Building NAA for HQplayer

[Miska]

22 hours ago, SPAZ said:

I recently ordered a NOS DAC to replace my Yggy and I had a couple of questions. I will have two connections to the new DAC. One will be my gaming PC connected to the DAC with a USB cable. The other will be a Holo Audio Red connected to the AES port. Currently, the Roon library is running from my gaming pc. Does the Holo Audio Red have the ability to do the HQP filtering if I purchase the HQPlayer imbedded license or I would still need to have something in between to do the HQP filtering?

 

If you use AES and just 192k output rate, likely Red can run HQPlayer OS well enough for the purpose for most filters that would be useful for that case.

 

[giordy60]

Jussi one question.....
can this mini pc with intel atom Z8350 be a solution like NAA?
but above all the 5V power supply is interesting, which is not common in mini PCs (up-board type that you reported some time ago)
Thank you.

[bogi]

53 minutes ago, giordy60 said:

can this mini pc with intel atom Z8350 be a solution like NAA?

Yes, I have a similar with the same CPU. Both Windows and Linux NAA can run on it. You also can make it multiboot.

 

Better to use some kind of USB isolation with such a NAA, which is not optimized for audio. For example HS02 and iSilencer like in my sig, or iPurifier instead of iSilencer. Of some other option, for example Holo Audio Titanis.

[giordy60]

Thanks for the info Bogi 👍

[Miska]

5 hours ago, giordy60 said:

Jussi one question.....
can this mini pc with intel atom Z8350 be a solution like NAA?
but above all the 5V power supply is interesting, which is not common in mini PCs (up-board type that you reported some time ago)

 

Potentially yes, but it could have some bugs. That is similar to the UP-Board hardware, but I would personally rather go with the UP-Board in the passive cooling metal case. These unknown brands can be unknown quality.

 

UP-Board is made by AAEON which is industrial computer division of ASUS.

 

On-Logic is another good industrial computer vendor with passive cooled solutions. They usually build on ASRock's industrial boards.

 

[Miska]

4 hours ago, bogi said:

Better to use some kind of USB isolation with such a NAA, which is not optimized for audio. For example HS02 and iSilencer like in my sig, or iPurifier instead of iSilencer. Of some other option, for example Holo Audio Titanis.

 

Intona... I have measured it to actually work.

 

[bogi]

1 hour ago, Miska said:

Intona... I have measured it to actually work.

HS02 has also more measurements which confirmed it to work. Advantage is it does not require additional power supply (it can be provided for devices which are powered by USB and are power hungry, but for usual desktop DACs it is not needed).

 

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2023/04/measurements-topping-hs02-usb-20.html
Archimago measured also Intona with D10s and got similar results.

 

Other measurement is from @LKA at ASR with REW: Topping D10s as DAC and Asus Xonar STX-II PCIe as ADC:
 

without HS02

 

with HS02

 

Some measurements are provided also on the product page https://www.tpdz.net/productinfo/953487.html

 

For me personally it is important what I hear ... I bought it to try with possibility to return it. I decided to keep it since it brings me blacker background and better audibility, fuller colors and better separation of low level sounds (for example percussion).

[Miska]

9 minutes ago, bogi said:

HS02 has also more measurements which confirmed it to work. Advantage is it does not require additional power supply (it can be provided for devices which are powered by USB and are power hungry, but for usual desktop DACs it is not needed).

 

Intona doesn't need any PSU either. It supports external one, but I would recommend not to use such.

 

9 minutes ago, bogi said:

https://archimago.blogspot.com/2023/04/measurements-topping-hs02-usb-20.html
Archimago measured also Intona and got similar results.

 

Yeah, my issue with Topping is that 50% of my Topping devices are junk, mostly because of bad (or non-existent) QA/QC.

 

[dericchan1]

23 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

Intona doesn't need any PSU either. It supports external one, but I would recommend not to use such.

