HQPLAYER new Version 5 Discussion

I had a sonicT back in the day. Back then it was actually easy to load bios and run HQP OS from USB stick.

Or wipe it and install Ubuntu Server…

Its quite expensive to buy just to wipe it so this is not what I am recommending for someone buying new.

But if someone ‘had enough’ of sonicorbiter after years of using it, there may be that option.

Obviously once you wipe it, you will not get any support from SGC. You’re on your own. And possibly no coming back to sonicOrbiter unless you send it back to them and pay a fee (possibly).

But at the end of the day it is an Intel CPU on a motherboard in a nice fanless case. Nothing overly special for running HQPlayer Embedded.

Of course good non-wiping intermediate solution alternative is to run HQPlayer OS from USB memory stick…

Yes that’s the first line I wrote above. I was able to do this when I had a sonicT but that was a long time ago.

But I don’t know if they lock the BIOS now? Needs to be checked

But definitely the first thing to try.

Ok good idea…will have to look into trying the USB stick option!
Thanks!

Note the USB stick method will mean you’ll need to run Roon on another machine, if you currently have it running on the sonicT

With the USB stick method it becomes a HQPlayer dedicated machine (HQP OS)

Unzip the below using 7zip and burn the image to a USB stick using etcher and hookup a keyboard and monitor to your sonicT - you may need to go into the BIOS to boot from USB stick (maybe not but try)

https://www.signalyst.eu/bins/hqplayerd/images/hqplayer-embedded-5.0.1-x64avx2.7z

There’s additional instructions here:

1 Like

Did any one download the x64 macOS HQP 5.0.2 and successfully launch this update … I have three Macs, Mac mini 2012 (opencored Ventura13.4), Mac Pro 2013 (Monetary) and Mac mini 2018 (Ventrura 13.4), the first two just failed to launch the HQP desktop, and no issue for HQP Client. Can anyone help ? I have emailed HQP but no response

I got the following error message :

Full error report on my Mac Pro 2013

Translated Report (Full Report Below)

Process: HQPlayer5Desktop [1003]
Path: /private/var/folders/*/HQPlayer5Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/HQPlayer5Desktop
Identifier: com.signalyst.HQPlayer5Desktop
Version: 5.0 (1)
Code Type: X86-64 (Native)
Parent Process: launchd [1]
User ID: 501

Date/Time: 2023-06-07 13:37:16.8485 +1000
OS Version: macOS 12.6.6 (21G646)
Report Version: 12
Anonymous UUID: FB9155AA-2FBB-F274-E561-0C5F2C666F83

Time Awake Since Boot: 580 seconds

System Integrity Protection: enabled

Crashed Thread: 0 Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread

Exception Type: EXC_BAD_INSTRUCTION (SIGILL)
Exception Codes: 0x0000000000000001, 0x0000000000000000
Exception Note: EXC_CORPSE_NOTIFY

Termination Reason: Namespace SIGNAL, Code 4 Illegal instruction: 4
Terminating Process: exc handler [1003]

Thread 0 Crashed:: Dispatch queue: com.apple.main-thread
0 HQPlayer5Desktop 0x10f2ebf8c 0x10f0d4000 + 2195340
1 HQPlayer5Desktop 0x10f109206 0x10f0d4000 + 217606
2 dyld 0x11762e52e start + 462

Thread 1:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff801d48f48 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 2:
0 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff801d48f48 start_wqthread + 0

