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.

[The Computer Audiophile]

4 minutes ago, ohshitgorillas said:

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

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

[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.

[stefano_mbp]

13 hours ago, ohshitgorillas said:

As for the USBridge

Usbridge is rpi3 based, rpi4 image won’t work

[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.

[Miska]

4 hours ago, ohshitgorillas said:

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.

 

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.

 

[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.

[Miska]

7 minutes ago, ohshitgorillas said:

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.

 

If phone app can find and connect to HQPlayer, but Client doesn't, then it is firewall or similar restricting the computer running Client from talking to the machine running HQPlayer.

 

On Windows, common problem is that network type for the local network connection is "Public". Even if it was originally "Private" as it should be, Windows every now and then can change it behind your back to "Public" and then most local network connections will fail due to much stricter firewall rules.

 

[Miska]

51 minutes ago, ohshitgorillas said:

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?

 

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.

 

51 minutes ago, ohshitgorillas said:

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

 

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.

 

[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 :(

[Miska]

Just now, ohshitgorillas said:

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 :(

 

Yes, because earlier RPi designs were cutting too many corners (to cut costs) in the hardware design and thus having various problems making those unsuitable for realiable NAA use. RPi4 is the first proper RPi hardware design for NAA use.

 

[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.