 

 

Yeah, my issue with Topping is that 50% of my Topping devices are junk, mostly because of bad (or non-existent) QA/QC.

 

Agreed on the intona!!! it certainly cost more than similar products on the market but its a peace of mind, that you get an intona, it guaran-damn-teed remove any noises. All of my audio buddies have at least stock up 2-3 intonas just in case.

[bogi]

35 minutes ago, Miska said:

Yeah, my issue with Topping is that 50% of my Topping devices are junk, mostly because of bad (or non-existent) QA/QC.

My personal experience is other than yours. But I found user reports from last about 2 years confirming more issues with Topping products than in the previous period.

 

I own about 5 years old 1st gen Topping D30 with CS4398 DAC chip and DSD128 native capability. I am using it with my Chromecast device and TV, output goes to AV receiver and loudspeakers. I tried it also with HQPlayer at DSD128 with my headphones and it sounded nicely, but it lacked dynamics and some more qualities of E50 presentation.

 

Then I was using about a year 1st gen of Topping E30 + L30 at a place where I wanted devices with small dimensions. I sold it later because of lack of detail. My much older Gustard DAC overperformed it.

 

About 1 1/2 year I am using E50 and I am really impressed with it. I know more people from my region with the same opinion - they keep it too and their E50 is working without any issue.

 

My 9 years old Gustard DAC is also still working, although I am not using it anymore since E50 overperformed it.

[Miska]

8 hours ago, bogi said:

Then I was using about a year 1st gen of Topping E30 + L30 at a place where I wanted devices with small dimensions. I sold it later because of lack of detail. My much older Gustard DAC overperformed it.

 

I have two E30's. One performs as expected (the second one I purchased), while the other performs horribly bad with about 60 dB SNR. My D90SE is also junk, it works up to 192k PCM, but anything beyond that, or DSD makes it misbehave. And it's not just the USB controller, because it doesn't work any better through I2S. D30Pro works as expected though.

 

OTOH, my SMSL D300 got bricked by firmware update. And SMSL M500mkII has really buggy USB controller while it otherwise performs OK. SMSL M400 also has similarly buggy USB controller, but got fixed by feeding it from I2S of Holo Red.

 

Gustard A26 is only buggy in a way that DSD filter selection does nothing.

 

[cpcat]

Update on crackling /popping—-

 

I have tried everything to “fix” this -what I have come up with is the likely explanation is that my Lampizator Big 7 MKII (JL Sounds) probably doesnt fully support 48k DSD -even though it advertises such through USB.  At least for now, with 48k unchecked and auto rate family unchecked the issue is gone.

 

Does this make sense?

[Argon]

I have built a NAA endpoint using a SuperMicro SBC (11th gen i3 / 32 GB mem / Intel-350 based SFP+ optical network over M.2 ) using the HQ Player OS system running off a USB boot-drive.  I have disabled the HQPlayer server and am just running the NAA endpoint (with multiple network connections on the board this was recommended over the NAA-OS which struggles w/ more than one network option).  This entire rig is run off a UpTone JS-2 LPS (12V) with ease.  I am still in the tuning phase (cleaning up the wiring mess, optimizing passive cooling etc) and awaiting the new JCat USB card which will utilize the second rail of the LPS.  

 

However, I have a few questions.

1) since this is stripped down ver of Linux many of the generic linux commands do not appear to be available, for example "sudo apt install xxxxxxx".  I would like to install some system utilities to track system temps, but am unsure if this slim-linux framework has such tools.  How (or can I) install command line system tools such as lm-sensors or similar
 

2) I have changed the default name in the /etc/hostname file using a text editor, saved the file and rebooted the server only to find the hostname is back to it's original "hqplayerd-2c88c2e3".  Am I missing something?

