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HQPlayer4 EC modulator tips and techniques


ted_b

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1 hour ago, shadowlight said:

Has anyone gotten asdm7ec working under embedded.  I have no problems getting asdm7 and xtr-lp-2s up to 512, but even 256 is stuttering for me.

 

I got PCM 24-192 -> EC DSD256 x 48 with poly-sinc-ext2 running comfortably with embedded on Ubuntu Server 18.04 with a i7-9700K. A GPU is optional for the heavier filters. 

 

An i7-9700K, with a fan, has 8 cores that automatically "Turbo Boost" to up to 4.9GHz. My chip stays in the neighborhood of 4.7GHz even though the base clock is 3.6GHz, with low temps and low utilization. 

 

1 hour ago, shadowlight said:

The result of top has cpu usage value around 1000 when using EC modulator and around 400 when using ASDM7.  I think I still have plenty of CPU cycles available, since 100% load across all CPU would be 2400 so I am currently under 50%.

 

I understand what you mean about the chip seeming to have plenty of headroom left when the music starts to stutter. I upgraded (from the HQP perspective) from a Ryzen 2700x to the i7-9700K. With both chips, the CPU utilization remains low even when they are pushed until the music stutters - EC DSD256 for the AMD and EC DSD512 for the Intel. 

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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13 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Even after listening for only a few songs I have to say the hype surrounding these new EC modulators is justified! 

 

Yes indeed! And that's the impression you had listening to EC DSD128! I was in the same boat before I recently upgraded my hardware.

 

13 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Needless to say I am going to have to accelerate my plans to upgrade my audio pc to something more powerful.  I am thinking an i7-9700K + RTX2080 should do that trick.

 

I had that exact combo in my test EC server. It worked extremely well. The i7-9700k eats EC DSD256 for breakfast and since I don't do convolution, the RTX2080 turned out to be much more GPU than I really needed. I downgraded all the way to a GTX1650 for 1/4 the price and the only thing I lost was poly-sinc-xtr, which is a trade-off I was willing to make.

 

I expect the i7-9700K + RTX2080 will do everything you ask of it.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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On 8/8/2019 at 7:34 AM, dean70 said:

Core I5 2500k overclocked to 4.6ghz can run 44.1k  poly-sync-ext2 ASDM7EC DSD128 (integer multiple) w/o CUDA. Have GTX970 & now updated drives to run CUDA. Should do DSD128 (48k) after offloading convolution to gpu

 

Running Windows 10 with all the bloated crapware running 😁

Can do 44.1k to 6.144Mhz DSD128, but only 5.6Mhz from DSD64 source with CUDA offload enabled. Shows even with an older gen CPU, raw clock speed is the key.

 

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13 minutes ago, k6davis said:

I had that exact combo in my test EC server. It worked extremely well. The i7-9700k eats EC DSD256 for breakfast and since I don't do convolution, the RTX2080 turned out to be much more GPU than I really needed. I downgraded all the way to a GTX1650 for 1/4 the price and the only thing I lost was poly-sinc-xtr, which is a trade-off I was willing to make.

 

I expect the i7-9700K + RTX2080 will do everything you ask of it.

Thank you for letting me know the i7-9700k will do the job.  I am now re-thinking the RTX2080 though.  I am only doing 2 channel convolution so I am wondering if I can get away with a less powerful GPU.  I dont have any experience with GPUs so any input would be greatly appreciated.

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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11 minutes ago, tboooe said:

Thank you for letting me know the i7-9700k will do the job.  I am now re-thinking the RTX2080 though.  I am only doing 2 channel convolution so I am wondering if I can get away with a less powerful GPU.  I dont have any experience with GPUs so any input would be greatly appreciated.

 

I'm brand new to GPU's too, having only had experience with those two I mentioned and just recently.

 

If you've never used Cuda, it couldn't be easier. Put the card in the slot, install the video driver (from the Nvidia website, not the disc) and check the Cuda box in HQP. You'll be able to see the GPU utilization in Windows Task Manager and/or the Nvida settings app. Interestingly, with Cuda on, I need to turn "Multicore" off or else CPU utilization goes way up. Others have said the same. No point in trying to understand it, IMO. There will (almost certainly) be a combination of the two checkboxes that works for you. 

