Contemplativus

The best SQ has Naxos ClassicsOnlineHD, by a large margin to Tidal. Very good, large sortiment of fine music selection. On pc, android and iPhone. Some Issues with stability and usability, though albeit improved a lot during the last year. 24 bit PCM up to 96kb or even 192 kHZ is superb. One problem, on Android I didn't find an EQ solution with it.

Thx. for the hints. My expectation is also the same with HQP and T+A. A whole new world with DSD and HQP has been opening up for me after some years on limited DAC sources (like EMU0404USB). Interestingly the huge leap - with the same decent Senn HD-650, IE-800 and Genelec/Dynaudio active Boxes. What a leap can on expect with HQP between a GeekOut Infinity DSD128 and T+A's DSD512 ? Is it about the same as between xxx and yyy ??? (Perhaps subjectivity could approximatively get quantized in this way, like how the question hot two chilly species are related to each other has a number.) And THX. Geoffry: I'll have to delve in Your Kodi solution, maybe next month.

Thx. for clarifying. A solution like Roon/HQP: is there any other one, being the Roon part alone very costly? - sorry for OT but would need an answer.

There is no or only a partial compare. With a DAC (like DAVE is) I can play back any sources, like streaming from a HD service like ClassicsOnline of Naxos, even with a cheap android device!. In contrast, with HQPlayer I cannot do this - or at least I don't know how to. (There are some working SW-solutions for the necessary PCM-to-DSD conversion like foo_dsd_asio or JRIVER WDM driver but with a markedly lesser DSD processing quality than HQP or -probably - these top DACs also are.) If I don't like to collect music anymore, I am left with no perfect choice at the time. Either cheap and of limited sound quality (foo_dsd_asio, jriver with and affordable DSD-DAC) or expensive like FPGAs a'la DAVE. HQP solutions are only for having a good reference SQ on the desktop - OR have to own and maintain a large collection on private storage. (I am aware of a halfway official Tidal/HQP solution, which is still RedBook quality only.)

Very well said, chrille. (I couldn't resist either.)

Thx again, Dear Dean (fun/pun intended :-) The superb HQP SQ is even more congenial now win the combination on the fly DSD conversion and convolution EQ generated with rePhase (I have most probably ear bone fusion and by compensating my hearing loss due to it I am able to hear pretty sensitive details again - Phillips Golden Ear Challenge was no problem in a session). I have also compared with the same sources over Foobar+Jriver as a WDMDriver. (Foobar has the good Sox upsampler and can play "D-Dur" OGG Flac streams like HQP while Jriver cannot.) My observation is however, that the convolution sample rate has to be in the same domain (44 vs. 48) as the source, otherwise the resulting sound quality deteriorates markedly. I have tried it with redbook files and 48k/16 bit files from CzeskyRhozlasD-Dur. A possible solution (if it gets confirmed): to be able to store two convolution files for both maximum multiples of 44 and 48 recognized by the DAC and let HQPlayer then choose between them automatically when the source sample rate is changing. (A case for Miska? BTW and OT: Miska is a typical Hungarian Nick for the name Nikolas - Miklos.) At the moment I have also stability issues while experimenting with convolution and on-the-fly DSD conversion: playback gets slowed down to a very slow timing (1/2 or even 1/4 of the original speed?) I cannot close my experiments till expiry of the trial tomorrow, so I simply shoot this information as is - halfway.

Many Thankx for Your replies... Dean: this workflow would be acceptable to me for making an EQ, if it does work. Or do I have to set an own FIR filter whith the same sampling rate as the song itself - hopefully not... But at the moment I am struggling whith the phenomenon getting very distorted and/or very slow songs. (44/16 bit flacs seem to be the most vulnerable party.)

I am nearing to the end of my most happy trial and I must insist on my un-answered previous questions: 1. How to get a good quality simple equalizer (like a 15 dB high-shelf) to work with HQPlayer? 2. How could I use HQPlayer in Win 10 64bit like the JRiver WDM Driver or FOO_DSD_ASIO for general playback from any sources? (I am using them also with/ or without Reaper with my virtual instruments). Background: The DSD capabilities LHLABS GeekOut v2 Infinity (ESS SABRE 9018Q2C) seems to be especially benefiting by getting a direct DSD input instead of having to produce them through its own sigma/delta conversion. It is amazing, how perfect a 16 bit RedBook sounds gets converted with HQP ! (generally considered as an imperfect format, needing at least some 2-4 additional bit depth, s. Lavry primer eg.). I would attribute the following measures on an imaginary improvement scale (very rudimentary weighting of course): 0. Mp3 Max < +15 % 1. Lossless (RedBook CD) < +10 % 2. HQ Sound (24 Bit) < +15 % 3. Conversion to DSD (128) for DAC by JRiver OR foo_dsd_Asio OR Onkyo HF-Player < +40 % 4. Conversion to DSD (128) with HQPlayer (source 16 bit RedBook !) < +10 % 5. Conversion to DSD (128) with HQPlayer (lossless HD source!) < +10 % 6. HD Sources from direct mastering, difference between DSD64 vs. DSD128 The biggest improvement leap by far is the HQPlayer DSD conversion (with my gears). THX.