Thread 3:
0 libsystem_platform.dylib 0x7ff801d613e3 _platform_strncpy + 3
1 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff80410ce02 icu::calendar::operator=(icu::Calendar const&) + 376
2 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff80416c6d7 icu::GregorianCalendar::clone() const + 39
3 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff80410cea8 icu::calendar::createInstance(icu::TimeZone*, icu::Locale const&, UErrorCode&) + 76
4 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff8041f85a7 icu::SimpleDateFormat::initializeCalendar(icu::TimeZone*, icu::Locale const&, UErrorCode&) + 63
5 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff8041f7bc0 icu::SimpleDateFormat::construct(icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::Locale const&, UErrorCode&) + 72
6 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff8041f9577 icu::SimpleDateFormat::SimpleDateFormat(icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::Locale const&, UErrorCode&) + 189
7 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff804135398 icu::DateFormat::create(icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::DateFormat::EStyle, icu::Locale const&) + 162
8 libicucore.A.dylib 0x7ff804229a39 udat_open + 411
9 CoreFoundation 0x7ff801e50bc3 __cficu_udat_open + 48
10 CoreFoundation 0x7ff801e4fdbf __ResetUDateFormat + 528
11 CoreFoundation 0x7ff801e5225a __CFDateFormatterSetProperty + 1342
12 Security 0x7ff803e5e4d5 decodeTimeStampTokenWithPolicy + 2316
13 Security 0x7ff803e5807b SecCmsSignerInfoVerifyUnAuthAttrsWithPolicy + 94
14 Security 0x7ff803e5f5f8 SecCmsSignedDataVerifySignerInfo_internal + 686
15 Security 0x7ff803e60037 CMSDecoderCopySignerStatus + 173
16 Security 0x7ff803e759bd Security::CodeSigning::SecStaticCode::validateDirectory() + 1119
17 Security 0x7ff803e78dbf Security::CodeSigning::SecStaticCode::validateNonResourceComponents() + 15
18 Security 0x7ff803e7d7fa Security::CodeSigning::SecStaticCode::staticValidateCore(unsigned int, Security::CodeSigning::SecRequirement const*) + 52
19 Security 0x7ff803e7c844 Security::CodeSigning::SecStaticCode::staticValidate(unsigned int, Security::CodeSigning::SecRequirement const*) + 312
20 Security 0x7ff803e720e2 SecStaticCodeCheckValidityWithErrors + 185
21 QtCore 0x11207545c 0x111e86000 + 2028636
22 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff801d4d4e1 _pthread_start + 125
23 libsystem_pthread.dylib 0x7ff801d48f6b thread_start + 15

Thread 0 crashed with X86 Thread State (64-bit):
rax: 0x00006000010be310 rbx: 0x0000000016ecdbe2 rcx: 0x0000000006c938fa rdx: 0x00000000046cdbe2
rdi: 0x00007ff7b0e26ba0 rsi: 0x0000000000000000 rbp: 0x00007ff7b0e2b670 rsp: 0x00007ff7b0e22060
r8: 0x00006294e561ddc0 r9: 0x0000000000000040 r10: 0x00000000000007fb r11: 0xffffe008510859f0
r12: 0x0000000051f73af1 r13: 0x0000000052ccf309 r14: 0x0000600002fbd540 r15: 0x00000000e976a632
rip: 0x000000010f2ebf8c rfl: 0x0000000000010206 cr2: 0x000000010f0e1f60

Logical CPU: 2
Error Code: 0x00000000
Trap Number: 6

Thread 0 instruction stream:
58 10 44 8b 78 14 e8 bd-c1 23 00 89 c3 e8 b6 c1 X.D.x…#…
23 00 c1 e3 10 09 c3 48-8b 44 24 10 89 58 14 44 #…H.D$…X.D
8b 68 18 e8 a0 c1 23 00-89 c3 e8 99 c1 23 00 c1 .h…#…#…
e3 10 09 c3 c5 fd 6f 44-24 40 c4 e3 79 22 44 24 …oD$@…y"D$
24 01 c4 e3 79 22 44 24-20 02 48 8b 44 24 10 89 $…y"D$ .H.D$…
58 18 c4 e3 79 22 44 24-1c 03 c5 f9 6e 4c 24 34 X…y"D$…nL$4
[c4]e2 7d 58 c9 c4 e3 7d-02 c1 10 c4 c1 79 6e cf …}X…}…yn. <==
c4 e2 7d 58 c9 c4 e3 7d-02 c1 20 c4 c1 79 6e cd …}X…}… …yn.
c4 e2 7d 58 c9 c4 e3 7d-02 c1 40 c4 e2 7d 58 48 …}X…}…@…}XH
1c c4 e3 7d 02 c1 80 c5-fe 7f 84 24 80 4b 00 00 …}…$.K…
c5 f8 77 e8 20 c1 23 00-89 c3 e8 19 c1 23 00 c1 …w. .#…#…
e3 10 09 c3 48 8b 44 24-10 89 58 1c 44 89 e7 e8 …H.D$…X.D…

