HQplayer 4 and Mac-mini M1

[Account Closed]

39 minutes ago, Miska said:

No need for isolator is such, here's one example, for $7 for 5 pieces:

https://www.amazon.com/Rapink-Keystone-Connector-Ethernet-Extender/dp/B0916W7LYN/ref=sr_1_6?keywords=rj45+female+to+female&qid=1665943373&qu=eyJxc2MiOiIzLjk1IiwicXNhIjoiMy42MyIsInFzcCI6IjMuNTgifQ%3D%3D&sr=8-6

 

Or another one:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B09D39C59R/ref=sspa_dk_detail_1?psc=1&pd_rd_i=B09D39C59R&pd_rd_w=JWDu9&content-id=amzn1.sym.25e96bbe-93d6-4790-9c18-ab0bc96db737&pf_rd_p=25e96bbe-93d6-4790-9c18-ab0bc96db737&pf_rd_r=NPEJJFCT8DW9J577C85V&pd_rd_wg=zHRez&pd_rd_r=1f096a23-be98-4718-9466-32336146539b&s=industrial&sp_csd=d2lkZ2V0TmFtZT1zcF9kZXRhaWxfdGhlbWF0aWM&spLa=ZW5jcnlwdGVkUXVhbGlmaWVyPUEyTFQ1UzlBVFM1STdHJmVuY3J5cHRlZElkPUEwNzI1Njk0MUs3UUNTRUM4MlE1VSZlbmNyeXB0ZWRBZElkPUEwMDQyMzQ2WEc3OVNBU05ESlBLJndpZGdldE5hbWU9c3BfZGV0YWlsX3RoZW1hdGljJmFjdGlvbj1jbGlja1JlZGlyZWN0JmRvTm90TG9nQ2xpY2s9dHJ1ZQ==

I wasn't sure that these would actually lift the ground but looking at them it appears that the all plastic shell should do that.

[Schafheide]

Actually, I think that I have a simpler solution.  If you look at a typical RJ45 socket - it is made of moulded plastic, with a metal contact on each of two sides.  So the aforementioned tape, applied to the relevant sides of the plug, should do the trick.  But I do wish to thank you folk for putting thought into my "problem".

[Schafheide]

All of my files are on an NAS. The volume of files is less than 4GB.

Lately my internet connection has been very, very flakey, so, at times (due to internet problems) my access to the files is problematic.

Is there a way that I can directly access these files (obviating the internet requirement) - maybe connect a suitable drive directly to my Mini?

I assume that my iPad will still require internet, to control HQPlayer.

TIA

[stefano_mbp]

21 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

All of my files are on an NAS. The volume of files is less than 4GB.

Lately my internet connection has been very, very flakey, so, at times (due to internet problems) my access to the files is problematic.

Is there a way that I can directly access these files (obviating the internet requirement) - maybe connect a suitable drive directly to my Mini?

I assume that my iPad will still require internet, to control HQPlayer.

TIA

4 GB or 4 TB? Anyway … your lan should work even if your internet connection is down then access to the nas and iPad should not be a problem .

HQPlayer needs internet connection when it starts , once started it works without it.

What kind of router do you have?

[Schafheide]

4TB it is. If my internet connection is down, I cannot access my NAS.

My router works fine for all other internet access. And, (up until recently) my Mini successfully accessed files on my NAS.

Like most of us, I have a lot of boxes and interconnects in my playback chain.

So, I want a fall-back solution (at least to eliminate my flakey internet), so that my Mini can still access my files (on another drive?).

Here in Oz, we have very poor internet speeds - typical for me is 30Mbps download, 5Mbps upload.

[musicjunkie917]

Where is your NAS in relation to the Roon server on your Mac mini?

[Schafheide]

I do not have a Roon server.  All my music files are on an NAS connected to my router.

So, I am asking if I can copy the files onto a drive that I can connect directly to my Mini, thereby eliminating the NAS/internet connection?

[musicjunkie917]

Of course you have a Roon server. Your Roon Core is the Roon server. Is that the Mac mini? If yes, where is the Mac mini in relation to the NAS? Are they on the same network?

 

Yes, of course you can move the files from the NAS to a drive connected directly to the Mac mini. That is the best way to do it.

[stefano_mbp]

If there is Roon the issue can be that since 2.0 Roon works only if internet connection is alive, for local file too  … no internet no Roon

Then a router with a backup cellular connection can be useful 

[Schafheide]

12 hours ago, musicjunkie917 said:

Of course you have a Roon server. Your Roon Core is the Roon server. Is that the Mac mini? If yes, where is the Mac mini in relation to the NAS? Are they on the same network?

