HQplayer 4 and Mac-mini M1

[Schafheide]

That is the greatest news! I cannot wait now to get mine!!!

[Louisiana]

@MikePid

 

Now you have made me curious!

Can you close the Mac again properly after installation?

Next question:

Which power supply from Teradak is it exactly?

Google lists a lot of different ones...

Many greetings

Loui

[MikePid]

13 hours ago, Louisiana said:

@MikePid

 

Now you have made me curious!

Can you close the Mac again properly after installation?

Next question:

Which power supply from Teradak is it exactly?

Google lists a lot of different ones...

Many greetings

Loui

Hi Loui,

 

I only did a temporary installation so far to make sure it worked, and also so that I could try to swap between power modules to compare.  I will probably put it back to the Apple power module on the weekend just to make sure that it is making the difference I am hearing, then I will permanently install the TeraDak power supply.  There should be no issue closing up the Mac after.  What you are seeing is the heart transplant in the middle of the operation 👨‍⚕️

 

I ordered the kit that @Schafheide found: https://kamaudio.com/TeraDak-Mac-mini-LPS which came with the internal module and a huge external 200W LPS.  The MMM1's maximum power draw is under 40W, so a smaller LPS would probably work too, but it is probably hard to find 12V with enough current.  There are not too many better LPSs that have enough power.  The 200w one is what TeraDak is recommending, likely because maybe they don't have a smaller one with enough power.  I see that they also have a 30W, but they probably figured it wouldn't be enough.  The 200W LPS is overkill, and it runs barely above room temperature.  But I didn't want to spend a ton of money on an external LPS until I knew for sure that an LPS would make a difference.  The MMM1 is so far upstream, and so I was skeptical at first.

 

Once I have time, I am going to try to swap in my Paul Hynes SR4T as a test to see whether there is still more room for improvement.  It is rated at 2A but 20A transient so it might have enough juice for a test, but I wouldn't want it running long term.  If there is enough improvement (and there likely will be 🤑), I will probably order an UpTone JS-2 and sell the TeraDak 200W.  

 

BTW, I never use stock power cords - I had a Shunyata Venom lying around that I am using on the external LPS.  I have no interest in putting a stock power cord on to compare, because I know power cords matter.  YMMV.

 

And the stock fuse will probably be replaced with SR Blue or Orange in the near future.  Cuz fuses matter too.  I wanted to see if the rabbit hole was worth going down before I went too far down, and it does look like it is a deep hole 🤑

 

In the meantime, I'm thoroughly enjoying the improved sound.  It seems like there is "more music" coming through.

[Schafheide]

re "The MMM1 is so far upstream, and so I was skeptical at first."

I don't look at it that way - purely from an amplification point of view, I figure that the closer to the source, the better it has to be (because the faults will be amplified) - ie spend a lot of money on the turntable and the cartridge.

What say you?

[MikePid]

Yes, I've heard that the improvements made at the source make bigger differences.  I guess because of all the chatter going on inside MacOS and the hardware, I was not confident that just cleaner power was going to overcome that.  Besides, bits are bits, right? 🤣.  It will be interesting to see whether someday we will be able to run HQPlayer on Apple silicon without MacOS.  The tight integration of the hardware architecture should help reduce latencies.

 

And, yes, I enjoy my nice phono front-end, including MC cartridge, plus numerous audiophile and Japanese pressings too 😁.  I have a split audiophile personality between analog and digital. 

[Schafheide]

BTW - shouldn't all of this be in the TeraDak MMM1 kit thread?

Just asking 😪

[Schafheide]

1. Until today I used these settings on my MMM1

poly-sinc-gauss-xla
poly sing gauss-long
LNS15
ASDM7ECv2

this produced DSD256 (48k 256)
CPU temps approx 60C

2. My recently discovered settings are -

As above except -

AMSDM7EC 512+fs

This produces DSD512 (48k 512) - no dropouts
CPU temps approx 30C

 

Comments please.

[MikePid]

21 hours ago, Schafheide said:

BTW - shouldn't all of this be in the TeraDak MMM1 kit thread?

