[sup27606]

I have the same issue stuttering?

I thought, let's try a powerfull server, but still stuttering.

I used a fast nvme disk for the OS disk.
Physical 8 core (logical 16) Intel XEON cpu 2,7GHz 12MB cache per core
Startup hqplayer with High priority on the CPU, so it get's all the resources
128GB fast server checksum system memory

Hqplayer is using only 51-57% CPU max resource use, but still stuttering with sinc-long?

I would say, is it buggy? or does it only works with nvidia CUDA (then I would say still buggy, it is not the cpu that is the problem)

I have used sinc-long in my M1-max MacBook Pro, and it does not stutter. Only time it does is when there is heavy internet browsing or other background processes going on, which is expected. This filter is extremely cpu intensive since it takes up all 8 cpu cores near 100%. Your case looks like either a bug or a OS thread management issue. You may want to reach out to the developer (username: miska) on audiophilestyle.com forum.

 

[jjazzy]

I have used sinc-long in my M1-max MacBook Pro, and it does not stutter. Only time it does is when there is heavy internet browsing or other background processes going on, which is expected. This filter is extremely cpu intensive since it takes up all 8 cpu cores near 100%. Your case looks like either a bug or a OS thread management issue. You may want to reach out to the developer (username: miska) on audiophilestyle.com forum.

it actually only happens with sinc-long. which is really weird, especially now I used a monster server to play hqplayer.
cpu never comes much above this percentage, so there is more than enough power left that it should perform decently.
I tried it with windows 10 / 11 and server 2019. with NAA and direct usb connection.

sinc-medium works, but then it drops back to around 38% cpu usage (which is logical, less heavy)

 

[ra990]

Sinc-long needs a beefy nvidia gpu, especially with dsd upscaling.

 

[MrWalkman]

sinc-long also stutters for me without 100% CPU usage in total. Only way is to use CUDA offload.

Upscaling from 44.1 to 384 kHz. It's a laptop, so the temperature is like this, especially now, in the summer. Usage varies between 75-100%, most of the time it's at around 85%.

 

[jjazzy]

Sinc-long needs a beefy nvidia gpu, especially with dsd upscaling.

so why not take use of cpu power left? I had 50% left on a 8 core server xeon server. A server that blows away any average desktop pc with nvidia card

 

[jjazzy]

so what is the next best after sinc-long using PCM? sinc-medium?

 

[sup27606]

I don't think it's a problem of hardware resource, rather an issue with OS resource management. One thing to look for, if you see the activity monitor when the dropouts happen, do the HQPlayer cpu usage remains the same or drops down to zero, as discussed here: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/?do=findComment&comment=1243918

I once had this behavior in my laptop and restarting the computer resolved it. Servers may not be suitable environments for heavy number crunching, as they have a lot of background processes running that may not take up CPU load but overwhelm I/O which could affect HQPlayer.

 

[sup27606]

so what is the next best after sinc-long using PCM? sinc-medium?

Honestly, I don't think sinc-long is a good balance between the extent of cpu demand and SQ. I myself use sinc-medium although my system works fine with sinc-long. Sinc-long sounds slightly better and airy with classical orchestra music where the decay of the instruments sound more natural and slowly disappearing into blackness, whereas with the other filters, the decay seems to be just a slight bit more abrupt. However, the difference is not much and with any other genre, sinc-long sounds a bit thin, whereas sinc-medium sounds better.

 

[jjazzy]

I don't think it's a problem of hardware resource, rather an issue with OS resource management. One thing to look for, if you see the activity monitor when the dropouts happen, do the HQPlayer cpu usage remains the same or drops down to zero, as discussed here: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/topic/19715-hq-player/?do=findComment&comment=1243918

I once had this behavior in my laptop and restarting the computer resolved it. Servers may not be suitable environments for heavy number crunching, as they have a lot of background processes running that may not take up CPU load but overwhelm I/O which could affect HQPlayer.

A server is cleaner than a desktop os.

It was a clean installed server with most services disabled.

The point I made was, hqplayer is not optimized for multi processors, because if it leans on nvidia cuda, while a monster of 8core cpu with a lot of cpu cache onboard (faster than a i9) has more than 50% performance left. The focus lies to much on nvida gpu’s

I have a lot of years it experience and I saw that happen more than once in my lifetime with specific software.

Not saying hqplayer is bad, no not at all. But there should be more optimizing in multi cpu cores.

How I know? Because I added a 16core xeon cpu too, just too test, nothing changed

 

[sup27606]

On my MacBook Pro, sinc-long utilizes all 8 cores to 100%. If it wasn’t optimized for multi processors, how is it balancing the load equally on all 8 cores? I still think, on your machine it’s not a cpu related issue, something between the cpu and the output is slowing down the data transfer, probably some intermediate cache is getting full and Hqplayer is stuttering until the cache is freed.

You should really take these criticisms and questions to the audiophilestyle forum, where the developer is active and addresses all questions promptly. We are just speculating here.

 

[Rayon]

On my MacBook Pro, sinc-long utilizes all 8 cores to 100%. If it wasn’t optimized for multi processors, how is it balancing the load equally on all 8 cores? I still think, on your machine it’s not a cpu related issue, something between the cpu and the output is slowing down the data transfer, probably some intermediate cache is getting full and Hqplayer is stuttering until the cache is freed.

I agree, it has always utilized all the cores in linux. No problems. I think the dev also recommends Ubuntu if one builds a dedicated server, so that's what I use.

 

[Rayon]

P.S. I woukd also check from bios that avx is enabled. With my motherboard it was disabled by default and it made all the difference.

 

[jjazzy]

I agree, it has always utilized all the cores in linux. No problems. I think the dev also recommends Ubuntu if one builds a dedicated server, so that's what I use.

I will give it a try with Ubuntu, kind of curious if that makes a difference. Could be something service related is the issue. But it shouldn’t matter because I changed the resource priority in taskmanager to ‘real time’ but let’s see

 

[b0bb]

sinc-long also stutters for me without 100% CPU usage in total. Only way is to use CUDA offload.


Upscaling from 44.1 to 384 kHz. It's a laptop, so the temperature is like this, especially now, in the summer. Usage varies between 75-100%, most of the time it's at around 85%.

Non integer upsampling to 384k is computationally intensive.

Try 44.1 to 352.8kHz, 352.8 is an integer multiple of 44.1.
The load on the GPU will halve and hopefully eliminate the stutters, your CPU utilization will also go up as the GPU is no longer holding things up.

 

[MrWalkman]

Non integer upsampling to 384k is computationally intensive.

Try 44.1 to 352.8kHz, 352.8 is an integer multiple of 44.1.
The load on the GPU will halve and hopefully eliminate the stutters, your CPU utilization will also go up as the GPU is no longer holding things up.

Ok, I understand your point and I will try.

Stutters happen when CUDA offload is disabled. If I enable it, then playback is stable.