Another playback software to argue over

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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This open-source playback software MQN is really something that should be heard. http://mqnplayer.blogspot.co.uk/
It's in development at the moment so don't expect a GUI but it sounds stunning! Have a go & report your impressions

Create a folder c:\musicplayer. Download these files into it
- MQN.bat
- Paste.exe
- MQNcontrol.exe
And download the latest version of the MQN program & rename it to MQNplay.exe

To play a WAV file (16/44) copy it & run MQN.bat

Extract:
MQn - Just good music is a minimalist WASAPI Wav memory player that is stripped back as far as possible to reduce noise.

Innovations are optimised render loop, page aligned memory, optimised memcpy, Visual Studio 2013 preview compile using the latest optimisation techniques, auto vectorisation, profile guided optimisation, use of Intel C++ libraries during build, each setting has been tested to ensure best sound quality, fixed period sizes to align with memory page size, each sample rate/bit depth combination has it's own render loop, use of goto in loop rather than for/while, static libraries, single core compile etc.

MQn is the only player that uses a separate control.exe which communicates with the player exe in a unique way such that the player is totally standalone and dedicated to rendering the music.

example render loop for 16/44 shown at bottom of this file.


requirements are x64 Intel cpu with x64 win 7 or x64 win 8 and as much ram as you need to load the music you are about to play.

It plays 16 bit 44/48 in 16 bit containers and 24 bit 44/48/88/96/176/192 in 32 bit containers.

Oh, yes, btw, it's bit-perfect.
Let the bits-are-bits games begin
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
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0
This open-source playback software MQN is really something that should be heard. http://mqnplayer.blogspot.co.uk/
It's in development at the moment so don't expect a GUI but it sounds stunning! Have a go & report your impressions

Create a folder c:\musicplayer. Download these files into it
- MQN.bat
- Paste.exe
- MQNcontrol.exe
And download the latest version of the MQN program & rename it to MQNplay.exe

To play a WAV file (16/44) copy it & run MQN.bat

Extract:


Oh, yes, btw, it's bit-perfect.
Let the bits-are-bits games begin

I got nothin'

Tim
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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I got nothin'

Tim

You mean it didn't work?
If you tell me more I can possibly help?

Edit: If you followed my instructions exactly you should find that a file called files.txt is created in c:\musicplayer (you have to use this folder in this drive or change the bat file). This "file.txt" should have the name of the playback WAV file in it & a DOS command window opens & the audio file plays to your defaalt audio device

Your CPU needs to be capable of using SSE4 instruction set - a search of your CPU will tell you this.
 
Last edited:

mep

Member Sponsor & WBF Founding Member
Apr 20, 2010
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You mean it didn't work?
If you tell me more I can possibly help?

Edit: If you followed my instructions exactly you should find that a file called files.txt is created in c:\musicplayer (you have to use this folder in this drive or change the bat file). This "file.txt" should have the name of the playback WAV file in it & a DOS command window opens & the audio file plays to your defaalt audio device

Your CPU needs to be capable of using SSE4 instruction set - a search of your CPU will tell you this.

Digital is so complicated! ;)
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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Digital is so complicated! ;)
Yes, CA can be & I've really no patience for too much faffing around but this really is pretty simple & only has a couple of restrictions/pre-requisites. It's also worth it.

- currently only 16/44 WAV files (FLAC is just about ready & high-res is also ready with different version). But MQN 16/44 sounds better than high-res through other playback software.
- MQN for SSE4 instruction set CPU is the main development branch
- MQN for SSE2 instruction set CPUs are labelled with SSE2 in the name
 

still-one

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jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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Not when you use MDMS (Sooloos) :D

But if best sound quality is of importance to anybody then they might find the extra little bit of up-front effort worthwhile & try MQN?
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
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You mean it didn't work?
If you tell me more I can possibly help?

Edit: If you followed my instructions exactly you should find that a file called files.txt is created in c:\musicplayer (you have to use this folder in this drive or change the bat file). This "file.txt" should have the name of the playback WAV file in it & a DOS command window opens & the audio file plays to your defaalt audio device

Your CPU needs to be capable of using SSE4 instruction set - a search of your CPU will tell you this.

No, I mean I have no response to another of these products, another of these threads. I'm tired. Have fun

Tim
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
3,374
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383
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No, I mean I have no response to another of these products, another of these threads. I'm tired. Have fun

Tim
Why bother posting then?
No response usually means no response - it' redundant to tell someone you have no response.
I have noted your lack of inquisitiveness in the past so I was surprised at your immediate post on this thread.
Have a good sleep - hope it relieves your tiredness!
 

Phelonious Ponk

New Member
Jun 30, 2010
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Why bother posting then?
No response usually means no response - it' redundant to tell someone you have no response.
I have noted your lack of inquisitiveness in the past so I was surprised at your immediate post on this thread.
Have a good sleep - hope it relieves your tiredness!

