# HQPlayer 5 vs 6: What are the differences?

**URL:** <https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqplayer-5-vs-6-what-are-the-differences/323018>\
**Category:** HQ Player\
**Created:** [July 29, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqplayer-5-vs-6-what-are-the-differences/323018 "2026-07-29T15:41:10Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 3\
**Page:** 1

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**Author:** ![James\_Schaefer](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/james_schaefer/32/264032_2.png) [@James\_Schaefer](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/James_Schaefer)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 3:41pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqplayer-5-vs-6-what-are-the-differences/323018/1 "2026-07-29T15:41:11Z")

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Hi everyone, I’m trying to understand the value proposition for upgrading…

What are the meaningful differences between HQPlayer 5 and 6 for a user who runs it and Roon on an M4 Mac mini? I have multiple systems throughout the house, connected via Holo Audio Reds running HQPlayer OS.

@jussi_laako What are the current benefits of 6 over 5 for such a user, and what are improvements in the pipeline that’ll be a significant upgrade?

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**Author:** ![jussi\_laako](https://community.roonlabs.com/letter_avatar/jussi_laako/32/5_5575768a8748004e209b776fc1b2916d.png) [@jussi\_laako](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/jussi_laako)\
**Post date:** [July 29, 2026, 10:43pm UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqplayer-5-vs-6-what-are-the-differences/323018/2 "2026-07-29T22:43:55Z")

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You have for example potentially somewhat improved performance, new larger set of source content cleanup filters, some detailed information in Client’s filter selection lists, etc.

Of course I won’t reveal what is planned for v6 going forward, and I don’t even know about all things I’m going to do for v6 yet. IOW, I also don’t want to tie my hands at this point, but instead leave space for so far unplanned more important things. So as before with the earlier releases, time will tell.

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**Author:** ![Progisus](https://community.roonlabs.com/user_avatar/community.roonlabs.com/progisus/32/132370_2.png) [@Progisus](https://community.roonlabs.com/u/Progisus)\
**Post date:** [July 30, 2026, 11:28am UTC](https://community.roonlabs.com/t/hqplayer-5-vs-6-what-are-the-differences/323018/3 "2026-07-30T11:28:30Z")

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The big thing for me is the upnp stack. It has allowed me to use lyrion with the upnp bridge plugin. Now roon, jplay and lyrion (lms) can all play to the same hqplayer 6. It lets me use hqplayer for eq (matrix) which on lyrion is weak.