Yeah I believe its optimized for DSD512 which is why I never tried it. I’m pretty happy overall with my current settings, the ASDM5EC modulator is a bigger improvement over any of the various filters I tried when running the ASDM7 modulator so I’ll think I’ll stick to poly-sinc-gauss and ASDM5EC for awhile and just enjoy the music. Seems to be a perfect combo for anything I have thrown at it so far.
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Cuda enabled GPU?
Unfortunately no, source is a Late 2014 retina 5K iMac with an AMD Radeon R9 M295X
Interesting I wonder if these light years better differences are more to do with USB DAC directly connected to HQPlayer. Differences in CPU loading
Do you have an RPi4 to test temporarily with NAA? To isolate your USB DAC from HQPlayer and CPU loads …
Could you also share a specific track that really brings out the lightyears differences to you in ASDM7 vs ASDM5EC ?
Few days ago I shared a somewhat punchy track (see below pic) and with ASDM7 it is punchy as hell and I don’t really hear a difference with ASDM5EC. There is no way I could know which is which if I couldn’t see which modulator was being used. But maybe it’s not the best track to bring out the big difference? Or maybe my system/ears are lacking these days!
I have an RPi4 running NAA OS connected to my RME ADI-2, so CPU on my Mac should have no influence on the NAA. That is one of the main purposes of NAA, along with ability to have a huge distance between HQP and NAA (including across the world).
Of course if you’re enjoying the music more that’s the main thing.
Just friendly discussion 
Good test track is also Daft Punk’s Get Lucky, 88.2/24 hires download. Kind of surprisingly, even with this hires track filters make quite a bit of difference. Try with sinc-Mx for example.
For me, EC modulators make a big difference over non-EC. But I’m not claiming that it would big difference always.
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I 100% trust you that there is a big technical difference in the digital domain performance. For that reason alone (to make me feel warm and fuzzy on the inside) I will upgrade my Mac to support EC modulators.
So obviously when discussing particular music it is more analogue side we are discussing. A lot of subjectivity here of course but still fun to discuss.
In parallel - are there any DAC output measurements you can share that show objective difference between EC and non-EC?
Like with any DAC you have - does anything show in any of your transient performance testing?
Or is this one of those complex things that are hard to show differences in analogue measurements but better to test with listening?
I haven’t listened to that classic Daft Punk album for a while.
Will give it a thorough listen and comparison 
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If I drop it down to DSD 128, I can run ASDM5EC using poly-sinc-gauss on my i5, 8gb ram laptop to ultraRendu NAA. I don’t hear anything life changing with the EC modulator over using just ASDM7. Could be equipment, ears, room, music selection … With ASDM7 I can do DSD 256.
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The difference is both big and small at the same time. It is relatively easy to analyze in digital domain, but pretty difficult to measure in analog domain. It won’t show up in any of the standard measurements.
I’d say it is easier to hear than measure. But you don’t need to spend sleepless nights over it, if for you the corresponding non-EC sounds the same.
For me, EC makes sound a little sharper and more focused. Something I’d call “ultra-clean”. Even in very congested and dense mixes everything stays pin-point separate.
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Thanks! More music listening to come, more comparisons - and no tradeoffs in sleep required 
Spoke too soon, after playing a few albums using ASDM5EC, instead of ASDM7 at DSD128 I must say that I feel 5EC does do something more pleasant to my ears than ASDM7, its subtle and takes some time to notice in my case. Not ground breaking, but I feel it’s a positive outcome.
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Nice, thanks for sharing. Are you using an NAA, or USB DAC directly USB connected to HQPlayer?
x86 HQPlayerEmbeded to ultraRendu NAA
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Good recommendation! Just finished listening through with sinc-L, LNS15, x8 PCM (highest the Soekris dac1321 supports). Great album and even better with HQPlayer “magic”.
At this point I’m really sold on the sinc-M, sinc-Mx, and sinc-L filters on the Soekris R-2R DAC. Especially with sinc-L the sound quality is out of this world.