 

Yes, of course you can move the files from the NAS to a drive connected directly to the Mac mini. That is the best way to do it.

Now you've got me - I did not know that I have a Roon server - how can I find it?  I just assumed that, as I only use HQPlayer Desktop to access my files on my NAS, I did not have a Roon server!

[Miska]

14 hours ago, Schafheide said:

I do not have a Roon server.  All my music files are on an NAS connected to my router.

So, I am asking if I can copy the files onto a drive that I can connect directly to my Mini, thereby eliminating the NAS/internet connection?

 

You can certainly have a local copy of library on local storage and scan that to the library. You can backup the other library instance and make another clean one, and then use the backup/restore functionality to switch between the two libraries.

 

You can also scan both into the same library, but it will be confusing to browse and not fault-tolerant in the way you'd like.

 

I used to have a local library on my iMac using a Thunderbolt connected external HDD. And that was perfectly fine and very fast. Native macOS format.

 

But now I have library mostly on my "NAS" which is actually a Xeon based server PC running Ubuntu and Samba to do SMB share. This is not dependent on internet connection.

 

[musicjunkie917]

1 hour ago, Schafheide said:

Now you've got me - I did not know that I have a Roon server - how can I find it?  I just assumed that, as I only use HQPlayer Desktop to access my files on my NAS, I did not have a Roon server!

 

I thought that I read earlier you were using Roon. I must have confused you with someone else. My apologies...

[Schafheide]

On 10/27/2022 at 9:23 AM, Miska said:

 

You can certainly have a local copy of library on local storage and scan that to the library. You can backup the other library instance and make another clean one, and then use the backup/restore functionality to switch between the two libraries.

 

You can also scan both into the same library, but it will be confusing to browse and not fault-tolerant in the way you'd like.

 

I used to have a local library on my iMac using a Thunderbolt connected external HDD. And that was perfectly fine and very fast. Native macOS format.

 

But now I have library mostly on my "NAS" which is actually a Xeon based server PC running Ubuntu and Samba to do SMB share. This is not dependent on internet connection.

 

Yes this works, but, when I switch from local USB to NAS, I have to rescan (which takes a long time).

Please elaborate "then use the backup/restore functionality to switch between the two libraries".

TIA

[AudioDoctor]

This isn't necessarily Mac mini related, but the Mac Studio Ultra doesn't break a sweat doing this.

 

 

[musicjunkie917]

9 hours ago, AudioDoctor said:

This isn't necessarily Mac mini related, but the Mac Studio Ultra doesn't break a sweat doing this.

 

 

Can it do 44.1 x 512 with the other settings the same?

[AudioDoctor]

43 minutes ago, musicjunkie917 said:

Can it do 44.1 x 512 with the other settings the same?

Currently, I don't own a DAC that goes above DSD256 so I have no way of knowing.

[Schafheide]

19 hours ago, Schafheide said:

Yes this works, but, when I switch from local USB to NAS, I have to rescan (which takes a long time).

Please elaborate "then use the backup/restore functionality to switch between the two libraries".

TIA

Sorry, I stlll cannot find "backup/restore".

[Miska]

On 10/28/2022 at 6:58 AM, Schafheide said:

Yes this works, but, when I switch from local USB to NAS, I have to rescan (which takes a long time).

Please elaborate "then use the backup/restore functionality to switch between the two libraries".

 

You don't need to rescan, because you can backup/restore the library data. In HQPlayer's File-menu, you have option to backup and restore both settings and library data separately. You can use this to hold multiple different settings and/or libraries and to quickly switch between those.

 

[rjanderjr]

The Mac Studio Ultra is an HQPlayer beast. In two channels it can up sample PMC of any resolution using Poly-sync-gauss-xla. It can further convert that to DSD256 48k using the ASDM7ECv2 modulator. It does all this with only 20% processor load. My system only goes to 256k DSD, so I don’t know if it will do DSD512. I suspect it could, looking at how lightly the processors are loaded. It can play any combination of settings on this wonderful computer. But that’s not even the most impressive part.

I have a 5.1 multichannel system. I do not play PMC multichannel files, so when playing 5.1 files I am only using DSD formats (thus, no filters engaged). The Ultra will play all files at (64, 128, and 256K DSD) at DSD256 in multichannel using the ASDM7ECv2. And it does this while playing Roon on the same computer with only about a 40% processor load (some processors look to be loaded to about 75%). I can now play all files (PMC two-channel and DSD two or multichannel) up sampling to DSD256 with the ASDM7ECv2 modulator.

