HQP and Chord Qutest

It might be worth checking if it’s all track changes, or it’s only when the sample rate changes.

I always experienced white noise issues when sample rate changed on my Hugo TT. It’s not a Roon issue or HQPlayer. The issue was very occasionally but scared the **** out of you when it happened. I finally solved the issue when upgrading to a non over sampling Holo May KTE DAC. Since then I have zero white noise issues.

Are you experiencing this at 705.6 setting?

Hello,
It’s an issue when the frequency changes and even then it doesn’t occur all the time. However without roon, I don’t have this issue using just HQPlayer’s client

I thought it may be a hardware issue. But when not using roon there is no issue. Yah I’m up sampling to 705khz.

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It always happens when upsampling to the maximum specification of the DAC, so in your case on the Qutest 705.6/768.0. On my TT I had the same issue at 352.8/384.0. Its definitely something to do with the USB implementation on Chord DACS. Since switching to the May KTE I can upsample to 1536.0 without any issues. It’s really annoying especially when Chord DACS are so good.

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It’s a classic Chord DAC issue. If you haven’t had the issue with HQP Client yet, it’s only a matter of time, it will happen.

It’s been reported with various Chord DACs for years, over on head-fi.

It’s a USB interface issue.

If you want high sample rates to feed Qutest, I think Audiowise SRC DX works trouble free (from what I’ve read by others)

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With Chord it is better to keep fixed 705.6k output rate, as this should avoid majority of such problems at least. There’s also not much point in changing output rate with Chord DACs, since they run the conversion stage at fixed rate anyway, so there are no separate clocks in those DACs for 44.1k and 48k base rates.

Some Chord DAC users have also reported that using smaller buffer time settings in HQPlayer reduce likelihood of this to happen. I know it is counterintuitive.

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Thanks everyone for your help. I love my Qutest but I’m beginning to think I should have opted for another manufacturer! @jussi_laako I’ll heed your advice and give it a try.

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I loved my TT as well and would have upgraded to a DAVE if it wasn’t for this issue. If you consider changing in the future, NOS DACS are just fantastic with HQPlayer and you will be really impressed with the options offered by Holo Audio.

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@Mark_Johnson Thanks for the suggestion!

Report: I set the buffer in HQPlayer to 5ms and I have Roon send a full second of silence when there is a rate change. I’ve listened to a playlist I have that bounces between 44.1, 48 and 96. So far no white noise!

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I hope you’re case is resolved but from personal experience, i fear the infamous white noise blast is not far away :pensive:

I hope i’m wrong. Keep us posted

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I certainly don’t want to be a killjoy, but I also did all this and thought the issue was solved, but the white noise will happen at anytime and at the moment you’re least expecting it. Happy listening for now!

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:smile: I lived in fear with headphones, waiting for it.

Anxiety filled listening sessions. Good times.

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LOL! Thanks guys.

I have noticed when I am playing an album there is no re-init of the DAC. It only seems to occur in play lists from different albums.

I’ll update when I have something new to say. So far so good.

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Must be even worse through cans. Brave man! :grinning:

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I have a Qutest and I reported elsewhere in this forum that my white noise problems were reduced greatly when I used a Raspberry Pi 4 and its USB 3 ports into the Qutest at 705 / 768 – i.e. the white noise occurred hardly ever.

I also have a SRC-DX and use this now in preference to the USB – at the moment I have nothing connected to the Qutest’s USB port. Again, I hardly ever get the white noise using this, at 705 / 768. I think it has happened once in about 4 months of SRC DX use. I found that when I want to use the double data rate to get 705 / 768 on the SRC DX you have to use a USB 2.0 port on the Raspberry Pi 4 – NOT the USB 3 port – it doesn’t want to do the double data rate when you connect it to the USB 3 port. No idea why, but I am not complaining. Sounds very nice indeed.

BTW I am using Ropieee XL for the HQP NAA and it is flawless.

Hope this is helpful

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I’m surprised the SRC-DX had this issue at all

Ever had this @Daniel_Mance ?

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@Steve_Taylor1 that sounds awesome, but I also have good news to report. I compiled on arch linux the real time kernel. I’ve been hammering roon and by extension HQ and Dac all afternoon. No white noise so far! I also do not see the Dac being reinitialized like I did before.

I have never had this issue on SRC-DX with Qutest using dual BNC 705/768 in over 1 year of use. I was a regular victim of the white noise on USB typically when switching rate to 48k base. SRC DX sounds a bit more relaxed too (or perhaps it’s me that’s more relaxed not being on tenterhooks waiting to get blasted).

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That’s promising. I guess if my music is interrupted again I’ll have to look into purchasing the SRC-DX. It’s just after my outlay on Dac roon and hq…

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