Best CPU for hqplayer

[Miska]

7 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

I have a 5950x in my desktop computer and it's an absolute monster... If the software can use its cores. I'm not sure it would be a good CPU for HQPlayer. My CAPS which runs Euphony OS and HQPlayer Embedded has an Intel 10900K in it.

 

If you want to have multichannel DSD upsampling, like for example 5.1 material, 16 cores is pretty much where to get started if you don't have a big GPU. You need minimum two cores per channel without GPU. And with GPU you need at least same number of cores as you have channels. In addition it is good to have two spare cores for non-DSP tasks.

 

Pretty much optimal point is to have five cores per output channel plus two spare ones. So for stereo case that would be 12 cores. For 5.1 channel that means 32 cores. But you always need to also pay attention to possible clock speeds, so a CPU with less cores is better choice if the high core count CPU cannot reach high enough clock boosts on the few higher loaded cores. Because adding more CPU cores always ends up eventually cutting clock frequencies. So the the computing power doesn't increase linearly with increased core count, especially because there's always some amount of cross-core communication overhead as well.

 

[AudioDoctor]

12 hours ago, Miska said:

 

If you want to have multichannel DSD upsampling, like for example 5.1 material, 16 cores is pretty much where to get started if you don't have a big GPU. You need minimum two cores per channel without GPU. And with GPU you need at least same number of cores as you have channels. In addition it is good to have two spare cores for non-DSP tasks.

 

Pretty much optimal point is to have five cores per output channel plus two spare ones. So for stereo case that would be 12 cores. For 5.1 channel that means 32 cores. But you always need to also pay attention to possible clock speeds, so a CPU with less cores is better choice if the high core count CPU cannot reach high enough clock boosts on the few higher loaded cores. Because adding more CPU cores always ends up eventually cutting clock frequencies. So the the computing power doesn't increase linearly with increased core count, especially because there's always some amount of cross-core communication overhead as well.

 

 

SO a 5900x and a 3080 would be a good hardware combo for a server?

[Miska]

13 minutes ago, AudioDoctor said:

SO a 5900x and a 3080 would be a good hardware combo for a server?

 

Maybe yes, depending how the new Zen 3 performs with HQPlayer in general. I have not yet done benchmarking of 3080, but I've had one available since last weekend. Has been a long wait! Just like the new M1 Macs seem to be too...

 

[jabbr]

14 hours ago, Miska said:

Pretty much optimal point is to have five cores per output channel plus two spare ones. So for stereo case that would be 12 cores

Is this new behavior? In my case a single core per channel maxes out before I'd get much work done on the other cores. Currently, for example with sinc-M / ASDM7EC its like 89-98% on one core and about 25% on another core per channel.

[AudioDoctor]

2 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Maybe yes, depending how the new Zen 3 performs with HQPlayer in general. I have not yet done benchmarking of 3080, but I've had one available since last weekend. Has been a long wait! Just like the new M1 Macs seem to be too...

 

 

I'll be interested to see the results once you've had time to play with the 3080 a bit. My only anecdotal evidence is using Desktop HQPlayer on my desktop here running a 5950x, it runs pretty well but I haven't tried any really hard upsampling yet. This machine also has a Radeon GPU so its a no go there.

[Rune]

7 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

I'll be interested to see the results once you've had time to play with the 3080 a bit. My only anecdotal evidence is using Desktop HQPlayer on my desktop here running a 5950x, it runs pretty well but I haven't tried any really hard upsampling yet. This machine also has a Radeon GPU so its a no go there.

Try DSD256EC, Sinc-L that combination is not possible on i9-9900KS.

[Gavin1977]

6 minutes ago, Rune said:

Try DSD256EC, Sinc-L that combination is not possible on i9-9900KS.

p.s. the above, but with Sinc-M works fine though.

[Miska]

8 hours ago, jabbr said:

Is this new behavior? In my case a single core per channel maxes out before I'd get much work done on the other cores. Currently, for example with sinc-M / ASDM7EC its like 89-98% on one core and about 25% on another core per channel.

