The HQPlayer thread

Interesting. This could be just the kind of thing I'm after. Do you have the Z1 Extreme model?

Just looking around at prices now. Nothing approaching $275. That sounds like an excellent deal.

 

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...-navi3-16gb-ram-512gb-ssd-windows-11/17194920

It’s sold out now but deals like this popped out every few days.

 

Folks I take back my word re: don’t bother with installing Linux.

installed Ubuntu 24.04.1, dsd512 7EC super temp at 65c, fan is barely audible!!!! It was like 80ish c in windows 11. I can leave it playing music all night!!!

Holy crap what a beast!!!

 

Well hqp 5.11 is yet another one of those game changer update - new transient focused fast modulator + all the EC modulators have been revamped + new transient and load optimized version of Sinc LH and Sinc Long H!!!

I was chatting with my audio buddy that I was listening to Foo Fighters' Medicine at Midnight last night, with the 7EC super mod. it sounded like a completely new album to me that I didn’t recognize it anymore. (It’s one of my favorite Foo Fighters' album and I just last listened to it back in January). My friend with a Spring KTE responded he felt like with the new 7EC super, some of his familiar albums sounded like they have been "remastered"... it’s hard to describe but music is simply being presented differently in a better way, notes hit harder, more lively, quiet passage sounded quieter…

It’s just insane to even imagine how you can spend a few hundred bucks on anything audio related and it manages to improve the sound quality of your system 4-5 times within a couple of years. It’s simply mind boggling.

 

I'm really enjoying the new 5.11 7EC fast + May DAC corrections @ DSD256 over the old 7EC light: better depth, transient speed.

 

I know the 7EC fast is the NEW Star of the show but actually all the EC modulators have also been revamped. In particular the new 7EC super has really improved compared to the old 7EC super with added clarity. My goto settings now for my Signalyst Hqplayer DSC3 dac:

Pop/rock/punk - 1) DSD512 7EC Super, poly sinc short lp/xtr short lp or 2) DSD512 7EC fast, gauss/gauss long
Jazz/classical - DSD512 7EC super, Sinc LH or HB-m

 

Thanks for the reminder! I had only quickly tested if any of the changed modulators work in DSD512 on my computer (they don’t).

Now I tested them in DSD256. I don’t really like ASDM7EC-fast, not a good synergy with my HEDD2 IMO, unnaturally sharp and edgy. But, at least after a first quick comparison, I like ASDM7EC-super DSD256 better than the ASDM7 DSD512 I had used recently (best DSD512 modulator to my ears that still works on my computer).

Very nice indeed!

 

After some more testing, I totally love ASDM7EC-super! The room it creates around the sound is unbelievable, a 3D feeling I never had in this intensity with my headphones before. The instruments are even better separated, and especially, it provides an effortlessness and natural sound that make the combinations I praised before sound artificial in comparison. Did I say already that I like the change?

However, poly-sinc-gauss-long, my preferred filter since DAC correction came along, is not a good companion, IMHO. While instrumental music sounds very good most of the time, voices often sound strangely constricted, to the point where they sometimes sound duck-like quacky. Even when they don’t, many songs become much too shouty for my taste.

I tried a few different filters (not all yet), and I’m back to sinc-MGa, the best one to my ears by quite a margin. While I found gauss-long more detailed with ASDMECv2, it seems to be the other way round for EC-super. Plus, more natural sound and a bit more weight and emotion.

Another filter that might be very good could be sinc-long-h. I can’t tell for sure because my old graphics card isn’t able to produce sound without frequent dropouts with that filter. But what I hear in those few seconds makes me wish I had more power. Not sure, though, if it would really be that good in the end.

Anyway, YMMV—I think that not only different settings fit different people’s preferences, but also different gear likes different HQPlayer settings. (In my case, that’s Holo Red -> iFi Neo iDSD -> Meier Jazz FF -> HEDDphone Two.)

The new settings give me a different angle again on music I know very well. Apart from the very impressive sound quality, one of the things I like a lot about HQPlayer is that every once in a while, it gives me that new gear feeling without the need to spend lots of money on actual gear.

