PGGB Offline Remastering

[Progisus]

This new rework by John Lodge converted beautifully. Transients and micro details are rendered noticeably better than by mscaler for this album.

 

[Failed Engineer]

Is there reason to try this for 4x PCM upsampling over HQPlayer or is the differences only worth it on 8x or 16x? My DAC does definitely benefit from 4x HQP upsampling.

Is a linux version on the roadmap? I don't have a windows machine and I only have a macmini m1 8gb.

 

[taipan254]

Is there reason to try this for 4x PCM upsampling over HQPlayer or is the differences only worth it on 8x or 16x? My DAC does definitely benefit from 4x HQP upsampling.

Is a linux version on the roadmap? I don't have a windows machine and I only have a macmini m1 8gb.

I use both HQP and PGGB-RT. For PCM upsampling, PGGB is the GOAT IMHO. When I'm not traveling, I use a Gustard X26Pro fed by an ultraRendu. My laptop runs PGGB-RT via Foobar (I don't want to invest in all the storage I'd need right now). The sound is absolutely stunning. Clarity in spades. Transient precision is off-the-charts good. When I stream with Qobuz, I have to use HQP PCM upsampling (Sinc-Long filter) and I come away a little sad (and then buying the album I'm listening to, so I can listen to PGGB-RT do the upsampling!).

When I am travelling, I mess around with HQP doing DSD upsampling to a Cayin RU7. However, I prefer the clarity i get doing PCM upsampling with PGGB-RT on a crappy DAC implementation (Topping G5) compared to DSD upsampling using the RU7. Part of the problem may be that the RU7 tops out at DSD 256. I've been told the HQP "magic" happens at DSD512 and DSD1024.

Regardless, seems like a moot point for you given that you are limited by your hardware. Have you tried emulating windows (using something like Wine) on your linux station, and then trying to run PGGB-RT via Foobar? I can do PGGB-RT with no problems with my laptop (windows, 32gb RAM, AMD 8 core processor @ 4Ghz). I have a mobile GTX 4090 which helps with HQP DSD upsampling.

 

[kennyb123]

Is there reason to try this for 4x PCM upsampling over HQPlayer or is the differences only worth it on 8x or 16x? My DAC does definitely benefit from 4x HQP upsampling.

I do think that a listener’s preferences can matter greatly here. Those who pursue transparency and realism tend to favor PGGB providing that their DAC allows the PGGB magic to pass through with little to no harm done by the DAC’s own processing. HQPlayer on the other hand seems to be preferred by those looking for a more pleasing sound.

I think if you are already finding a liking for PCM scaling with one of the sinc filters in HQPlayer, you will like PGGB a heck of a lot more.

The other thing that can factor into preferring one over the other is the playback software available to them. Squeeze can offer better transparency than just about anything else on several platforms so that can give PGGB an extra advantage.

The sound is absolutely stunning. Clarity in spades. Transient precision is off-the-charts good. When I stream with Qobuz, I have to use HQP PCM upsampling (Sinc-Long filter) and I come away a little sad (and then buying the album I'm listening to, so I can listen to PGGB-RT do the upsampling!).

This mirrors my experience. I listen to my PGGB’d tracks with Squeeze and the sound is absolutely stunning as described in that quote. For Qobuz, I switch to Roon/HQPlayer with sinc-L. The experience is like drinking skim milk after being used to whole milk with PGGB/Squeeze. I then also buy the music I like just so I can process it with PGGB.

 

[Failed Engineer]

I think I'm going to give it a shot. I was itching to build a computer for the first time in 20 years and I wanted a robust one since my daughter wanted my M1 Mini and I wanted a machine that could handle Roon/HQP/Channels DVR (with CPU intensive comskip). Having a Microcenter in my city helps because they still offer very well priced Mobo/CPU/Memory combo deals after all these years.

I built an i9-12900k, 32gb ram, no GPU for now but may add one, but this handles the heaviest HQP filter (sinc-long) at PCM192 without breaking a sweat while comskip is processing.

It was a lot of fun building the machine. It's amazing how almost nothing has changed about building a desktop in the 20 years since I've done one. I will say not having to mess with a DVD drive and the advent of NVMe hard drives does make it easier and require less cabling from the power supply.

This machine is good enough with a virtual Windows instance for PGGB? Should I go to 64 gb memory? Can PGGB utilize GPU?

 

[kennyb123]

This machine is good enough with a virtual Windows instance for PGGB? Should I go to 64 gb memory? Can PGGB utilize GPU?

No on the GPU. With PGGB, 64 GB can be okay but it depends on sample rate and bits. What does your DAC support up to?

 

[austinpop]

Should I go to 64 gb memory? Can PGGB utilize GPU?

It very much depends on the typical track duration of your music. ZB has a very helpful writeup and tables at this link:

https://www.remastero.com/guide-256.html#SystemMoreMemory

Bottom line: 32GB is just fine if most of your music is shorter duration tracks. However, once you decide to convert your entire library, or a significant subset of say a few 100 albums, you will really come to appreciate having more memory.

IMHO, 64GB is well worth it. I personally have 128GB, but that's not strictly necessary for most people. It does come in handy with those long Mahler movements, or Richard Strauss tone poems.

 

[Failed Engineer]

No on the GPU. With PGGB, 64 GB can be okay but it depends on sample rate and bits. What does your DAC support up to?

It's 24/192 so not so computationally demanding. I probably have a handful of tracks that are past 8 minutes, overwhelming majority under 6 I'd gather.

 

[kennyb123]

It's 24/192 so not so computationally demanding. I probably have a handful of tracks that are past 8 minutes, overwhelming majority under 6 I'd gather.

You might be able to process most of that with 32 GB. I believe there may be a chart on the PGGB website that lists max track length with different amounts of RAM. Sorry to say though that you might not hear enough of an improvement at that sample rate.

 

[taipan254]

You might be able to process most of that with 32 GB. I believe there may be a chart on the PGGB website that lists max track length with different amounts of RAM. Sorry to say though that you might not hear enough of an improvement at that sample rate.

Having just trialed PGGB - 32 GB is what I have and it worked for everything (even though I got a warning when I attempted to do 256-bit processing). However, I have to echo @kennyb123 here - I don't know if you're gonna hear the PGGB magic if you're just upsampling to 24 / 192.

What specific DAC do you have?

 

[Failed Engineer]

It's an ECP Walnut V. Effective a bespoke design but I upsample with HQP and it clearly makes an improvement to my ears and I really like the sinc-medium filter recently introduced. And I've read that if there is some analog filter-wise in HQP to PGGB, it's those new sinc-short, sinc-medium, and sinc-long filters. So wanted to give it a shot.

 

[kennyb123]

So wanted to give it a shot.

Good for you to let your ears decide! I just wanted to make sure your expectations weren’t too high.

 

[Gowry]

Any PGGB Cyber Monday sale? 256 for 128 price?

 

[Progisus]

Who would use the inferior sounding roon to playback their pggb files? . I’ve always used hqplayer direct or roon>hqplayer or squeeze. Glad I tried it roon direct. ymmv

 

[kennyb123]

Who would use the inferior sounding roon to playback their pggb files? . I’ve always used hqplayer direct or roon>hqplayer or squeeze. Glad I tried it roon direct. ymmv

Roon does allow the goodness of PGGB to come through.

If I remember correctly, you were a fan of MPD on Antipodes at one time. Have you bailed on that?