Roon / HQPlayer Integration

[The Computer Audiophile]

As suggested, here is a separate thread for Roon HQP integration discussions.

 

Let er rip :~)

[Outlaw]

Can not play native DSD files with Roon through Hqplayer.If I try to play DSD file get no sound and the time bar goes from one second to end of song instantly,also switches to a different album.At this point I have to quit Roon and restart as even my Flac files will not play

[sdolezalek]

Given that a lot of us are going to be interested in implementing this combination, does anyone have it working to their satisfaction yet, i.e. without stutters, playing back both PCM and DSD without restarting the program, etc?

 

If so, could you share what computer hardware you are using and what your HQP settings are?

 

Much appreciated!

[jhwalker]

Given that a lot of us are going to be interested in implementing this combination, does anyone have it working to their satisfaction yet, i.e. without stutters, playing back both PCM and DSD without restarting the program, etc?

 

If so, could you share what computer hardware you are using and what your HQP settings are?

 

Much appreciated!

 

No problems here, after a couple of tweaks:

 

1) DSD > DSD resampling takes a *lot* more resources than PCM > DSD transcoding. Don't do it (File | DSDIFF/DSF settings . . . | DirectSDM "On")

2) Limit the DSF sample rate to the highest your computer can do *without* stuttering (e.g., my DAC will do DSD512, but the highest my computer can do reliably is DSD128)

3) Allow enough time between stops in Roon for the interface to reset; i.e., if you click Stop, then immediately try to play something else, you can count on it loosing the connection or hanging

4) For that matter, use the "CTRL-T" keyboard shortcut to stop, instead of clicking the Stop button

5) If you do get stuck (i.e., Roon acts as if it's playing, but no sound is coming out), click the Volume button in the lower right hand corner, then click the (somewhat) hidden "Reset" button - you should regain control without having to restart either Roon or HQPlayer

6) Finally, be sure you have the IP address configured correctly - the stream comes from the *server*, not your remote . . . so the local "loopback" address will only work if HQPlayer is installed on the same box as your Roon server. If your HQPlayer is on a different computer from your Roon server, you must specify the actual IP address of the HQPlayer computer for the stream to work.

[Outlaw]

Have direct directSDM on.Will not play native DSD files with Roon and Hqplayer.Will play the DSD file through Hqplayer by itself.Also have had Hqplayer quit a few times .

[jhwalker]

Have direct directSDM on.Will not play native DSD files with Roon and Hqplayer.Will play the DSD file through Hqplayer by itself.Also have had Hqplayer quit a few times .

 

Hm . . . works for me Obviously, still some variables to sort out!

[firedog]

It works well for me. Do have an occasional problem with loss of connection. But as John said, this is solved with a click on the volume icon in Roon, and then a click on the "disconnect" (broken link) icon. After that you can restart playback.

 

Outlaw: Does your Roon setup show that it recognizes and is connected to HQP? If HQP works on it's own, it should work with Roon. All Roon is doing is sending a digital stream to HQP.

 

To repeat: Are your Roon server installation and your HQP setup on the same PC? If so, define HQP as "localhost" in Roon. If they are on different PCs, then define HQP with the home network IP of its' machine in your network.

 

Worth it to look at the Roon Community thread on how to setup HQP integration. Also the Roon people are really good with support, I recommend asking support questions in the support section. There's already an HQP thread.

[Munchoba]

Got mu Eureka moment when Roon and HQ worked!

Now I can't get it to play DSD...

 

Anyone figure this out?

thx

[Miska]

Got mu Eureka moment when Roon and HQ worked!

Now I can't get it to play DSD...

 

It should play DSD just fine as long as output mode is SDM/DSD. But DSD to PCM conversion is not functional with Roon yet. Material for the 3.13 release next year...

[Munchoba]

Thank you,

I can leave it on SDM/DSD all of the time, even for 16/44 playback?

Am I ok with the DSD5v2 252 +fs setting?

Bernard

[orgel]

Apparently, my poor old mid-2011 Mac mini (2.3GHz Core i5, 8GB RAM) doesn't have enough horsepower to convert PCM to DSD on the fly without stuttering. However, if I play my ALAC files as PCM (Roon -> HQP), I can upsample and filter without a lot of issues.

 

Is there a way to set up HQP so that it plays PCM as PCM and DSF as SDM without me having to manually switch it over?

 

(I'm also willing to entertain the possibility that I'm missing something obvious and I should be able to convert PCM to DSD64 on the fly without the stuttering.)

 

--David

[Mystic]

Yes, under a settings window for dff/dsf you can set it to play through and not convert to pcm.

[kschac]

I'm enjoying the sound of HQ Player fed by Roon, although it is sometimes a struggle to get HQPlayer to work on my MacMini 2011. I am getting frequent crashes, disconnections, etc.

