I’ve had Roon for a good few months now and I’m in love. I’m finally starting to dig into the settings of my sources and call upon the upsampling software in Roon and I am enjoying the results. Roon continues to impress me more and more the deeper I dig into what is offered.
I have been reading about HQ player and I was wondering to those who use it, do you find it as something that you love and use all the time with Roon? Would you recommend it or do you find that what Roon offers is plenty?
Also, if I end up going for HQ player do I need to set it up on my Roon Core or can I set it up on my laptop and iPad that are using the Roon app?
Thanks a ton for the replies. These community conversations help a lot.
HQPlayer is independent piece of software. The beauty is that you can try different HQP configurations in trial run to see if that makes a difference in your set-up with hardware you use.
In my « configuration » I enjoy Roon for its interface and unbeatable library and zone management and HQPlayer is used in conjunction for the main listening area/zone.
To my setup HQPlayer brings wide diversity of upsampling features, for example (one of a few…) upsampling to PCM 1,5MHz, which Roon currently can not do. And many more…
I’ve tested everything before I tried Roon. The moment I started using it, it was a no-brainer. It’s the one. Before Roon, Audiravana and HQP were the closest contenders. I’ve gone back to re-trial both even after I purchased Roon from time to time as new versions appeared. A-Vana is quite good sounding but does not have the metadata or artist info support. HQP is a bit more complicated to get working, but it can be very useful and powerful because of its DSP toolset if you need them. I find Roon has more than enough for me and both the performance and sound quality improve after each annual update.
I’m reading up on what others have experienced before re-trailing the HQP again myself. I just want to see if their new filters make any difference for DSD upsampling.
To get the best out of HQPlayer’s DSP, it does best when you can bypass all of the DAC’s internal DSP. This way the DAC only converts digital directly to analogue.
Some DACs allow this. Some allow to bypass only some of the internal DSP.
DACs like Holo Audio and T+A and even iFi Audio’s Burr Brown models allow bypassing all internal DSP. RME ADI-2’s with AKM chips allow this too (in DSD Direct mode).
Yes, I am looking forward to hearing how the new updates will affect the “handshake” between Roon and HQP. I did have a quick listen last night, we’ll see what’s new when I get home tonight.
It’s a Denafrips Pontus with the NOS turned off, don’t know what else I can do on the DAC. My ultraRendu allows PCM to 768k and DSD to 512 (native). Hopefully, both formats upsampled without losing any gapless or bit-perfect characteristics.
It is part of my regular testing, sitting on top of the T+A HA 200. But I’m not always able to figure out all the details. Playback Designs Merlot is another one.
I use the T+A DAC8 DSD (line out/wide filter) with HQP (512DSD/ADSM7/PS Gauss XLA). I see that it is no longer among the recommended ones, perhaps because it has been replaced by the DAC 200 ? I’m curious to know if the difference is significant in terms of AQ in your opinion.
I have a T+A DAC 8 DSD and have no thoughts of retiring it. It is just too darn good.
I have directly compared Roon’s up-sampling to DSD512 compared to using HQ Player and I always hear an improvement with HQ Player, therefore I will be staying with Roon interface feeding HQ Player as my playback engine. I even just upgraded HQ Player because of the new Roon patch.
I cannot imagine having a setup without using these two incredible products!