Thanks.
 

NorthStar

Member
Feb 8, 2011
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Vancouver Island, B.C. Canada
You've tried then?

Couldn't get really far; I'm pretty much illiterate as far as the computer world is concerned John. My PC is over ten years old and has a maximum of only 40Gig. It doesn't even have a DVD drive, just a disket type of slot (don't know what that for), and a CD-R slot that I never use (got CD players to play my CDs).

I'm not there yet as far as music (hi-res audio files) and movies (hi-def video files) are concerned. ...I don't even have aspiration to them.
I don't have any iThings at all, and I never use my old LG flip cell phone more than few minutes per year.

John, I'm just not a technical computer type person. And from my thinking and experience I can set up a turntable, and a full fledged high-end surround sound system. ...Oh, and I can replant a forest in no time.

But I do enjoy reading and learning about it; so that someday I might upgrade this part of my life.
 

Jaguar

Well-Known Member
Aug 2, 2010
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Bellevue, WA
One often misunderstood point (not necessarily by Phelonious, but in general) about player software and why they sound different is that it's the driver the player uses, not the actual player that effects the sound of your DAC. A very light player or memory play can affect the sound, but very slightly at the margins (I haven't found memory play to be worthwhile at all on relatively new hardware and OS that's optimized well). At the end of the day the player just controls the music, Start, Stop, Next, etc. The driver controls how the music is delivered to the DAC and if you're using a proprietary driver or just the same generic driver in both players you'll get the same sound.
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
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Ireland
Couldn't get really far; I'm pretty much illiterate as far as the computer world is concerned John. My PC is over ten years old and has a maximum of only 40Gig. It doesn't even have a DVD drive, just a disket type of slot (don't know what that for), and a CD-R slot that I never use (got CD players to play my CDs).

I'm not there yet as far as music (hi-res audio files) and movies (hi-def video files) are concerned. ...I don't even have aspiration to them.
I don't have any iThings at all, and I never use my old LG flip cell phone more than few minutes per year.

John, I'm just not a technical computer type person. And from my thinking and experience I can set up a turntable, and a full fledged high-end surround sound system.

But I do enjoy reading and learning about it; so that someday I might upgrade this part of my life.

Right but computer audio is very much less complicated than properly setting up a turntable.
MQN is at the lower end of complexity in computer audio
 

jkeny

Industry Expert, Member Sponsor
Feb 9, 2012
3,374
42
383
Ireland
One often misunderstood point (not necessarily by Phelonious, but in general) about player software and why they sound different is that it's the driver the player uses, not the actual player that effects the sound of your DAC. A very light player or memory play can affect the sound, but very slightly at the margins (I haven't found memory play to be worthwhile at all on relatively new hardware and OS that's optimized well). At the end of the day the player just controls the music, Start, Stop, Next, etc. The driver controls how the music is delivered to the DAC and if you're using a proprietary driver or just the same generic driver in both players you'll get the same sound.


Agreed that different drivers might well sound different but this isn't the case here - MQN's playback is using WASAPI in all versions yet there is a big difference between the early versions & latest versions.

It also isn't a memory based player - have a read of the extract I provided & you will see itemised the techniques used for it's exemplary sound.

Unlike Jplay, JRiver or any of the other commercial & most of the free playback software, this software' code & techniques are documented so no arguments possible over misunderstood or undisclosed means of achieving the sound.

You seem to have experience of CA (carry lots of equipment) & could easily try MQN - I would be interested in your impressions
 

Julf

New Member
Nov 27, 2011
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Amsterdam, The Netherlands
This open-source playback software MQN is really something that should be heard

Is that the one where the supposed sonic improvements are due to some weird loop unrolling in the loop that just stuffs the data into a buffer to be handed over to WASAPI, and where the "optimizations" are the result of endless trial-and-error based on subjective listening, and where the author himself admits he doesn't really know why the sound changes?
 

Clive

Member
May 10, 2012
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0
6
England
Is that the one where the supposed sonic improvements are due to some weird loop unrolling in the loop that just stuffs the data into a buffer to be handed over to WASAPI, and where the "optimizations" are the result of endless trial-and-error based on subjective listening, and where the author himself admits he doesn't really know why the sound changes?
The developer is making code changes to gain an understanding of what relationships exist between coding technique and sound quality. It is an very interesting journey. This is not an unusual way to investigate and develop knowledge.
 
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Julf

New Member
Nov 27, 2011
613
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0
Amsterdam, The Netherlands
The developer is making code changes to gain an understanding of what relationships exist between coding technique and sound quality.

Yes, that is a much more diplomatic way of describing it.

This is not an unusual way to investigate and develop knowledge.

Indeed. But to actually develop knowledge, you also need to be able to test and question your underlying assumptions.
 

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