 

It's easy to try a GPU, leave your computer open and swap it out for a different one if you like. I don't see the point in paying for more than you're going to use. In my case, poly-sinc-xtr was going to cost me about $500. I passed. 😂

 

One more tip: I was able to tell my BIOS that I wanted to use both the onboard video and the video card, with the onboard video being primary. In theory at least, that may give your Cuda processing a little boost.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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34 minutes ago, k6davis said:

The i7-9700k eats EC DSD256 for breakfast...

 

... with a fan or active cooling. The automatic Turbo Boost clock speed may be limited with passive cooling.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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11 minutes ago, k6davis said:

 

... with a fan or active cooling. The automatic Turbo Boost clock speed may be limited with passive cooling.

Definitely!  My passively cooled cpu is hitting about 150F!!  My next build will be using one of those massive Noctua NH-D15  cooling fans.  

12TB NAS >> i7-6700 Server/Control PC >> i3-5015u NAA >> Singxer SU-1 DDC (modded) >> Holo Spring L3 DAC >> Accustic Arts Power 1 int amp >> Sonus Faber Guaneri Evolution speakers + REL T/5i sub (x2)

 

Other components:

UpTone Audio LPS1.2/IsoRegen, Fiber Switch and FMC, Windows Server 2016 OS, Audiophile Optimizer 3.0, Fidelizer Pro 6, HQ Player, Roonserver, PS Audio P3 AC regenerator, HDPlex 400W ATX & 200W Linear PSU, Light Harmonic Lightspeed Split USB cable, Synergistic Research Tungsten AC power cords, Tara Labs The One speaker cables, Tara Labs The Two Extended with HFX Station IC, Oyaide R1 outlets, Stillpoints Ultra Mini footers, Hi-Fi Tuning fuses, Vicoustic/RealTraps/GIK room treatments

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1 hour ago, k6davis said:

If you've never used Cuda, it couldn't be easier. Put the card in the slot, install the video driver (from the Nvidia website, not the disc) and check the Cuda box in HQP.

 

Do you know the process for using CUDA with HQP on Ubuntu?

 

 

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1 minute ago, asdf1000 said:

Do you know the process for using CUDA with HQP on Ubuntu?

 

It's exactly the same as I described above with HQP Desktop on Ubuntu. If you're talking about HQP Embedded on Ubuntu Server, it's a bit more complicated.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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Back to the sound of all of this. I usually listen on monitors, but I am working late tonight for a deadline and listening with a newly acquired pair of minty HD600s (HD650s going up for sale soon!) with HQP ADSM7EC/EXT2 DSD265>RME ADi-2fs>Eddie Current ZDTJ. Effing eff, it's...great!

 

Get it going on, it's glorious.

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8 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

Apologies - yes I meant Embedded on Ubuntu.

 

There's no check box for Cuda in the embedded web interface. There's also no "Multicore" check box there either. Both settings can be manually edited in the hqplayerd.config file, though. There's details about what the options are in the documentation that comes with the software. 

 

The one thing to be sure to do is to sudo systemctl restart hqplayerd each time (there shouldn't be a lot of times) you change the settings "under the hood" this way. Otherwise, your manual changes will be overridden by the web interface. 

 

It's a few extra steps, but it winds up giving you the same options as Desktop and it works fine.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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8 minutes ago, JTS said:

Back to the sound of all of this.

 

HQP ADSM7EC/EXT2 DSD265>RME ADi-2fs>Eddie Current ZDTJ. Effing eff, it's...great!

 

Get it going on, it's glorious.

 

I agree about EC! I really like DSD5EC too. Which is "better" depends on personal taste and too many other things to count, but I encourage people to give it a listen. No extra charge! 😀

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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9 minutes ago, k6davis said:

. There's details about what the options are in the documentation that comes with the software. 

 

These are the steps I'm asking about... in the latest manual i don't see these steps.

 

On 8/8/2019 at 10:37 PM, sledwards said:
  • CPU: i7-8700K w/ Corsair H100i AIO
  • GPU: GeForce RTX-2080 for CUDA offload
  • OS/HQPlayer: Ubuntu 18.04 Server w/ Embedded or Windows 10 Pro w/ Desktop
  • Performance
    • DSD256 with ASDM7EC modulator
    • All filters and input bit rates
    • No over clocking, CPU temp approx. 50 deg C

 

Hi sledwards, can you kindly share the steps to get CUDA offloading working with Embedded on Ubuntu?