This is even more impressive because I use an Exasound e38 DAC which has 8 channels, and the drivers are programmed to handle either 2 channels or all 8. So, the HQPlayer software, when running multichannel, has to allocate the load for 8 channels across the number of cores in the computer’s processor. That means 16 high-performance cores are needed. The Ultra has 20 cores, 16 of which are high-performance. Hence it can cut through all that heavy duty processing for 8 channels without straining, no fan noise, and no excess heat.

Prior to this I was using an i9 sonictransporter and a Mac Mini (M1). Both are great machines and well suited to two channel HQPlayer processing. Neither could do what the Ultra can. I could not use a filter more process intensive than Poly-sync-gauss-long (for 2 channel PMC) and DSD Multichannel could not go higher than DSD128 with the EC modulators. Both could play 2 channel DSD up to 256 with the ASDM7EC. Had I not needed multichannel, these machines would have been plenty good.

In the process of getting to this point, I tried working with Jussi to use a PC with an Intel i9 12900KF with 64 GB Ram and GeForce RTX 3090 Ti video card (for CUDA offloading). This computer was not able to handle the multichannel processing described above. It performed a bit better than the Mac Mini and the i9 sonictransporter, but not that much. The reason for this is simple. Each channel needs two high-performance processors. The 12900KF had 8 high-performance cores and 8 efficiency cores. Not powerful enough.  @Miska was able to play DSD 5.0 multichannel files at DSD256 with HQPlayer set for 8 channels on his computer. His computer has an Intel i9 10900. This processor has 10 high-performance cores.

I did come to the conclusion that the Ryzen 9 7950X (16 high-performance cores) with a good NVidia graphics card would likely do the job, but I never bought one of these monster computers because the Ultra did the job with a much smaller footprint and with far less power consumption (no water cooling needed).

I will also point out that, in order to get the Ultra to manage the heavy load of multichannel DSD with the ECv2 modulators, Multicore DSP must be gray. If it is unchecked, it will not handle the load. If it is checked, it distributes the load differently and I still got shuddering. The capability of the Ultra described above is only achievable with the Multicore DSP gray.

I am very grateful to  @Miska for his support this learning process.

[AnHa]

Hi Miska, or anyone who might have tried it already. Is HQ Player Desktop 19.3 ready for Ventura? Thx.

[El Guapo]

40 minutes ago, rjanderjr said:

This computer was not able to handle the multichannel processing described above.

Really? Here's the proof: 12900K, Ubuntu Server 22.04, source: Atmos 7.1.4 24/48 PCM, using 23 pipelines / 65K taps filters DSP then poly-sinc-gauss-long + 5ECv2 upsampling to 12ch DSD256. 😁

 

M1 Ultra? Just can't.

[rjanderjr]

@El Guapo Your the man.  Way beyond my pay grade.  Perhaps there is a lot I need to learn about how to set up a PC to get that kind of performance.  But, then, I am a Mac man since the first one in 1984.  Here is Ultra running 5.1 DSD256.  Smooth as silk!

[Schafheide]

I recently broke my golden rule, when I hastily upgraded to Ventura!

Can someone recommend a simple, fool-proof method to downgrade my Mini M1 to Monterey?

[The Computer Audiophile]

10 minutes ago, Schafheide said:

I recently broke my golden rule, when I hastily upgraded to Ventura!

Can someone recommend a simple, fool-proof method to downgrade my Mini M1 to Monterey?

Ouch. 

 

I researched doing this before upgrading, just incase I needed to do it. 

 

I think the main ways to do this are Time Machine backup, macOS Recovery, a bootable USB installer. 

 

Booting with Shift+Option+Command+R: Reinstalls the factory-shipped macOS. Given it's an M1, it's probably Monterey? However, it nukes your apps and data I believe. Not positive.

 

I think a bootable Monterey installer may be what you want. 

 

Download Monterey here - https://apps.apple.com/us/app/macos-monterey/id1576738294?mt=12

 

Then follow this - https://support.apple.com/en-us/HT201372

 

 

[AudioDoctor]

6 hours ago, AnHa said:

Hi Miska, or anyone who might have tried it already. Is HQ Player Desktop 19.3 ready for Ventura? Thx.

 

yes...