wanta911

Hi, I've been using HQPDcontrol on my iPad and I just downloaded HQPlayer 5 Client to try. What is this M switch for?

Out of curiosity I'm toying with ordering the Rivo. I currently use an 8 year old Auralic Aries Femto with LPS as you did. I have no interest in streamers with inbuilt DACs as I use Dirac Digital Room Correction via a MiniDSP DDRC-22D between the Aries and external DAC and the AES output is ideal. I guess my hesitation is whether or not I will hear any difference. Can you expand any further on the difference you noticed between the two?

I thought I should add my experience with this product over the last 12 months, which I feel is appropriate given the timeline and not just a knee-jerk reaction. Not long after my posts of October last year, my Neo Stream became unstable and practically unusable with consistent network dropouts and freezing. I opened a ticket with iFi and after weeks of backwards & forwards it was decided that my unit should be replaced. The replacement has worked OK, albeit with the occasional software issue that required re-starting. Recently I updated the firmware that was released in July this year and was supposed to improve or enable the use of Airplay 2. The result is that I can no longer use Airplay at all. Doing a factory reset and rolling back to the previous firmware makes no difference, despite Airplay working perfectly before the firmware upgrade. Over the journey, the modified Volumio software used has been consistently buggy and the user interface is nowhere the standard of other products such as Auralic and Bluesound. I've had the Auralic Aries Femto for over 8 years without any of the issues encountered on the iFi. On top of this the iFi support is slow and firmware fixes are few and far between. I feel that the Volumio software used for the Neo Stream OS must be some sort of older version? So in summary there are a lot of pros for this unit when it comes to functions, I/Os etc. and that is why I bought it in the first place - particularly for the NAA function, but it is let down badly by it's inferior software and support.

Hi, been busy moving house for a few weeks and then updated to the the latest version of desktop and client. Can someone please explain what this Elide left check-box is in Client?

Hi, how do I delete a playlist from HQPDcontrol v4? I have ended up with the only 2 playlists I have being duplicated under the playlist menu but only one of them actually loads content.

OK I understand router to streamer as the streamer is downstream from the router but then you seem to have it the opposite way between NAS and router as the router is downstream of the NAS? Based on your first example, shouldn't the D face the NAS and X face the router? Or maybe I just don't understand how the router and NAS interact? Which is very feasible 😁

Hmmm comparing DACs is a bit of a minefield given the different stances that people take and differing tastes. I would expect the presentation of the Burr Brown DAC in the NS will be just a touch more relaxed compared to the more forward sounding ESS DAC in your 205.

Oops, I should add that I very much like the onboard Burr Brown DAC - in fact I use an iFi Signature DAC in my desktop headphone setup, but I do prefer to use my external Holo Audio Spring 3 DAC in the living room setup where the Neo Stream resides.

Yep, I've had mine for about 4 weeks now - it replaced my ageing Auralic Aries Femto. I use it "as normal" in my speaker setup and as an NAA for HQ Player in my headphone setup. I power it with my Uptone JS-2 and feed it with the ethernet to optical powered module. I'm not good at describing SQ but it sounds great with transients in particular being better defined/clearer compared to the Aries, despite 1s & 0s all sounding the same 😉 It really is a Swiss army knife with the only small negative being the Volumio based UI, it does the job but it's a step down from the excellent Auralic Lightning DS. (and it's not black to match the majority of my gear)

Thank you! The I2S input for the Spring 3 to work with the Neo Stream is the "Alt 2" configuration 👍

Thanks! That'll teach me not to look at the manual. I will try the different options in the Holo setup menu.

Here's an interesting issue I've found and I'm not sure whether it's hardware, software or format related. I have the new iFi Neo Stream that I'm using as an NAA for HQ Player and up until yesterday, I was using the USB connection to my Holo Audio Spring 3 DAC using both PCM and DSD upsampling. I then tested the I2S out to the DAC and experienced the following: Upsampling to PCM 705/768: all as it should be Upsampling to DSD 256: the channels are reversed/inverted I'd be interested if anyone has a possible explanation for this?

I thought I'd share my experience with with the Hypsos which I've had for over 6 months and for much of that time it's been sitting in a cupboard and I'll explain why. From a functional perspective it is brilliant but from an SQ perspective it has been easily bested by my Uptone JS-2 and other linear power supplies when powering streamers & DACs (I have a few). Compared to the traditional LPS's, yes it is quicker/snappier but in my setup bass extension and presence was lacking and the high mids/treble were accentuated and had a "glassy" effect, this also contributed to a wider soundstage and a perceived sense of more detail, but in hindsight it was just adding something that wasn't in the original recording. I will add that I also tried a raft of different settings including varying the voltage and having 4T sensing & spread spectrum settings on & off. For some years now I have been very happy with my speaker setup after purging it of all switching power supplies and replacing them with linear power. I plug all my components into the same power strip except for the integrated amp which goes straight to the wall. When I used the Hypsos previously it was plugged into the power strip along with my DAC & Streamer. Yesterday I had an idea - I firstly tried the Hypsos again powering my good old Auralic Aries to confirm what I had previously heard with it. I then plugged it into a different power outlet on the other side of the room and the difference was far from subtle. The bass was back where it should be, the soundstage shrunk a little without the added "hash" and it now had all the attributes of the JS-2 but faster/punchier and I guess this is where an SMPS will best an LPS. In comparison, the JS-2 is a little sluggish. Regardless of the marketing, the Hypsos is a switch mode power supply - albeit a very functional one. I can only assume from my experience that switch mode power supplies affect one or all of my other components when plugged into the same power source? Anyway, I've managed to come up with an aesthetic solution to power the Hypsos from the different outlet and it's staying in place powering my streamer.

Brilliant - thank you!

Since installing the 4.19.3 firmware, Client won't load album artwork or track info when when the base sample rate changes between tracks ie 44.1 > 96kHz or vice versa. It worked flawlessly on the last version. It doesn't matter if I'm upsampling PCM to 384kHz or higher or DSD 256/ASDEMECv2, both with Gauss Long or Gauss Hi Res, which my M1 Mac handles easily. Not a huge deal.....just slightly annoying 😉