Trouble getting started with HQPlayer

[ohshitgorillas]

I've been HQPlayer-curious for a while and I have recently tried implementing HQPlayer Embedded in two methods: one, on my Ubuntu Server-based media server, and two, on my Allo USBridge Sig.

 

As for the USBridge, I downloaded the official image from the website (hqplayer-embedded-5.2.0-raspberrypi4-holored) but whenever I load it on a flash card and start the device up, the ACT light blinks for a second and then goes dark and the thing never comes online. I've tried re-re-re-flashing, I've tried using both Rufus and the Raspberry Pi Imager. Nothing seems to work. This is my preferred solution. Is there a trick to this that I'm missing?

 

For the media server, I have hqplayerd successfully installed after a short dependencies battle (I'm on 23.04, not 22) but I'm not sure where to go from here. The settings file is overwhelming and I can't find the readme file referenced. What I want is to use the phone app to control the media server and upsampling, which passes the upsampled audio along to the moode-based USBridge and Pi2AES (but not at the same time). I'm not sure if this is "NAA" mode.

 

I'd be happy if I could get either one working but I'd really prefer the simpler approach of having it running directly on the RPi, since my DAC only supports up to 24/192 and the Pi is more than capable of doing that.

[ohshitgorillas]

7 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Is that image only for the Holo Red - https://www.kitsunehifi.com/product/holoaudio-red-ddc-network-streamer/ ?

 

Yeah, that would make sense. Which image should I try instead? That was the only "raspberrypi" image so I went for it, but I wasn't aware of the Holo Red.

 

5 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I haven't tried a Pi HQP server in forever, so I don't really know. Looks like the USBridge isn't listed on @Miska's site - https://www.signalyst.com/embedded-install.html?

 

 

I've contacted Allo to figure out if the USBridge Sig is supported or not.

 

In the meantime, I could try to get hqplayerd working on my overpowered headless media server. I've downloaded the HQPDcontrol app, but it can't find the server. What ports does it use for discovery?

[ohshitgorillas]

Unfortunately, it's still not working... I did input the server IP and opened the default port of 4321 on the server's firewall but HQPDcontrol can't find anything.

Edit: the port is also unblocked in the router's LAN zone

[ohshitgorillas]

Just now, The Computer Audiophile said:

Does the HQPlayer remote control app, that comes with HQP desktop, see your install? You can download it and just run the control app.

 

I'm a bit confused now. I'm not using HQP Desktop, I'm using hqplayerd on a headless media server. The HQPDcontrol app doesn't see the hqplayerd installation on the media server.

[ohshitgorillas]

6 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

there's an HQPDcontrol app for iOS and there's a native HQPlayer control app that is in the install image for mac and can be installed for Windows. 

 

I am using the HQPDcontrol app on my Android phone, but it doesn't work on my iPhone either. I'm having a hard time finding a link to download the Windows control app.

 

Edit: I'm on Linux (Pop!_OS) anyway, I don't suppose there's a .deb for the control app?

[ohshitgorillas]

As I said, I'm running Linux, but I just installed HQPlayer Dekstop and I can't find any features related to remote control. Let me switch to Windows and try there.

[ohshitgorillas]

Thanks, I found the client. I assume the client won't connect either, but I have no idea where I'm even supposed to tell it where to look. I assume the drop down menu in the top left which reads "localhost" but nothing happens when I enter 10.0.0.238 into the box either.

[ohshitgorillas]

4 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Yeah, entering the Ip and hitting enter is all you need to do if I remember correctly. 

 

Can you access the embedded install via web interface on port 8888 or without a port? 

 

I believe it's 8088 as 'netstat -tnlp | grep hqplayerd' yields:

 

tcp        0      0 0.0.0.0:8088            0.0.0.0:*               LISTEN      814546/hqplayerd
tcp6       0      0 :::8088                 :::*                    LISTEN      814546/hqplayerd

 

 

But no, I cannot access that web interface at 10.0.0.238:8088 or at 10.0.0.238.

[ohshitgorillas]

Actually, yes, I am able to find the web interface now!

