SGC - sonicTransporter Series and Signalyst HQPlayer 4 Embedded

[asdf1000]

On 26/03/2018 at 9:42 AM, vortecjr said:

I have been using Roon and Tidal with HQPlayer 4 Embedded resampling things. The output is via a microRendu set to NAA output mode. The microRendu is connected to an inexpensive DAC (~$200 USD) and playing analog into my integrated amp.

 

Hi JR,

 

In this field test, the same sonicTransporter was BOTH Roon Core AND HQPlayer up-sampler at the same time? Both on the same sonicTransporter?

 

So when you mention Roon, just for clarity, do you mean Roon Core?

 

Cheers

 

[asdf1000]

5 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Im not certain about the terminology, but yes both running on the same unit headless.

 

Thanks JR - both running on the same unit makes it clearer.

 

When is this coming? Estimated date :-)

[asdf1000]

14 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Maybe this week...fingers crossed.

 

Nice.

 

Have you been able to use these attached settings on the sonicT i7 running Roon? Or does it struggle?

 

It doesn't have to be to this same DAC but any DSD512 DAC you have, like the iFi iDSD.

 

 

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

4 hours ago, vortecjr said:

I don’t know because I only have the i5 here.

 

Can you ask @agillis to try these settings on the sonicT i7 and report back?

 

[asdf1000]

6 hours ago, agillis said:

DSD512 upsampling works fine on the sonicTransporter i7

 

Hi Andrew. To be clearer, can you confirm the attached HQPlayer settings work with the sonicT i7, running Roon on the same machine?

 

Doesn’t have to be with this DAC shown below - any DSD512 DAC you have is fine.

 

What CPU usage do you get with these particular settings?

 

Appreciated.

 

 

[asdf1000]

1 hour ago, jamesg11 said:

It’s real hard work getting answers to this ...

 

Ha, nice to know someone is feeling my pain.

 

Is there something impolite about the way I’m asking?

 

Any advice is appreciated, ha.

 

 

[asdf1000]

27 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

I don't see your point. He said, "DSD512 upsampling works fine on the sonicTransporter i7". 

 

Hi JR, as you know DSD512 can be made to run very very CPU intensive and also less CPU intensive. So the statement that DSD512 works doesn't answer my question at all and I'm sure you know this.

 

Not sure how much clearer I can ask about testing with specific settings, attached again for a 3rd time.

 

Can Andrew run the sonicT i7 with these specific settings (attached) with Roon Server running on the same machine?

 

And confirm CPU usage with these settings?

 

I hope this is clearer.

 

If you don't want to test it that's fine, but can you at least send @Miska a sonicT i7 and then people can ask him all the HQPlayer settings questions they can dream of? This seems the best and reasonable solution to me, if it's all too difficult to test.

 

 

[asdf1000]

This is the one I posted to JR yesterday (see page 1 of this thread), nice and big when clicked.

 

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

1 hour ago, agillis said:

Yes that should work very well on an i7

 

Thanks Andrew, we finally got there.

 

Just to double check, there is no session time limit with trying HQP embedded on the sonicT?

 

We can listen and trial for as long as we like, for up to 30 days, even running 24 hours if we want? Paging @Miska

[asdf1000]

5 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

It has the normal trial limitations... So restart needed every 30 minutes.

 

 

Thanks, I thought so. That's not what was indicated on page 1 of this thread, but thanks for clarifying.

 

 

[asdf1000]

19 minutes ago, Kilauea50 said:

@Miska I have a Mytek Liberty Dac and have stuttering converting to DSD. The server is a STi7. Can you recommend playback settings? I just got this Dac and am still figuring it out. Thank you 

 

If you still struggle after trying JR's suggestion, can you also share a screenshot (if possible) of your HQP settings? Like I shared earlier in this thread.

 

So we can get an idea of what HQP settings makes the STi7 struggle?

 

Cheers.

[asdf1000]

Hi JR, is sonicO 2.6 for the sTi7 official now, or still a 'soft rollout' for now?

