HPQe NAA UP Gateway, Atom

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
21

I will try the other way soon, when hardware arrives. Will add a shielded USB card, where the inside psu does not require attchment, and outside linear psu is sufficient. All traffic from PCIe bus is galvanically isolated and as said the card itself is shielded, from the airborne noise. This will be installed in the HQPe computer as it is inaudible at 1 meter from DAC, 15-16 dB. Would have been nice to have a way to compare … :slight_smile:

22

What functionality do you use with UAC2? What functionality does provide?

I’ve searched UAC2 but really haven’t found what it is or what is brings to the mix.

23

Essentially it makes HQPlayer look like a USB attached DAC.

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24

For use with an ADC? Is there a UAC2 primer document you point me to?

25

It allows me to pass Apple Music Hi-Res and Tidal (and any app’s audio) through HQPlayer , with automatic sample rate switching

Using the official apps , not needing to use a 3rd party app.

There’s cool features in the official apps that you don’t get in any 3rd party app.

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26

Basically it allows you to feed any USB audio source into HQPlayer.

If that USB source is an ADC then yes, that too.

But USB source can be many things.

If trying to feed an analogue source into HQPlayer then you don’t need automatic sample rate switching- you can use a cheaper miniDSP USBStreamer with fixed sample rate to feed HQP. As long as your ADC has Toslink output

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27

Another nice alternative with HQPlayer Embedded is RME ADI-2 Pro. It provides three digital inputs (AES/EBU and S/PDIF optical & coaxial), and analog inputs.

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28

I have just received my UP Gateway. I have supplied it with 5V4A and I can see the blue light in the board. However, I have connected it to HDMI, no response, try different cable, no response. Mouse, Keyboard and Bootable usb are inserted.

I don’t even know whether I have turn on the UP Gateway. Do I need to press any button?

Please help. Thanks.

29

It turns on when you plug in power. No need to press any buttons. You should get picture if you have HDMI cable connected when powering up (at that point monitor is detected).

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30

As Jussi mentioned, you need to have HDMI monitor connected before you power on the UP.

If you plug HDMI monitor in after you power UP, you won’t see anything.

31

Tried many methods suggested in UP community. Nothing works ….

Quite common HDMI failure after some research. Sigh

32

Hi @Chunhao_Lee, how can I install the NAA OS image on the UP gateway?

I am guessing

  1. Load NAA OS image onto microSD card.
  2. How do I boot UP Gateway? Connect the microSD card to UP gateway using some kind of adapter? Are the steps mentioned somewhere?
33

  1. Download here: https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/naa/images/naa-423-x64ramfs.7z

  2. Unzip it (7zip file)

  3. Use etcher to burn image to USB stick. My UP doesn’t have microSD slot.

  4. Boot UP Gateway from the USB stick. It will run from RAM entirely.

That’s it. It’s one of the best NAAs in my experience.

HQPlayer should see your DAC via NAA

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34

  1. Use etcher to burn image to USB stick. My UP doesn’t have microSD slot.
    I am guessing use this software - balenaEtcher - Flash OS images to SD cards & USB drives

  2. Boot UP Gateway from the USB stick. It will run from RAM entirely.
    Does this mean, just stick the USB to the UP gateway and just turn it on? or are there other things needed like attach a keyboard and somehow bring up the boot page?

35

Like any computer you might need to check in BIOS if it is set to boot from USB. I can’t recall what the BIOS default is, I had mine for years now.

You also do need a screen and keyboard if you have multiple NAA OS images running since they can’t all be called the same name ‘naa’. So you can rename ‘naa’ into unique names.

But if you only run one NAA image then its fine to leave this one as ‘naa’

1 Like
36

I suggest to use Raspberry Pi Imager doing this job. balenaEtcher sometimes would damage the boot sector (reasons unknown)…

37

Is the Upboard Gateway powerful enough to upsample to PCM 192 with HQPlayer OS or is it strictly for NAA?

I won’t have a need to do more demanding processing than PCM 192.

38

Which filter?

Remember HQPlayer has a lot of filters with different CPU demands.

Without details it is like asking ‘how long is a piece of string’ :grinning:

I can say yes Gateway will work for 1x = gauss-long and Nx = gauss-hires-lp

(which is the default recommended combo and quite popular and my personal favourite these days)

39

ATM I prefer 1x - poly-sinc-xtr-short-mp and Nx - poly-sinc-gauss-short

But I’d like to have enough processing headroom to be able to use any of the current filters as well as future proof as best I can.

Instead of the gateway I’m opting for the configurable Upboard so that I can add a PoE expansion module so I have some processor flexibility (at additional cost). Currently I have in my cart the same specs at the Gateway. But better to spend another $100 on a CPU upgrade to make sure.

Alternatively, is there something else in this price range I should consider to run HQPlayer OS for PCM 192 upsampling for a USB only DAC?

40

Then if UpBoard is the way you want to go, you should find the fastest processor they offer (for most headroom / future proofness)

I have the x5-z8350 but don’t have the time to test every single filter :smile:

Mine is running NAA OS.

If you tell me 3 filters I can try those running HQP OS on the weekend

Or just buy the fastest in your budget