 

I can't log in with the default "hqplayer" username and "password" password, but at least it's showing a damn login page. That's progress.

[ohshitgorillas]

That worked! I'm in.

 

Now there are two more things that I need help with, at least, if you don't mind:

 

1. Add the library. This is located in /home/atom/Dropbox/music, and is bind mounted to /srv/media/music as well, but when I type either of these into the library path, I get nothing.

 

2. How do I stream the output to my USBridge running MoOde?

[ohshitgorillas]

5 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

I don't believe MoOde supports NAA, which is what HQP sends to over the network. 

 

 

Did you check the log? what file format are you using?

 

So I need to install HQPlayer NAA on the USBridge? Or are there other alternatives as well?

 

My files are mostly FLAC, with a few dsf/dff and ALAC files thrown in. The log doesn't say anything about it. I just made sure that the whole /srv/media server is readable by all users. It can scan other folders as well (e.g. if I have it scan /srv, it comes up with a single media file) but for some reason it's not finding my music.

 

Thank you for all your help so far, by the way.

[ohshitgorillas]

2 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

HQP sends to NAA over the network. That’s it. If you have a Pi, you can install the NAA pi image and it’ll be simple. Boot from USB or mSD card. 
 

ALAC won’t work. FLAC and DSD will. 

The NAA part is simple enough but why isn't it finding my FLAC files? 98% of my music is in FLAC, it should show up. I can convert the remaining ALAC files to FLAC if I decide that I like HQPlayer enough

[ohshitgorillas]

1 minute ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

What happens if you scan /home/atom/Dropbox/music ? The account running HQPlayerd has access to both I assume?

 

The same... no files found. I used "chmod +r" on both /srv/media/music and ~/Dropbox/music.

[ohshitgorillas]

I cracked it... I had to add hqplayer to my user group and then restart the daemon. I don't love that solution, but it's good enough for testing for now.

[ohshitgorillas]

3 minutes ago, stefano_mbp said:

Usbridge is rpi3 based, rpi4 image won’t work

 

Shit... I was afraid that might be the case. So I have to do this on my media server.

[ohshitgorillas]

Okay, I have a couple more basic questions for getting started.

 

First, I don't see anywhere in the HQPlayer setup interface to tell it where the NAA server is. I actually have a Pi2AES in addition to the USBridge, and I'd like to ideally use both, but not at the same time. How do I specify the output device?

 

Second, it doesn't seem that the NAA image is working for the USBridge, which is Pi-based. In this case, the ACT light is on constantly and the device never comes online. Which one from https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/naa/images/ should I be using? I tried naa-450x64 and naa-450x64ramfs

[ohshitgorillas]

54 minutes ago, Miska said:

 

It should show auto-discovered list of HQPlayer instances there. As alternate option you can specify IP or hostname of the HQPlayer server.

 

But if nothing apart from "localhost" appears there, it rather likely means that there are no available HQPlayer server instances.

 

Please note that if HQPlayer server instance is running but it is not able to access output device due to misconfiguration or device not being available it will refuse to appear on the list. So only properly up and running instances appear there.

 

 

I thought it was configured correctly since the phone app connects fine, but it's not showing up in the Client app at all and typing the address into the field in the top left does nothing.

 

What could be wrong that I need to fix so that it starts "properly" running?

 

I think I'm going to attempt setting up the x64 pre-built image as a VM next.

[ohshitgorillas]

1 minute ago, Miska said:

 

NAA endpoint is found based on combination of NAA name and device id behind the NAA. Output device is selected on HQPlayer Desktop / Embedded setting interface device selection.

 

 

Are you booting up on RPi4 with one of the supported output devices? IOW, USB Audio Class, or one of the listed overlays.

 

I don't have any Allo devices myself, so I cannot comment on Allo specifics.

 

 

The device is actually a Pi3+, not a Pi4. Are only RPi4s supported for NAA? If so, this won't work at all for me :(

[ohshitgorillas]

I've figured this out, by the way: installing the RoPieee version specifically for the Allo USBridge gives the option to use it as an NAA renderer.