Euphony OS w/Stylus player setup and issues thread

[davide256]

I've decided to try the equalizer/convolution options in Stylus and Stylus using HQPe output, have ordered a calibrated UMIK microphone but

am struggling with finding good documentation for beginners, deciding on which software app to buy. Is anyone who has already trod this path

with Stylus  and/or HQP willing to share their thoughts/recommendations? I have seen that Stylus requires mono R/L files. Am also trying

to understand if convolution is CPU intensive as my existing Stylus/HQPe server is an 11i3 NUC,

[drjimwillie]

8 hours ago, flkin said:

In the playback screen at the top of the tracks, there is a small RAM icon. If you click it, tracks will load into RAM and at the end of the loading a pop up will indicate complete and remaining Ram available.

 

The above 'buffer songs into ram' only applies to current and next track, presumably for gapless playback and reduced LAN activity during the track playback. For gapless you also have to turn that on in the MusicService/Output settings.

 

Interesting in the last few updates, I can load entire streaming albums into RAM... great for offline listening without LAN effects.

Hi Kin - Thank you for the answer.  When I was not able to solve this I was thinking to reach out to you or open a ticket. ;-)

 

I am not at home, so I can not try, do I have to click the small RAM icon for every album or track?  Once this option was checked, it loaded every album into RAM automatically.  If this has changed, we should ask for it to be reinstated.

 

Either I am lazy or constantly confused and not in front of my system, what does the RAM icon look like, please?

 

I will look for the other box to check in MusicService/Output settings.

 

What Kernel are you using?  I remember that the last time we changed to the new release, it changed the Kernel (I hope that is the correct term).  I do not remember which one we were finding the best, I think it had an "18" in it?  I am going to have to start a folder of settings in my phone.

 

How are you liking the sound of this version.  I am surprised that there are not more comments.  People must like it or they would say they do not.

 

It sounds good to me.  I think I am hearing more of the venue sound.  I also just added an additional ground rod, so I do not have a direct reference.

 

Are you still using HQP? (If you are, I bet you are excited for the update)  Does your PF server have the PF I2S card, so it is limited to 192kH?  I am still using the PF I2S card, I have only been playing at the native file rate.

 

Over all I am very happy with the sound!!!!!

 

I hope you are enjoying to some good music.

 

Will

[drjimwillie]

I found it in the bottom, right hand corner, next to the reverse button.

 

In the menu that drops down on the upper right hand corner, it says, buffer queue to ram.

 

So the sequence to enable ram for an album is that : pick the album, touch the three dots and choose add and replace, go to the symbol of the stacked lines with the dots next to them, pick buffer cue to ram 😳 

 

I would say that’s a lot harder than just enabling it continuously 

 

I know it’s only three extra steps, but on top of everything else seems like a lot. 

[drjimwillie]

I am in the drop down from the music service tab. There are two choices, one - audio outputs, only has my sound card in it; the other is, playback options. Under there, it has buffer songs to ram. 
 

I have that one checked  

 

Is that the other area?

 

Thank you

[m3lraaHnevetS]

19 hours ago, davide256 said:

I've decided to try the equalizer/convolution options in Stylus and Stylus using HQPe output, have ordered a calibrated UMIK microphone but

am struggling with finding good documentation for beginners, deciding on which software app to buy. Is anyone who has already trod this path

with Stylus  and/or HQP willing to share their thoughts/recommendations? I have seen that Stylus requires mono R/L files. Am also trying

to understand if convolution is CPU intensive as my existing Stylus/HQPe server is an 11i3 NUC,

Hi Dave,

 

I also bought the UNIK and had look at doing it myself using Acourate but quickly decided to have Mitch Barnett do it for 750 USD

Convolution is not CPU intensive. I use the files in Roon running on a NAS and in Stylus/HQPe on a PF 2.16.

In both scenarios I hardly see any impact on CPU usage.

The result is a nice uptick in clarity, the sound snaps into focus once you active the filter. Well worth the investment.

 

Good luck on your journey

 

Cheers

 

Steven

 

[Oskar]

I updated this morning and this new version 4 sounds much better on my system than the previous ones which disappointed me a bit. Now it's nickel.

[davide256]

5 hours ago, m3lraaHnevetS said:

Hi Dave,

 

I also bought the UNIK and had look at doing it myself using Acourate but quickly decided to have Mitch Barnett do it for 750 USD

Convolution is not CPU intensive. I use the files in Roon running on a NAS and in Stylus/HQPe on a PF 2.16.

In both scenarios I hardly see any impact on CPU usage.

The result is a nice uptick in clarity, the sound snaps into focus once you active the filter. Well worth the investment.

 

Good luck on your journey

 

Cheers

 

Steven

 

Thanks for the reply! Good to know I won't have to acquire a more powerful machine and do license transfers.

