	 Fedora release 22 (Twenty Two)

 

 

The same DAC with BBB/Stretch with kernel 4.4.29 and Odroid C2/Stretch kernel 4.4.14 is discovered properly by both embedded and desktop.

 

Any ideas?

[Miska]

If you can stop the hqplayerd in SMS-200 and run it on console, or alternatively configure it to produce log file output, it could tell somewhat more what is going wrong there. Otherwise this is a bit of mystery...

[arglebargle]

Greetings @Miska and all. Congrats on the official release! 

 

When I boot my computer with the most recent version (4.0.2)  hqplayerd throws the following error:

 

Quote

! 2018/03/25 21:11:42 clPlayerDaemon::CreateEngine(): clHQPlayerEngine::Initialize(): clNetMiniEngine::Disco(): clSocket::SendTo(): sendto(): Network is unreachable

 

after which the network engine stops and and the daemon has to be restarted. I rolled back to 4.0.0 and found this doesn't happen.  I assume systemd thinks the network is up, so starts hqplayerd ... but it's not actually up, so hqplayerd errors out. Don't know if it's of interest or reproducible for anyone out there but just wanted to report. (This is different from an old type of failure to start where systemd would retry too many times too fast before network was actually up.)  

 

 

 

[Miska]

2 hours ago, arglebargle said:

after which the network engine stops and and the daemon has to be restarted. I rolled back to 4.0.0 and found this doesn't happen.  I assume systemd thinks the network is up, so starts hqplayerd ... but it's not actually up, so hqplayerd errors out. Don't know if it's of interest or reproducible for anyone out there but just wanted to report. (This is different from an old type of failure to start where systemd would retry too many times too fast before network was actually up.)  

 

Yes, that is possibly what happens. The requirement for network-online.target in systemd service file is supposed to handle this. For some network interface types, systemd still considers "network-online" to have been reached even if they are not fully up. This can happen for example with slow DHCP server. Service file now has restart interval of two seconds, so it should eventually come up.

 

Having network configured through /etc/network/interfaces should keep this from happening. While configurations that have desktop GUI and use NetworkManager or similar tend to have such problems because network comes up much later through the GUI.

 

When network is managed by systemd-networkd.service, there exists also systemd-networkd-wait-online.service and you can add dependency to that one into hqplayerd.service. (see "man systemd-networkd-wait-online.service")

[arglebargle]

Thanks for the advice. I used systemd- networkd in Arch, so that was an easy enough change. Fixed the issue and also shaved a second or two off the boot time, not bad. Cheers

[cat6man]

Well, I've hosed my hqplayerd setup somehow and need to do a clean installation.

Basically, I was trying to change to the integrated startup (where I didn't need a special call to rygel) but

the script I ran uses different default locations than my installation, so I've likely confused things completely.

 

Anything special I should do to cleanup before doing a new installation.

Clearly, I'll keep my license and configuration files backed up.

I just want to make sure I don't leave things pointing to non-existant locations, startup processes, etc.

 

Thanks

[Miska]

If you use Debian or Ubuntu and install the provided package, you just disable whatever old startup stuff you had, install the new package and enable it's automatic startup with "systemctl enable hqplayerd".

 

To enable UPnP support, check out the <upnp> element in provided example configuration file.

 

[PowerQuality]

I'm running Hqplayer Embedded installed on a USB stick as a bootable image in a Mac Mini, output is NAA running on RPI. 

 

I works flawless with Roon, so output side is ok. 

 

I want to use optical input on Mac Mini so I can play Spotify from another device trough HQP. Can I use native (internal) optical input on Mac Mini? Or do I have to connect some external device by USB? 

 

Thanks for all help. 

[Miska]

1 hour ago, PowerQuality said:

I'm running Hqplayer Embedded installed on a USB stick as a bootable image in a Mac Mini, output is NAA running on RPI. 

 

I works flawless with Roon, so output side is ok. 

 

I want to use optical input on Mac Mini so I can play Spotify from another device trough HQP. Can I use native (internal) optical input on Mac Mini? Or do I have to connect some external device by USB? 

 

Does Mac Mini also have optical input? Or just output?

 

For Spotify it likely could work without much hassle, because it is always 44.1k sampling rate.

 

If you can send me output dump of "amixer" for the internal audio device (over email), I could check what capabilities it has. I do have one Mac Mini too, but there have been so many hardware variants over the years, that it probably doesn't tell much...

 

For USB inputs, I've used RME ADI-2 PRO for some input functions (including DSD256 analog input ADC) with HQPlayer Embedded, but it still needs some driver tweaks to make it fully capable input device.

 

[PowerQuality]

I have a licence for HQP Linux 3.xxx. Do I need to buy new licence for HQP Linux (embedded) 4.xxx?

 

 

[PowerQuality]

On 3/28/2018 at 9:42 PM, Miska said:

 

Does Mac Mini also have optical input? Or just output?

