Best HQPlayer DSD Settings for Live Music and Volume Questions

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
1

Hello. Can anyone recommend HQPlayer filters, settings etc. for upsampling live concerts to DSD from 16/44 FLAC please?

Additionally, when upsampling to DSD, the volume is significantly lower than if not upsampling or if I upsample in JRiver. I have selected the 6 dB boost. I have ended up setting the min volume to -6 and max to +9 but playing at nothing higher than 6. This seems not right based upon reading posts here, but otherwise, I really have to crank my preamp. I’m using:

Marantz AV7701 preamp
Outlaw 7200 amp
Late 2013 Mac Pro 32gb, 3.7 GHz quad-core Xeon E5
Marantz NA8005 run in USB DAC Mode

Any help on the above issues/questions would be greatly appreciated. Thanks very much.

2

That’s the way DSD works, it lowers -6dB over what pcm is to provide extra headroom. I wouldn’t have your max volume set that high, I have mine set at -3dB to 0dB just turn the volume on your amp up more, it’s better than potentially hearing that awful clipping sound.

As for filter settings, it’s all personal preference which has no best, personally I prefer poly-sinc / ADSD5 in my system, but yours could be totally different.

3

I’ve been listening a lot to Redbook using closed-form/ADSD7 and upsampled to DSD128. I think the number of taps in closed form expands to fit computing capacity, so it will sound better on a faster i7 or Xeon compared to a slower processor. I find closed form has a bigger soundstage and a more natural tonal palette. I think it would be good for live recordings.

4

Thanks very much, I appreciate it.

5

I appreciate you taking the time to answer. Thanks so much.

6

In terms of volume there are a few directions you can follow.

To avoid digital clipping, which it’s often present in rock/pop PCM recordings and which you can notice with the Limited counter, you should set your Vol Max to -3dB.

DSD standard recommends music to be recorded at -6dB compared to PCM. So you can enable to +6dB to have similar levels between PCM and DSD. However, most DSD is recorded at higher level and it’s also advisable -1 or -2dB when upsampling/upconversion is involved. Therefore, in this situation Vol Max at -3dB comes handy again.

Ultimately, Vol Max should be always set at -3dB for PCM and DSD.

7

Is it possible that my DAC doesn’t those two options (closed form and asdm7)? When choosing either of those, all I get is static.

8

Replied in other thread. Are you sure input files are 44.1 kHz ? Closed-form only does integer output sampling rates so problems can arise with 48 kHz files.

9

You are the man… The files are 48… Is there a data table somewhere that explains this all. Will closed work with 96 or 192?

10

Selecting “Auto” in the output sample rate drop down on the main screen will restrict output to highest supported sample rate for the selected filter, but that may not be compatible with rates supported by your DAC.

Poly-sinc filters (except poly-sinc-mqa) support all sampling rate outputs so can be better filter choices for non 44.1 kHz files.