[steveoat]

I am having trouble using HQplayer embedded.  I installed the latest version (4.34.1).  I have a dual PC setup, with one running euphony server (with hqplayer embedded installed) and the other running stylus ep software (the setting is network audio).  This machine is connected to a Altair USB DAC.  The problem is that I don't see this endpoint in my HQPlayer embedded configuration settings.  I have network audio backend and when I look at the device settings I don't see the stylus EP.  When should I be changing in order to get this working?  

[davide256]

35 minutes ago, steveoat said:

I am having trouble using HQplayer embedded.  I installed the latest version (4.34.1).  I have a dual PC setup, with one running euphony server (with hqplayer embedded installed) and the other running stylus ep software (the setting is network audio).  This machine is connected to a Altair USB DAC.  The problem is that I don't see this endpoint in my HQPlayer embedded configuration settings.  I have network audio backend and when I look at the device settings I don't see the stylus EP.  When should I be changing in order to get this working?  

I often have to reboot both machines when making the change to Stylus /HQPe <> Stylus/NAA. Its much more reliable to boot the NAA end off an NAA image

and that also allows you to use the most current NAA version which does improve SQ. As long as the DAC works in Stylus EP mode all should be fine using

Stylus NAA other than the balky detection.

[stefano_mbp]

40 minutes ago, steveoat said:

(with hqplayer embedded installed)

Try to restart HQPlayer embedded … 

As a general rule you should start NAA for first (wait until it is running) then HQPlayer embedded .. dac must be connected and powered on when you start NAA 

[flkin]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:30 AM, drjimwillie said:

I am in the drop down from the music service tab. There are two choices, one - audio outputs, only has my sound card in it; the other is, playback options. Under there, it has buffer songs to ram. 
 

I have that one checked  

 

Is that the other area?

 

Thank you

Hi Bill

 

That’s the option that puts current and next track into ram before playing. Not entire album

[flkin]

On 3/4/2023 at 4:18 AM, drjimwillie said:

I found it in the bottom, right hand corner, next to the reverse button.

 

In the menu that drops down on the upper right hand corner, it says, buffer queue to ram.

 

So the sequence to enable ram for an album is that : pick the album, touch the three dots and choose add and replace, go to the symbol of the stacked lines with the dots next to them, pick buffer cue to ram 😳 

 

I would say that’s a lot harder than just enabling it continuously 

 

I know it’s only three extra steps, but on top of everything else seems like a lot. 

Not sure what you’re describing. To buffer entire playlist to ram is the button below. It has to be done each time you create a new playlist. 
 

[flkin]

On 3/3/2023 at 11:19 PM, drjimwillie said:

Hi Kin - Thank you for the answer.  When I was not able to solve this I was thinking to reach out to you or open a ticket. ;-)

 

I am not at home, so I can not try, do I have to click the small RAM icon for every album or track?  Once this option was checked, it loaded every album into RAM automatically.  If this has changed, we should ask for it to be reinstated.

 

Either I am lazy or constantly confused and not in front of my system, what does the RAM icon look like, please?

 

I will look for the other box to check in MusicService/Output settings.

 

What Kernel are you using?  I remember that the last time we changed to the new release, it changed the Kernel (I hope that is the correct term).  I do not remember which one we were finding the best, I think it had an "18" in it?  I am going to have to start a folder of settings in my phone.

 

How are you liking the sound of this version.  I am surprised that there are not more comments.  People must like it or they would say they do not.

 

It sounds good to me.  I think I am hearing more of the venue sound.  I also just added an additional ground rod, so I do not have a direct reference.

 

Are you still using HQP? (If you are, I bet you are excited for the update)  Does your PF server have the PF I2S card, so it is limited to 192kH?  I am still using the PF I2S card, I have only been playing at the native file rate.

 

Over all I am very happy with the sound!!!!!

 

I hope you are enjoying to some good music.

 

Will

Hi Will

 

Nope, I’m in my no-upsampling cycle now. I keep switching to upsampling every now and then over the years but now I’m finding that playing bit perfect with Euphony 20230124beta v4 and kernel 5.11 works best in my system. Some here says the 5.18 is better, so best to just try them and see. 

 

I found the advantage of bit perfect playback is especially true after discovering that the power supply and dc cable leading to the last usb device before the DAC is very important. Adjustments here has made getting focus and details in an organic way possible without having to upsample. 

[di-fi]

Outputs are either activated, inaccesible, removed or can be ignored.

 

EuphonyGuideV4 : '' If you have some outputs that you never intend to use for playback from Euphony (like TV UPnP endpoints) you can click the “Ignore” button next to the output name in Settings -> Music service -> Audio outputs section.''

 

But what do you do if you want to re-use a previously ignored output (here LSX living UPnP)? After a refresh the ignored output shows for 1/2 second and dissappears. Do we have a reset button somwhere? Before I do a clean install, anyone maybe?