Binary Images:
0x10f0d4000 - 0x10f613fff com.signalyst.HQPlayer5Desktop (5.0) <0f7c3265-b47d-3267-b396-35fc7f5c8d4c> /private/var/folders//HQPlayer5Desktop.app/Contents/MacOS/HQPlayer5Desktop
0x117629000 - 0x117694fff dyld (
) <2517e9fe-884a-3855-8532-92bffba3f81c> /usr/lib/dyld
0x7ff801d47000 - 0x7ff801d52fff libsystem_pthread.dylib () /usr/lib/system/libsystem_pthread.dylib
0x7ff801d5f000 - 0x7ff801d68fff libsystem_platform.dylib (
) /usr/lib/system/libsystem_platform.dylib
0x7ff804030000 - 0x7ff8042c3fff libicucore.A.dylib () <7b331d9e-9042-3749-9c38-b6f312db1b8f> /usr/lib/libicucore.A.dylib
0x7ff801d94000 - 0x7ff802298fff com.apple.CoreFoundation (6.9) <5e33664d-9c9a-3ac4-ad94-641d53e06c7b> /System/Library/Frameworks/CoreFoundation.framework/Versions/A/CoreFoundation
0x7ff803cd5000 - 0x7ff80402ffff com.apple.security (7.0) <3b5489d9-a1db-3b43-a207-cf6309c19e81> /System/Library/Frameworks/Security.framework/Versions/A/Security
0x111e86000 - 0x11238dfff org.qt-project.QtCore (6.5) <34a0b888-75de-3b10-871f-c88de823daed> /private/var/folders/
/HQPlayer5Desktop.app/Contents/Frameworks/QtCore.framework/Versions/A/QtCore

External Modification Summary:
Calls made by other processes targeting this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by this process:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0
Calls made by all processes on this machine:
task_for_pid: 0
thread_create: 0
thread_set_state: 0

VM Region Summary:
ReadOnly portion of Libraries: Total=920.2M resident=0K(0%) swapped_out_or_unallocated=920.2M(100%)
Writable regions: Total=815.8M written=0K(0%) resident=0K(0%) swapped_out=0K(0%) unallocated=815.8M(100%)

                            VIRTUAL   REGION 

REGION TYPE SIZE COUNT (non-coalesced)
=========== ======= =======
Activity Tracing 256K 1
Kernel Alloc Once 8K 1
MALLOC 181.2M 20
MALLOC guard page 24K 5
MALLOC_MEDIUM (reserved) 240.0M 2 reserved VM address space (unallocated)
MALLOC_NANO (reserved) 384.0M 1 reserved VM address space (unallocated)
Memory Tag 255 1536K 384
STACK GUARD 56.0M 4
Stack 9752K 4
VM_ALLOCATE 8K 2
__DATA 18.2M 300
__DATA_CONST 14.3M 186
__DATA_DIRTY 614K 102
__FONT_DATA 4K 1
__LINKEDIT 650.3M 25
__OBJC_RO 82.8M 1
__OBJC_RW 3200K 2
__TEXT 269.9M 313
__UNICODE 592K 1
dyld private memory 1024K 1
mapped file 29.4M 5
shared memory 44K 4
=========== ======= =======
TOTAL 1.9G 1365
TOTAL, minus reserved VM space 1.3G 1365


Full Report

{“app_name”:“HQPlayer5Desktop”,“timestamp”:“2023-06-07 13:37:17.00 +1000”,“app_version”:“5.0”,“slice_uuid”:“0f7c3265-b47d-3267-b396-35fc7f5c8d4c”,“build_version”:“1”,“platform”:1,“bundleID”:“com.signalyst.HQPlayer5Desktop”,“share_with_app_devs”:0,“is_first_party”:0,“bug_type”:“309”,“os_version”:“macOS 12.6.6 (21G646)”,“incident_id”:“9EE081DF-73D9-4E0D-9C41-6FE79FF6C274”,“name”:“HQPlayer5Desktop”}
{

