HQPlayer - DSD256 (minimum) NAA input streaming DACs thread

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
42

That looks like great value.
Looking forward to finding some reviews

43

I see it was shown at the Gustard booth at Munich hifi show 2023 - so indeed is Gustard

1 Like
44

@dabassgoesboomboom
Do you know of any indicator of the InnoMaker DAC HAT that itā€™s really receiving native DSD signal? Especially through MPD? At the moment I canā€™t find anything. I have my doubts about this. Because when I try to play a DSD file through aplay I have only S16_LE and S32_LE as available formats.

45

Yes I mentioned a few times above in replies - I measure the analogue output of the DACā€¦ it is quite obvious if the output is DSD64, DSD128 or DSD256 - and PCM353kHz is also very different and very good

46

@Cameron_Rector this might interest you.

47

Ok @dabassgoesboomboom!! Maybe Iā€™ll Guinea pig this lol! Seems similar to the A26.
I also want to see what the Holo Cyan2 has up its sleeve.

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48

Same company as Gustard.

Yes the Cyan2 will be interesting. But will be USB/I2S.

I suspect future May/Springs will have streaming input. Seems the obvious thing to do for their more expensive models. Cyan is budget.

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49

@dabassgoesboomboom All they gotta do is put the Red inside the May and get rid of the R2R ladder and we will be good to goā€‹:joy::joy:!

50

Nice, thanks.
Finally a ā€žsmaller A26ā€œ. :smiley:

P.S. Times of RPiā€˜s is over?

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51

Here you really have me wondering how one can detect/distinguish the digital input by measuring the analog output !?

Dirk

52

Similar to how you can measure different HQPlayer digital filters out of a DAC right? See how the filters look different? You can even see how DSD rates look different too

53

Not sure. If Gustard stop updating their streaming board next year and you want latest NAA for years to come, maybe a separate NAA like an RPi will be required

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54

Thatā€™s also my meaning and so Iā€™m glad that Holo Audio is using in the Red a RPi, which is open for other firmwares.
Also all the All-In-One items lacking in some points like headphone amp, pre amp, decoder,ā€¦

55

I am with you how you can measure the filters used tp produce the analog output.
However, all measurements are done with a combination of a 19khz and a 20kHz signal.

So it is still not clear to me how you can measure which format/resolution the digital input signal has.

How does one measure e.g. if the input signal was PCM 96kHz/24 bit or DSD64, at the analog output?

56

This statement is not correct, but itā€™s possible you meant something different.

From the same link I shared above, see this and look closely at the chart legend:

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57

Thanks, I got it now.
Dirk

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58

Of course, chasing for example whether DAC does some PCM conversion or not, is not apparent from those kind of figuresā€¦

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59

That was the actual intention of my question. Whether @dabassgoesboomboom had seen any MPD software indicator during his investigations to find out if DSD is output natively or gives us DoP output.

60

@Tim_Palya Youā€™ll either have to:

  1. Trust me :grin:
  2. Buy a Cosmos ADC to verify yourself
  3. Buy the DAC and send it to Jussi to verify
61

I have logged the playback in MPD of a DSD265 and DSD512 file. Below are the relevant lines from mpd.conf and then the logging:

mpd.conf:
# Decoder ################################################################

decoder {
        plugin "faad"
        enabled "no"
}

###############################################################################

# Audio Output ################################################################

resampler {
                plugin "soxr"
                quality "high"
                threads "1"
}

audio_output {
                type            "alsa"
                name            "alsa"
                device          "volumio"
                dop                     "no"
}

audio_output {
    type            "fifo"
    enabled         "no"
    name            "multiroom"
    path            "/tmp/snapfifo"
    format          "44100:16:2"
}

logging:
Oct 17 12:40 : client: [4] process command "play"
Oct 17 12:40 : playlist: play 0:"/data/INTERNAL/yuri_korzunov-through-winter-jazz-256fs.dsf"
Oct 17 12:40 : client: [4] command returned 0
Oct 17 12:40 : playlist: queue song 1:"/data/INTERNAL/yuri-korzunov_through_slow-motion_2018_512fs.dsf"
Oct 17 12:40 : client: [4] process command list
Oct 17 12:40 : client: process command "status"
Oct 17 12:40 : decoder_thread: probing plugin dsf
Oct 17 12:40 : decoder: audio_format=dsd256:2, seekable=true
Oct 17 12:40 : exception: Failed to read mixer for 'alsa': no such mixer control: PCM
Oct 17 12:40 : client: command returned 0
Oct 17 12:40 : client: process command "currentsong"
Oct 17 12:40 : client: command returned 0
Oct 17 12:40 : client: [4] process command list returned 0
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: opened volumioOutput type=PLUG
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: buffer: size=235..240844 time=166..170667
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: period: size=117..120424 time=83..85334
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: default period_time = buffer_time/4 = 170666/4 = 42666
Oct 17 12:40 : client: [4] closed
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: format=S24_LE (Signed 24 bit Little Endian)
Oct 17 12:40 : alsa_output: buffer_size=240844 period_size=60211
Oct 17 12:40 : output: opened "alsa" (alsa) audio_format=1411200:24:2
Oct 17 12:40 : output: converting in=dsd256:2 -> f=dsd256:2 -> out=1411200:24:2
Oct 17 12:40 : exception: Failed to open mixer for 'alsa': no such mixer control: PCM
Oct 17 12:42 : client: [5] opened from local
Oct 17 12:42 : client: [5] process command list
Oct 17 12:42 : client: process command "status"
Oct 17 12:42 : client: command returned 0
Oct 17 12:42 : client: process command "currentsong"
Oct 17 12:42 : client: command returned 0
Oct 17 12:42 : client: [5] process command list returned 0
Oct 17 12:42 : client: [5] closed
Oct 17 12:44 : decoder_thread: probing plugin dsf
Oct 17 12:44 : decoder: audio_format=dsd512:2, seekable=true
Oct 17 12:44 : player: played "/data/INTERNAL/yuri_korzunov-through-winter-jazz-256fs.dsf"
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: opened volumioOutput type=PLUG
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: buffer: size=470..481689 time=166..170667
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: period: size=234..240847 time=83..85334
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: default period_time = buffer_time/4 = 170666/4 = 42666
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: format=S24_LE (Signed 24 bit Little Endian)
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: buffer_size=481689 period_size=120421
Oct 17 12:44 : output: opened "alsa" (alsa) audio_format=2822400:24:2
Oct 17 12:44 : output: converting in=dsd512:2 -> f=dsd512:2 -> out=2822400:24:2
Oct 17 12:44 : exception: Failed to open mixer for 'alsa': no such mixer control: PCM
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: Underrun on ALSA device "volumio"
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: Underrun on ALSA device "volumio"
Oct 17 12:44 : alsa_output: Underrun on ALSA device "volumio"

Unfortunately, I canā€™t quite figure it out. Maybe @jussi_laako can take a look and say something about it. I have to say that when I play back the DSD512 file, I get a stuttering output and the log says ā€œalsa_output: Underrun on ALSA device ā€œvolumioā€ā€ continually.

Content of etc/asound.conf is:

pcm.!default {
    type             empty
    slave.pcm       "volumio"
}

pcm.volumio {
    type             empty
    slave.pcm       "volumioOutput"
}


# There is always a plug before the hardware to be safe
pcm.volumioOutput {
    type plug
    slave.pcm "volumioHw"
}

pcm.volumioHw {
    type hw
    card "Katana"
}