HQplayer 4 and Mac-mini M1

[MikePid]

1 hour ago, Schafheide said:

@AudioDoctor

You were correct - M1/HQP to NAS via Ethernet is much snappier than Wifi (even though this is not the case with Auralic). Next the NAA. Thank you for your patience.

Another audiophile falls down the rabbit hole 🤣

[Schafheide]

Given the quality of your system, are you searching for a new power supply for your M1 in that rabbit hole?

[AudioDoctor]

3 hours ago, Schafheide said:

@AudioDoctor

You were correct - M1/HQP to NAS via Ethernet is much snappier than Wifi (even though this is not the case with Auralic). Next the NAA. Thank you for your patience.

 

I have been down this road and tried all the options, that's the only reason I suggested it.

[MikePid]

3 hours ago, Schafheide said:

Given the quality of your system, are you searching for a new power supply for your M1 in that rabbit hole?

Ha ha, I wish. I had to settle for just a cryo power cord into a power conditioner…

 

Next to HQPlayer, the M1 mini ranks near the top for best bang for the buck for me.

 

btw, since you might be looking for an audiophile network switch too, I can recommend one, and it does very well when you add a good LPS to it. 🤣  And the nice folks on this forum would be happy to talk you into some expensive Ethernet cables too 🤑

 

I don’t think anyone has found the bottom of this rabbit hole yet.  Yet I don’t hear too many people regretting jumping into the hole either…

[Schafheide]

Thank you, I have circumvented the need for a network switch (at least I saved that expenditure). I mentioned the M1 PS because I came across a suitable PS upgrade for pre M1. I am just hoping that one of the " nice folks" is correct when he says that the USB i/p of the Holo May is impervious to "differences" in NAA boxes!

[AudioDoctor]

10 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

Thank you, I have circumvented the need for a network switch (at least I saved that expenditure). I mentioned the M1 PS because I came across a suitable PS upgrade for pre M1. I am just hoping that one of the " nice folks" is correct when he says that the USB i/p of the Holo May is impervious to "differences" in NAA boxes!

 

Probably the best small switch you can get for a reasonable price. In my opinion, there is little need for a fancy one, however if you feel the need you can always upgrade in the future.

 

https://store.ui.com/collections/unifi-network-switching/products/usw-flex-mini

[Schafheide]

Re Ethernet cables etc.

I must first say that I have found that cables do, indeed, make a difference (for me, at least).

In my other system, the DDC (Singxer SU-6) employs an internal super capacitor PS (supposedly so that the external PS has no influence in the SQ). Based on "others", I purchased a SoTM LPS.  In addition, I also paid AUD500 for a silver PS cord.

Outcome - certainly the SoTM LPS sounds better than the supplied SU-6 PS.  BUT, (in my system, with my ears/brain) the standard copper PS cord sounds better than the silver one!  So much for the theory that if you pay for an upgrade, it will sound better!

I should say that I am very happy with silver cords in other parts of my system.

A rabbit's nest in a rabbit hole!!!

[Schafheide]

My headphone amp has it's own volume control. Therefore I do not need the HQP volume control. So, following the HQP manual , I set it to 0dB, 0dB. Now, the HQP "knob" occassionally shows either a red ring or goes entirely red. Apart from setting it to -3dB, what is the best (based on SQ) solution?

[Miska]

2 hours ago, Schafheide said:

My headphone amp has it's own volume control. Therefore I do not need the HQP volume control. So, following the HQP manual , I set it to 0dB, 0dB. Now, the HQP "knob" occassionally shows either a red ring or goes entirely red. Apart from setting it to -3dB, what is the best (based on SQ) solution?

 

That is because you get inter-sample overs triggering soft knee limiter and the Limited-counter increases. Never set the volume higher than -3 dBFS. Most DAC chips clip hard on intersample overs too, so they should never be used at 0 dBFS input level.