 

If I use the Polysinc setting, I get stuttering, si I cannot use that setting. Closed form settings do work but the program seems to revert to Polysinc whenever it restarts (or after crashes, of which there have been quite a few). How do I get HQPlayer to "remember" to start up in a Closed Form setting?

[Priaptor]

I'm enjoying the sound of HQ Player fed by Roon, although it is sometimes a struggle to get HQPlayer to work on my MacMini 2011. I am getting frequent crashes, disconnections, etc.

 

If I use the Polysinc setting, I get stuttering, si I cannot use that setting. Closed form settings do work but the program seems to revert to Polysinc whenever it restarts (or after crashes, of which there have been quite a few). How do I get HQPlayer to "remember" to start up in a Closed Form setting?

 

Definitely a work in progress, BUT, does show promise. I am clueless to the various settings so am just happy to see the possibilities, which I can see are huge, in the near future.

[theppd]

You have to set the same setting in the settings window. File/Settings. Also, try the polysinc filters with -2s settings —*those are way easier with processors

[kschac]

You have to set the same setting in the settings window. File/Settings. Also, try the polysinc filters with -2s settings —*those are way easier with processors

 

Thank you for the tip and using Settings (or on my Mac, Preferences) to get the program to remember the preferred filter. That worked. However, I still have the same problem with the polysinc -2s filters -- very bad stuttering, slowed down music, etc.

 

My other difficulty is that when playing tracks with a high sampling rate (96 kHz or 192 kHz) I get a very loud hissing overlaying the music. Playing 44 kHz material or DSD files is no problem (and they sound great). Any ideas?

[theppd]

Thank you for the tip and using Settings (or on my Mac, Preferences) to get the program to remember the preferred filter. That worked. However, I still have the same problem with the polysinc -2s filters -- very bad stuttering, slowed down music, etc.

 

My other difficulty is that when playing tracks with a high sampling rate (96 kHz or 192 kHz) I get a very loud hissing overlaying the music. Playing 44 kHz material or DSD files is no problem (and they sound great). Any ideas?

 

I'm also getting that hiss sound sometimes (when oversample higher than DSD64) that's because Vega's clock are too sensitive and precise while the current version of HQP isn't as far as I can hear)

 

Regarding the stuttering and stuff, check the processes in the Activity Monitor. Maybe there are some eating the power also? Or it is possible your Mac isn't powerful enough?

[1markr]

I believe there are some bugs in 3.12b3 that were acknowledged earlier on, and will be fixed soon.

 

I never had problems with the poly-sinc family of filters but now I have major stuttering where I had none before. Using "closed form" with ASDM7, @ DSD256 for now.

[kschac]

I'm also getting that hiss sound sometimes (when oversample higher than DSD64) that's because Vega's clock are too sensitive and precise while the current version of HQP isn't as far as I can hear)

 

Regarding the stuttering and stuff, check the processes in the Activity Monitor. Maybe there are some eating the power also? Or it is possible your Mac isn't powerful enough?

 

I have a probably-underpowered late 2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 Gb of RAM -- would doubling the RAM to 16 Gb help? I have basically nothing else running except HQP and RoonServer. With Closed Form I am getting 70% of CPU for HQP; with Polysinc - 2s (which just starting working for some reason), i get 125% of CPU (which seems impossible).

[theppd]

I have a probably-underpowered late 2012 Mac Mini 2.3 GHz Intel Core i7 with 8 Gb of RAM -- would doubling the RAM to 16 Gb help? I have basically nothing else running except HQP and RoonServer. With Closed Form I am getting 70% of CPU for HQP; with Polysinc - 2s (which just starting working for some reason), i get 125% of CPU (which seems impossible).

 

Not sure regarding +8gig of ram honestly(

At first with clean polysinc I got 200% and I believe it means that 2 cores are 100% loaded. No magic here)

[kschac]

Thanks!

[theppd]

I believe there are some bugs in 3.12b3 that were acknowledged earlier on, and will be fixed soon.

 

I never had problems with the poly-sinc family of filters but now I have major stuttering where I had none before. Using "closed form" with ASDM7, @ DSD256 for now.

 

Hope so indeed!

[theppd]

3.12 stable is live now Signalyst

Haven't tested yet but should be more reliable!

 

- Support for Roon as control interface and media source.

- Support for offloading part of the processing to a GPU using NVIDIA CUDA.

- Support for cross-application raw streams and extensions to the remote control API.

- Lower overhead Pipeline SDM implementation.

- Fix ASDM7 initialization bug.

- Various smaller fixes and optimizations.

[theppd]

Ok, just tested this version and now it works fine even with the clean poly-sinc filter.

[kschac]

Ok, just tested this version and now it works fine even with the clean poly-sinc filter.

 

Same here. The regular poly-sinc filter works fine, as do various sampling rates that were giving me problems before.

 

I still have occasional problems switching among different albums/tracks. I have to hit the volume control disconnection button to get things going again sometimes.