 

It is not new behavior. Try for example with single stage poly-sinc-xtr filter and you'll see, you can also balance it a bit by switching to ASDM7 modulator instead for testing purposes.

 

[CJH]

Getting close to ordering parts for DIY HQP capable machine for upsampling 2 channel EC 256 PCM/DSD at moderate cost. Would appreciate comments if I am under/over buying on any items.

CJH

 

Seasonic Focus GX-850

WIN 10 Pro

Noctua NH-D15S

Fractal Meshify Mid-tower

Gigabyte Z490 Auros Pro

Intel i9-10900K

Samsung 970 EVO M.2 2280 1TB

G.Skill Ripjaws DDR4 3200 16GB x2

[Miska]

1 hour ago, CJH said:

Noctua NH-D15S

Fractal Meshify Mid-tower

 

Remeber to check the case measures for maximum cooler size! NH-D15 is pretty massive.

 

1 hour ago, CJH said:

Gigabyte Z490 Auros Pro

 

If you are connecting DAC directly, one alternative is Z490 VISION D which has DAC-UP2 USB ports.

 

[CJH]

Thanks, I'll check it out.

CJH

[Triplefun]

Fyi, I have recently configured a 5800x with gigabyte aorus 550 master running daphile (modified gentoo linux with lms software and sox based upsampling). The results have been astounding and a big improvement on my i5 9600 (both pcm and dsd). Just for fun I tried upsampling dsd256 to dsd512. According to daphile info I averaged 17 threads in a minute of concentrated music. There was no sign of any stuttering and the sound was crystal clear. Unfortunately no temperatures but the fans (noctua d15 chromax) remained silent.  Note I had to get a special update from daphile to support the intel 2.5gb nic.

 

I used a fractal design r4 case for total silence and a corsair ax850 v2 psu. I chose the 550 master mobo for its superior vrm capabilities.

 

Next step will be a jcat xe usb card.

 

[luisma]

7 hours ago, Triplefun said:

Just for fun I tried upsampling dsd256 to dsd512.

Care to list which modulator?

 

[salaryman]

I am trying with a M1 Mac mini. 

But I still unable to get DSD output work.

Using Hqplayer desktop latest 4.8.0, connected with T+A DSD8 DAC, using Apple Music works fine with 44.1k PCM output. (Note T+A upgraded to work with Linux/HqPlayer embedded)

But when using HQPlayer Desktop (trial), the default output mode, even can choose SDM but it is dimmed.

All output is PCM only.

I am new to Mac OS, not sure if any ASIO like driver required.

Also not sure the impact of SSE4.2 on M1.

Any idea?

[Miska]

3 hours ago, salaryman said:

Using Hqplayer desktop latest 4.8.0, connected with T+A DSD8 DAC, using Apple Music works fine with 44.1k PCM output. (Note T+A upgraded to work with Linux/HqPlayer embedded)

But when using HQPlayer Desktop (trial), the default output mode, even can choose SDM but it is dimmed.

All output is PCM only.

 

For local DSD playback through CoreAudio, under output device settings you need to select "DoP" as SDM Pack method.

 

3 hours ago, salaryman said:

not sure if any ASIO like driver required

 

No, ASIO is Windows only at the moment.

 

3 hours ago, salaryman said:

Also not sure the impact of SSE4.2 on M1.

 

macOS is translating these Intel instructions to the ARM equivalents to make it possible to run applications built for Intel CPUs on the new Macs.

 

[salaryman]

5 hours ago, Miska said:

 

For local DSD playback through CoreAudio, under output device settings you need to select "DoP" as SDM Pack method.

 

 

No, ASIO is Windows only at the moment.

 

 

macOS is translating these Intel instructions to the ARM equivalents to make it possible to run applications built for Intel CPUs on the new Macs.

 

 

Thanks, it works with DoP enabled.

