Best CPU for hqplayer

[jamesg11]

10 hours ago, Miska said:

 

I have the i7-6950X and it doesn't need CUDA...

 

I just checked Ryzen 7 1700X and it can do DSD256 with xtr filter, but not DSD512 without stuttering. Maybe with overclocking or 1800X, but not 1700X as standard.

 

Anyone know what they use in the current sonic transporters designed for hqp & roon 512 upsampling?

[jamesg11]

9 hours ago, Allan F said:

 

It's an i7 7700, apparently chosen for fanless and lower electical noise. It will easily upsample to DSD512, but is limited to poly-sinc -2s filters.

Very good info - appreciated.

 

What then do we need to cover all HQP choices? Is there a commercial product out there?

[jamesg11]

2 hours ago, bobflood said:

The most important thing for DSD 256/ASDM7EC is that the CPU be able to hold or turbo at least two cores to clock speeds of well over 4 Ghz. If it can do this then DSD 512 non-EC modulation will be no problem. The latest 10th generation Intel i9 or even i5 are examples. The K series chips are the ones to get as they overclock and turbo to higher speeds. 

 

As to MB selection, I would stick with ASUS for the chip selected and make sure to activate the XMP profile 1 in BIOS so you get the full capability of the CPU and memory.

 

Any quality high speed RAM and solid state HD should be fine.

 

The GPU should be one of the 3000 series Nvidia CUDA capable cards.

 

Remember that heat will be the biggest hurdle so you will need active air or liquid cooling.

 

There are many, many posts on this so just search the forum.

 

Good luck. 

/& with a 2-channel convolution requirement tossed in?

[jamesg11]

9 hours ago, mikel said:

I think if the new Mac Mini is silent enough, it could be a very attractive Audio Machine.

Not sure how it applies to HQPlayer but the single and multi core Benchmarks for the new Macs I have just seen are very impressive. With a fully optimized HQ Player for Mac probably even more so.

Would be great if you could share your findings here @Miska.

 

Yes, I’d prefer to go with what I am comfortable with ie a mac mini ... if it can do the job.

But - the apple specs page just doesn’t give a processor speed for the M1 version, unlike the Intel, apart from claiming a multiple speed step up.

Have to wait for such ...

[jamesg11]

23 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Yes, you can choose to perform GPU offloading for both filters and convolution, or just convolution. When you set "CUDA offload" to grayed it is offloading just convolution, when it is set to checked, both are offloaded. You can view offloading status in HQPlayer statusbar when playback is started.

 

Any feedback on the macmini M1’s convolution capabilities?

[jamesg11]

20 hours ago, bobflood said:

If you are going to do some testing; it would be great to have a list of exactly which filters work and which do not work on the M1 when doing both 44.1/48 material and hi-res material up-sampling with ASDM7EC/256. Specifically, I would like to know if it is possible to use the non-2s poly-sinc family and maybe some sinc and closed form filters. I have found that I prefer the non-2s versions of some filters. The difference is admittedly small but I do notice it and prefer the non-2s. I know that certain ones like sinc-L and closed-form16M are not likely to work but I think a lot of us would like to know which do and which do not work on the MAC Mini M1. I would like to replace my HQP machine but I will want to wait to the fall when the M1X chip version should be out if the list of what works is too limited right now.

 

Anything you do is appreciated.

 

Maybe a separate thread for this so others can find it and those with M1 machines can report their results?

Yes, I couldn’t wait for the improved M1, but I’ll be tempted to upgrade if it proves a major step up. I’m delighted with what I’ve got from the M1 thus far - ASDM7EC/256 with poly ext2 will do everything bar dsf256 files.

I’ll now list some other filters (I’ll base it at pcm192 files) & report back ... certainly some I tried were a no go.

[jamesg11]

For a reference point ... macmini M1 will handle ~90% of the filters, though I’ve still got a few to try.

 

macmini M1, 16GB pcm24-192 to ASDM7EC 256 48k into RME direct-dsd mode, 100 ms, no convolution -

 

will not do sinc L, polysinc xtr lp, polysinc xtr mp, polysinc hb

will do ext, ext 2, sinc S, sinc M, closed form, fast, 16M, etc ...

 

Miska will no doubt see a causal pattern here?

 

[jamesg11]

9 hours ago, Bass Concussion Racing said:

That's quite a feat!

What about upsampling to DSD, same sinc-M settings?

Also, how noisy does the Mini get while working that out? Will it bother me while listening to open-backs @ 1 meter / 3 feet?

 

You're really making me consider getting an M1 Mini instead of building a Ryzen 9 5900X-based box now, since I could double or even triple-boot macOS along with Windows and Linux... The price would be more or less the same, incredibly enough when you think it's Apple.

Those tests were from pcm to dsf256. I have the mini in another room, but it’s quiet enough & only slightly warm. I can point a SPL meter at it ...

 

Note that I’m yet to try convolution, though It’ll be just 2-channel.

[jamesg11]

Miska, re M1 - here’s a go figure result & maybe something to sort?

 

Noted before that M1 won’t handle dsf256 files (& oddly, if I attempt this, HQP just hangs & I need to ‘force quit’ ... I can’t just hit stop, or anything, & go to another album).

