[daverich4]

Thanks, I’ve already done that in a previous post. The settings I’m currently using including convolution sounds really good to me, the best headphone sound I’ve ever had. Most people seem to be describing the DAC specific settings (I have a Holo Audio May KTE) making a minor difference and I don’t really have any interest at this time is changing any of my current settings to lower demand versions in order to get that feature to work. As the DAC settings portion of HQPlayer matures I will probably upgrade to a more powerful setup but for now, I’m good. Thanks for stepping in to offer help though.

 

[shwnwllms]

As the DAC settings portion of HQPlayer matures I will probably upgrade to a more powerful setup but for now, I’m good. Thanks for stepping in to offer help though.

that’s too bad, it’s a significant improvement with the Holo May. Have you updated to 5.7.1 yet?

 

[trollbearpig]

Has anyone dockerized hqplayer? Trying to figure out how to set this up on an Unraid server

 

[daverich4]

that’s too bad, it’s a significant improvement with the Holo May. Have you updated to 5.7.1 yet?

Yes, it didn’t help with the dropouts.

 

[sendler2112]

Comparisons of HQPlayer into the Gustard A26.

PCM, DSD, and DSD using the A26 correction pipeline via USB using the excellent (but full and robust sounding?) Supra Excalibur cable, and PCM and DSD (the A26 correction option doesn't populate when on LAN for some reason) using the LAN input. HQPlayer upsamplimg to PCM integer 705 or 768 does sound better than playing the same file with Foobar ASIO.

At this point I have to feel like an outlier.

After hours and days of listening back and forth with many different filters, shapers, and modulators, I have to say that I prefer LAN>PCM out of everything. The specific A26 DAC correction for DSD does make a big improvement in the sound and brings back some of the air and space and speed compared to the USB>PCM. So I would probably choose this if I didn't have the option of LAN. But connecting through LAN is more transparent and blacker and seems to eliminate any interconnect contribution that seems inevitable via USB the wide range of USB cables I have tried.

USB>DSD>P-S-G-xla>ASDM7EC-super>correction, is accurate, robust, comfortable, the correction puts most of the detail back that the DSD compared to PCM seems to muffle, but the LAN>PCM is blacker, deeper, wider, with more space between the instruments. Growl of fingers on strings of electric bass are more present. Snare has more crack. Solo piano sounds more like the percussion instrument that is is. Ambient hall sound decay, real or processed, has a finer presentation on LAN>PCM.

I would say that USB>DSD>A26 correction is good, and is a different, more comfortable flavor, than LAN>PCM, but I have to place it still slightly behind.

HQP designer stated in another thread that they never got the A26 LAN working on their unit (I had a battle also, having to put together a dedicated router which is hardwired to my modem, with a hardwire from my laptop going into it, and another hardwire coming back out of the router over to the A26) so this might account for the inability of HQPlayer designer to spen time getting the pipeline to activate the option of the A26 DAC correction when on LAN. Which might put that playback method over the top.

I know there has been much work put in by AKM, Gustard, HQPlayer, to bypass the internal modulator in the DAC and offer DSD direct with the AK4499EX chip set, but for now, I have to recommend LAN>PCM 705/768 auto with P-S-G-xla and TPDF with the Gustard A26.

Check out the amazing new recording "Atlantis" by Soen as they reimagine their favorite tracks from previous albums in a kinder, gentler audiophile vein with the addition of strings and backing vocals. Exquisite drum kit and electric bass sound and liquid electric guitar on "Modesty"

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/atlantis-soen/cbis46dsk1gpb

 

[EMINENT]

Comparisons of HQPlayer into the Gustard A26.

PCM, DSD, and DSD using the A26 correction pipeline via USB using the excellent (but full and robust sounding?) Supra Excalibur cable, and PCM and DSD (the A26 correction option doesn't populate when on LAN for some reason) using the LAN input. HQPlayer upsamplimg to PCM integer 705 or 768 does sound better than playing the same file with Foobar ASIO.

At this point I have to feel like an outlier.

After hours and days of listening back and forth with many different filters, shapers, and modulators, I have to say that I prefer LAN>PCM out of everything. The specific A26 DAC correction for DSD does make a big improvement in the sound and brings back some of the air and space and speed compared to the USB>PCM. So I would probably choose this if I didn't have the option of LAN. But connecting through LAN is more transparent and blacker and seems to eliminate any interconnect contribution that seems inevitable via USB the wide range of USB cables I have tried.

USB>DSD>P-S-G-xla>ASDM7EC-super>correction, is accurate, robust, comfortable, the correction puts most of the detail back that the DSD compared to PCM seems to muffle, but the LAN>PCM is blacker, deeper, wider, with more space between the instruments. Growl of fingers on strings of electric bass are more present. Snare has more crack. Solo piano sounds more like the percussion instrument that is is. Ambient hall sound decay, real or processed, has a finer presentation on LAN>PCM.

