HQplayer 4 and Mac-mini M1

[Schafheide]

I have zero probs with 24/192 to DSD256 using ECv2 & hires-lp.

[Richh84]

Would it be possible to airplay apple music from ios to the mmm1 w/ hqplayer upsampled then to naa streamer > dac?

[camott]

Asahi Linux for M1 Macs Alpha release is out! @Miska Any chance HQP desktop or embedded will work on it, with or without a bit of tweaking?? Maybe a bit more performance can be extracted vs Mac OS.
 

Asahilinux.org

 

[Miska]

29 minutes ago, camott said:

Asahi Linux for M1 Macs Alpha release is out! @Miska Any chance HQP desktop or embedded will work on it, with or without a bit of tweaking?? Maybe a bit more performance can be extracted vs Mac OS.
 

Asahilinux.org

 

I will see when there are official non-alpha/beta Linux releases for M1. Too bad Asahi Linux is based on Arch, so I don't have packaging for it.

 

But of course you can try to run the already existing arm64 build on it.

 

Next question is how much secret magic Apple's compiler has on macOS for their silicon, compared to the mainstream arm64 compilers.

 

[musicjunkie917]

On 3/8/2022 at 6:01 PM, musicjunkie917 said:

Can you guys with M1 Mac minis run this setup without skipping?:

 

Upsample 24/192 to DSD256 using:

 

Integrator: IIR2
Conversion: XFi
1x Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xla
Nx Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xl

Modulator: ASDM7ECv2

 

Thanks!
 

 

Ok. I bought an M1 Mac mini (16GB/512GB) to test this. With HQPlayer4Desktop-arm64-4172 and HQPlayer4Desktop-arm64-4173 (beta), the answer is no, you can't.

 

I could use:

 

1x Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-long
Nx Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-hires-lp

 

These filters sound great! I am disappointed that the i9-9900 in my other system seems to perform better than the M1.

 

Otherwise, the M1 Mac mini is working great. I am running it headless with Roon Server (the app with no UI) and HQPlayer Desktop. I am going to keep this setup so I bought a HQPlayer Desktop license. Fun!

 

[Miska]

5 hours ago, musicjunkie917 said:

I am disappointed that the i9-9900 in my other system seems to perform better than the M1.

 

It is not surprising. That is a big desktop CPU, while M1 is a low power mobile processor, more comparable to U-series Intel CPUs.

 

It is still amazing for what it is.

 

[itguy61]

I am at the point of my iMac being to the end of the line as far as OS upgrades.  With the Roon update I am having to upgrade to HQPlayer but the iMac is not upgradeable to Mac OS 11 or later.   It is a late 2013 with the i7. 3.1GHZ. 4 core processor.

 

I have two questions-

 

1.   Several years ago I tried a 2018 six core Mac mini and returned it due to sound dropouts.   My research was showing me this was an issue with any of the apples that had the t2 chip in it.  It was affecting people who record music as well, any type of usb interface or in my case usb dac was having this issue due to the chip and the USB bus problem.    The only way around it was buying an expensive Caldigit thunderbolt doc. Not sure if Apple ever resolved it.  Is this an issue with the M1 Mac minis?

 

2.  Reading the many success stories here is leading me to believe this Mini works well for this.  I should be able to use some higher load filtering with this than the old i7 I had correct?

 

Thanks!

[MikePid]

Hi @itguy61,

 

My former Roon/HQPlayer machine was a 2012 i7 MacBook Pro which is stuck running MacOS 10.15.  I still use it as my main "desktop" but I moved the audio stuff over to the Mac Mini M1 (MMM1) in June.  Initially it was just HQPlayer that moved over, but recently I moved Roon Core over to it too.  Has been working very well, and I can do 44K>DSD256 with ECv2 and poly-sinc-gauss-xla (and Nx using poly-sinc-gauss-hires-*p (any of them - I haven't decided which one but currently trying ip)).  A real game changer for sound from my rMBP setup, where I was maxing out at DSD128/EC or DSD256 non-EC.  Typically running around 50% total CPU load on the MMM1.  And zero fan noise, unlike my rMBP which needed TG-Pro to keep CPU temp below 80C (with fans spinning around 75% all the time).  Since it sounds like you are a Mac guy, it would be easy for you to set up the MMM1.  I didn't enable anything that isn't needed for playing music, although with the amount of CPU headroom now, that minimalist approach is probably no longer necessary.  Initially, I was running the MMM1 CPU at the limit with HQPlayer, but Jussi has optimized the hell out of it since 😀, to the point where I can run Roon on it now too.

 

As you probably know, MacOS has the CoreAudio limitation that needs DoP for sending DSD on USB, so if you don't already have one, consider putting in a NAA, especially if want to do DSD256 and your DAC doesn't accept USB rates above 705/768k (like mine).  With NAA, you can set Output SDM Pack to None instead of DoP.  DoP doesn't degrade sound quality or add noticeable CPU load, but the NAA will improve sound quality.

[itguy61]

Thanks for the great info!

[musicjunkie917]

On 3/19/2022 at 6:37 AM, Miska said:

 

It is not surprising. That is a big desktop CPU, while M1 is a low power mobile processor, more comparable to U-series Intel CPUs.

 

It is still amazing for what it is.

 

 

It is! That's why I am keeping it!

 

Also, I found out what poly-sinc-gaus-xla was not working on my 24/48k files with the 48K DSD option set on. I had "Multicore" checked instead of greyed. "Adaptive Rate" had to be checked though. If it were greyed, it played at 48K DSD rates all the time.

[Miska]

On 3/20/2022 at 3:54 PM, itguy61 said:

Is this an issue with the M1 Mac minis?

 

No such issues on M1. M1 has different security processor implementation built right into the SoC.

