Topping Stack (D90, L90 LA90) 800S, HQPlayer,Roon on Mac Consult?

Audio Gear Talk HQ Player
1

Although there’s a lot to appreciate, there are also a lot of overlapping settings which to a relative audio newbee can be overwhelming. I’ve been leaning on Gemini and OpenAi to date which has been very informative and great fun, but as is often the case, there are gaps in that approach.

Given it’s a lot to sort out I am wondering if someone with experience configuring computer audio systems could be hired to help me step through this. I think it’s to much to ask of this forum but what do I know ;-)?

Presently the audio sounds fantastic (so that’s good, right? ;-). However, first, I am confuse about who’s doing what upsampling and where to place that workload.
Second, the volume to my headphones (800S) isn’t as loud as I might expect (I might expect it to be deafening if unwisely chose).
In terms of expected volume, things work better without HQPlayer.

Anyway, if you or someone you know can assist me that would be greatly appreciated.

Best,

Hagen
CO, Mountian Time.

2

Okay, let’s walk through your HQPlayer settings and see if we can identify any potential causes for the volume attenuation you’re experiencing.

Inputs

  • Backend: CoreAudio: This is the correct backend for macOS.
  • Device: D90 III Discrete: This confirms that HQPlayer is correctly recognizing your DAC.

Outputs

  • Backend: CoreAudio: Again, correct for macOS.
  • Device: D90 III Discrete: HQPlayer is outputting to the correct device.
  • Channels: 2: This is standard for stereo output.
  • Channel offset: 0: This should be correct for a typical stereo setup.
  • Default mode: PCM: As discussed earlier, this might be the preferred mode for your D90 DAC, but you can experiment with SDM as well.
  • Volume min: -60.0dB: This is the minimum volume level that HQPlayer will allow.
  • Volume max: -6dB: This is the maximum volume level. It’s good that you’ve left some headroom to avoid clipping.
  • SDM pack: DoP: This setting is only relevant for DSD output, so it won’t affect your PCM playback.
  • Hardware buffer time: Default: This setting controls the size of the audio buffer used by HQPlayer. The default value should be fine for most systems.
  • PCM gain compensation: 0.00: This confirms that no gain adjustment is being applied to the PCM output.

PCM Output Defaults

  • Filter 1x: sinc-M: This is a high-quality interpolation filter for upsampling.
  • Filter Nx: closed-form-M: This is another high-quality filter for upsampling.
  • Sample rate (/Limit): 41.1k: This is the target sample rate for upsampling.
  • Dither: LNS15: This is a type of dithering algorithm used to reduce quantization noise.
  • Bits: 24: This is the target bit depth for upsampling.

SDM Output Defaults

  • Oversampling 1x: closed-form-16M: This is a high-quality interpolation filter for SDM upsampling.
  • Oversampling Nx: closed-form-16M: Another high-quality filter for SDM upsampling.
  • Modulator: ASDM7: This is a type of sigma-delta modulator used for DSD conversion.
  • Bit rate (/Limit): 41.1k x 512: This is the target bit rate for DSD upsampling.
  • Integrator: FIR2: This is a type of integrator used in the SDM process.
  • Conversion: XFi: This is a conversion algorithm used for DSD to PCM conversion.

Advanced

  • CPU: Multicore: This setting allows HQPlayer to utilize multiple CPU cores for processing.
  • DSP Processing: This section contains settings related to DSP processing.
  • DSP pipelines: Default: This indicates that you’re using the default DSP pipeline.
  • Blocks per cycle: Default: This setting controls how many blocks of audio data are processed per cycle.
  • Idle time: Disabled: This setting disables idle time processing, which can improve performance.
  • FFT filter length: 512: This setting controls the length of the FFT filter used for convolution.
3

You would certainly want to run your D90 III Discrete solely in DSD mode, since it is natively a 1-bit DAC. So please check that your output rate is set to DSD256 and in the DAC settings DSD Bypass is enabled.

So this should be set to “SDM (DSD)”.

-3 dB is enough for most cases. Regarding output volume of course the volume setting affects the output level…

I would get started with the default filters, unless you specifically want these.
1x = poly-sinc-gauss-long
Nx = poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp

I would recommend getting started with ASDM7EC-fast

48k x256 which is maximum rate your DAC can do natively and anyway maximum you can get from macOS through CoreAudio using DoP.

With Roon, I would recommend setting this for example to 30 seconds.

This description is wrong…

4

Interesting new finding. When I bypass the L90 headphone amp and go directly from the D90 to the LA90 the volume problem disappears regardless of whether I am using Roon, HQP with Roon or Roon directly.

I am asking Topping support to help me sleuth that matter.

5

It’s not entirely satisfying but I think I consider the matter resolved. The dissatisfaction is that I am sidelining HQP for the most part - but it’s there if I want to return to the challenge in the future.

I’ve more or less separated the Speaker and Headphone functions:

Headphones Path 1: Roon to Mac USB to D90 DAC XLR to L90 amp to headphones.

Speaker Path 2: Roon to Mac USB to D90 RCA to L90 RCA to Bose IV Equalizer RCA back to L90 XLR to LA90 to speakers.

I could also drop the BOSE equalizer and simplify things further (DAC to L90 and DAC direct to the LA90) but for the moment I am partial to the Bose equalizer high end).

Those paths work great with full volume to speakers and headphones.

I can insert HQP between Roon and the Mac USB and that works although that does create a odd volume ceiling for the headphones but it’s actually an appropriate level for safe headphone listening.

You probably only care that you can close the case (I work in a form of customer support so I say that with a smile).

Thanks for your assistance!

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