Dear Friends, I am still in my trial, an this is my second issue here - more a question or two. I am 58 and have moderate hearing loss on >= 4KHz (15-20 dB), and need a high-shelf type equalizer to compensate. Is there a halfway convenient method to generate a convolution file for that on a WIN10 environment? I am a relatively advanced but very busy (and lazy) IT-man. Is there any method for playing back HD streaming from ClassicsOnline (HD) - NAXOS Streaming Service? I would be very grateful for any recommendations.... HQP is superb with the realtime DSD conversion on LH LABS GeekOut v2 Infinity. I think the improvement depends on the DAC if the upsampling/Sigma-Delta conversion in the DAC is its bottleneck, the improvement can be huge. I can imagine a small project to classify the DACs in this respect.

I have the payed (Key-Unlock) version of the Onkyo HF Player - and I found it as superb product, both in Sound Quality with the DSD real-time upsampling sound quality as a general SW-Quality (stability, straightforward design.) I am using it on my NEXUS 7 (2013) with LHLabs Geek V2 Infinity DAC with OTG and a powered USB HUB, neither performance nor Battery consumption being an issue, despite CPU speed of 1.5GHz and not a required >2GHZ! But a serious shortcoming for me is the EQ in DSD DOP mode doen not work (which is stated in the FAQ as an intended behaviour to avoid possible performance issues.) While DSD conversion brings a marked audio quality implrovement for eg. CD quality source material (and MP3 formats), I need at least a high-shelf EQ desparately because of hearing loss in the >= 4kHz. So I have the choice between sacrificing the sound quality improvement either of the EQ or of the DSD conversion. Bad enough, but even worse is that with DSD upconverting active EQ will be displayed as active while it does not funktioning, what is simply a buggy behaviour. (To display something as functional while being disabled is a heavy bug.) While it would be most desirable to have a performance fix which would allow DSD DOP playback with EQ and cross fading, a workaround would be also of great value (eg. to apply a compromise, e.g. to disable high quality DSD conversion.) Where can we best communicate about this with Onkyo?

Thank You Bibo for Your hint with the HQPlayer.xml file. Instead of deleting I have edited it and did reset the convolution setting only - I suspected something with the convolution files/setting might have been wrong there and now it is functioning! Issue solved (seams so). Thx.

No, it is 64bit Windows 10 .

No, no tweaking at all. Just using foobar with foo_dsd_asio for on-the-fly converting also from ClassicsOnlineHD (excellent lossless, even HQ streaming) and even low-latency playing of my virtual instruments (Pianoteq, GalaxyPianos with Kontakt directly or within DAW / Reaper). Nothing of them is active after a clean reboot, HQP still dies. EDIT: Also JRMC21 WDM is functioning, which I also use succesfully for on-the-fly PCM->DSD conversion from all kind of applications.(Also deactivated now for HQP repair but to no avail...)

Hi, I am newby here and with the HQP still in the trial version, but I am totally enthusiastic about the superb SQ especially that of the RedBook 2 DSD. (Not so very much about the GUI - but it is too early for my thoughts.). But for now I have a serious issue: since 3 days is my HQP trial dead. On starting first dies it before dieplaying anything, on the second attempt it brings the Signalyst banner and after that it dies with a Windows message box :HQPPlayer-desktop.exe has stopped working. The last thing I tried before was to set a IR convolution file, as my first attempt for getting a simple high-shelf filter which I need for hearing loss desperately - BTW is there no painless way to get such one easily like the parametrisable IIR to FooBar ? Reboot, Re-install of HQP didn't help. But when rebooted whith any DAC disconnected it did started once, but if Start it with a DAC it dies. My (new) DAC is the LHLabs GeekOutV2 Infinity, one another is the EMU 0404USB. Please HELP! EDIT> It is a totally random behaviour / on further reboots I cannot open HQP anymore with/without a dac attached.