For my Revolution DAC I’m pretty sold on poly-sinc-gauss, ASDM7EC, DSD256. It’s right at the limit of what my mac mini can reliably handle, as long as there are no conversions between 44.1kHz and 48kHz based tracks. A recent firmware update to the Revolution makes this possible (a little buggy still on the Allo firmware side, but they are actively working to fix it so 48kHz DSD plays correctly).
Sometimes dropping down to ASDM5EC to avoid stuttering in the playback if anyone else is using the Mac. And I’m experiment with AMSDM7 512+fs from time to time, but DSD512 is somewhat of a pain on the Revolution DAC right now (again, it seems like they are working on firmware updates to improve).
yes, checked, not grayed. Grayed will result in conversion between clock base frequency, which is more CPU intensive.
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As a HQPlayer user I have been wanting to ask this question for a long time; my Dac is a Ayre QB- 9 DSD. I believe it uses a ESS chip and it only goes up to 192 /64. My question is, to get the most out of HQPlayer, would I be better off getting a different DAC that will do higher rates? Would that translate in better sound?
In general would a cheaper DAC that will do, let say 256 dsd sound better than a more expensive DAC that is limited to 192 and 64?
Thanks, Sam
I have the same Mac. One thing to be careful is even if it works and fan noise seems quiet, I see some CPU cores running over 90 deg C continuously with EC modulators.
For long term CPU life, this may be an issue. I don’t know.
You can use an app like ‘TG Pro’ to monitor CPU core temps.
Compared with my i9-9900K machine with Noctua fan in Fractal Design case, CPU temps never go above 65 deg C.
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I think this post by Charles Hansen (Ayre Acoustics, RIP) linked below is a great read.
You have a really great DAC already. I have a $100 dongle DAC that does higher sample rates than your Ayre.
If we swapped DACs, yes you could utilise higher sample rates with HQPlayer but I can assure you, I would be the sound quality winner in that swap and you would be the big loser
Having said that, the DACs Jussi uses himself (Holo Spring3, RME ADI-2, T+A for example) are really well engineered in terms of analogue section and power supply section AND perform even better when fed higher sample rates via HQPlayer , bypassing their internal DSP.
So there is a selection of DACs that ticks all the boxes and allow you to use HQPlayer to do ALL the DSP and elevate their already great performance.
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I’m back on ASDM7 (for now). It’s a good compromise between sound quality and CPU load. (For me, ASDM5EC takes twice the processing power). Its missing something compared to the EC modulator but my CPU isn’t pegged so ¯_(ツ)_/¯
Interestingly enough, I the difference between poly-sinc-gauss / ASDM5EC & ASDM7 are immediately noticeable to me, however, I would be hard pressed to differentiate between poly-sinc-gauss / ASDM5EC & poly-sinc-gauss-long / ASDM7. It seems (to my ears anyway) that whatever I am missing with the loss of EC modulators is somewhat compensated for by the extended filter. So I’m back to poly-sinc-gauss-long / ASDM7 (which is pretty much where I started out, so I’ve come full circle).
Now back to listening…
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Interesting. I downloaded TG Pro this morning to look closer at this. Here’s what I get:
ASDM5EC DSD256
ASDM7EC DSD256
The system is definitely working harder with 7EC. The main fain is running much faster. But the average CPU temperature is ~70C for 5EC and ~75C for 7EC. (It bounces up and down +/- 5C around those points.) So really not much of a cpu temp difference, about 5C - 10C warmer with 7EC.
That said, I have external fans blowing over the mac mini to help keep the case temperature down. I noticed my case temp go from 35C with 5EC to 39C with 7EC. So I am dissipating more power for sure.
Of course this is all for 16/44.1 content. If I up it to 16X PCM with 7EC I get:
~80C +/-5C, with a case temperature staying at ~40C (maybe needs more time to settle).
On track changes the CPU temp definitely goes to 100C. And if there is any other activity the CPU temp goes to 100C.
7EC is definitely on the edge of usable for me, but as long as the mac isn’t being used by anyone else it seems reasonable.
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