 

TIA

[Miska]

1 hour ago, Argon said:

1) since this is stripped down ver of Linux many of the generic linux commands do not appear to be available, for example "sudo apt install xxxxxxx".  I would like to install some system utilities to track system temps, but am unsure if this slim-linux framework has such tools.  How (or can I) install command line system tools such as lm-sensors or similar

 

In practice it is pretty difficult. If you want to install something or do some command line stuff, I would recommend to use Ubuntu Server 22.04 or Fedora Server 37 instead. HQPlayer OS is device firmware, you just flash it and use it.

 

But take a look at this one:

 

1 hour ago, Argon said:

2) I have changed the default name in the /etc/hostname file using a text editor, saved the file and rebooted the server only to find the hostname is back to it's original "hqplayerd-2c88c2e3".  Am I missing something?

 

Those hostnames are generated by my "dynhost" service to make sure there are no conflicts.

 

[FRANCY2007]

Hi, i installed Miska's NAA image on a Cubox. I would like to access the NAA from Putty. Can you tell me what are the userid and password for access, thanks?

[stefano_mbp]

22 minutes ago, FRANCY2007 said:

Hi, i installed Miska's NAA image on a Cubox. I would like to access the NAA from Putty. Can you tell me what are the userid and password for access, thanks?

You need first to login as root (connect a monitor and keyboard)

create then a new userid/password of your choice

useradd xxxx then enter

passwd xxxx then enter

type password, hit enter, retype password, hit enter

Now you can ssd with Putty … but which is the goal to ssd a NAA?

[FRANCY2007]

1 hour ago, stefano_mbp said:

You need first to login as root (connect a monitor and keyboard)

create then a new userid/password of your choice

useradd xxxx then enter

passwd xxxx then enter

type password, hit enter, retype password, hit enter

Now you can ssd with Putty … but which is the goal to ssd a NAA?

Here's what I see when I log in with Putty:

 

login as:
if I type root then I have:

 

[email protected]'s password:

 

I can't do what you told me. The commands you suggested are not recognized. How should i do?

I forgot, I want to enter to possibly increase the volume in Alsamixer.
Greetings.

[stefano_mbp]

9 minutes ago, FRANCY2007 said:

Here's what I see when I log in with Putty:

 

login as:
if I type root then I have:

 

[email protected]'s password:

 

I can't do what you told me. The commands you suggested are not recognized. How should i do?

I forgot, I want to enter to possibly increase the volume in Alsamixer.
Greetings.

NAA OS shouldn’t have any password for root … are you sure you’re running NAA OS?

[FRANCY2007]

17 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

Il sistema operativo NAA non dovrebbe avere alcuna password per root... sei sicuro di utilizzare il sistema operativo NAA?

Sure, I'm using Miska's Cubox-specific NAA image.

[stefano_mbp]

1 minute ago, FRANCY2007 said:

Sure, I'm using Miska's Cubox-specific NAA image.

Then it’s better to wait for @Miska

[stefano_mbp]

35 minutes ago, FRANCY2007 said:

Here's what I see when I log in with Putty:

That’s the key !!!

you need to use terminal with monitor and keyboard connected to the device running NAA OS to login as root and to create the new user

You cannot use Putty as root ….

[FRANCY2007]

3 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

That’s the key !!!

you need to use terminal with monitor and keyboard connected to the device running NAA OS to login as root and to create the new user

You cannot use Putty as root ….

Ok I'll try, thanks.

[FRANCY2007]

5 hours ago, FRANCY2007 said:

Ok I'll try, thanks.

Ok, I logged in and changed the password. I increased the volume of the dac in alsamixer, but unfortunately the "alsactl store" command to save the change is not implemented. Anyway thanks a lot anyway.
Best regards.

[stefano_mbp]

23 minutes ago, FRANCY2007 said:

but unfortunately the "alsactl store" command to save the change is not implemented. Anyway thanks a lot anyway

Try to work as root

once logged in with the new user type first

su root

then set Alsa as you like and try to use alsactl store, it should work

[ra990]

Is it possible to use wifi with NAA OS? Any instructions someone can point me to?