 

Inter-sample overs happen because if a digital sample hits 0 dBFS value, the reconstructed waveform may go higher than that. Up to about +3 dBFS. This happens because a lot of material is normalized to 0 dBFS peak value at low sampling rates such as 44.1 kHz where the actual sample almost never exactly coincides the actual waveform peak.

 

A lot of RedBook content also contains heavy digital clipping making things even worse through (partially) recovered peaks. Maximum +3 dBFS inter-sample overs assume non-clipped source content.

 

So best simple starting point is to set HQPlayer volume to -3 dBFS.

 

If you want to further optimize your analog volume control for best quality, do following procedure:

1) Set HQPlayer volume to -3 dBFS

2) Turn your analog volume control as high as you would ever want to listen

3) Turn down HQPlayer volume to your comfortable listening setting and adjust volume from HQPlayer and leave analog volume control untouched

 

[Schafheide]

Thankyou Jussi, for a very easy to understand explanation. Mayge it could be pasted into your HQPlayer manual?

 

On another subject - I am about to give NAA a go.

I will be using your NAA image for RasPi4 (the cheapest entry point).

I note that you do not recommend hardware other than Up Squared for HQPlayer Embedded.

You do not have recommend hardware for the NAA image? 

[Schafheide]

A newbie question.

How do I update to latest version of HQPlayer ??

[Miska]

5 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

A newbie question.

How do I update to latest version of HQPlayer ??

 

Just drag latest version to Applications folder and answer "Replace" when macOS asks what you want to do.

 

[Schafheide]

Sounds easy, except I can only see 4.14.0 on your website.

[camott]

@Miskajust tried out HQP 4.15.0 on the M1 and the CPU core allocation changes you made have increased performance significantly. Core usage has gone from 4 pegged out cores to a broader distribution across all 8 cores and I can now run 192 -> DSD256x48 with ASDM7ECv2 and filters like gauss-long without issue.. Kudos!!

[Schafheide]

It eventually appeared. So I downloaded it. Client installed OK. But Desktop won't oblige.

I have MacOS Big Sur on the M1.

Any ideas?

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Schafheide said:

Sounds easy, except I can only see 4.14.0 on your website.

 

You may need to click refresh button on your browser, otherwise it may be pulling the page from it's built-in cache.

 

[Miska]

20 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

It eventually appeared. So I downloaded it. Client installed OK. But Desktop won't oblige.

I have MacOS Big Sur on the M1.

Any ideas?

 

I have only one M1 machine and it has macOS Monterey and works fine for me there.

 

[Schafheide]

Redid everything.

Same result - Client installs OK - Desktop starts to open (it only says Desktop, whereas Client says 4.15.0) then produces error report.

I have downloaded the dmg several times - same result. Is the download corrupt?

[AudioDoctor]

1 minute ago, Schafheide said:

Is the download corrupt?

 

No. It works here on my Mini perfectly.

[Schafheide]

Maybe because you got yours from a different server?

[Miska]

20 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

Redid everything.

Same result - Client installs OK - Desktop starts to open (it only says Desktop, whereas Client says 4.15.0) then produces error report.

 

macOS Monterey?

 

20 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

I have downloaded the dmg several times - same result. Is the download corrupt?

 

If the DMG opens, then it cannot be corrupted, because it is verified when you are opening it.

 

[Schafheide]

I have macOS Big Sur.  -  I can try it on Monterey.

[pis99]

3 hours ago, Schafheide said:

Maybe because you got yours from a different server?

Same thing happened to me before! You need to find a software to clean up everything related to HQP. I simply re-install too many times that my M1 can not function properly. Clean the mess first before trying anything new. I used AppDeleteat at that time. 

[AudioDoctor]

3 hours ago, pis99 said:

Same thing happened to me before! You need to find a software to clean up everything related to HQP. I simply re-install too many times that my M1 can not function properly. Clean the mess first before trying anything new. I used AppDeleteat at that time. 

 

this is all you need right here:

https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

[Schafheide]

2 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

 

this is all you need right here:

https://freemacsoft.net/appcleaner/

 

Wilco !