Hi, I’m on trial with Roon and I’d like to benefit from your experience. I own a mini Mac, nice Canto DAC 3.5. I did some testing with HQ player, not the latest release because I have Yosemite as a system but the sound did not seem particularly convincing as it turns out with Audirvana. Spins Roon directly connected to the DAC seems to me to be better. I would like to know recommended settings for Hqplayer and if some of you have the DAC belcanto what are your experiences and advice on this. Thank you and excuse my non-English:)
There are literally hundreds of recommended settings for HQ Player on this and in particular over on the computeraudiophiles Forum.
To me it all boils down to reading and reading and maybe searching for your DAC on these forums and contact other users with more experience who are using HQPlayer and there will be plenty.
Your definition of “better” and my own might be similar but it is very subjective too.
I would not want to be without Roon because of the interface and all the database options, it is priceless. Soundwise right now the latest Audirvana version sounds best to my ears but other than that it is no replacement for Roon for the above reason.
I also experiment with HQP but maybe because of my DAC and other factors in my chain I never get the fantastic results others report, I usually revert back to Roon only without any upsampling for serious listening. But it is fun experimenting with filters and such and therefore I have them all licensed.
Chris
Thanks for replying , i agree with you . To my ears native format sounds better than upsampling ; more body , imo of course
I have vitus audio amplifier (or manley tube preamp and mono 300b),and tannoy Grf memory
Thanks again
I have a Bel Canto 2.7, I tried HQplayer with several settings with Jriver and didn’t care for the results. I thought the DAC alone was better than anything I tried. This was a few years ago. I then tried upsampling with Roon and same results. The Bel Canto on its own is better for my liking. Bel Canto DACs do there own upsampling to 192 internally so I’ve just left it alone.
When I was purchasing this DAC the salesman was saying that these DACs are extremely underrated for what they can reproduce with PCM files. They had done some blind test comparisons with other DACs 2-6X the cost and most people were picking the DAC 3.7 as the winner. I didn’t have the cash at the time for that unit, so I Bought the 2.7.
A few other owners of these DACs, on different sites, have also said that they don’t notice a difference with upsampling or various optional filters. Just a well built solid DAC.
Thanks again … really i prefeer roon direct to bel canto ( i have ref belcanto too ) and i didnt listen previous releases but roon 1.4 sounds good to me
Thanks
…as long as Computer Audio sounds better than my Lyngdorf CD-2 with the same material I think it should be alright - basically the only reason I keep a CD-Player…
+1 … I have a DAC 2.5 with a REFLink for USB-to-SPDIF conversation. I too have played around with HQ Player’s filters, Audirvana’s and Roon’s. In all cases, the Bel Canto on its own sounded best with unaltered PCM. A fantastic DAC, IMO.
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Its the same for me … Belcanto works better without upsampling and filters …
Thanks
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Hello , could you post your Sygnal path data ? Thanks 
Sure. See image:
From there, it’s a USB connection to the Bel Canto REFLink and an AES/EBU connection to the DAC 2.5.
Afterwards, it’s to a preamp + one of my headphone amps + 'phones.
Thanks , i have the 3.5 and i dont see it in the sygnal path ; same color , purple
Ciao
Hello,
I’m interresting to add a Bel Canto Ref Link between my Roon Nucleus and my DAC Qutest.
I was thinking conncect the Roon with USB cable on RefLink then S/PDIF to the Dac.
Can you explain how you did connect ? and if Roon did recognize the BEL CANTO REF LINK.
Thanks. Regards
Gerald
Why not go USB direct to the Qutest?
Hello,
USB connection to Qutest working fine indeed.
Was just trying to improve or not with RefLink !
The REFLink was built to accommodate earlier DACs that had no/poor USB implementations. Your Chord DAC won’t have either problem.