 

[asdf1000]

On 13/04/2018 at 4:27 AM, agillis said:

It's all ready to go. Just follow this procedure to upgrade. Then install HQPlayer from the Software Manager.

 

http://sonicorbiter.com/docs/upgrade25

 

Hi JR @vortecjr / Andrew,

 

The instructions don't mention anything about a 'Stage 1' or 'Stage 2'.

 

I got the following message saying Stage 1 is complete and there's also a message there about libmp42 being downgraded.

 

 

 

Is 'Stage 2' just the 'Some other packages will need to be readjusted so wait about 20 minutes before continuing"

 

Or is 'Stage 2' something else?

 

And is the libmp4v2 downgrading normal / expected? Or something went wrong?

 

 

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

10 minutes ago, R1200CL said:

 

Yes it does, but it’s not very well written. I did the mistake and did not wait.

But what only happened was that the unit denied stage 2 until it was ready.

 

i suppose you did the second upgrade and your unit is working ?

 

I did wait 20 minutes and the unit is working. I had to guess that the 20 minute wait is between Stage 1 and 2.

 

But it would be nice if the instructions mentioned this Stage 1 and Stage 2, so it's clear and consistent with the real-time log you get during the update process.

 

But I'm also worried about libmp42 being downgraded, as per screenshot above.

 

Did you see this same message?

 

[asdf1000]

On 08/04/2018 at 7:37 AM, jamesg11 said:

 

Waiting ... to see an answer on this ...

 

I can confirm it works with those settings I posted (poly-sinc-short-mp-2s DSD512 up-sampling). But..

 

For SDM "poly-sinc-short-mp" (without -2s) there are problems with up-sampling to DSD512.

 

I thought this i7 beast would handle it (without -2s) but I get pops every ~20 seconds without "-2s"  (sTi7 > ultraRendu )

 

For SDM "poly-sinc-short-mp-2s" , no problems at all with those settings I posted earlier.

 

[asdf1000]

1 hour ago, jamesg11 said:

Thanks,

how about dsd256 - all good?

/& this is into a ifi dac2, or ...?

 

iDAC2 doesn’t do DSD512 - this is into a Pro-Ject S2 DAC (Miska also has one and measured really well and sounds great).

 

DSD512 works flawlessly with 2 stage upsampling (i.e.with -2s).

 

I’ll try DSD256 in single step upsampling (i.e. without-2s) on the weekend.

 

[asdf1000]

Hi JR @vortecjr

 

Having issues when HQP embedded is upsampling Roon's Tidal stream to DSD512 with attached settings, on the sonicT i7.

 

When playing USB drive of music connected to sonicT i7, there's no problems with HQP up-sampling to DSD512. No pops.

 

But when Roon Core (on the same sonicT i7 obviously) is up-sampling Tidal stream to DSD512, there are pops... Every 20 seconds, very noticeable.

 

When Roon alone (no HQP) is up-sampling Tidal to DSD512, there's no issues, so it's not a Tidal internet connectivity problem. The DAC handles DSD512 sample rate fine (Jussi has the same DAC) with hard drive up-sampled music, so not a DAC issue.

 

Can you reproduce this at your end? A known temporary issue ? @agillis

 

Why would Roon streaming Tidal on the same machine as HQP Embedded cause pops but hard drive connected music, no problems at DSD512?

 

The chain is sonicT i7 to ultraRendu. Gigabit connections all round.

 

Do you have a sonicTi7 to reproduce this @Miska ? DAC is the same you have, Pro-Ject S2 Pre DAC.

 

Cheers

 

 

 

[asdf1000]

8 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

I'm sure these are a terrible guess, but something to try while we wait for others chime in. Try a different buffer like 250 and try a different startup volume like -4db or 6db. 

 

It's very easily reproducible at my end.

 

Hard drive connected music up-sampled to DSD512 by HQP is fine.

 

Tidal stream up-sampled to DSD512 by HQP has pops.