 

 

[di-fi]

3 hours ago, flkin said:

now I’m finding that playing bit perfect with Euphony 20230124beta v4 and kernel 5.11 works best in my system. Some here says the 5.18 is better, so best to just try them and see. 

 

Hi Kin,

 

Euphony 20230124beta v4 : I understand it is a beta, I can not see it with beta channel activated. Is this beta maybe only accesible to Dev(eloppers) update channel? I am on 20230228 v4 (and can revert to v4.20221121).

 

Quote

I found the advantage of bit perfect playback is especially true after discovering that the power supply and dc cable leading to the last usb device before the DAC is very important. 

 

Meaning NOS mode and the PF USB or I2S bridge with a separate lps, correct? I assume local FLAC or WAV files.

I do not recall right away if you did share your latest LPS and DC cable details before, maybe I missed it. (I abstained for a while but Robert helped me come back).

If so, could you help me refresh my memory? I will go back in time here. But always nice to hear from you.

 

Thanks, Paul

[flkin]

6 hours ago, di-fi said:

Hi Kin,

 

Euphony 20230124beta v4 : I understand it is a beta, I can not see it with beta channel activated. Is this beta maybe only accesible to Dev(eloppers) update channel? I am on 20230228 v4 (and can revert to v4.20221121).

 

 

Meaning NOS mode and the PF USB or I2S bridge with a separate lps, correct? I assume local FLAC or WAV files.

I do not recall right away if you did share your latest LPS and DC cable details before, maybe I missed it. (I abstained for a while but Robert helped me come back).

If so, could you help me refresh my memory? I will go back in time here. But always nice to hear from you.

 

Thanks, Paul

Hi Paul

 

The version I’m using isn’t special. Just updated it under the beta channel and skipped the last 2 updates. Actually it’s strange, the system shows 0124 but when I select “show changes log” beside it, it shows 0207. But the 0207 update tab is still displayed. Might be a half installation after a failed update.

I’m using Pink Faun’s USB card with the ultra clock. Recently I was fortunate enough to borrow a pair of Paul Hynes DRt regulator boards and had them assembled into a custom DC output for my router and USB card at 12v and 5v respectively. Many parts were upgraded from the original design: caps, resistors, rectifiers, mosfets and more were switched out for the best replacements available. And used a range of dc cables of different metals to tune the final sound. I eventually settled on Duelund tinned copper as the metal of choice. 
 

Overall the effect of this was nothing short of a stunning improvement in the sound. Positioning, clarity, enveloping sound with body and presence. The last treble hardness disappeared without removing details. 
 

To confirm this, I asked another friend that was using a 2 box system - NUC/Euphony playing to a sMS200ultra and then through the SoTM tx-USBUltra USB cleaner to switch his best supply he had for this last device instead of, what would be the most obvious choice, the sMS200ultra end point. He reported it provided a component level upgrade to his sound after powering the tx-USBUltra with a Ferrum with a custom made DC wire, Nordost power cable, and a QSA purple fuse.

 

So now I’m back to hardware tweaks for the time being while waiting for Euphony’s next big step! 😄

[flkin]

9 hours ago, di-fi said:

Outputs are either activated, inaccesible, removed or can be ignored.

 

EuphonyGuideV4 : '' If you have some outputs that you never intend to use for playback from Euphony (like TV UPnP endpoints) you can click the “Ignore” button next to the output name in Settings -> Music service -> Audio outputs section.''

 

But what do you do if you want to re-use a previously ignored output (here LSX living UPnP)? After a refresh the ignored output shows for 1/2 second and dissappears. Do we have a reset button somwhere? Before I do a clean install, anyone maybe?

 

 

Had the same problem and couldn’t solve it. Eventually reached out to support and Zeljko remoted in and toggled something and brought it back. Looks like they didn’t fix this yet

[di-fi]

11 hours ago, flkin said:

Hi Paul

 

The version I’m using isn’t special. Just updated it under the beta channel and skipped the last 2 updates. Actually it’s strange, the system shows 0124 but when I select “show changes log” beside it, it shows 0207. But the 0207 update tab is still displayed. Might be a half installation after a failed update.

I’m using Pink Faun’s USB card with the ultra clock. Recently I was fortunate enough to borrow a pair of Paul Hynes DRt regulator boards and had them assembled into a custom DC output for my router and USB card at 12v and 5v respectively. Many parts were upgraded from the original design: caps, resistors, rectifiers, mosfets and more were switched out for the best replacements available. And used a range of dc cables of different metals to tune the final sound. I eventually settled on Duelund tinned copper as the metal of choice. 
 

Overall the effect of this was nothing short of a stunning improvement in the sound. Positioning, clarity, enveloping sound with body and presence. The last treble hardness disappeared without removing details. 
 

