HQ Player

[George Hincapie]

Are any of you using HQ Player and a NAA end point to upsample? I'm keen to understand what is needed from a hardware/software perspective, and how difficult any software configuration is.

TIA.

[George Hincapie]

Are any of you using HQ Player and a NAA end point to upsample? I'm keen to understand what is needed from a hardware/software perspective, and how difficult any software configuration is.

TIA.

Me.

I have a purpose built headless server with HQP embedded and Roon Core. Roon is optional but the interface is light years ahead of HQP and you can then very easily sync HQP with Roon, so that Roon acts as the transport buttons - you only need to go into HQP when you want to change any settings.

I then have HQP NAA on my Sonore MicroRendu. You can probably put the NAA on the server, and do away with the endpoint, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I upsample from PCM to DSD256 and feed that to my RME DAC operating in DSD Direct mode.
By far the most engaging sound quality I've ever enjoyed from a digital source.

Regarding server spec, much depends on what you what you want to do - do you want to upsample to DSD? Or just to a higher rate PCM? That will probably depend on what DAC you are going to use. Upsampling to DSD is the most CPU heavy.

The Audiophile Style forum is the best source of HQP user info - HQP creator / director 'Miska' regularly answers questions there: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/forum/10-software/

I had my server built my Martin at Audiostore: https://www.vortexbox.co.uk/

He is very knowledgeable and happy to chat about what you need, and what you don't need, and he supplies the server as close to plug & play as is possible. But, a lot of people are capable of building a server for themselves.

[George Hincapie]

Me.

I have a purpose built headless server with HQP embedded and Roon Core. Roon is optional but the interface is light years ahead of HQP and you can then very easily sync HQP with Roon, so that Roon acts as the transport buttons - you only need to go into HQP when you want to change any settings.

I then have HQP NAA on my Sonore MicroRendu. You can probably put the NAA on the server, and do away with the endpoint, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I upsample from PCM to DSD256 and feed that to my RME DAC operating in DSD Direct mode.
By far the most engaging sound quality I've ever enjoyed from a digital source.

Regarding server spec, much depends on what you what you want to do - do you want to upsample to DSD? Or just to a higher rate PCM? That will probably depend on what DAC you are going to use. Upsampling to DSD is the most CPU heavy.

The Audiophile Style forum is the best source of HQP user info - HQP creator / director 'Miska' regularly answers questions there: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/forum/10-software/

I had my server built my Martin at Audiostore: https://www.vortexbox.co.uk/

He is very knowledgeable and happy to chat about what you need, and what you don't need, and he supplies the server as close to plug & play as is possible. But, a lot of people are capable of building a server for themselves.

Thanks Paul, that's really useful.

My current Roon server is also from Martin, a Prestige MX. I think it's an i5, but cannot find the email order confirmation so am not certain of the spec.

Ideally I'd like to try upsampling to DSD 1024. I've looked at the stats on the Optical Rendu and that tops out at DSD 512. I suspect I may need a different end point to run the NAA software on, but I'll check with Martin about that and my server.

What do you upsample to out of curiosity?

[George Hincapie]

Me.

I have a purpose built headless server with HQP embedded and Roon Core. Roon is optional but the interface is light years ahead of HQP and you can then very easily sync HQP with Roon, so that Roon acts as the transport buttons - you only need to go into HQP when you want to change any settings.

I then have HQP NAA on my Sonore MicroRendu. You can probably put the NAA on the server, and do away with the endpoint, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I upsample from PCM to DSD256 and feed that to my RME DAC operating in DSD Direct mode.
By far the most engaging sound quality I've ever enjoyed from a digital source.

Regarding server spec, much depends on what you what you want to do - do you want to upsample to DSD? Or just to a higher rate PCM? That will probably depend on what DAC you are going to use. Upsampling to DSD is the most CPU heavy.

The Audiophile Style forum is the best source of HQP user info - HQP creator / director 'Miska' regularly answers questions there: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/forum/10-software/

I had my server built my Martin at Audiostore: https://www.vortexbox.co.uk/

He is very knowledgeable and happy to chat about what you need, and what you don't need, and he supplies the server as close to plug & play as is possible. But, a lot of people are capable of building a server for themselves.

