[iancraig10]

I use HQ Player for DSD and FLAC. However it doesn't play MP3 so I use Foobar for that.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I use HQ Player for DSD and FLAC. However it doesn't play MP3 so I use Foobar for that.

HQplayer was awesome, but was kind of slow for me, i mean, it took a while to load, for one reason or another, and would take 3-8 seconds for any song to open. 
 
The SQ was great though..
 
Any other software that is able to achieve hqplayer SQ?

 

[TheAttorney]

HQPlayer is awesome at upsampling/converting, especially at converting redbook FLAC to DSD to be played by the ifi iDSD .
 
I haven't tried them all, but I can't imagine anything could be better. However, HQP itself can be further improved by replacing the ifi driver with JPlay 6 - very early days yet with this combination for me, but wow, what potential! More on the JPlay 6 thread.
 
Yes, HQP does take longer to get started (affected by various settings), but after that initial pause (per album) then switching tracks on the same album is ok.
 
I'm talking solely about Sound Quality. The HQP interface is an acquired taste, but once acquired, it's ok.
I still use JRiver for all library management.

 

[mogulmaster]

   
Hi,
 
Need to know your PC or Andriod setup.
 
The techie guys cant do anything without this basic information.
 
You need to ask the tech guys to send the Chrome pdf/answers to you.
 
http://support.ifi-audio.com/index.php
 
And there are FAQs in there relating to general Chrome/broswer settings.
 
Cheers.

Thanks so much! You guys rule. Also I really like the sound this provides my LCD2s to any prospective buyers. Vocals are face-meltingly good

 

[kurb1980]

  HQplayer was awesome, but was kind of slow for me, i mean, it took a while to load, for one reason or another, and would take 3-8 seconds for any song to open. 
 
The SQ was great though..
 
Any other software that is able to achieve hqplayer SQ?

I consider myself a HQP aficionado it sounds like you need to change your filters to use the 2s variants they will reduce the stress of the CPU.  Also change the frequency to make it integer to what ever the input is will help as well.  Outside of that it will depend on the operating system are you using?  If you are doing DSD and on mac "DoP" has a lot of overhead and can slow things down but if your on windows then "ASIO" should greatly improve the CPU overhead from 30-40% versus DoP.
 
Couple of settings I use set the micro filter to 'extended' then HQP filter to poly sinc mp 2s modulator ASDM5 and frequency DSD256.  On my system which I boot from a micro unmount the SSD using a slimmed down OS things sound pretty awesome.  I prefer battery powered micro some say it sounds the same but I hear a difference.  I also use the iUSB with the gemini and mercury cables which bests my Benchmark DAC2 HGC in sound quality.

 

[GradoSound]

Can any Mac JRiver Media Player users (under OS X 10.10) confirm that they can bitstream DSD audio to iDSD Micro or up-sample PCM to 2x DSD? All I get is very low volume music and a lot of static. That is, JRiver is set to "Options --> Audio --> Settings --> Bit streaming=DSD".
 
I have tested the same unit under Windows 7 (on the same laptop + JRiver Asio Driver) and it works fine so the unit itself or the PC are not faulty.
 
Thanks in advance.

 

[lieshout]

Did anybody else try onkyo hf player converting pcm to dsd 5.6 on iphone?

I never used hqplayer, but the onkyo app sounds very very good with ifi micro idsd.
Would like to hear how hqplayer and onkyo hf player compare.

 

[Dobrescu George]

I tested ifi idsd against chord hugo today. [finally].
 
the resoults are... different than you might expect.

 

[tf1216]

  I tested ifi idsd against chord hugo today. [finally].
 
the resoults are... different than you might expect.

 
Haha, way to leave us hanging.  
 
Edit* I see posted 1 minute before I replied.  Eek 

 

[Dobrescu George]

IT comes down to what one wants to hear.
 
Idsd has a poor Upsampling algorythm, but the bit perfect filter provides, most probably a linear or cubic or sinc interpolation, which does exactly what it should, keeps the thing bit perfect.
 
Hugo resamples, upsamples, changes, interpolates, resamples again, interpolates again.
 