To confirm this, I asked another friend that was using a 2 box system - NUC/Euphony playing to a sMS200ultra and then through the SoTM tx-USBUltra USB cleaner to switch his best supply he had for this last device instead of, what would be the most obvious choice, the sMS200ultra end point. He reported it provided a component level upgrade to his sound after powering the tx-USBUltra with a Ferrum with a custom made DC wire, Nordost power cable, and a QSA purple fuse.

 

So now I’m back to hardware tweaks for the time being while waiting for Euphony’s next big step! 😄

Great data points, thanks so much.

[di-fi]

11 hours ago, flkin said:

Had the same problem and couldn’t solve it. Eventually reached out to support and Zeljko remoted in and toggled something and brought it back. Looks like they didn’t fix this I sent tickets over the weekend. Just noticed the replies from Euphony. It was not super urgent but wanted to listen to music in the living room. I put endpoint (v3) in Stylus mode to listen while v4 being stubborn. 

[di-fi]

2 minutes ago, di-fi said:

11 hours ago, flkin said:

Had the same problem and couldn’t solve it. Eventually reached out to support and Zeljko remoted in and toggled something and brought it back. Looks like they didn’t fix this 

I sent tickets over the weekend. Just noticed the replies from Euphony. It was not super urgent but wanted to listen to music in the living room. I put endpoint (v3) in Stylus mode to listen while v4 being stubborn. 

[di-fi]

3 hours ago, di-fi said:

I sent tickets over the weekend. Just noticed the replies from Euphony. It was not super urgent but wanted to listen to music in the living room. I put endpoint (v3) in Stylus mode to listen while v4 being stubborn. 

Kin you were right, Željko had to log in and explain. There are some incompatibility issues between V3 and V4  (Euphony never tested them working together) and some issues within V4 (will be fixed in next update).

I understand Euphony's intention is to keep both versions compatible if possible.

 

(...)It wasn't our intention to make StylusEP v3 incompatible or unusable with v4 but there was no way to make StylusEP v4 better without making changes that are ultimately incompatible with v3(...)

 

Good to know!

[di-fi]

22 hours ago, flkin said:

And used a range of dc cables of different metals to tune the final sound. I eventually settled on Duelund tinned copper as the metal of choice.

Out of curiousity and to try for others; specifically for router and USB card the DC cables you could recommend would be something like Duelund DCA20GA(?) tinned copper multistrand wire in cotton and oil? (I do understand it will come with YMMV 'warning')

 

It seems you compared and tried with a range of DC cables possibly like : Mundorf SG or Angelique (CAW), Neotech, Jupiter, Gotham eg. just like @Exocer * . He tried many and came to the conclusion that Network Card, NVMe, switch and so on almost each like there own brand/size DC wire. And I suppose then again chosen wire also depends what type/power PSU is on one side.

 

In the end hard to give a fool proof DC cable formula but great to hear with what exactly users have good results. I like Ferrum Hypsos with Mundorf SG (server) , JCAT Nano with SG (JCAT Netcard or EredDock), FaradSuperS with Neotech7N (EtherRegen, EdgeRouter ) and JS-2 (Endpoint) not decided yet. I was going to order Mundorf Angelique (CAW) so maybe also time to try Duelund?

 

In the post below they also discuss the importance of a good connector like Neutrik SpeakON. I should try because I'm still using Oyaide DC connectors when possible.

 

*

 

[flkin]

The use of Duelund tinned copper wires is an acquired taste for sure. It's probably not the most accurate wire nor detailed. In fact before it's burnt in (a very long burn process of 200-500 hours) fully the treble swings from muted to hard and there is a slightly fatter mid/low. But once it's burnt in, you'll know. The treble and details stabilise without harshness. It has this analogue "bloom" and pulls the listener into the music into a larger room size with air. I would say it's good for those after a more analogue feel rather than those after impressive details or dynamics sounds.

 

The DCA16GA is the one I use for my DC, 6 strands, 2 each for positive and negative and the last 2 wrapped around the 4 wires but disconnected at the receiving end. It's a cheap wire so if you're into DIY, it's easy to make some up to try. I'm having good results mixing up Mundorf silver/gold with Duelund tin copper. For example my Paul Hynes DR7t+ is all internally wired with the Mundorf but the final DC leg is Duelund. I'm using Jaeger 3-pin connectors on the supply side and Oyaide on the receiving side. Might try some Elecaudio DCT-2.5G jacks with tellurium copper later to replace the Oyaide. More details about the DR7t+ in my system link below.

[Smaragdhk]

I have good result with Oyaide solid core hookup wire, twisted and Keces P8 and P3 LPS… so there are very good sounding alternatives.

[StevenYen]

My setting: Euphony Stylus v4.20230228 + HQPlayer 4 Embedded 4.34.1