Roon and HQ Player

[pkane]

Thank you Paul. Are you saying you use HQP as the streamer and not JRiver or others

HQP has a rudimentary library management function. It can access all my content from a NAS drive (about 1,500 ripped albums and a bunch of higher resolution PCM and DSD content). For streaming you'll need to use something else, like Roon, that can drive HQP directly.

 

[Dr Tone]

With time aligned speakers, I suggest trying the non mp filters as well. poly-sinc-xtr or for less powerful CPUs poly-sinc-xtr-2s.

I set the min and max volume to -6db which basically locks HQPlayer's volume control.

If doing DOP you will have to set SDM Packet drop down to DOP.

 

[Steve Williams]

HQP has a rudimentary library management function. It can access all my content from a NAS drive (about 1,500 ripped albums and a bunch of higher resolution PCM and DSD content). For streaming you'll need to use something else, like Roon, that can drive HQP directly.

You said you don't have Roon

 

[pkane]

You said you don't have Roon

Right. HQP reads my content from a network attached storage (NAS) drive over a Wi-Fi network. This is using a standard file sharing network protocol (SMB), not streaming. So, I don't use a streamer.

 

[microstrip]

Just a side related question - it it possible to build an HQP server with two AES/EBU channels that can output data to a DCS DAC using the DCS dual AES input protocol?

 

[Dr Tone]

Just a side related question - it it possible to build an HQP server with two AES/EBU channels that can output data to a DCS DAC using the DCS dual AES input protocol?

What computer hardware do you normally use to do this? Or is that the question you are asking?

 

[microstrip]

What computer hardware do you normally use to do this? Or is that the question you are asking?

Exactly ... Are there any PCI or similar cards in the market that can implement such dual AES output?

 

[pkane]

Exactly ... Are there any PCI or similar cards in the market that can implement such dual AES output?

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/dCS_Guide_to_Computer_Audio(2).pdf mentions two such cards: Lynx AES16 and RME HDSP AES-32

 

[hifial]

Steve and others.

For more info, help and questions answered please check out the thread for HQ Player (there are more threads different HQP topics on CA) on Computer Audiophile. See the link

https://www.computeraudiophile.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/?page=369#comment-661298

The developer of HQP (handle is miska) is active there and is helpful, regardless of what some with agendas have said. Also there are posters with helpful experience there.

Yes, it is a long thread but do not feel like you have to read it all and do not feel overwhelmed. Give it a look and then ask your questions explaining you are new.

 

[microstrip]

http://www.linkwitzlab.com/dCS_Guide_to_Computer_Audio(2).pdf mentions two such cards: Lynx AES16 and RME HDSP AES-32

Thanks - very interesting document. I was able to get am old DCS Elgar plus in mint condition and it is an excellent candidate for computer audio experiments!

 

[hifial]

I need this PC to do full blown upsampled DSD512 out the back and into my T&A DAC8! I got a glimpse using the laptop and want to hear more to see if I wasn't just dreaming the sound was great or maybe an intoxicated stupor one night of listening.

Marty, you are not dreaming. You were intoxicated with what can be done.

Now, all you need is look at my post that has the computer build out list that is a few posts back on this thread.

This build will let you up-sample to DSD512 with no problem. You do not need to build it just use that processor (or higher speed/newer one, though that one is plenty vs the newer ones)

 

[pkane]

Here's the CPU performance playing DSD512 using HQPlayer on Windows 10 with Bootcamp on Macbook Pro:



Utilization hovers around 40-50% overall, but the fans do kick in and make some noise, so I still need to figure out a way to deal with that.

 

[bibo01]

A better visualization is to display all CPUs.
You will probably see that a general average 40-50% utilization may correspond to 80-90% utilization on the real cores, which of course would be pretty high.

 

[hifial]

A better visualization is to display all CPUs.
You will probably see that a general average 40-50% utilization may correspond to 80-90% utilization on the real cores, which of course would be pretty high.

++1

 

[pkane]

A better visualization is to display all CPUs.
You will probably see that a general average 40-50% utilization may correspond to 80-90% utilization on the real cores, which of course would be pretty high.

Right. That's why I posted a photo showing all 8 cores Maybe the photo is not very clear. The first four charts on the left are physical cores, the four on the right are hyperthreaded. As you can see, they all are on average around 50% utilization.

 

[hifial]

A better visualization is to display all CPUs.
You will probably see that a general average 40-50% utilization may correspond to 80-90% utilization on the real cores, which of course would be pretty high.

Right. That's why I posted a photo showing all 8 cores Maybe the photo is not very clear. The first four charts on the left are physical cores, the four on the right are hyperthreaded. As you can see, they all are on average around 50% utilization.

IIRC, you want to not use hyperthreading for the best sound if possible. BUT one should have about 20-30% utilization with hyperthreading off, according to the designer IIRC.

Obviously you can use this chip. But is it the best choice and is it the best for someone who is looking to get started.

As an example, Jussi of HQP, is always looking to push the envelope in his code and at times it can be very processing intensive, like his xtr. That is one reason why he come up with the 2s variants. They are less intensive then the non 2s version and they allow most to utilize that filter.

So it is wise to have a little head room.

Also you mention that your fan ramps up when you are using the xtr-2s, That is because the chip is around its max and needs a lot more cooling. Fine for a short burst but not designed to run that high for very long periods. So could be a shorter chip life.

 

[pkane]

So it is wise to have a little head room.

All good points. I'm not advocating using laptops for DSD512, I'm just reporting that I can with mine and that it sounds really good. I've built quite a few computers in my life, and have one that I built last year that has four NVIDIA GPUs with CUDA support, so perhaps I should use that one to run HQP Then again, I think Jussi did say that HQP does not support multiple GPUs yet.

 

[Dr Tone]

An NAA is really the best option when working a computer hard producing DSD512.

 

[nc42acc]

How about an acronym description list with the meaning of each? This has been become the alphabet soup of Roon and HQ Player. Sorry I am among the uninitiated here.

 

[pkane]

How about an acronym description list with the meaning of each? This has been become the alphabet soup of Roon and HQ Player. Sorry I am among the uninitiated here.

NAA = HQPlayer Network Audio Adapter. A way to remove the complex data processing and HQPlayer user interface from the computer connected to the DAC, and instead have it done on a separate computer, somewhere else on the network. That remote computer streams the already processed data to the NAA computer. NAA process receives it and forwards it to the DAC, unmodified. The NAA computer can be very tiny, since it's not doing much processing. Something like Raspberry PI, f.i.