 

Roon up-sampling Tidal to DSD512 has no issues (i.e. only HQP embedded has the pops up-sampling Tidal to DSD512).

 

Will try these things

 

Is there too much network activity inside the sTi7 with Tidal streaming and HQP streaming to the rendu at the same time? Causing these pops with Tidal up-sampling to DSD512?

 

[asdf1000]

7 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

LOL. Maybe Miska can also provide some guidance as well. What happens with a different filter?

 

LOL I was joking about the terrible guess - buffer is obviously a good thing to try.

 

Same issue with different filter. The filter settings I attached were confirmed by Andrew Gillis earlier in the thread to work fine.

 

And it does work fine with USB drive connected to sTi7. Only issues with Roon's Tidal stream on the same sonicTi7...

 

Can you not test this yourself too? With Roon + Tidal and HQP Embedded on sonicTi7 and streaming to an ultraRendu?

 

[asdf1000]

47 minutes ago, Miska said:

From earlier post I got the picture you had Roon doing upsampling to DSD512? Just check that you have Roon DSP engine disabled for the HQPlayer output (top left corner of Roon's audio setting dialog).

 

Yep Roon DSP is completely disabled.

 

48 minutes ago, Miska said:

Is Roon using "localhost" as HQPlayer address?

 

Yes it's set to localhost as the HQP address, since Roon Core is on the same machine. Does this need to be changed to the IP address or is it ok to leave as 'localhost'?

 

 

[asdf1000]

42 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

No..currently I only have an i5 and a DAC that supports DSD256. Andrew has the DSD512 DAC now. 

 

Can you please ask Andrew @agillis to try this with the sonicTi7 and DSD512 up-sampling?

 

Up-sampling Roon Tidal stream vs local USB drive.

 

Using the same filter settings attached.

 

 

[asdf1000]

42 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

"localhost" is most efficient for this case, as it doesn't need to through bunch of unnecessary stuff due to everything being on the same machine.

 

 

Noted, will leave it as localhost, as it already is.

[asdf1000]

@vortecjr @agillis

 

It's actually not just limited to Tidal. Even USB drive content is having popping today... So it's an overall general DSD512 issue with the sonicTransporter playing to ultraRendu.

 

I've tried increasing buffer to 250ms and startup volume even at -12dB and still get pops with DSD512. I tried different modulators.

 

Is this just a case that the sonicT i7 can't handle DSD512 with the attached settings, to the ultraRendu?

 

Is there anyone out there with a sonicT i7 and Rendu combination getting DSD512 to work with HQP? With Roon DSD512 up-sampling has been rock solid but I know Roon's filters are lighter.

 

 

[asdf1000]

28 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

The gear might be coming back to me for testing, but this will take a while. Feel free to try different filters or sample rates in the mean time.

 

Ok thanks. Already confirmed earlier that DSD256 works fine. So this is only about DSD512 with the sonicTransporter i7

 

I know some of Jussi's filters need a super computer but earlier in the thread Andrew said those filter settings I posted will work fine for DSD512 on the sTi7 - but that isn't my experience , with pops.

[asdf1000]

9 hours ago, vortecjr said:

2. i5 sonicTransporter with Roon and Roon / HQ Player. With this front end running Roon I can play DSD512. With this front end running Roon / HQ player I'm not able to play DSD512. It will play DSD256 though.

 

Excellent but that's to be expected with the i5 - or maybe not, per Miska's comment that his i5 plays the 2s filter options at DSD512...

 

Anyway my question is about the sonicTransporter i7-7700 (Kaby Lake) 8gb DDR4 RAM, which really should be able to play all HQP 2s filter options at DSD512 (according to the above and other people's comments on Roon forum).

 

And Andrew himself said it should work 'very well' earlier in this thread... 

 

 

When you get your sonicTransport i7, appreciate if you can confirm.

 

Also appreciate if any other sonicT i7 + Roon + HQP Embedded + micro/ultraRendu users out there can test and confirm if they have HQP DSD512 up-sampling working.