I totally agree with the start of this thread. 40 to 50% off discount is expected for retaining loyal users. When people talk about the product they would say “it’s worth it to buy because when you upgrade, there’s a good discount”, but not when the discount simply makes it the same cost as when I bought it last year. Also I agree with the sentiment that the software feels like an “experimental” software. I don’t think most users care about the player portion of the software so there’s not much value there. The most common use case is probably just using it as a plugin for roon. The most important thing to me is if it were able to more efficiently use my Mac processor (yes I’m using the arm version) to achieve DSD512 or higher and if it worked with a broader range of music software like spotify, tidal, apple music, etc. I’ll be sticking with 4.22 for life unless I see an actual reason to upgrade.

Using it as a “plugin” makes it the actual player, Roon is just a library manager.
The “raison d’etre” of HQPlayer is filters and modulators therefore a new set of them that are more efficient can be the reason to upgrade.
And more, HQPlayer embedded can be used as a UPNP renderer therefore it can be used alone as such, with a UPNP mediaserver like Minimserver, or in conjunction with other “library manager” like Audirvana, JRiver, LMS

1 Like

I can do DSD512 with the new EC-light modulators on my MacBook Pro.

I’m commonly playing Apple Music and Spotify through HQPlayer. But any digital source works though.

Inflation is a real thing in the world unfortunately.

I don’t see how you could possibly know this.

There’s an entire thread explaining how to do this, that you haven’t seen.

Using any audio source with HQPlayer - Spotify, Amazon, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Deezer, Soundcloud [2021-2022] - #4 by dabassgoesboomboom

You’ll be crossing over to the dark side :wink:

2 Likes

My formula for software pricing is simple: what it does for me/cost of the system (hardware+software) it drives or enhances. Around $100/year for the best sound I’ve heard is trivial compared to the cost of the DACs, amps, and transducers that it benefits. HQPlayer>Holo May>(various amps+headphones) is competitive with my top-of-the-line Linn speaker systems (Klimax Organik), which wasn’t the case before HQPlayer. The best value in audio in my long experience.

1 Like

@jussi_laako

HQplayer desktop 5.02 on Mac mini pro 2+ HQplayer from synology.

Poly-sinc-gauss-hires-ip + LNS15 takes several minutes to start for 44.1k > 384k upsampling. 44.1k > 768k no response at all.

However, 96k > 768k, 48k > 768k are much faster.

Please check.

This is a case where ARM CPUs are slow, initialization phase for conversion between rate families takes more computations than simple integer factors. So what you are seeing is normal.

I think I will need to add cache support for this case as well, so then you would need to wait only once for given conversion factor as long as you keep HQPlayer running.

I am interested to learn how do you do that…

Check out this thread below. And feel free to ask any questions in that thread

Thanks. That thread seems closed. Basically I have a m1 mini connected directly to a Dac via USB, the preferred output is PCM 7xxkhz. For Roon I can use Network Interface as Input. For Apple Music running on the same Mac mini, how do I route it to HQplayer on the same Mac?

I did try to install Blackhole but it doesn’t seem to work and after remove it, it is in a semi-installed state that won’t let me install again…

At the bottom of the thread you will see it continued, with a link.

I’ve the hqplayer5 and now (just introduced) Roon server into the Ubuntu Linux on the same machine, is there a guide how I can restrict the roon process to the efficient core? I’m on a 12th Gen Intel. Many thanks

For now, considering the machine is up 24/7 (only reboot when necessary), I’ve a check at the roonserver.service and take note of the 5 process-ID, and from there using taskset -cp to the 5 individual PIDs. Not a permanent way but better than nothing :slight_smile:

You can edit the systemd .service file which is used to start Roon. Add CPUAffinity value there, where you can list processor id’s like “8,9,10,11” or give ranges like “8-11”. You just need to check which processors id’s on your system correspond to the E-cores.

1 Like