 

Exactly my thought that the new 7EC Super is my favorite
I have not tried every single filter combinations yet, likely never will. haha
But I have come to now my default being:

Jazz/classical
7EC super - Sinc LH or poly sinc HB-M or poly sinc HB-2s (for my RPI5)

pop/rock/punk/everything else
7EC super - poly sinc short lp-2s or xtr short lp @ 1x
gauss hi-res ip @ nx
7EC fast - gauss/gauss long @ 1x
gauss hi-res lp @ nx

 

I never used HQPlayer and this post should be either here or Roon discussion but..can HQPlayer entirely replace Roon and network player with multiple endpoints?
I am not that excited anymore about the integrated streaming/local library management and read somewhere in this thread that HQ Player can support Qobuz streaming.

 

You can point HQPlayer to one NAA endpoint at a time, but not play to multiple endpoints simultaneously.

 

Actually you can play to multiple NAA simultaneously. Thats what the combined option is for - that you can play music to multiple NAA with different settings simultaneously.

That’s how I stream qobuz to both my son’s and my daughter’s room simultaneously each night. And each NAA in each room can apply different convolution in the matrix menu too

 

Thanks for the correction, I thought of "combined" as something for putting together a single system from multiple subsystems controlled by their own endpoints, but I see that it's more akin to a Roon zone. Roon can run multiple zones with different music simultaneously, though.

 

Not for hqplayer because it is essentially the hqplayer server getting the qobuz stream or local music, add dsp and upsampling then reroute that information to multiple NAAs, each NAA can have their individual settings specific to the dac or to the room they are in…

 

Thanks, great to have a trial option because HQPlayer looks to me like a gigantic research project in digital audio.
But from what I learnt about the HQPlayer networking, using Roon with HQPlayer is more about library management and simpler configuration of DSP.
For example I am using left and right separate EQ for hearing correction. In Roon it is very simple.
But HQPlayer...I cannot even find a parametric EQ, it looks like it is not there.
I am not entirely clear why would I need Roon front end for the HQPlayer network other than convenience.
Pi2AES supports NAA, NAA comes preloaded on Holo Red, Qobuz is my only streaming source, so networking with NAA as equivalent to Roon zones seems to be not difficult.
Need some time to play with it, I am not cancelling my Roon subscription yet but considering it.

 

If you are using hqplayer, then I wouldn’t use Roon dsp at all and leave it all upto hqplayer to do. For example, I use autoeq and download peq as .txt files for my headphones. In hqplayer it is as simple as adding the txt file on left and right channels under the matrix menu or the convolution menu. I also use audiolense to create convolution fir for all my rooms and simply import the mono wav files for the channels to hqplayer.

Or you can simply create your own .txt file with peq and insert them to hqplayer.

yes Roon is simply for library management if you love the metadata or maybe Roon music suggestions or radio. To my ears at least, Hqplayer sound better without Roon in the chain but many ppl may disagree.

There are other options out there to use with Hqplayer for qobuz, tidal or local contents - Hqplayer’s own client app, hqpd control iOS app, jplay iOS which is amazing and has direct integration now with hqplayer, mconnect or bubbleupnp……

 

I used AutoEQ filters but what you said about being able to define my EQ in the same format .txt files in a game changer for me.
It is simpler than any parametric equalizer. And the fatc that I can experiment with all this stuff it in trial mode is great. And Roon integration with Qobuz is far from perfect. I can still find some stuff with Qobuz app direct search I cannot through Roon interface.

 

With hqplayer, you can even have multiple eq settings and change them on the fly during playback. It takes a fraction of a second to switch. I always have multiple bass and mids settings in my room, and change them on the fly depending on mood and the individual track.

For headphone users, you can even create profile for each headphones with specific PEQ and just change profile on the fly when you change headphones. I use the profile feature to switch dacs and NAAs in different rooms. Or play upsampled DSD to both my son's and my daughter's room for their bedtime music.

Again, if you don't need the metadata stuff from Roon (I have my lights off and eyes closed when I listen to music), then Roon is pretty much not needed. Hqplayer is the gold that improves the sound. (and it comes out with sound quality improvement updates like 4-5 times in the span of 2 years...

 

DO you mean that Roon may perform rate change ahead of HQP or, it does not and why it is superior sound path than when going through VBCable?

 

Forget about VBcable or roon. Connect your pc to a rpi4 as an input NAA, you can do any streaming services Apple, Spotify, Amazon with automatic rate switching.

the most elegant way of controlling hqplayer would be using jplay ios since jplay ios has direct access over hqplayer’s API, has a nice, easy to use interface and supports qobuz, tidal connect and local dlna…