HQPlayer Impressions and Settings Rolling Thread

[infinitykappa]

I don't hear a difference

On some tracks, the difference is very noticeable; on others, it’s not as obvious. So, it’s possible that the kind of music you’re listening to doesn’t highlight the differences. I mostly listen to metal, and with my music, the difference in sound is clear and quite significant. I’d love to use Roon because of its convenience and features, but I just can’t. Sometimes, Roon degrades the sound of my system so much that I get no enjoyment from listening at all.

 

[catastrofe]

Maybe this helps:

https://audiophilestyle.com/ca/bits-and-bytes/how-to-use-jplay-ios-with-hqplayer-r1318/

Thank you...I saw that post a few days ago. No help in the guide Chris posted, but I posed my question there as well.

 

[Louisiana]

No help in the guide Chris posted, but I posed my question there as well.

What kind of help you need?

 

[catastrofe]

What kind of help you need?

My buffers seem to be overloaded and I’m trying to figure out what the issue is, and how to resolve it.

 

[dericchan1]

I'm not trying to discredit your subjective experiences I'm just asking you to state them as subjective when advising newbies.
I don't hear a difference, but I am biased since to me it would be the same as hearing a difference between a music file stored on an SSD vs a hard drive..

Let’s just say no one knows what exactly is Roon doing with its own process. This coming from an early thread. Per Miska “With HQPlayer Client and HQPDcontrol, HQPlayer server has direct optimized access to the content and the control applications just do control. With Roon, also all content data passes through Roon. In some cases this may make the difference.”

To my ears and many roon users (some are life time subscribers) that I recommended jplay iOS to try, there is a clear difference to the sound. Miska had confirmed jplay iOS should sound the same as using the hqp client app which I agree but I can’t say the same about roon/hqp

https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...er-vs-hqplayercontrol-for-sq/#comment-1264827

 

[Jake2]

I’d love to use Roon because of its convenience and features, but I just can’t. Sometimes, Roon degrades the sound of my system so much that I get no enjoyment from listening at all.

I use Roon-to-HQP both run on the same Mac Mini M1 16Gb. Been away so haven’t tried Jplay w/ HQP updates yet.

Do you use a portable or other device to run Roon Remote? As whilst trialling some control apps like Jplay (pre-HQP updates) vs Bubble Upnp and Roon I unexpectedly found two things: the particular Roon Remote device used has an impact on SQ (iPad Air best > Samsung mobile, coincidentally some guys on Whatsbest with fancy Taiko servers found same re the Air, same version I have, even over other Apple phones and iPads ); and the best Roon remote of all is no Roon remote ie. initiate playback via remote device then disconnect it from Roon Server by toggling off wifi on the tablet etc. Spooky action at a distance and unexpected but very repeatable and impossible to unhear. I never compared to using HQP Client as have no device that would run it. I speculated on possible explanations for sonic differences on the Roon thread - extra network chatter etc. Perhaps try this - disconnecting the device running Roon remote - and see if you hear a delta, if it addresses your concerns with Roon SQ.

 

[Jake2]

Link to discussion on Roon Optimisation thread incl link to similar findings on WBF Taiko thread -

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/roo...-increased-sound-quality.968792/post-17999379

 

[catastrofe]

My buffers seem to be overloaded and I’m trying to figure out what the issue is, and how to resolve it.

I received an answer over on AudiphileStyle...the color is simply a function of the app theme and has nothing to do with the buffer load. Light Theme will show red for the buffer and Dark Theme will show cyan.

In my limited exposure, I do think playback via JPlay/HQP is better than Roon/HQP. There seems to be more clarity...

However, the app seems to have some instability. It loses connection with HQP (Desktop) periodically...HQP disappears as an audio ouput source and I have to restart HQP for it to become available. The app also stops playing for no apparent reason even if still connected to HQP, with tracks in my queue and Radio enabled. The app will also crash, and the current track will continue to play. When I reopen the app, it shows nothing is playing while the track continues on. This is typically when the app has lost connection with HQP.

I've report these issues on the JPlay iOS forum. Would love to get resolution before spending the $$$.

 

[dericchan1]

I received an answer over on AudiphileStyle...the color is simply a function of the app theme and has nothing to do with the buffer load. Light Theme will show red for the buffer and Dark Theme will show cyan.

In my limited exposure, I do think playback via JPlay/HQP is better than Roon/HQP. There seems to be more clarity...

However, the app seems to have some instability. It loses connection with HQP (Desktop) periodically...HQP disappears as an audio ouput source and I have to restart HQP for it to become available. The app also stops playing for no apparent reason even if still connected to HQP, with tracks in my queue and Radio enabled. The app will also crash, and the current track will continue to play. When I reopen the app, it shows nothing is playing while the track continues on. This is typically when the app has lost connection with HQP.

I've report these issues on the JPlay iOS forum. Would love to get resolution before spending the $$$.

Under jplay settings you can enable log and send the log to Marcin for him to look into your issues.