Just asking 😪

I'll create a new MMM1 LPS thread when I get a chance 🙂

[Schafheide]

As you wish.

[Schafheide]

On 1/8/2022 at 10:39 AM, Schafheide said:

1. Until today I used these settings on my MMM1

poly-sinc-gauss-xla
poly sing gauss-long
LNS15
ASDM7ECv2

this produced DSD256 (48k 256)
CPU temps approx 60C

2. My recently discovered settings are -

As above except -

AMSDM7EC 512+fs

This produces DSD512 (48k 512) - no dropouts
CPU temps approx 30C

 

Comments please.

Well,,,,,,,,,,I can answer my own question.

ASDM7ECv2 @ DSD256 is the definite winner!

[FooFighter]

Got a Mac Mini M1 half a week ago and put both Roon Core and HQPlayer on it expecting it won't be able to render some Sinc-L 1,5Mhz PCM stream to my Holo Audio Spring 3 as it's ARM based and not Intel based , so I ordered an UP Gateway plus Ifi Ipower Elite.

Now just for fun plugging the USB cable into the M1 and it's taking the 1,5Mhz without hassle.

Now wondering if the additional NAA setup is really worth it...

[AudioDoctor]

23 minutes ago, FooFighter said:

Now wondering if the additional NAA setup is really worth it...

 

Yes, why wouldnt it be?

[FooFighter]

1 minute ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

Yes, why wouldnt it be?

Just wondering about how much it will improve over a solution on one device plus giving up the comfort of switching back and forth between Roon output and HQPlayer once I connect a NAA only device to my DAC 

- but I guess I need to hear it myself to know 😉

[AudioDoctor]

8 minutes ago, FooFighter said:

Just wondering about how much it will improve over a solution on one device plus giving up the comfort of switching back and forth between Roon output and HQPlayer once I connect a NAA only device to my DAC 

- but I guess I need to hear it myself to know 😉

 

Why would you want to switch back and forth between the significantly better HQP output and the poor Roon only output?

Yes, it will be a significant upgrade from a direct connection. Even a plain ordinary Raspberry Pi4 will be a noticeable upgrade as an NAA over a direct USB connection.

[FooFighter]

Just now, AudioDoctor said:

 

Wyy would you want to switch back and forth between the significantly better HQP output and the poor Roon only output?

Yes, it will be a significant upgrade from a direct connection.

Just to find out again each time that you re right and it's sounding better indeed 😉

In all seriousness though I've had annoying hang ups / losing connections with the distributed solution running an NAA on my MacBook Pro i5 but it could have been related to many things like closed lid operation being kind of compromised and needing to install some amphetamine app to keep the NAA running plus the whole system being grown and not clean like my new M1.

On M1 I am not having any issues now so I ve been just wondering if I should change a running system.

But as everything is anyway on order I want to try the new setup of course.

Will report back 

[AudioDoctor]

17 minutes ago, FooFighter said:

Just to find out again each time that you re right and it's sounding better indeed 😉

In all seriousness though I've had annoying hang ups / losing connections with the distributed solution running an NAA on my MacBook Pro i5 but it could have been related to many things like closed lid operation being kind of compromised and needing to install some amphetamine app to keep the NAA running plus the whole system being grown and not clean like my new M1.

On M1 I am not having any issues now so I ve been just wondering if I should change a running system.

But as everything is anyway on order I want to try the new setup of course.

Will report back 

 

First of all, get a small dedicated Pi4 to run the NAA, or one of the Fitlet devices some around here like. Not a Macbook. While it can be done it's against the entire purpose of the NAA in my opinion. Using a Macbook as an NAA gives zero benefits of isolating the two separate parts of the chain because that Macbook is just another fully fledged computer.

 

 

[FooFighter]

1 minute ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

First of all, get a small dedicated Pi4 to run the NAA, or one of the Fitlet devices some around here like. Not a macbook. While it can be done it's against the entire purpose of the NAA in my opinion.

 

 

As I wrote UP Gateway is on order, arriving on Wednesday and supposed to run as a dedicated NAA booted with Miska's image.