 

I just briefly test poly_sinc_ext2, with ASDM5EC it can go up to DSD256.

Start to stutter with ASDM7EC, but works fine when go back to DSD128.

[Zauurx]

A mini PC Gamer with Intel Core i9 9980HK 9880H 8 Core GTX 1650 NVME SSD

 

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005001777765162.html

 

Article in french :

https://www.minimachines.net/actu/le-minipc-nvisen-y-gx01-94900

[Gavin1977]

23 hours ago, Zauurx said:

A mini PC Gamer with Intel Core i9 9980HK 9880H 8 Core GTX 1650 NVME SSD

 

https://fr.aliexpress.com/item/1005001777765162.html

 

Article in french :

https://www.minimachines.net/actu/le-minipc-nvisen-y-gx01-94900

Likely to be very noisy!  So it'd need to be placed elsewhere on your network, away from your HiFi.

[Zauurx]

yes, I read it after...

[SwissBear]

On 11/29/2020 at 11:16 PM, Miska said:

If you are connecting DAC directly, one alternative is Z490 VISION D which has DAC-UP2 USB ports.

Is there an alternative which would be fanless or compatible with a fanless case ?

What are your thoughts about dedicated USB "Audiophile" cards (SOtM and the like). As they are very expensive, are they at least useful ?

[Miska]

1 hour ago, SwissBear said:

Is there an alternative which would be fanless or compatible with a fanless case ?

 

The motherboard itself is fanless. Compatibility with a fanless case depends on the particular case model. I have only one fanless server and all others have fans. But I'm planning to fit one with a water cooling system to see if it would be quieter or louder.

 

1 hour ago, SwissBear said:

What are your thoughts about dedicated USB "Audiophile" cards (SOtM and the like). As they are very expensive, are they at least useful ?

 

I don't have any of those, so I cannot comment.

 

I have some USB "gadgets", but all those either did nothing measurable, or made measurements worse, so not in use right now.

 

So far been happy with these Gigabyte motherboards with the special USB ports.

 

[evalon]

Hi all ... Just did a search on "laptop" in this thread and it seems that it has not been discussed, so - as I would prefer to have one "integrated solution" - any of you have experience with using laptops for DSD upsampling to DSD256 with the EC modulators?

 

May it work - also without costing a fortune?

 

Hoping here - cheers,

 

Jesper 

[Account Closed]

25 minutes ago, evalon said:

Hi all ... Just did a search on "laptop" in this thread and it seems that it has not been discussed, so - as I would prefer to have one "integrated solution" - any of you have experience with using laptops for DSD upsampling to DSD256 with the EC modulators?

 

May it work - also without costing a fortune?

 

Hoping here - cheers,

 

Jesper 

You might find one that would work but it won't be cheap due to the need for a lot of processing power and it will generate a lot of heat so fans will run at high speed. Check out one of the Gaming laptops. Maybe someone here has found one that works.

[jcbenten]

1 hour ago, evalon said:

Hi all ... Just did a search on "laptop" in this thread and it seems that it has not been discussed, so - as I would prefer to have one "integrated solution" - any of you have experience with using laptops for DSD upsampling to DSD256 with the EC modulators?

 

May it work - also without costing a fortune?

 

Hoping here - cheers,

 

Jesper 

Laptops based on high-end desktop CPUs exist but they are big, heavy, and get hot.  They will have excessive thermal throttling in the Bios.   The design is standardized and offered by several companies including this one: XOTIC G96 (X170SM-G) | XOTIC PC®

 

[evalon]

@bobflood & jcbenten: Thank you both for your feedbacks ... Well, I sort of assumed that it would be so (large, heavy, warm, active fans, etc.) if there were suitable laptops but it is fine to have it confirmed, thanks! Hmmm ... time to ponder again what would be a suitable solution - maybe some manufacturer will "soon" make processors in 1nm technology so that heat dissipation may drop significantly - would make things much easier 😌

 

Cheers,

 

Jesper