Connecting HQP to Holo

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
1

First, this is a dumb question, so bear with me.

My current setup: i7 ROCK NUC → (ethernet) Holo Red network transport→ (i2s) → PS Audio Directstream DAC

I’d like to insert the HQP on an Intel Mac between the ROCK and the Holo. Can I do that?

So like this: i7 ROCK NUC → (ethernet)-> HQP on Mac-> (ethernet)-> Holo …

Basically, want to send the bits to the Holo over the network. (Holo supports NAA.) I don’t want to connect through USB between the HQP and the Holo. .

Thanks

2

Yes, I would think that’s a common setup. I do it that way.
Setup in Roon the IP address to HQPlayer, Roon outputs to HQP. HQP will use the Holo red as it’s NAA.

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3

I have not tried as my roon and HQP are on the same m1 mini
Screenshot 2023-02-18 at 19.17.35

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4

So the HQP will automatically send the output bits over the network?

5

While a bit cheaper gear :slight_smile: I can say that HQP to NAA sounds better to me than HQP usb to Dac (and also Mac is only Dop). I use a Zen stream as NAA and a Zen Dac v2 Signature.

6

Select in the output the NAA

Screenshot 2023-02-18 at 7.21.55 PM

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7

Yes, you setup HQP to use the Red NAA. Then as mentioned, Roon configured to output to HQP.

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8

Cool! Thanks.

I don’t breed any special drivers etc on the Mac right? Too send the output to the network that is

9

Nothing special, just the HQP

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10

I think the only special thing is the sequence

First power the dac wait to boot
Then power the NAA wait to boot
Then start HQP on the Computer

Sometimes if you power on, shot down it gets stuck

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11

I’ll give the technical answer since I’m “that guy”.

Roon has its own network protocol Roon Advanced Audio Transport (RAAT). It’s used to send audio to Roon endpoints or zones.

HQP has its own network protocol called Network Audio Adapter (NAA). It’s used to send HQP output to NAA devices on the network.

HQP supports RAAT as input… you just need to point Roon at HQP via Settings → Setup (see response #2 above)

This will create an HQP endpoint in Roon. Select that, hit play, audio goes to HQP.

HQP will do its things with this input from Roon.

Now, you need to configure an output for HQP. The output you want is NAA and the Device will be your Red. The Red will advertise itself as NAA (once NAA is enabled) and appear in the dropdown (see example in response #6)

Soo Roon -RAAT-> HQP -NAA-> Red -USB/whatever-> DAC

Where RAAT and HQP happily dance together on your ethernet network. Happy listening.

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12

The perfect explanation

One thing I forgot, @shankha I do not know holo red but if it can run RAAT and NAA in the same time, I think you have to disable it from roon outputs (maybe roon takes the holo as exclusive device and HQP will not see the NAA). If I’m wrong hope I’ll get corrected

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13

Oh, there’s always “that guy”. Seriously, a nice, thorough, answer.

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14

NAA OS 4.3.1 supports Holo Red out of box. So you have alternative OS image for the Holo Red if you have a spare microSD card.

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15

How good will it be when Spring4 includes a CM4 inside ! Maybe :smile:

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16

Sorry I didn’t understand that. Why another OS?

17

If you using the Red only for NAA, using @jussi_laako 's NAA image minimizes software complication. Unnecessary software is never desirable: more bugs, more compute load, …

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18

Ah. Got it.

19

@jussi_laako, or anyone else:

Have you compared the sound quality of the Holo Red to the ultraRendu?

With your NAA OS 4.3.1 image, what is the max DSD and PCM rates the Holo Red supports?

20

It is very minimal OS, optimized precisely for NAA use and should have pretty much as up to date DAC support as possible.

So far I’ve tested it up to 768k and DSD512 over I2S to SMSL M400. But I think someone reported that DSD1024 works fine too, I’ll need to test it later when I have time. I’ve been too busy to do more testing yet.

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