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

Oops, yes that should work

Select ipv6 - you get the error message about cant be same device for input and output but should be able to select devices

If ipv6 doesn’t work select the normal ipv4

1 Like

Unfortunately I am getting hanging HQPlayer Desktop with rolling ball symbol either with source set to IPv6 or target even though I was able to select the right devices from the dropdown before.
As far as I remember I 've had the same issue during my first test in July.
So I am afraid moving M1 with HQPlayer Desktop to my DAC is the only way to test it

1 Like

Ah yes now I remember

Did you also have amp and speakers/headphones near your Mac ?

M1 on one side of my room and Ferrum amp stack with Holo Audio Spring3 and headphones on other side of the room.
Whatever, will see when I find time to move the M1.
Joke is that even if that will work the actual goal to separate the audio server from the DAC is then violated. Only reason for me to get that alternate input running is to enjoy Apple Music with HQPlayer.
For the rest I can also use Roon/HQPlayer in my standard setup

1 Like

I don’t have any NAA in the same room as my HQPlayer machine

All NAAs are in different rooms

So it’s just a matter of troubleshooting

Having an RPi4 around is great for such NAA troubleshooting

Does the Zen Stream normally work ? It really should work now so it’s strange

Btw regarding hanging

  1. Close HQP
  2. Power off Zen and UP
  3. Boot Zen and UP. Wait 2 mins to fully boot
  4. Open HQP last

Next HQPlayer release will also have some fixes related to this input side. Because I want it to work properly when you specify “audio:default/0” or in HQPlayer Desktop as source URI.

After installing networkaudiod package you need to reboot. And then check that you actually booted correct kernel using “uname -r”.

1 Like

Yes very important. These are my steps to manually select kernel instead of Ubuntu choosing latest version automatically . This is just a copy and past from my notes:

  1. Open the Terminal

  2. Edit the /etc/default/grub file: sudo nano /etc/default/grub

  3. Change GRUB_DEFAULT=0 to GRUB_DEFAULT=saved

  4. Add GRUB_SAVEDEFAULT=true

  5. Save the file

  6. Update Grub with: sudo update-grub

These settings will ensure that your system boots with the last kernel you chose during boot.

Now reboot, hold the LEFT shift key when your system comes back up - Or press ESCAPE key to enter GRUB

You should then see the Grub menu.

Choose the Kernel that works for you. That will now be “default”.

Check Kernel version with uname -a

1 Like

I forgot that I could just use my standard old i7 MacBook Pro with HQPlayer Desktop staying next to my DAC instead of my remote M1 for the test :slight_smile:

So I got the UAC connection running using none 1x filter to enable bit rate switching and a simple poly-sinc-gauss Nx-filter.

Statics are still there unfortunately, especially when switching Redbook to Hires in Apple Music or Hifi to MQA on Tidal.
I’ve also recognised that for these hires switches the first few seconds are muted before the song starts playing.
Have configured a small buffer of 20ms but doesn’t seem to help

What I am also wondering about is that for hires tracks (e.g. Apple Music 96k or Tidal MQA) HQplayer is upsampling to 192khz which is the limit /max upsampling rate configured in HQPlayer) but it’s not the supposed bit rate from the playing app.

Will test the test-playlists later in the evening but am quite sure it’s the same behaviour as my current random radio playlist test.

What I find remarkable is … that it sounds different than running through Roon!
More body and thump.
I was playing with PEQ before and now like this stock tuning a lot.
Will need to do more A-B at some point over the weekend…

2 Likes

It depends on your filter selection and whether you have the initialization cached from earlier switch.

Hmmh, looks correct behavior to me based on your configuration? You are asking upsampling only for hires, not for 44.1/48k.

1 Like

When you get the static/garbled sound - do you find you hear the music cleanly for half a second before it goes garbled?

That’s what I find.

Thanks for testing. Other than Jussi, you are the 2nd person to test !

And that makes 2 of us that it’s still giving static/garbled sound quality with UAC2 input.

thx Jussi, u re absolutely right, I’ve now also deactivated Nx filter.

it’s garbled right from the start then.
Mitigated only by unplugging and replugging and hitting play again

Sometimes you can get lucky and pause the track and play and its ok.

But yeah, not really useable for me at the moment.

Good news is you can keep Ubuntu Server on the internal drive for any future testing. And run NAA image from USB stick in the mean time .

I’ll re-test at next HQP release as Jussi said there’s some more fixes coming

1 Like

I agree, I d love to use HQPlayer for Apple Music so much though but it’s like staying in heaven in one moment when listening without issues and then falling hard on the ground from a cloud once static is occurring

1 Like

What I’ve tested is Ubuntu Server + my custom kernel + latest networkaudiod package + latest HQPlayer (not yet released). I have not tested with new networkaudiod + current HQPlayer. In my testing was Windows 10 as source with Qobuz application.

Simplest way for me to make it go bad was to switch Qobuz application audio output on the fly (while playing) between something else and NAA’s UAC2. For some reason, if I stopped and then started playback again on Qobuz application it was fine again. Also if output in Qobuz was UAC2 then the playback was fine. But if I started playback to onboard “Speakers” output and then switched on the fly to HQPlayer UAC2 it went bad immediately.

I am yet exited trying out the new HQPlayer Desktop version then.
Last question regarding using the standard NAA bootimage vs Ubuntu-server, is it better, more performant or more stable using the standard NAA image rather than the Ubuntu server with custom kernel?

1 Like

For anything else except UAC2 input, it is best to use NAA OS image.

For UAC2 input, we currently stick to at most 5.4 LTS kernel. NAA OS is already beyond that at 5.10/5.15 kernel. It could be that patched 4.19 is even better for UAC2 input, but let’s see first with 5.4 combined with the HQPlayer changes.

Next HQPlayer release should be fairly close to being ready.

3 Likes

My setup identical (including Windows source ) - other than latest unreleased HQP

besides the described quirks with static noise there’s one experience I d like to get some feedback about if it’s only bias or real:

I have done some A-B with UpGateway and attached sources, respectively my MacBook Pro connected via USB to Holo Audio Spring 3 KTE playing Qobuz test tracks via UAC mode vs Ifi Zen Stream as NAA playing the same test tracks.
Zen Stream was connected over COAX so I could easily switch between both sources.
To my ears the UAC mode UPGateway sounded fuller and more meaty than the Zen Stream using the same filters.
I have then switched off the Zen Stream and connected UPGateway via USB to my DAC (still Ubuntu booted).
Again it seemed to be from memory that the UAC mode sounded fuller and more meaty then what I was hearing then.
Upsampling settings were some sync-S filter, upsampling to 128khz max and NS5 noise shaper in all scenarios.

Anyone else recognised any tonal differences vs standard NAA playback?