[genefruit]

Is a i7 a good option, or would you go all out and get an i9?

Would you need liquid cooling?

I went all out. Liquid cooling can be a mixed bag. I went with an AIO for the processor but stayed with Noctua fan version of the Nvidia 4080. I run windows with the machine serving both HQP and Roon and can run ALMOST everything. at 1024

 

[GoldenSound]

Is a i7 a good option, or would you go all out and get an i9?

Would you need liquid cooling?

As said it's really a case of however much you can get. Getting a higher end CPU will allow more flexibility with what rates/modulators you can run, but lower end CPUs will still run some configs fine. It's just a sliding scale, there isn't really a "this CPU is enough and this one isn't" barrier. I'm not sure where the line is for which a particular setup can or could not run x512 ASDM7EC-Super Sinc-L for example.

You don't 'need' liquid cooling, there are some excellent air coolers like the Noctua NH-D15, but you can get good AIO liquid coolers for about £150 nowadays and in particular if your case has space to fit a 360mm rad, I'd go that route

 

[GoldenSound]

HQPlayer OS does not support CUDA because of the realtime kernel used and of course because of Miska decision. HQPlayer OS is meant to be enough easy for users who are not familiar with Linux. Updates are about burning new image on SD card and re-booting. nVidia card drivers (which are card model specific) would make so easy updates not possible.

HQPlayer OS is for the endpoint, HQPlayer embedded is a different thing.

Ideally for the actual processing you'd use HQPlayer on windows for CUDA support (also then you can easily run other software alongside it, roon core, Dirac etc)

 

[bogi]

Is a i7 a good option, or would you go all out and get an i9?

Would you need liquid cooling?

i7 is enough.
Water cooling does not seem to be necessary for DSD512. It can help if you need to place the HQPlayer computer in your listening room, but others are able to run DSD512 on silent systems without water cooling.
HQPlayer OS is without GUI so it is suitable to place it into some other room and then to use NAA (Pi4 is cheap, passive cooling is sufficient) to connect DAC to.

 

[Superunknown2]

As said it's really a case of however much you can get. Getting a higher end CPU will allow more flexibility with what rates/modulators you can run, but lower end CPUs will still run some configs fine. It's just a sliding scale, there isn't really a "this CPU is enough and this one isn't" barrier. I'm not sure where the line is for which a particular setup can or could not run x512 ASDM7EC-Super Sinc-L for example.

You don't 'need' liquid cooling, there are some excellent air coolers like the Noctua NH-D15, but you can get good AIO liquid coolers for about £150 nowadays and in particular if your case has space to fit a 360mm rad, I'd go that route

That makes sense. I am getting a Holo Red, and have a Holo Spring 3. I stream Tidal (NOS) and HQ Player through Roon to the Spring 3, currently through a Macbook. Once the Holo Red arrives, how would you recommend setting it up so I can stream Tidal/Roon through HQPlayer to the Holo Red and to the Spring? Can I still run HQPlayer on my Macbook, and send that to the Holo Red somehow? Or would it be better to get a seperate computer to connect to my network, and have that somehow connect to the Holo Red?

 

[GoldenSound]

That makes sense. I am getting a Holo Red, and have a Holo Spring 3. I stream Tidal (NOS) and HQ Player through Roon to the Spring 3, currently through a Macbook. Once the Holo Red arrives, how would you recommend setting it up so I can stream Tidal/Roon through HQPlayer to the Holo Red and to the Spring? Can I still run HQPlayer on my Macbook, and send that to the Holo Red somehow? Or would it be better to get a seperate computer to connect to my network, and have that somehow connect to the Holo Red?

Holo red has HQP NAA support, so I'd just leave the Red exactly as it is, but run HQP on your PC/Mac (Mac won't be able to run the more advanced DSD modulators though).
Roon has support to add HQPlayer as an output

 

[Superunknown2]

Holo red has HQP NAA support, so I'd just leave the Red exactly as it is, but run HQP on your PC/Mac (Mac won't be able to run the more advanced DSD modulators though).
Roon has support to add HQPlayer as an output

Would I need to connect the Macbook to the Holo Red via USB when using HQPlayer through Roon? Or can I run HQPlayer on the Macbook and have it stream wirelessly through Roon to the Holo Red?

 

[bogi]

HQPlayer OS is for the endpoint, HQPlayer embedded is a different thing.