I would say that USB>DSD>A26 correction is good, and is a different, more comfortable flavor, than LAN>PCM, but I have to place it still slightly behind.

HQP designer stated in another thread that they never got the A26 LAN working on their unit (I had a battle also, having to put together a dedicated router which is hardwired to my modem, with a hardwire from my laptop going into it, and another hardwire coming back out of the router over to the A26) so this might account for the inability of HQPlayer designer to spen time getting the pipeline to activate the option of the A26 DAC correction when on LAN. Which might put that playback method over the top.

I know there has been much work put in by AKM, Gustard, HQPlayer, to bypass the internal modulator in the DAC and offer DSD direct with the AK4499EX chip set, but for now, I have to recommend LAN>PCM 705/768 auto with P-S-G-xla and TPDF with the Gustard A26.

Check out the amazing new recording "Atlantis" by Soen as they reimagine their favorite tracks from previous albums in a kinder, gentler audiophile vein with the addition of strings and backing vocals. Exquisite drum kit and electric bass sound and liquid electric guitar on "Modesty"

https://www.qobuz.com/us-en/album/atlantis-soen/cbis46dsk1gpb

Hyalo.

Good assessment and discovering what works on your gear.

I found similar differences in LAN vs USB with U18 when I had the R26. An area of note if you have not explored, look into an Intona or similar to eliminate possibility of and reduce noise and jitter in USB.
And, keep from letting ability to run Dac Correction affect your testing in higher rates if possible. This does not always lead to best results as I have found.

 

[sendler2112]

Hyalo.

Good assessment and discovering what works on your gear.

I found similar differences in LAN vs USB with U18 when I had the R26. An area of note if you have not explored, look into an Intona or similar to eliminate possibility of and reduce noise and jitter in USB.
And, keep from letting ability to run Dac Correction affect your testing in higher rates if possible. This does not always lead to best results as I have found.

I honestly haven't tried higher DSD rates since it was suggested in the Gustard A26 thread that DSD256 was the highest rate that would pass direct and 512 would again be first directed through the AKM modulator that we are trying to bypass.

What HQP/ DAC settings were your preference when you had the R26?

 

[EMINENT]

I honestly haven't tried higher DSD rates since it was suggested in the Gustard A26 thread that DSD256 was the highest rate that would pass direct and 512 would again be first directed through the AKM modulator that we are trying to bypass.

What HQP/ DAC settings were your preference when you had the R26?

That could be the case with A26, but not sure if same with R26.
R26 I found the U18 which worked well with X26 to sound thin with the same i2s in comparison to standalone USB or Lan. The U18 being not very good as discovered and sought to eliminate the extra box and gain galvanic isolation with the Holo.
X26/i2s/U18 I preferred PCM 7xx with sinc-Mx and LNS15 but could not test DSD as it was broken and hissed.
R26 preferred LAN DSD512 with ext2 and AMSDM7 512+fs.

 

[Jake2]

That could be the case with A26, but not sure if same with R26.
R26 I found the U18 which worked well with X26 to sound thin with the same i2s in comparison to standalone USB or Lan. The U18 being not very good as discovered and sought to eliminate the extra box and gain galvanic isolation with the Holo.
X26/i2s/U18 I preferred PCM 7xx with sinc-Mx and LNS15
R26 preferred LAN DSD512 with ext2 and AMSDM7 512+fs.

+1. I had the exact same experience with the R26 and U18 (thin via I2S despite my best efforts to get it sounding good), much preferred its HQP NAA renderer. Funnily enough with HQP 4 it was on exactly these DSD settings. Unsure if the A26 USB section is the same as R26 but USB has now surpassed LAN.. LHY UIP works superbly well with R26 (now on different HQP5 settings, PCM7XX & DSD256 with the new better modulators my M1 Mini can’t quite manage at DSD512).

By way of comparison UIP a different class to Holo Titanis USB dongle which is itself much better than USB direct from MAC or streamer. I2S via DI-20HE only slightly better than USB via UIP whilst PhoenixUSB another level again but then so it should be.

 

[sendler2112]

Hyalo.

Good assessment and discovering what works on your gear.

I found similar differences in LAN vs USB with U18 when I had the R26. An area of note if you have not explored, look into an Intona or similar to eliminate possibility of and reduce noise and jitter in USB.
And, keep from letting ability to run Dac Correction affect your testing in higher rates if possible. This does not always lead to best results as I have found.

