HQPlayer not working in PCM mode above 384kHz output

Hey all,

So I just got the Holo Audio Spring 2 and the Singxer SU-2. I wanted to set it up with i2s (hdmi). It works fine this way through Roon, but when i switch my zone to hqplayer 4 i run into a problem. In HQPlayer PCM mode, it is super distorted and screechy. It works fine in DSD mode. I tried the DAC in NOS and OS modes. Again, the distortion is only when using hqplayer 4 in pcm mode. Any thoughts on why this is happening?

So, with more troubleshooting I noticed it only happens with HQPLayer in PCM Mode with sample rates greater than 384kHz. When the oversampling is 384 kHz or lower, the PCM sounds fine.

Roon lossless sounds fine, Roon oversampled sounds fine, hqplayer 4 in DSD output sounds fine. It is only HQPlayer 4 in PCM output above 384kHz, that is extremely, extremely distorted.

Try without the Singxer, using Spring 2’s USB input. That way I have it working fine up to 1.536 MHz sampling rate.

I suspect I2S is the issue here.

Yes, it works fine without the Singxer and sounds better to my ears. The Singxer is seeming to do something weird where it’s pushing the audio away from the center of my head and transferring it to both the far left and far right channels. it’s subtle but def makes the imaging seem way off. This can’t be normal I’m sure.

I know there’s on and off switches on the bottom of the Singxer that directly effect the i2s implementation of the unit. The switches have to be in certain positions depending on the DAC. Currently waiting for word back from Kitsune Hifi on the matter.

Also, @jussi_laako , would you have any idea on why my music stutters very harshly when I check mark ‘multi core dsp?’ I have an i9 9900k and I’m trying to reach 1.5 PCM rate. I can’t seem to get there without having multi core dsp on. Unfortunately, no matter the oversampling rate, it stutters horrendously with it checked marked. Cuda offload works fine for me

Cheers,

Jonathan

Update: So I went through and tried every filter and then tried all the dithers, but no matter what combo, i have insane distortion at anything above 384 kHz.

I wanted to troubleshoot further by trying different hdmi cables, but its all the same luck.

I then switched from my Ultrarendu streamer, to directly connecting the SINGXER to my PC with an i9 9900k. Same problem. Then i connected to my laptop, same deal. Then finally to my second PC with a Ryzen 7 processor. Same deal. this all leads me to believe that either the switches are set in the wrong position on the bottom of the SU-2, the i2s implementation is messed up somehow on the singxer, or its a weird anamoly with my Spring 2.

Im about clueless at this point and ive been changing and switching cables to try to make it make sense. I really want to get this figured out because the reason i bought the su2 kte was to run i2s to the spring 2.

PCM output rates shouldn’t be any challenge for much lighter CPUs either. But the Multicore DSP should be set to “auto” - grayed box.

I would recommend to get started with simplest configuration; connect Spring 2 directly to the HQPlayer computer. If it is Windows machine, make sure you have latest drivers installed and select ASIO backend with “Buffer time” set to Default. When from the driver control panel (from System Tray) select largest possible buffer and safest possible mode. This is then the reference to compare any other setup against.

Hey Jussi,

So I connected the Spring 2 directly to my computer that is running hqplayer 4 desktop. Everything ran right. I then put the singxer su2 in the chain, and same problem. 768 kHz does not work when going “PC With hqplayer > USB > SU-2 > HDMI > Spring 2 DAC” I had ASIO on largest buffer.

Hooked up my Ultrarendu again and same problem.

“PC with hqplayer 4 > USB > Ultrarendu > HDMI > Spring 2.” Im using sonictransporter i5 as core and PC as hqplayer workhorse. Then hqplayer is sent to Ultrarendu through network. I dont know what do at this point other than not use the Singxer SU-2/ The reason i bought it in the first place was to be able to use i2s to my Spring 2.

My opinion has been that the USB interface in Spring 2 is good and doesn’t need such external devices.

It is not at all obvious that using I2S improves anything.

Yeah, thats been in the back of my mind throughout this whole process. Also, with an i9 9900k and a 2060 super, should i be able to do PCM 1.536M with hqplayer? A guy told me he can run sinc-m , lns15, 1.536m with an i7 NUC. Now im seriously confused why my i9 9900k cant do more than 768 kHz.

With the Holo Audio’s ASIO driver it should work as long as you use motherboard’s USB ports. Use the blue USB3 ports if there are multiple.

Hey Jussi,

So connecting to the USB 3.0 works. So I guess my Ultrarendu wasnt allowing me to oversample past 768kHz and DSD 512.

Looks like ill be selling my Ultrarendu and running USB straight from my HQPlayer PC.

Thought i would be lucky running USB now to the Singxer SU-2, but still it wont play past 384 kHz. I emailed Leter at Singxer to get some advice befor ei pull the plug and sell it off. Thanks for the help. Cheers, Jonathan

Old thread but still relevant.

Going from W10 to W11, I was suddenly not able to upsample above 88.2 without distortion.
The processor got trottled by eco settings.

Goto energy management (battery icon on my laptop), advanced settings, PCI Express, Link State Power Management, is was on max energy saving, I disabled this, presto now I could upsample to 705 and anything thrown at it.

Also the setting below PCI Express, check if nothing is economized there. It was not in my case, but just check.


Sorry, it’s dutch :wink:

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Usually selecting Windows power profile should manage these as profiles. You go to Control Panel → Power and select the profile. “High Performance” should give you problem free settings. On Pro for Workstations you have also option “Ultimate Performance” (you can also hack this into regular Pro).

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Thank you,
in my case there was no high-performance setting in that list to choose from, only BALANCED and DELL.
So I changed the DELL settings as shown in that pic.
Relevant:

in that vid they forgot to mention that PCI EXPRESS setting I referred at, which was my bottleneck as all other options were maxed out already. That vid was good too see if nothing was forgotten.

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