Static When Upsampling 24/192 to DSD or PCM (384kHz)

Same here - it’s a horrible noise especially if the music is playing quite loudly before it breaks up. Will check the gain settings in HQ Player when I get home from work but I’m pretty sure I have reduced the volume as per Jussi’s recommendation.

Checked my HQ Player settings - max volume is set at - 3.0 db. In Roon I’ve also disabled all the new DSP settings.

I’ve seen that happen with Chord Mojo, possibly due to some small glitch on USB transfer. Happens for example after couple of minutes when playing straight from iPhone 6 through the Lightning-USB adapter.

However your experience that volume control at Roon side affects this would indicate that this is a different thing… But just in case, you could try with some other USB cable, preferably a regular HiSpeed certified cable (costs 10€ or so).

Not just the volume control but any DSP prevents the issue from happening.

  • The issue happens on 2 different systems with different DACs and cables
  • The issue never happened with V1.2 on the same systems

Hi @mike and @support,

Any progress with my issue? This is a serious issue for me since a significant part of my collection is unlistenable.

Thanks,
Juri

Hi @support,

More info on the issue:

I just played a 32/192 album without any issues while 24/192 always causes static. So the problem is with the 24 bit tracks.

Just updated to HQ Player 3.16 and the problem has gone. Whatever the cause I’m just relieved it solved itself. 3.16 sounds better too running polysinc xtr… Faster initialisation as well.

Good to hear. I’m going to upgrade HQP.

Spoke too soon - the problem is back again.

I’ve since tried a number of separate things including updating the software on the sonic orbiter and microrendu, replacing the USB cable, routing the Ethernet cable directly to the router (and not via a switch), removing the Wyred 4 Sound Recovery (which is probably pointless anyway with the microrendu), using different filters in HQ Player, switching from SDM output to PCM output, turning the convolution engine on and off (I use Acourate), reducing the max gain from -3 db down to - 8 db all to no avail. Looking at the HQ Player GUI the round knob in the top right corner goes red just before the white noise kicks in.

Since upgrading HQ Player it does take longer for the white noise to kick in (usually 20-30 seconds) and on one album it didn’t kick in at all (hence me thinking it was fixed).

The only solution I have is to stop using HQ Player for 192k tracks (there is no issue just using Roon on its own). Which is a shame. Roon sounds good but not as good as HQ Player.

I’ve got a Tascam ADC/DAC which I might insert into the system to see if the issue repeats itself.

I moved my Roon Core to a spare laptop until the issue is resolved. This is not ideal since I dont want to run an additional computer in my house. Hey @support, @mike or anybody else. Do we have a chance for this issue to be resolved?

That means detected peak exceeding 0 dBFS level and the limiter kicks in. Do you have any peak gains in your convolution filters? You should add gain compensation in convolution engine setup so that the maximum peak gain is compensated. Alternatively you just need to keep turning the volume down until it stops kicking the limiter.

Hi @Go_Ga ----- Thank you for the continued feedback here. I touched base with my team yesterday to review this thread and the feedback that has been given here.

In your follow up to Jussi’s questions, you mentioned that this issue has occurred on " 2 different systems with different DACs and cables". Based on your initial report I can assume that this was one of the systems that saw this issue (see below).

Roon Core 1.3 on NAS QNAP-TS453pro >> HQPlayer (3.13.3) on a dedicated PC (i5-6600T, 16Gb, WIN2016 Core, AO 2.20, Fidelizer Pro) >> Musical Paradise MP-D2 DSD DAC

Can you provide me the details of the second configuration that also had this issue?

-Eric

hi @Eric,

Here is the second system:

Roon Core 1.3 on NAS QNAP-TS453pro >> HQPlayer (3.13.3) on a dedicated laptop (i7,8gb, WIN2012 Core, AO 2.20) >> iFi iDSD micro DAC

I’ve tried adjusting the gain compensation in the convolution engine - including turning off the convolution engine completely. The problem persists.

I had more success turning the gain right down (-31 dbs) in the main settings which seems to help - the track will play for up to 2-4 minutes (and very rarely I can get through a whole track) but eventually it will drop out and the white noise kicks in. I’m not sure how far I’m supposed to go in reducing maximum gain in the main settings (-31 dbs seems fairly extreme?). Should I just keep going? At some point I will run out of volume on my dac/pre-amp.

I’ve also tried different USB cables - the problem persists.

I’m beginning to wonder if something else is causing the problem as I’ve tried everything in HQ Player’s settings. I think it comes back to Roon 1.3 - the problem only started when I upgraded. Before then it was rock solid.

It’s not the end of the world as it only occurs on 192khz tracks - but it is annoying.

-31 is certainly extreme. I cannot imagine case where -6 dB wouldn’t be enough for any source with convolution disabled. And it is unlikely that any convolution filter would have peak boost in excess of 30 dB (would be crazy). Usually any peak boosts are well within +6 dB range.

So there is something really strange going on…

@Mark_Nicholson – can you tell us the details of your system, as described here?

@Go_Ga – am I correct that you’re only experiencing this issue when running with the two Celeron Cores? No issues on your other, faster machine, right?

@mike, actually it’s a quad core CPU. Yes, the problem happens only on the celeron based NAS. But I think that my NAS has enough power. 32-192 files run OK, DSD runs OK. It’s 24bit files that cause the issue.

Thanks Mike. I’m running the latest version of Roon. Windows 10 Pro 64 bit. Roon Server is running on a Sonic Transporter (the basic version). HQ Player is running on a fairly powerful PC (Intel Skylake i7-6700k, 32GB DDR4 RAM, Geforce GTX1070 graphics card). No other software is running on the PC. Music is stored on a NAS drive (Synology DS216j). I’m also using a Microrendu (NAA). Issue only happens with 192khz tracks when using HQ Player (and only started to occur when I upgraded to Roon 1.3). It happens whether or not I upsample to DSD (see posts above about all the different changes I made to HQ Player settings none of which cured the issue). All my 192khz tracks are FLAC downloads from HD Tracks. The network is all wired Ethernet. I am using Accourate filters in the HQ Player convolution engine but the problem persists even if it is disabled. DAC is a Nuprime DAC10H. I’ve tried different USB cables. I don’t currently have that many albums on the NAS drive as I’ve only just started downloading from HD Tracks over the past 1-2 years (approx. 40 albums). It’s never an issue with Tidal or lower res tracks from the NAS drive.

I suffered similar static issues when I converted 44.1khz to dsd 128 (with whatever filters) in HQPlayer. I tried everything but failed to fix this issue until recently. However, when I adjusted the buffer size in the setting of HQPlayer to the lowest level (I know it is quite counter-intuitive), it is gone surprisingly. I am not sure whether it will work or not in your system though.

Upgraded to HQPlayer 3.16.1 and the latest Roon update. Also switched Roon core to my PC (as opposed to my Sonic Transporter). Not sure why but the problem seems to have gone away (for now). Played several 24/192 tracks and no issues so far.