 

But, I stumbled on my one & only dff256 album & it plays flawlessly at ASDM7EC 256 wide 48k.

 

(Is it trivial to convert dsf to dff?)

[jamesg11]

On 4/20/2021 at 7:14 AM, jamesg11 said:

Miska, re M1 - here’s a go figure result & maybe something to sort?

 

Noted before that M1 won’t handle dsf256 files (& oddly, if I attempt this, HQP just hangs & I need to ‘force quit’ ... I can’t just hit stop, or anything, & go to another album).

 

But, I stumbled on my one & only dff256 album & it plays flawlessly at ASDM7EC 256 wide 48k.

 

(Is it trivial to convert dsf to dff?)

Miska, can you comment on my earlier curious finding, as above?

[jamesg11]

11 hours ago, bobflood said:

Thanks to all who reported their results with the M1 Mini. I received mine yesterday and after a day of playing with it, I am very happy with the results. I can do any streamed (Qobuz) resolution up-sampled to DSD256 using ASDM7EC and Sinc S (my favorite filter). For the price this machine just cannot be beat. One would spend at least three times as much for an Intel or AMD machine that could beat it. When the M1X arrives in the fall it will be interesting to see what it can do with HQP but if you need a machine for HQP now, this is certainly a very good option.

Re Sinc S, just noted that it will handle dxd rates, whilst polysinc ext-2 will not.

[jamesg11]

13 hours ago, Miska said:

 

I found the bug and in process of fixing it for next release...

 

Great!

And that includes the odd discovery that the M1 will play dff256 but not dsf256 files (ASDM7 EC to 256)?

[jamesg11]

On 4/27/2021 at 3:19 PM, Miska said:

 

Yes, I think I have the bug fixed now. Will need some more testing, but it is in for the next release.

 

Miska.

Just checked with the latest 4.11.0 update - that bug still seems to be there ... I can play dff256, but not dsf256.

 

Can confirm ext3 is a no go with the M1, as expected.

Will get to the SincMx later.

[jamesg11]

6 hours ago, Miska said:

 

At least I was not able to reproduce the problem anymore...

 

But I was!

Any idea what might be causing this? dff surely wouldn’t have an easier load ask.

[jamesg11]

SincMx dropouts with M1, dxd -Sinc M fine.

[jamesg11]

51 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

I know what the problem was... But not sure how it could be still present...

 

Hmm, ... definitely now on 4.11.0 & been trying out new filters on the M1 ...

 

I’ll muck around with some odds & ends. See if anything solution-wise presents.

[jamesg11]

3 hours ago, bobflood said:

Jussi, I was having problems with 4.11 on my M1. See my post in the main HQP thread. I reverted to 4.10.3 for now which is working as usual that is to say perfectly.

Just to be clear, I was having this dsf256 issue on 4.10.3 ... Jussi has applied a fix, which so far doesn’t work for me.

 

So dff256 is good, not dsf256 -

 

 

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, jamesg11 said:

Hmm, ... definitely now on 4.11.0 & been trying out new filters on the M1 ...

 

I’ll muck around with some odds & ends. See if anything solution-wise presents.

Deleted a couple of HQP recent versions, restarted M1 & reinstalled 4.11.0 ... hoping something lingering might be interfering - did not help.

Something else to try?

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, bobflood said:

Jussi, I was having problems with 4.11 on my M1. See my post in the main HQP thread. I reverted to 4.10.3 for now which is working as usual that is to say perfectly.

As above, though still persisting with 4.11.0 - this got weirder: wound up able to play dff of any type, but no dsf files at all!

[jamesg11]

Can someone remind me where to locate 4.10.3 so I can revert back? Thanks.

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, bobflood said:

If you deleted it from the downloads on your M1 then you will have to get Jussi to email you a link unless someone here has the link and could post it.

Yes, for whatever reason things were fine, until they weren’t ...

[jamesg11]

/& we wait to see what the mooted M1x will bring ...

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, MikePid said:

8GB MMM1.  xla only works for 1x.  need to step down to just gauss-long for Nx.  

 

The MMM1 is a dedicated HQPlayer machine for me, so I didn't turn on stuff like iCloud, Siri Search, and all the other "helpful" Apple stuff.  Even TimeMachine is not enabled.  Screen Sharing is the only other thing running on it, so I can remote into it if I want to change settings or add Jussi's latest updates

Ditto here.

 

Mind you, I’ll certainly jump on a new mini if it enables all of Jussi’s best.

Doesn’t seem to have been any excitement over the recent M1 Pro/ Max releases ...

[jamesg11]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

They are so expensive, that you can get i9-12900K + GTX3080 for cheaper that is still more capable...

 

One performance core on M1 has roughly 50% of the processing power you get from on 12th Gen i9 performance core (Golden Cove), or from Ryzen 5xxxX core (Zen 3). Sure, the power consumption is about 50% or less too, so it has very good performance per Watt.

 

Had wondered if these Pro/Max M1 recent models had significantly stepped up the first M1 gen performance HQP-wise. Looks like not.