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HQPlayer4 EC modulator tips and techniques


ted_b

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My setup is now with 3 PC's:

(1) Windows Server 2019 which connects to my NAS music library (still unoptimized)

=>

(2) Audiolinux with HQPlayer 4 embedded (still trial)

=>

(3) Audiolinux or Euphony with NAA (also still trial)

 

I also have Audirvana on (1) which sees the HQPe, so wondered: would it be possible to decrease the load on (2) by using Audirvana to upsample to, say, DSD128 or DSD256, to hopefully reduce stuttering playback of DSD256 with ASDM7EC?

Of course I tried, and I have the impression that the stuttering is somewhat less, but it is still there.

Did anyone here try something along those lines? Does it make any sense at all?

 

audio system

 

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50 minutes ago, Miska said:

P.S. I cannot emphasize enough - do not use ethernet cables that have a shield connected to connector bodies at both ends. So typical STP/FTP cables are absolutely no-go for NAA. I use standard cheap CAT6 UTP cables (entire house is wired with CAT6 UTP).

 

 

Glass fiber cable for Ethernet is also a good option I guess?

 

audio system

 

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I just got a license for HQP embedded, and am ready to build something to enable playback of DSD256 with EC. Something along the lines of:

case    Cooler Master Elite 110
mobo    ASRock Z390 Phantom Gaming ITX
cpu    Intel Core i7-7900K (TDP 95W)
cooling    stock?
memory    16GB RAM 2x8
PSU internal    HDPlex 250W ATX PSU (accepts 19V)
PSU external    HDPlex 100W LPSU 19V + 12V

Would this be a good idea?

Will the HDPlex 100W LPSU be able to cope?

(I am planning to use a separate 12V rail for the CPU.)

 

audio system

 

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19 minutes ago, randytsuch said:

 

I used this calculator

https://outervision.com/power-supply-calculator

 

Enter your configuration, and then check the 12V current.  That's the main concern.

100W sounds low, I think my PC wanted a 400W supply and I went 750W.

 

Randy

 

Thanks, that is a handy tool. It shows that I would need 239W.

I would use this machine only as a server with HQP OS or AudioLinux with HQP embedded, sending the DSD256 files to a minimal fanless NAA PC in the audio room over fiber ethernet.

Would a linear PSU make much difference in that case, SQ wise? 

 

audio system

 

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46 minutes ago, lmitche said:

You would be well served to take a serious look at the Hdplex 400 watt ATX linear power supply. That's what I would use for both safety and SQ reasons.

 

Thanks.

 

I already have:

(1) HDPlex 100W LPSU

(2) HDPlex 200W LPSU

(3) HDPlex 250W DC-ATX converter

and hope to avoid having to buy a 4th HDPlex PSU...

 

My current diskless i7-3770S 3.10GHz PC with AL and HQP embedded was for a long time powered with (1)'s 12V rail and that always seemed OK.

Perhaps, for the new PC, I will try (2)'s 12V rail for the CPU and its 19V rail feeding into (3) for the rest, and see how it goes without CUDA.

Or I could even try (2) for the CPU and (1) for the rest, so that both PSU's would share the load, effectively creating a 300W LPSU.

 

audio system

 

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  • 3 weeks later...
  • 1 month later...
4 hours ago, randytsuch said:

With my i7 9700k pc, can get 5ec at 256 with no problems, but when I try 7ec it stutters.  

 

Running buster 10.1 with 4.11.2-36.  No graphics card so no cuda offload

 

Any tricks to get 7ec?  Thinking about trying to overclock, I feel like its really close to working.

 

Just in case: I assume you have turbo boost & hyperthreading enabled in BIOS?

Here 7EC plays stutterless with the exact same CPU without overclocking or CUDA offload.

 

audio system

 

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25 minutes ago, Miska said:

All those interfaces appear under both? At least HQPlayer OS supports also Intel 10Gbps/fiber cards. But if both don't have drivers loaded/supporting all those, then that could be one difference.

 

See below. enp1s0f0 is the only connection that is active in my case.

 

AudioLinux result of ip addr:

1: lo: <LOOPBACK,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 65536 qdisc noqueue state UNKNOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/loopback 00:00:00:00:00:00 brd 00:00:00:00:00:00
    inet 127.0.0.1/8 scope host lo
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 ::1/128 scope host 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
2: enp2s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 70:85:c2:a6:0a:d5 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
3: enp1s0f0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST,UP,LOWER_UP> mtu 1500 qdisc mq state UP group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1b:21:bc:f9:8a brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
    inet 192.168.1.202/24 brd 192.168.1.255 scope global enp1s0f0
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
    inet6 fe80::21b:21ff:febc:f98a/64 scope link 
       valid_lft forever preferred_lft forever
4: wlp3s0: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 04:d3:b0:86:77:70 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
5: eno1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 70:85:c2:a6:0a:d7 brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff
6: enp1s0f1: <BROADCAST,MULTICAST> mtu 1500 qdisc noop state DOWN group default qlen 1000
    link/ether 00:1b:21:bc:f9:8b brd ff:ff:ff:ff:ff:ff

 

HQP OS result of ifconfig:

see screenshot

PHOTO_20191119_105036.jpg

 

audio system

 

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  • 2 weeks later...
  • 3 weeks later...

My setup:

Audiolinux headless with HQPlayer embedded latest version

ASRock Z390M-ITX/AC

i7-7900K

1x Apacer DDR4 RAM 2666MHz 8GB (non-ECC)

 

Since putting in the Apacer RAM I get occasional tiny dropouts when upsampling to DSD256 with ASDM7EC. I never had these before using hyperthreading and turbo mode without overclocking.

I just reset the BIOS to the optimal settings and at first that seemed better, but now the occasional dropouts are back.

I will try to put in a second RAM (8GB => 16GB) and see if that helps, but I expect not as 8GB should be sufficient for HQPlayer?

Any advice?

 

 

audio system

 

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Doubling RAM 8GB => 16GB did not help. The dropouts even occur when upsampling to only DSD128. Also, they are unlike the dropouts I experienced with EC7 upsampling to DSD256 when my system was not yet powerful enough.

 

As I upgraded to HQPlayer version 4.13 at the same time as I put in the Apacer RAM: could it be a problem with version 4.13?

 

audio system

 

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2 hours ago, randytsuch said:

Seems like you're running into what I was, guess an 7900k is at the edge for 7ec at 256dsd.

 

Using HQP OS is what fixed it for me.   Just upgraded to the newer version, still working fine.

 

Perhaps, but I am somewhat puzzled as the dropouts are tiny and only occur after 40 seconds or so. And they also occur with dsd128 and temperatures remain moderate (<60C). So I suspect it is something else.

 

audio system

 

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13 hours ago, Miska said:

What kind of CAS latency does this memory have compared to earlier one? Both configurations with 4 memory modules?

 

This CPU requires that it is running at high enough boost clocks for the relevant cores in order to perform ASDM7EC successfully.

 

What kind of filter are you using?

 

One module of Apacer DDR4 RAM 2666MHz 8GB. Also tried two modules but that did not remove the dropouts. I believe CAS latency is 19 and the Ballistix I used earlier has lower CL. Could that be it?

Filter used is poly-sinc-ext2.

 

I did get rid of the dropouts by going from Load-Line Calibration level 4 to level 3 in the BIOS (ASRock Z390M-ITX/AC). This applies more voltage. I did not increase the CPU frequency, so I am not sure whether one would consider my tweak as overclocking.

 

 

audio system

 

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