The biggest issues many ppl initially have with disconnection was mainly to do with switching between 44.1 and 48k source. If you have this issue, would suggest you in hqp settings, uncheck 48k dsd and uncheck adaptive rate and fix output to fixed dsd rate like 256x44 or 512x44

Make sure windows network type is private not public

 

[Promee]

Hey HQPlayer people, not sure if this is the right thread to drop this in, so feel free to redirect me if you have another one for this purpose. Just wanted to let everyone know that I was corresponding with Geno from Geshelli Labs today, and he confirmed that the Dayzee DAC uses AKM’s DSD Direct (DSDD) mode. For those who don’t know it, it has a dual-mono AK4499EX (also with dual AK4191) topology.

I needed to flash the Amanero firmware on mine to get DSD 512 native (no DoP) from Ropieee (which I’m using as HQPlayer NAA on RPi4). I also can confirm after the update to the firmware that it accepts DSD 512 native via ASIO driver from HQPlayer and Roon directly when connected to my PC. Of course, I was just testing the 512 implementation to make sure it works as advertised, as I have seen that Jussi recommends to use 256 or 128 with AKM chip DACS. It sounds absolutely phenomenal with HQPlayer at 256 and is running flawlessly from my Roon ROCK NUC > Ethernet > PC w/ HQPlayer > WiFi > Ropieee > Dayzee.

I can also confirm that the Dayzee works with base 48k DSD rates, including accepting 48k x 512 flawlessly, though I’m using 48k x 256 as max in HQPlayer with adaptive rate enabled.

Guys, it’s a great time to be an audiophile!

 

[Promee]

Hey again, HQPlayer people!

I have been thinking about this for a long time (see my posts in this thread from March 2024) - we need a portable dongle-like, Mojo-like, Poly-like, or DAP-like plug and play HQPlayer implementation of HQPlayer that can sit between a phone or tablet and a dongle / DAC / DAP for use while traveling, requiring no configuration after initial setup. I think the tools are available right now. The use case is strong - airplanes; hotels; CanJam; anywhere you don’t have a NAA endpoint set up; using with any streaming service you can get on your phone.

I don’t want to hijack this thread with a detailed conversation about this, so I started a thread laying out my vision for this. I think this could be a community project using existing tools, but there are limits to my understanding of the software, so I will need help. If you are interested in this at all, even if you don’t feel like you can contribute in any particular way, I invite you to read and weigh in with your thoughts and to spread the word.

Thanks everyone, and Happy New Year!

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/pi-in-the-sky-hqplayer-portable-rpi-transport-let’s-build-it.975378/

 

[dericchan1]

Hey again, HQPlayer people!

I have been thinking about this for a long time (see my posts in this thread from March 2024) - we need a portable dongle-like, Mojo-like, Poly-like, or DAP-like plug and play HQPlayer implementation of HQPlayer that can sit between a phone or tablet and a dongle / DAC / DAP for use while traveling, requiring no configuration after initial setup. I think the tools are available right now. The use case is strong - airplanes; hotels; CanJam; anywhere you don’t have a NAA endpoint set up; using with any streaming service you can get on your phone.

I don’t want to hijack this thread with a detailed conversation about this, so I started a thread laying out my vision for this. I think this could be a community project using existing tools, but there are limits to my understanding of the software, so I will need help. If you are interested in this at all, even if you don’t feel like you can contribute in any particular way, I invite you to read and weigh in with your thoughts and to spread the word.

Thanks everyone, and Happy New Year!

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/pi-in-the-sky-hqplayer-portable-rpi-transport-let’s-build-it.975378/

Why not post this on the audiophile style forum where Miska is active there ?

Rather than a pure diy effort, this comes complete with everything other than maybe a dac dongle, and can probably run up to dsd 512

https://a.co/d/5j7o4yM

 

[Promee]

Why not post this on the audiophile style forum where Miska is active there ?

Rather than a pure diy effort, this comes complete with everything other than maybe a dac dongle, and can probably run up to dsd 512

https://a.co/d/5j7o4yM

That is a very interesting idea… thank you! And I will post over there too, just need to set up an account.

 

[dericchan1]

That is a very interesting idea… thank you! And I will post over there too, just need to set up an account.

Yes if you fancy an Intel version, the Msi claw a1m has something similar in a ultra 5 135 and a ultra 7 155.

https://www.bestbuy.ca/en-ca/produc...a-7-155h-1tb-ssd-16gb-ram-windows-11/17721216

 

[Promee]

Thanks for the feedback! I have started an account over at Audiophilestyle to gauge interest there. I actually have an Ally X, so I can give this a shot. I think playing music from the desktop on it is a bit wonky, and for some inexplicable reason Roon doesn’t have a desktop Arc app, so I would have to set things up differently there, but it could be a good stop gap. I still love the idea of using the same program on the same device I typically listen with and improving simply by plugging in a device. Then again, the power of the Z1E (in my case, but the Lunar Lake chip in the new Claw looks awesome too - the Phawx just gave it a great review…) is very tempting, particularly for using DSD with the Tube Mini. I would probably just use PCM with the Mojo 2 anyway…

I’ll definitely try it out, but I still want to try to do a version of my project, as it is something I could see scaling up (Pi 6 and beyond) or down for more power or smaller size as more SBCs become available (like a future Pi Zero 3 or similar). I also imagine this will be a lot cheaper. A Raspberry Pi is a fraction of the price of the Ally or Claw, though of course that’s not counting the time that will go into this. I think it will be a fun project too tho…