The dac is Leaf Audio CMD30. They sell on taobao, a chinese platform. Though I am not from China, I am conversant in communicating with the owner of the brand in Chinese. The DAC is overbuilt, with 4 transformers. But they will be unknown outside China.
As I increase the upsampling from dsd64 to 128 to 256 to 512 (max for the dac), the sound becomes smoother but can sound less and less lively and more distant. I attribute it to the dac. Until I can get a dac that can convert dsd natively. Like the T+A or Holo. Guatard just released their R30 that can process dsd natively as well.
I have a Cyan2. I had a Holo May but preferred something smaller. Iām more into vinyl.
Not been using it much and been using PCM native output.
Iāve forgotten what DSD filter/modulator settings I used to use. Use a M2 Pro DSD256.
Can someone please recommend the popular/regular settings for mainly classical and jazz?
Many thanks
I just ordered a smsl d1 that for $89 uses the new Rohm dac chip that similar to ifi can only do direct dsd up to dsd512. Will report back how it sound
Cheers
What Iāve measured, ES9039 performs very nicely with DSD512 feed from HQPlayer. Quite a bit better than feeding it with PCMā¦
But some ESS based DACs have design/implementation issues that make higher DSD rates perform poorly. I donāt know if this is the case with your DAC.
Thanks for pointing this out. I will do more tests.
Hello dear friends,
I changed my pc to new more powerful one - Beelink SER9 mini PC AMD Ryzenā¢ AI 9 HX 370, AMD Radeonā¢ 890M, 32Gb LPDDR5X 7500MHz, 1Tb m.2 PCIe 4.0 x4, HDMI / DP / USB4, Wi-Fi 6, LAN2500
With this change my system is able to support more configurations that require more resources like PCM to DSD 512 and even 1024. However, there are some moments that are not clear for meā¦ For example I can configure
SDM (DSD) poly-sinc-long-lp-2s ASDM7EC-super 22579200
and it will do the PCM conversion to DSD512 and play the CD from CD transport without any drops, therefore DSD1024 it cannot even start to play. I have the same behavior with all ASDM7EC family.
Another example:
SDM (DSD) poly-sinc-long-lp-2s AHM7EC8B 45156400
it will do the PCM conversion to DSD1024 and play the CD from CD transport without any drops, therefore DSD512 it cannot even start to play. Another moment I hear a little hiss when playing 1024. With AHM7EC5CL I have the same.
About my setup: I have Roon Core (ROCK) implemented on NUC 10th Core i5, HQPlayer Embedded implemented on Beelink SER9 mini PC AMD Ryzenā¢ AI 9 HX 370, AMD Radeonā¢ 890M, 32Gb LPDDR5X 7500MHz, 1Tb m.2 PCIe 4.0 x4, HDMI / DP / USB4, Wi-Fi 6, LAN2500, CD Transport Audiolab 6000CDT, DAC DENAFRIPS ARES II, Spdif optical to USB interface - Hifime UR23 SPDIF Optical to USB converter
Here are the screenshots of my configuration:
Thanks for your comments and advices.
This combination can do DSD1024, no problem. I would recommend to enable log file and take a look why it wonāt play. The reason is also shown on HQPlayer Desktop server status bar for 10 seconds when attempting to play.
AHM modulators are DSD1024-only. So no rates below DSD1024 allowed.
Is your Denafrips firmware up to date? It should work fine at DSD1024, but the DSD1024 exceeds USB specifications and may not work on all hardware. If you get a noisy output, it may indicate USB data loss.
I know it works with Intel USB controllers, but Iām not sure about AMD. At least at some point there was a problem.
I was wrong, it start to play, however, I have dropouts. I didnāt find anything in log, only request for CUDA offload.
I have the latest firmware for my Denafrips Ares II (DENAFRIPS USB V3.12 and A22F1.8: USB Audio), I didnāt see any new versions for this Ares II.
it seems problem is here
I forgot to indicate that I have also HQPlayer NAA on the base of Raspberry Pi4 so no cable data communication from mini PC to DAC. However, I also tried ALSA Backend - the result is same.