M1 will serve as Roon Core and HQPlayer Server only then sitting at my house switch 

[Louisiana]

11 hours ago, FooFighter said:

As I wrote UP Gateway is on order,...

 

Interesting device, never heard of it before.

May I ask where you ordered it?

I also only used a Pi4 for NAA, once for the AVR in the living room, and once for my headphone stack - I use RopieeeXL, and am absolutely satisfied.

I've tried a few alternatives, but have always come back to the Rasperry Pi in the end.

 

I have not found any advantage in using an I2S streamer, or e.g. the ifi stream - the latter I had now for a while in use, but then ended up with the Pi4 again.

 

 

[FooFighter]

2 hours ago, Louisiana said:

 

Interesting device, never heard of it before.

May I ask where you ordered it?

I also only used a Pi4 for NAA, once for the AVR in the living room, and once for my headphone stack - I use RopieeeXL, and am absolutely satisfied.

I've tried a few alternatives, but have always come back to the Rasperry Pi in the end.

 

I have not found any advantage in using an I2S streamer, or e.g. the ifi stream - the latter I had now for a while in use, but then ended up with the Pi4 again.

 

 

Sure, the UP gateway is next to the Fitlet2 in fact one of 2 devices recommended by Miska himself as he's owning these.

Therefore it's a safe choice.

Here's the shop-link.

Mine will arrive by Wednesday.

I've asked the shop wether my ordered IFI iPower Elite is fine for it with 5V/5A but haven't received an answer yet.

https://up-shop.org/up-gateway-atom-x5-z8350-w-4g-memory-32g-emmc-board-w-vesa-plate.html

[FooFighter]

BTW I ve had the Zen Stream 2 times next to Bluesound Node N130 and sonically preferred the Zen Stream each time with better blackness and more punch in base but sent all back each time as my DAC pairing wasn't up to my taste and therefore the Streamer wasn't needed either.

Am really happy now with my Holo Audio Spring 3 and have considered the Zen Stream for a moment but being yet very blissed by the presentation of HQPLAYER alone out of my Mac Mini M1 playing Sinc-L with LNS15, 1,5 MHz I cannot go lower than that anymore. Therefore  went for this mini PCs 

[Miska]

10 minutes ago, FooFighter said:

I've asked the shop wether my ordered IFI iPower Elite is fine for it with 5V/5A but haven't received an answer yet.

 

5A should be fine. It doesn't consume much while running, of course depending on how much USB devices draw. But at boot time you need more peak capacity, otherwise you may experience crashes.

 

[Louisiana]

I love my ifi Stack, but Holo Audio Spring 3 is on top of my wishlist.

Unfortunately - or fortunately for my wallet - I don't have room for the Holo, but it will come eventually, that's for sure.
Thanks for the link.

[FooFighter]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

5A should be fine. It doesn't consume much while running, of course depending on how much USB devices draw. But at boot time you need more peak capacity, otherwise you may experience crashes.

 

Thx Miska!

I will try also my Hypsos at some point but also don't want to degrade SQ of my Ferrum OOR.

While I knew you recommended it I just couldn't justify the 1k price tag for now but might go there one day too 😉

[Miska]

17 minutes ago, FooFighter said:

I will try also my Hypsos at some point but also don't want to degrade SQ of my Ferrum OOR.

While I knew you recommended it I just couldn't justify the 1k price tag for now but might go there one day too 😉

 

I'm running Oor with the stock PSU. I don't think it degrades sound quality...

 

But you could try yourself which way is better. You just need a different power cable for Hypsos, costs something but not as much as another Hypsos...

 

[FooFighter]

2 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

I'm running Oor with the stock PSU. I don't think it degrades sound quality...

 

But you could try yourself which way is better. You just need a different power cable for Hypsos, costs something but not as much as another Hypsos...

 

Reading through Headfi common sense is that Oor isn't the same without and running Susvara and TC of course I don't want to compromise but of course the same can be said for the NAA 😉

Will report back once I got everything up and running some time next week