 

For Spotify it likely could work without much hassle, because it is always 44.1k sampling rate.

 

If you can send me output dump of "amixer" for the internal audio device (over email), I could check what capabilities it has. I do have one Mac Mini too, but there have been so many hardware variants over the years, that it probably doesn't tell much...

 

For USB inputs, I've used RME ADI-2 PRO for some input functions (including DSD256 analog input ADC) with HQPlayer Embedded, but it still needs some driver tweaks to make it fully capable input device.

 

 

Thanks for quick answer Miska. I have sent you email. 

[cat6man]

On 3/26/2018 at 7:00 PM, Miska said:

If you use Debian or Ubuntu and install the provided package, you just disable whatever old startup stuff you had, install the new package and enable it's automatic startup with "systemctl enable hqplayerd".

 

To enable UPnP support, check out the <upnp> element in provided example configuration file.

 

 

i think part of the reason i hosed things was that i had hqplayerd and hqplayer (from earlier testing) and i was getting confused where the controlling config files were, etc.

 

so i backed up key files, uninstalled both, deleted both .hqplayer and /etc/hqplayer directories, then did a clean installation.........and i once again have glorious music

 

now i just have to remember how to remotely configure settings (like which login/password is hqpe asking for?)

i really should take notes so i can make new mistakes and not repeat ones i know i've solved in the past!

[arglebargle]

Is there anything about the modulator tunings in 4.0.4 that would be of interest to the layman? Even a placebo like “they sound 7% better” would be OK ?

[shadowlight]

On 3/26/2018 at 12:56 PM, arglebargle said:

Thanks for the advice. I used systemd- networkd in Arch, so that was an easy enough change. Fixed the issue and also shaved a second or two off the boot time, not bad. Cheers

 

What did you change to wait for the network to come up completely?  I am using static address on wired connection and I still have to manually restart the services.

[arglebargle]

Just now, shadowlight said:

 

What did you change to wait for the network to come up completely?  I am using static address on wired connection and I still have to manually restart the services.

 

One extremely lazy, incorrect, and yet universally applicable way would be to add "ExecStartPre=/bin/sleep 2" to the hqplayer service file, where "2" could be any number in seconds from 1 to the amount required for things to come up cleanly.  

 

But if it's happening to multiple people maybe there is some underlying change affecting the start of the service in the newest version, not just the idiosyncrasies of my particular setup.  

[Miska]

On 4/1/2018 at 6:52 AM, arglebargle said:

Is there anything about the modulator tunings in 4.0.4 that would be of interest to the layman? Even a placebo like “they sound 7% better” would be OK ?

 

There shouldn't be any audible differences, but slightly improved behavior in some corner cases, like improved overload tolerance in ASDM5.

 

[PowerQuality]

On 3/28/2018 at 7:49 PM, PowerQuality said:

I'm running Hqplayer Embedded installed on a USB stick as a bootable image in a Mac Mini, output is NAA running on RPI. 

 

I works flawless with Roon, so output side is ok. 

 

I want to use optical input on Mac Mini so I can play Spotify from another device trough HQP. Can I use native (internal) optical input on Mac Mini? Or do I have to connect some external device by USB? 

 

Thanks for all help. 

 

I'm bumping this question again as I have not got any answers or found my way around. 

 

Has anyone successfully used external input through HQP Embedded? Ideally I want to use internal optical input on my Mac Mini. 

 

All advice is much appreciated. Thank you. 

[Miska]

7 hours ago, PowerQuality said:

I'm bumping this question again as I have not got any answers or found my way around. 

 

Has anyone successfully used external input through HQP Embedded? Ideally I want to use internal optical input on my Mac Mini. 

 

Sorry, just making sure, was it you whom I emailed instructions today?

 

[cat6man]

On 3/30/2018 at 11:46 AM, cat6man said:

 

i think part of the reason i hosed things was that i had hqplayerd and hqplayer (from earlier testing) and i was getting confused where the controlling config files were, etc.

 

so i backed up key files, uninstalled both, deleted both .hqplayer and /etc/hqplayer directories, then did a clean installation.........and i once again have glorious music

 

now i just have to remember how to remotely configure settings (like which login/password is hqpe asking for?)

i really should take notes so i can make new mistakes and not repeat ones i know i've solved in the past!

 

just to clarify, i forgot i had to re-authenticate after blowing away my old installation......then remote configuration worked fine.

[trs]

11 hours ago, PowerQuality said:

Has anyone successfully used external input through HQP Embedded? Ideally I want to use internal optical input on my Mac Mini. 

 

I would also be interested in learning how to use other inputs with HQPlayer Embedded, specifically software inputs (in my case I would like to use the output of shairport-sync with HQPlayer Embedded).

[Miska]

17 hours ago, trs said:

I would also be interested in learning how to use other inputs with HQPlayer Embedded, specifically software inputs (in my case I would like to use the output of shairport-sync with HQPlayer Embedded).

 

You can try to create ALSA loopback device and then configure it as input...