What do you want to hear eactly is up to you.
 
I liked the sound of the things this way
 
X5<Idsd<X5+E12A<=Hugo
 
Also, you need idsd for harder to drive headphones.
 
Idsd sounds exactly like most people are telling it sounds like. Bitperfect, is amazing, 0%distortion, Normal volume is fine, but i preffered to use eco, as normal would be pretty loud. what can i say anymore, it was something, a pretty fun thing, but not what i bought, i ended up buying e12a, and stacking it with x5.
 
My reasons look like this, while idsd sounds extremely clear, and bitperfect, i like upsampled and force-interpolated sound in sinc and polysinc more.
 
As a closing reply, i would really like to tell @iFi audio that idsd manages to do what it tries to do perfectly, and it is a top product priced correctly. The iphono is a total different story, it is one of the best products of it's type that ever existed, it is worlds better than products costing 4Xit's price. I would like to hear new products from ifi.

 

[citraian]

Did you try the other filters as well? Also, can you give more details on the player settings, the driver settings and the settings on the ifi itself?

 

[ClieOS]

  IT comes down to what one wants to hear.
 
Idsd has a poor Upsampling algorythm, but the bit perfect filter provides, most probably a linear or cubic or sinc interpolation, which does exactly what it should, keeps the thing bit perfect.
 
Hugo resamples, upsamples, changes, interpolates, resamples again, interpolates again.
 
What do you want to hear eactly is up to you.
 
I liked the sound of the things this way
 
X5<Idsd<X5+E12A<=Hugo
 
Also, you need idsd for harder to drive headphones.
 
Idsd sounds exactly like most people are telling it sounds like. Bitperfect, is amazing, 0%distortion, Normal volume is fine, but i preffered to use eco, as normal would be pretty loud. what can i say anymore, it was something, a pretty fun thing, but not what i bought, i ended up buying e12a, and stacking it with x5.
 
My reasons look like this, while idsd sounds extremely clear, and bitperfect, i like upsampled and force-interpolated sound in sinc and polysinc more.
 
As a closing reply, i would really like to tell @iFi audio that idsd manages to do what it tries to do perfectly, and it is a top product priced correctly. The iphono is a total different story, it is one of the best products of it's type that ever existed, it is worlds better than products costing 4Xit's price. I would like to hear new products from ifi.

 
What kind of setup / source were you using for your listening?
 
Also, as far as I know, iDSD doesn't have an upsampling algorithm, so to speak, unless you are referring whatever software upsampling you were using at the test.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Did you try the other filters as well? Also, can you give more details on the player settings, the driver settings and the settings on the ifi itself?

I used only x5 as a transport, so it had flac files to idsd.
 
I used idsd as it follows, 
 
tried iematch, tired normal and eco, tried both xbass, and holographic thing, i did not touch the polarity button, it was on +, direct output. any more buttons i can name?
 
for the statement, the product sounds exactly as stated by most people, the DAC is extremely potent, with no distortions, but the AMP, is somewhat less coloured than i would like, .. i liked e12a better, it added more soundstage, made everything more... fun. maybe idsd is too linear for my tastes, maybe i was looking for a different thing.
 
[for the record, i love headphones that have more bass and treble, i have ultrasone dj one pro, and ie8, on ie8 i usually add +6db at 16khz, and -6db at 125hz].
 
 

   
What kind of setup / source were you using for your listening?
 
Also, as far as I know, iDSD doesn't have an upsampling algorithm, so to speak, unless you are referring whatever software upsampling you were using at the test.

 
filters on idsd are upsampling algorytms, bit perfect means bit perfect, the other two do some upsampling, or at least, different interpolation algorithms.
 
 
to state the least, i liked standard filter better than either bit sample or minimum phase.

 

[citraian]

Using X5 as a transport sounds a bit off to me with iDSD. Way worse than USB.

 

[Dobrescu George]

Using X5 as a transport sounds a bit off to me with iDSD. Way worse than USB.

why?
 
it outputs full flac stream through coaux out.
 
this has been discussed in hugo threads, usb and coax have the exact same data going through them, it is basically the same file.