No. You mismatched NAA OS and HQPlayer OS.
Although HQPlayer OS contains also NAA software and is suitable as NAA endpoint for setups with more LAN interfaces, the primary usage of HQPlayer OS is to run HQPlayer Embedded which is preinstalled. See more https://www.signalyst.com/custom.html
Images for HQPlayer OS are here: https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/hqplayerd/images/
For NAA endpoint setups with one network interface NAA OS is recommended.
Images for NAA OS are here: https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/naa/images/

Ideally for the actual processing you'd use HQPlayer on windows for CUDA support (also then you can easily run other software alongside it, roon core, Dirac etc)

Superunknown was asking specifically for HQPlayer Embedded, which is Linux only. HQPlayer Embedded does support CUDA on supported Linux distributions with low latency kernel. There are many users who run Embedded with CUDA on Linux.
See my previous post https://www.head-fi.org/threads/hqp...-settings-rolling-thread.968141/post-17973591
and Signalyst Embedded page https://www.signalyst.com/custom.html

 

[bogi]

Would I need to connect the Macbook to the Holo Red via USB when using HQPlayer through Roon? Or can I run HQPlayer on the Macbook and have it stream wirelessly through Roon to the Holo Red?

Macbook is not suitable for DSD512. For DSD512 it is suitable to build a separate HQPlayer computer as you were suggested above. You could use your Macbook to run Roon and to run HQPlayer Client (GUI for HQPlayer).
For Red In NAA mode, only DAC needs to be connected with USB. HQPlayer computer is connected to NAA through LAN.

 

[Superunknown2]

Macbook is not suitable for DSD512. For DSD512 it is suitable to build a separate HQPlayer computer as you were suggested above. You could use your Macbook to run Roon and to run HQPlayer Client (GUI for HQPlayer).
For Red In NAA mode, only DAC needs to be connected with USB. HQPlayer computer is connected to NAA through LAN.

If I was going to play HQPlayer on my Macbook, to get it to the Holo Red, can that be done wirelessly through Roon? Or would I have to connect my Macbook or my Holo Red to my router via ethernet?

 

[Erick Muller]

Is a i7 a good option, or would you go all out and get an i9?

Would you need liquid cooling?

Get an i7, turn on XMP profile on the bios and maybe if you know how, overclock your CPU a little bit so that it's a stable overclock and that should be more than enough for HQPlayer. Just be aware that if the filters you're using on HQP are really demanding and you are doing DSD upsampling, there's still going to be a lag between when you hit play on your player and the time you get sound on to your HP or speakers.

 

[ra990]

I found a noticeable performance boost running HQPlayer embedded on a barebones Ubuntu Server install. I have a gaming PC from a few years ago that I no longer game on, it has a 2080Ti and I think an i9-11900K.

I have tried HQPlayer desktop on Windows (with CUDA), HQPlayer OS (no CUDA), and HQPlayer Embedded on Ubuntu Server (with CUDA), all on this gaming PC.

HQPlayer Embedded on Ubuntu Server (with CUDA) is the only one that will do sing-long with DSD512 and my convolution,PEQ filters using ASDM7EC-super 512+fs without a hitch.

BTW - for anyone getting overwhelmed by all these HQPlayer components and ways to run it, just start with HQPlayer desktop on Windows or Mac. It's the most straightforward way of using HQPlayer and installs like any other application. All these other options, HQPlayer OS, embedded, NAA, are ways to take the HQPlayer performance even further if you like what you hear using HQPlayer desktop.

 

[bogi]

If I was going to play HQPlayer on my Macbook, to get it to the Holo Red, can that be done wirelessly through Roon? Or would I have to connect my Macbook or my Holo Red to my router via ethernet?

You can go wirelessly from your MacBook. Air connection also better isolates your network switch from potentially noisy computer.

 

[el70]

I did not watch this topic with more attention since my 11th Gen intel does not distinguish P and E cores. But I noticed discussion about the topic on the AS forum. Look at discussion starting in the previous week here: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/...ayer-embedded/?do=findComment&comment=1269931

Thanks !

 

[Superunknown2]

I found a noticeable performance boost running HQPlayer embedded on a barebones Ubuntu Server install. I have a gaming PC from a few years ago that I no longer game on, it has a 2080Ti and I think an i9-11900K.

I have tried HQPlayer desktop on Windows (with CUDA), HQPlayer OS (no CUDA), and HQPlayer Embedded on Ubuntu Server (with CUDA), all on this gaming PC.

HQPlayer Embedded on Ubuntu Server (with CUDA) is the only one that will do sing-long with DSD512 and my convolution,PEQ filters using ASDM7EC-super 512+fs without a hitch.

BTW - for anyone getting overwhelmed by all these HQPlayer components and ways to run it, just start with HQPlayer desktop on Windows or Mac. It's the most straightforward way of using HQPlayer and installs like any other application. All these other options, HQPlayer OS, embedded, NAA, are ways to take the HQPlayer performance even further if you like what you hear using HQPlayer desktop.

What is HQPlayer NAA, and what does it do?