I had almost almost failed to explore the higher DSD rates. I thought in weeks passed that my laptop was struggling and skipping at the higher rates, but today I can reliably play anything all the way up to the top. It is interesting that DSD1024 and 2048 both display as DSD 24.5M on the A26 screen, but DSD2048 does sound better than 1024. And might now displace my preference for PCM768. Even if my cooling fan seems maxed. I will have to spend more time with this. DSD 44.1x 1024, 2048 and DSD 48x 1000, 1024, 2000, 2048. With various 44.1, 48, and 192 PCM files.

 

[Jake2]

I had almost almost failed to explore the higher DSD rates. I thought in weeks passed that my laptop was struggling and skipping at the higher rates, but today I can reliably play anything all the way up to the top. It is interesting that DSD1024 and 2048 both display as DSD 24.5M on the A26 screen, but DSD2048 does sound better than 1024. And might now displace my preference for PCM768. Even if my cooling fan seems maxed. I will have to spend more time with this. DSD 44.1x 1024, 2048 and DSD 48x 1000, 1024, 2000, 2048. With various 44.1, 48, and 192 PCM files.

That must be one grunty laptop, what is i?

 

[EMINENT]

I had almost almost failed to explore the higher DSD rates. I thought in weeks passed that my laptop was struggling and skipping at the higher rates, but today I can reliably play anything all the way up to the top. It is interesting that DSD1024 and 2048 both display as DSD 24.5M on the A26 screen, but DSD2048 does sound better than 1024. And might now displace my preference for PCM768. Even if my cooling fan seems maxed. I will have to spend more time with this. DSD 44.1x 1024, 2048 and DSD 48x 1000, 1024, 2000, 2048. With various 44.1, 48, and 192 PCM files.

If you see 24.5, this is 512, the A26 max. You may make setting 1024 even upto 2048 in HQP settings but will always be limited by other factors.
If you use Roon, another way to check is the Signal Path button to the left of previous track button.

 

[sendler2112]

That must be one grunty laptop, what is i?

My new laptop is an Acer Nitro V15 gaming laptop. i7 13th, Nvidia RTX4060, 16GB DDR5 RAM, SSD 512. It does have a typeC Thunderbolt which I haven't tried. And my requisite RJ-45 LAN. It is a good value at $1000. If I had it to do it over I would have custom ordered one with 32GB and 1 TB SSD. When playing the A26 DAC correction Pipeline I could see the processor at 35% and the RAM pegged at 96% with 1% kicking over to the SSD. But I haven't looked at that again since changing the advanced setting from auto to 8 cores which I think made something more efficient. I have yet to figure out how to view the Nvidia actual values. But LAN DSD at the highest rate is easier than the correction pipeline and plays at 15% and 50% memory. And sounds great as I just found out today after mistakenly assuming that DSD256 was supposed to be as good as it gets with the A26.

The laptop apparently has a massive fan which makes quite a ruckus. I am 100% via headphones with the excellent HiFiMan HE1000SE so It doesn't intrude but if I get near field monitors, I will have to rig up a shelf under my desk to stash it away so it is not blowing noise in my face. Or pony up and build an even better tower.

These new DACs and the improvement that HQPlayer makes, becomes an infatuation. When is it good enough? Do I need a Holo?!

 

[sendler2112]

The AKM chip only processes DSD128 and DSD256. Anything else will be upsampled(DSD64) or downsampled(DSD512-higher) to these rates. Thats a function of the chip no matter what the screen is telling you.

Which is the reason I have never contemplated trying any DSD setting higher than 256 in HQPlayer. Until now. Which presents DSD at a level that can't quite match the transparency and snap of LAN PCM768. But now that I did go ahead and try it, each higher level of DSD rate sounds better and better all the way to 2048. even though the A26 display shows that it can't even show a value of input that is higher than DSD1024. The highest PCM value that is shown is 768 even though it will play higher rates.

I would now say that LAN DSD 2048 is the best that the A26 can sound. And I haven't even tested any of the higher performance high rate modulators yet. Still using ASDM7EC-super.

 

[BShaw]

Which is the reason I have never contemplated trying any DSD setting higher than 256 in HQPlayer. Until now. Which presents DSD at a level that can't quite match the transparency and snap of LAN PCM768. But now that I did go ahead and try it, each higher level of DSD rate sounds better and better all the way to 2048. even though the A26 display shows that it can't even show a value of input that is higher than DSD1024. The highest PCM value that is shown is 768 even though it will play higher rates.

I would now say that LAN DSD 2048 is the best that the A26 can sound. And I haven't even tested any of the higher performance high rate modulators yet. Still using ASDM7EC-super.

I don’t understand how dsd 2048 is delivering subjectively better sound than dsd 256, when now the A26 is downsampling to…. dsd256?