My product life cycles are fairly long. HQPlayer Desktop v4 was released Apr 2019. Since then, there have been changes that force some tooling updates. Like Nvidia dropped CUDA support for macOS. Apple announced their M1 series CPUs and move away from Intel. Intel launched 12th Gen series of CPUs with two types of CPU cores similar to Apple’s M1 (and CPUs used on mobile phones for past decade). This also meant updates to the OS and development tools. In addition AMD’s Ryzen series CPUs have moved forward. In addition Microsoft launched Windows 11 and discontinued support for Win 7, 8 and 8.1. These things demand that development frameworks and tools also get updated and move forward. It also means that some support for older hardware and OS versions go away as a result.
Since most HQPlayer DSP processing is fairly heavy, there’s heavy focus on supporting latest hardware too.
It is like either-or choice. Either I would support old hardware and people wouldn’t be able to run EC modulators to DSD512 on newer hardware like you can now. Or I support latest hardware, dropping support for older generations to enable these algorithms for best possible sound quality.
In addition, Windows 11 won’t run anymore on those older computers either. So my software support spans wider variety of hardware than what Microsoft supports for their latest OS.
But! There’s still an option for older hardware - Ubuntu 20.04 LTS and generic build there. It still works the same way as Windows version used to, with just SSE4.2 instruction set support. Release of new 21.04 LTS may change something in April 21, or maybe not, remains to be seen.
I totally appreciate your efforts in developing your software on very high standards, using modern technologies and doing this continuously.
My point is, that it was a surprise for me, that suddenly the new version was not compatible anymore with my hardware and I had to find out what the reason was.
Fortunately I still had the old version as a fallback, so that I was able to continue using HQPlayer with the old version.
But now, with the change announced by Roon, this will also not work anymore.
At the end the overall situation will create some unexpected costs for me (and probably others).
However, maybe the time has come to do this step. If this assures a future proof and stable environment, it is probably worth it
That’s unfortunate. My PC with HQPlayer is completely isolated. I don’t want it connected to the internet and didn’t need to with 4.16.1. It is a simple setup with no firewall. No anti-virus and no windows updates. A dedicated audio PC, not a gaming or internet browsing PC.
Can Roon add a legacy option for earlier HQPlayers? I am shocked that all this will change on Monday with no option for people with an older version of HQPlayer or an isolated PC setup.
I run Roon on an SS drive attached to a QNAP NAS. That NAS has 2 ethernet ports, one which is a gateway to the network and internet, allowing roon access to Tidal and such. The QNAP has the firewall, antivirus.The other ethernet is a direct link which connects to my HQPlayer PC. That windows PC is an i7 with 32 GB Ram but nothing else. No monitor, no connection to the internet or home network, etc.
It only runs HQPlayer 4.16.1 . Roon has been able to control it fine until the update to 4.17
i use many years now roon and hqplayer 3 . This update means for me that I have to buy a new motherboard, a new cpu and a new sound cardc. What are you thinking with announcements like this 5 days before release. I have recommended this combination to many friends who have also bought roon and hqplayer, they will now have to buy new hardware if they want to continue using their licences in the combination. I find the roon policy extremely user unfriendly. There are no problems at all in my installation in combination with roon and hqplayer 3. I ask that hqplayer 3 be allowed to continue,. that can certainly be made possible via a switch.
I don’t understand Signalyst either, with a little programming skill, I’m sure you can continue to support hqplayer 4 on older processors. I find the way you deal with our financial resources unspeakable.
So you say “i use many years now roon and hqplayer 3”. That’s along time with “free” updates + support. If you like the product and has given you years of enjoyment in return, I’d say its time to give back and support the developer (IMHO)?
I too was a 3.x user on a dedicated Win wkst which worked great for a long time. However, since the new EC modulators (4.x) as well as the latest 4.x Embedded OS version, it’s really a no brainer at this point IMHO.
The embedded OS version has significantly changed my experience. Its a self contained + optimized OS (Ubuntu) with HQP developed by Jussi. You burn it to your HD (or USB stick), boot it up and that’s it. No more Win updates, optimizing etc… Even better, my Win wkst had trouble running EC mods, with the embedded version, piece of cake so far. The only caveat in ver 4.x is, one needs to decide on a platform (win, Linux, mac) as you can’t use a 4.x lic across multiple platforms.
Also, you don’t have to update to latest roon version (make sure to turn off auto update). Use your current roon ver with HQP 3.x and you’re good for awhile at least.
I understand everyone’s use case is different and some may not need nor take full advantage of the 4.x “platform” / changes and 3.x fits nicely. Again the way I see it, I purchased and used 3.x for YEARS without much issue or problems and enjoyed the development cycle during its time for very little $. The software isn’t perfect and there have been some frustrations along the way for sure. However, It seemed more than reasonable (to me) to upgrade to 4.x and take advantage of the current development + enhancements. Definitely HQP best version so far YMMV
For example v4 introduced better playback position reporting and better ways to control and queue playback items. v4 also brought new things like automatic discovery of HQPlayer IP address, which is especially useful when HQPlayer is behind a device that gets address through DHCP and thus the IP can change across reboots.
A small correction here, on HQPlayer Desktop v4 you can use same license for the same product on all three platforms (Windows, macOS and Linux). This was not the case on v3.
But you need to decide the product you want to use, HQPlayer Embedded (Linux only) or HQPlayer Desktop. License keys don’t work cross-product.
Hard to bealieve they all use 9+ years old hardware?
That option is still available on Linux OS. Trough a special build. And Linux OS doesn’t cost anything.
But Windows is extra difficult environment to deal with for things I do. It has taken immense amount of time and effort to make HQPlayer perform like it does now across different hardware generations and across Intel / AMD hardware.
I need to retire three mac mini’s to deal with this. Yeah, I know, not the most efficient way to run HQPlayer into three separate zones, so I’m actually ok with the need to upgrade.
I think the big frustration is the short window we have to purchase new hardware.
But disabling automatic updates is a way to at least buy more time.
It would be cool if there was a step-by-step for us luddites to find the best upgrade path.
I can understand the frustration at the short notice. Not a problem for people using HQPlayer without Roon but obviously a problem for those using Roon with old HQPlayer.
You can consider installing Ubuntu Desktop 20.04 LTS
But you will either need to pay for a Desktop v4 license to run HQPlayer Desktop v4
Or pay for an Embedded v4 license.
Either of these options will allow you to keep your current hardware until you are ready for more powerful PC - but you can use those new paid licenses mentioned above, on the new hardware too I think (check with Jussi). As long as you stick with the Desktop or Embedded version that you buy.
Hello Swisstrips, I am a roon customer here and pay a yearly fee, I have many friends who just paid the lifetime fee a few months ago and now have the same problem. I support the developers here with my annual fee. I’m mainly concerned with roon support. hqplayer still works because I can continue to use the old version. With roon, I am more or less forced to upgrade to a new version.
We all use old hardware, because we use lynx two sound cards and need true pci controller for best sound. I rework lynxtwo cards and than sound is much better than new lynx sound cards and the most modern solutions. I wrote it above, my main problem is the behaviour of roon support. It’s not the first time that something is announced a few days in advance. It wouldn’t be a problem if I could freeze the old roon version and continue to use it.