 

 

 

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33 minutes ago, k6davis said:

I really like DSD5EC too. Which is "better" depends on personal taste

 

I am spinning it up right now. It is beauty. With the studio music - listening to some old Sparklehorse right now - I feel like it integrates everything into the picture nicely - with my system I hear a less depth, but a more well rounded image. Thanks for the recommend.

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29 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

These are the steps I'm asking about... in the latest manual i don't see these steps.

 

See the readme file in /usr/share/doc/hqplayerd/readme.txt.gz/readme.txt

 

The config file to edit is /etc/hqplayer/hqplayerd.xml

 

These are the values in the config file to change:

 

Cuda:

 

Quote

Attribute: cuda
Offload part of the processing to GPU using Nvidia CUDA.
Values:
    0 : Disabled
    1 : Enabled
    convolution : Convolution engine only

 

Multicore:

 

Quote

Attribute: multicore
Enables multicore processing splitting work to higher number of processing
units. Also used with GPU offload.
Values:
    auto : Automatic configuration
    0    : Disabled
    1    : Enabled

 

Change values in the config file.

Save the changes.

Run sudo systemctl restart hqplayerd to restart the server with the changes you just made - or else the web interface will overwrite them.

 

All of this mimics clicking the buttons in HQP Desktop, but does it behind the scenes.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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14 minutes ago, k6davis said:

 

See the readme file in /usr/share/doc/hqplayerd/readme.txt.gz/readme.txt

 

The config file to edit is /etc/hqplayer/hqplayerd.xml

 

 

Thanks!

 

nano "/etc/hqplayer/hqplayerd.xml" works for me.

 

but "nano /usr/share/doc/hqplayerd/readme.txt.gz/readme.txt"  doesn't work for me.

 

Edit: ran "gzip -d readme.txt.gz"

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2 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

Thanks!

 

nano "/etc/hqplayer/hqplayerd.xml" works for me.

 

but "nano /usr/share/doc/hqplayerd/readme.txt.gz/readme.txt"  doesn't work for me.

 

You're welcome.

 

That's because the "gz" is a compressed file, like a "zip" or a "rar". I included the only pieces of info from it you need for Cuda & Multicore above.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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1 minute ago, k6davis said:

 

You're welcome.

 

That's because the "gz" is a compressed file, like a "zip" or a "rar". I included the only pieces of info from it you need for Cuda & Multicore above.

 

Yes I edited the above to say ran "gzip -d readme.txt.gz"

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2 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

 

Yes I edited the above to say ran "gzip -d readme.txt.gz"

 

And then you were able to read it?

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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3 minutes ago, k6davis said:

I included the only pieces of info from it you need for Cuda & Multicore above.

 

Looks quite simple, so thanks again.

 

Now the steps before this are just:

 

1. Install CUDA Toolkit 10.1 Update 1  from here:

https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads?target_os=Linux&target_arch=x86_64&target_distro=Ubuntu&target_version=1804&target_type=debnetwork

 

and

 

2. Install latest driver from here:

https://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/149138

 

Is that all?

 

For #2 above, I see that's a ".run" file. What command is needed for that, from terminal commands?

 

Thanks again

 

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5 minutes ago, asdf1000 said:

 

Looks quite simple, so thanks again.

 

Now the steps before this are just:

 

1. Install CUDA Toolkit 10.1 Update 1  from here:

https://developer.nvidia.com/cuda-downloads?target_os=Linux&target_arch=x86_64&target_distro=Ubuntu&target_version=1804&target_type=debnetwork

 

and

 

2. Install latest driver from here:

https://www.geforce.com/drivers/results/149138

 

Is that all?

 

For #2 above, I see that's a ".run" file. What command is needed for that, from terminal commands?

 

Thanks again

 

 

You don't have to install the Cuda toolkit. That's for developing Cuda apps. I thought it was necessary too, but it isn't.

 

You just have install the video card driver. Being a Linux noob myself, I looked up how to do that. There are a few commands, one figures out what the latest driver is & downloads it (something about "ppa"). The next actually installs it. I don't remember the specifics, but they are easy to find.

Roon Server: Core i7-3770S, WS2012 + AO => HQP Server: Core, i7-9700K, HQPlayer OS => NAA: Celeron NUC, HQP NAA => ISO Regen with UltraCap LPS 1.2 => Mapleshade USB Cable => Lampizator L4 DSD-Only Balanced DAC Preamp => Blue Jeans Belden Balanced Cables => Mivera PurePower SE Amp => Magnepan 3.7i

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