About my network: I have Wi-Fi Mesh system, Roon, HQPlayer Embedded and NAA are connected by wires to the same MESH point ASUS RT-AX58U which is wirelessly connected to the main router ASUS RT-AX82U. The speed measured to the internet: downlink 380Mbps, uplink 450Mbps.
What can be the workaround or the solution? Any advices? Thanks.
Letās say you have poly-sinc-long-lp-2s with ASDM7EC-super working at DSD512. When you go for DSD1024 with the same settings, the processing load almost doubles. So you can see how it can quickly exhaust the available processing resources in couple of output rate increase steps.
Is this running my NAA OS image or something else?
Will check the log. Iāll send you the file in personal message.
Yes it is, itās your NAA OS
hqplayer-embedded-5.14.0-raspberrypi4-holored.7z
In my earlier post, I said that I am using poly sinc gauss xla, asdm7ec super, and higher rate dsd like dsd512 does not sound as good as say dsd128. For a dual ess 9039pro dac.
It works when I use asdm7ec-fast, instead of the super version. Once I do that, I can tell that dsd512 is better than dsd128. The sound is livelier. So a change in the modulator selected does the trick.
Using mac mini m4, running hqplayer and roon server, for the above settings, there will be this occasional slight stutter. I have never had such experience before. Probably an issue w some part of my music chain (can be gentooplayer, diretta, mac mini m4 etc). But not a big issue.
I am a happy new owner of a HOLO may KTE dac. While it sounds stupendous in NOS mode in my system with signal from Roon (without any conversion) - I cannot seem to get HQ player right for this DAC at least not in my system (MYTEK Brooklyn+ was quite the opposite HQplayer improved it considerably). Do any of you have any experience with this DAC and have the right kind of settings for me to try out? (I have of course tried some of the setting I have been able to find online). I have a Marantz amplifier which is to the warm side and two B&W 804Dā¦thanks for any advice on this.
You may want to advise everybody on what is your streaming source and how it is connected.
It is connected via a zenstream
Diretta will add quite a bit of extra load on the system. Probably not a surprise, but I would recommend to use HQPlayer NAA instead.
But typical source of stutter is available processing resources. So you may be occasionally running out of processing power.
As a starting point, run it always at DSD256. So set default output mode to āSDM (DSD)ā.
1x filter = poly-sinc-gauss-long
Nx filter = poly-sinc-gauss-hires-lp
Modulator = ASDM7EC-fast
48k DSD = checked
Adaptive rate = checked
Rate limit = 48k x256
If you have enough processing resources, enable matrix processor from HQPlayer settings, the DAC correction post-process plugin and select Holo May as the DAC.
You can also try DSD512 (rate limit 48k x512) with same settings. And also DSD1024 (rate limit 48k x1024) with modulator set to AHM7EC8B.
Remember to set PCM gain compensation to -6 dB! And never turn HQPlayer volume higher than -3 dB (to leave headroom for inter-sample overs), or alternatively select the fixed gain option which will apply -3 dB (checked) or -6 dB (greyed).
When you compare to Roon or what ever doing PCM output, please remember that DSD output level of Holo Audio DACs is 6 dB lower than PCM output level. So if not using HQPlayer with itās PCM gain compensation, remember to increase amplifier volume by 6 dB when switching from PCM to DSD output.
P.S. Zen Stream is limited to max DSD256 output anywayā¦
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Thanks so much Jussi for this service! Just one question from an amateur: where do I āenable matrix processor from HQPlayer settings, the DAC correction post-process pluginā ???
Also one more question: Is there a complete guide to HQplayer desktop 5? I just bought it last week and did not seem to receive a guide?
Itās automatically installed when you install HQP desktop. Try the search function in Windows or navigate to the install folder.
Thanks for all your help with this! I found it.