 

On 3/20/2022 at 3:54 PM, itguy61 said:

2.  Reading the many success stories here is leading me to believe this Mini works well for this.  I should be able to use some higher load filtering with this than the old i7 I had correct?

 

Maybe, although the basic M1 having only 4 performance and 4 efficiency cores limits the possibilities somewhat. M1Pro/Max/Ultra open up more filter possibilities.

 

[itguy61]

Just setup my new Mac Studio with the M1 Max Processor (base model).   Does anyone have any suggestion for settings to try to see how high demand settings this thing will run?   I have been on an older iMac which had an older four core i7 in it so many of these filters and modulators could not be used.    

 

Also would suggest any suggestion for good filters  and modulators that this processor may be able to run for listening to mainly rock.  I am using a Topping D50S dac and Roon as well. 

[Miska]

6 hours ago, itguy61 said:

Just setup my new Mac Studio with the M1 Max Processor (base model).   Does anyone have any suggestion for settings to try to see how high demand settings this thing will run?   I have been on an older iMac which had an older four core i7 in it so many of these filters and modulators could not be used.

 

Highest demand filters are gauss-xl/xla, ext3 for Nx rates (192k etc). And sinc-L for RedBook rates.

 

ASDM7ECv2 modulator is highest demand.

 

6 hours ago, itguy61 said:

Also would suggest any suggestion for good filters  and modulators that this processor may be able to run for listening to mainly rock.  I am using a Topping D50S dac and Roon as well. 

 

Use ASDM5ECv2 modulator at DSD256 (DSD512 if possible), and there are some suggestions about filters in the manual table.

 

[itguy61]

I know it is subject, does anyone have any suggestions as to which DSD filters are smooth and warm sounding?

[Account Closed]

1 hour ago, itguy61 said:

I know it is subject, does anyone have any suggestions as to which DSD filters are smooth and warm sounding?

Try ext2.

[musicjunkie917]

4 hours ago, itguy61 said:

I know it is subject, does anyone have any suggestions as to which DSD filters are smooth and warm sounding?

What do you mean by "DSD filters"? PCM to DSD or DSD to DSD?

[Miska]

11 hours ago, itguy61 said:

I know it is subject, does anyone have any suggestions as to which DSD filters are smooth and warm sounding?

 

From PCM to DSD? You could try for example poly-sinc-short-mp(-2s) with ASDM5ECv2 modulator. Or poly-sinc-ext2 or poly-sinc-gauss filter.

 

[itguy61]

10 hours ago, musicjunkie917 said:

What do you mean by "DSD filters"? PCM to DSD or DSD to DSD?

PCM to DSD.   I have been using EXT2 a long time on HPPlayer 3, I just upgraded both HQplayer and went to a Mac Studio.   Just wanted to see what the world of filters I could not run before is like and see what others are running.   I may just have to go through the process of listening to all the candidates and see what stands out.  

[Miska]

6 hours ago, itguy61 said:

PCM to DSD.   I have been using EXT2 a long time on HPPlayer 3, I just upgraded both HQplayer and went to a Mac Studio.   Just wanted to see what the world of filters I could not run before is like and see what others are running.   I may just have to go through the process of listening to all the candidates and see what stands out.  

 

Please let us also know how the M1Max in Studio performs. It should be very capable CPU.

[itguy61]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

 

Please let us also know how the M1Max in Studio performs. It should be very capable CPU.

Will do, I have not found any combination of filters and modulators that are not working yet.   Half of them would not run on my retired i7 iMac.   If anyone has any combinations they are curios about let me know.

[musicjunkie917]

23 minutes ago, itguy61 said:

Will do, I have not found any combination of filters and modulators that are not working yet.   Half of them would not run on my retired i7 iMac.   If anyone has any combinations they are curios about let me know.

 

Does this work?:

 

Upsample 24/192 to DSD256 using:

 

Integrator: IIR2
Conversion: XFi
1x Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xla
Nx Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xl
Modulator: ASDM7ECv2

 

Upsample 24/192 to DSD512 using:

 

Integrator: IIR2
Conversion: XFi
1x Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xla
Nx Filter: poly-sinc-gaus-xl
Modulator: ASDM7ECv2

[57gold]

Could someone explain the 1X filter versus the Nx filter selections, what's going on and what benefit results from selecting different filters for each option?  Thanks.  Read the manual and even after hanging around here periodically for years, it's mostly "all Greek to me."  

 

While I'm at it, Jussi gave me instructions on how to direct Amazon HD files the be played by HQP.  My wife, who doesn't mess with audio at all, easily heard the positive impact.  My question is, what is the best "Content URI" value to use?  There are choices of resolutions and I'm not sure what Amazon HD or UHD files are being supplied or what impact the value selected might have on playback.

 

Currently use a 2012 Quad Core Mini that is at the end of the OSX line, due for obsolescence, so very interested in the base Mac Studio as a replacement, what improvements and features that may be available with that kind of a hardware upgrade.

[mitch751]

3 hours ago, Miska said:

 

Please let us also know how the M1Max in Studio performs. It should be very capable CPU.

Just bought a Mac Studio Ultra .. running HQ Player with the following setting : very smooth with no issue at all ...  In term of fan ... damn quiet .. can't hear any even with my ears so closed to it

[AudioDoctor]

9 minutes ago, mitch751 said:

Just bought a Mac Studio Ultra .. running HQ Player with the following setting : very smooth with no issue at all ...  In term of fan ... damn quiet .. can't hear any even with my ears so closed to it

 

What software are you using to display the stats of the Mac Studio?

[Account Closed]

Just now, AudioDoctor said:

 

What software are you using to display the stats of the Mac Studio?

I was wondering the same thing.