Thanks Paul, that's really useful.

My current Roon server is also from Martin, a Prestige MX. I think it's an i5, but cannot find the email order confirmation so am not certain of the spec.

Ideally I'd like to try upsampling to DSD 1024. I've looked at the stats on the Optical Rendu and that tops out at DSD 512. I suspect I may need a different end point to run the NAA software on, but I'll check with Martin about that and my server.

What do you upsample to out of curiosity?

I upsample to DSD256 - that is the max for my RME DAC.

I've found that the new SDM 'EC' modulators in HQP are a big jump in sound quality. So much so that DSD128 with the new modulators sounds marginally better than 256 with the old 'non EC' modulators.

I had an old Luxe model (a bit smaller than your Prestige) from Martin that he stripped out and basically rebuilt with the highest spec he could fit in - hex core, heat pipes, extra RAM - I think he said it's now somewhere between Prestige XL and XL+ spec. I can do 256DSD with the new EC modulators, but with not a lot to spare - once in a blue moon I get a drop out, and I keep an eye on the power supply temperature. I would think it's a reasonably straightforward job to up the spec on your Prestige, but Martin will know best, of course.

Doing 1024DSD with the new modulators might be a big ask. I reckon that 512 would still be pretty spectacular, though. And, 256 is none too shabby, based on what I'm hearing.

[George Hincapie]

Me.

I have a purpose built headless server with HQP embedded and Roon Core. Roon is optional but the interface is light years ahead of HQP and you can then very easily sync HQP with Roon, so that Roon acts as the transport buttons - you only need to go into HQP when you want to change any settings.

I then have HQP NAA on my Sonore MicroRendu. You can probably put the NAA on the server, and do away with the endpoint, but I don't know if that's a good idea or not. I upsample from PCM to DSD256 and feed that to my RME DAC operating in DSD Direct mode.
By far the most engaging sound quality I've ever enjoyed from a digital source.

Regarding server spec, much depends on what you what you want to do - do you want to upsample to DSD? Or just to a higher rate PCM? That will probably depend on what DAC you are going to use. Upsampling to DSD is the most CPU heavy.

The Audiophile Style forum is the best source of HQP user info - HQP creator / director 'Miska' regularly answers questions there: https://audiophilestyle.com/forums/forum/10-software/

I had my server built my Martin at Audiostore: https://www.vortexbox.co.uk/

He is very knowledgeable and happy to chat about what you need, and what you don't need, and he supplies the server as close to plug & play as is possible. But, a lot of people are capable of building a server for themselves.

Thanks Paul, that's really useful.

My current Roon server is also from Martin, a Prestige MX. I think it's an i5, but cannot find the email order confirmation so am not certain of the spec.

Ideally I'd like to try upsampling to DSD 1024. I've looked at the stats on the Optical Rendu and that tops out at DSD 512. I suspect I may need a different end point to run the NAA software on, but I'll check with Martin about that and my server.

What do you upsample to out of curiosity?

I upsample to DSD256 - that is the max for my RME DAC.

I've found that the new SDM 'EC' modulators in HQP are a big jump in sound quality. So much so that DSD128 with the new modulators sounds marginally better than 256 with the old 'non EC' modulators.

I had an old Luxe model (a bit smaller than your Prestige) from Martin that he stripped out and basically rebuilt with the highest spec he could fit in - hex core, heat pipes, extra RAM - I think he said it's now somewhere between Prestige XL and XL+ spec. I can do 256DSD with the new EC modulators, but with not a lot to spare - once in a blue moon I get a drop out, and I keep an eye on the power supply temperature. I would think it's a reasonably straightforward job to up the spec on your Prestige, but Martin will know best, of course.

Doing 1024DSD with the new modulators might be a big ask. I reckon that 512 would still be pretty spectacular, though. And, 256 is none too shabby, based on what I'm hearing.

Excellent! Thanks again

I'll post back once I've made some headway.