HQ Player Playback Failure in Roon

jamtown · January 17, 2022, 4:23pm

Sorry if this has been posted here in the past, I did a search didn’t find much. I was curious to listen to HQ Player so I downloaded the trial version and added to Roon, watched video on Antipodes website and followed directions for HQplayer. I continue to get the playback fail message in Roon (see screenshot).

My set up is as follows: internet>>Ethernet>>Gigafoil/Ethernet into>>K50 AES into>>MSB DAC>>Amp.

What I am likely not understanding is the setting between Roon and HQ player. My backend is set to ALSA but only giving me the option for USB output and I am using AES. Is this the issue? And does HQ player only work with USB. Makes sense I suppose since I can’t upsample on AES?

kennyb123 · January 17, 2022, 7:16pm

Backend should be Network Audio as it is the Player engine in your K50 that talks to your DAC.

Also, the PCM rate limit is too high for AES. Set it to 192000. And enable auto rate family.

jamtown · January 17, 2022, 8:11pm

OK I changed those settings still not working for me. Here are some shots of the Player Software itself. Is there a setting there I am supposed to change as well?

Sorry for all the questions I feel like I’ve trouble shot this enough on my own by just switching what ever I thought would make it work…With no success.

kennyb123 · January 17, 2022, 9:05pm

It just struck me that your problem is likely due to you running it in trial mode. You actually have to restart HQPlayer on the Server apps page each time you reach the trial limit.

jamtown · January 18, 2022, 2:55am

Yeah I thought of that and rebooted everything and it didn’t seem to shakes hands with the HQ Player. I will try again tomorrow. Definitely getting frustrated…But now might be a good time to consider why I am doing this…Is the sound quality better with HQplayer over and above Roon player? I likely won’t be listening to alot of DSD tracks since I am on Qobuz.

kennyb123 · January 18, 2022, 2:59am

Use HQPlayer only if scaling benefits your DAC. Since are using AES, you won’t get much advantage from scaling, so I’d suggest going with Squeeze or Roon player.

jamtown · January 18, 2022, 3:16am

Good suggestion. I am on a Mac so not sure I can use Squeeze. I may try the USB with my DAC just to play around with the scaling. Waiting on a a new USB cable to get that going and make some comparisons. To my ear so far AES sounds better than USB so this will be an interesting test.

kennyb123 · January 18, 2022, 3:20am

If you mean you will control playback from a Mac, yes you can. All you need is a browser.

jamtown · January 18, 2022, 3:42am

Ok I need to research that…Clearly I am realizing I am an idiot the minute I decided to leave the safety net of Roon. Weird what these audiophile brains of ours will have us pursue. Roon sounds perfectly fine, but I won’t be satisfied until I satisfy that curiousity!

jamtown · January 18, 2022, 2:44pm

Well I got Squeeze up and running…Definitely and audible difference over and above Roon as a player. Still can’t figure out HQPlayer, will keep trying. Maybe I need to just buy it and remove the trial.

jamtown · January 23, 2022, 1:04pm

Ok so I am eeking my way through this…Got it to stop giving me that error. Now it “appears” to be playing when I hit play, time is NOT advancing it and the K50 indicator appears to be moving along as if it were playing. No sound coming out. Are there step by step instructions on how to set this thing? Has to be an issue with my settings.

ICUToo · May 23, 2022, 3:49am

jamtown, did you get this sorted? I have the same trouble playing K50 into MSB Reference DAC via ProUSB.

kennyb123 · May 23, 2022, 5:28am

This sounds like the behavior in trial mode. On the About tab for HQPlayer, does it indicate that you have a license? If you see the word trial, then you have to restart HQPlayer to get it to work for another 30 minutes. Then rinse and repeat.

ICUToo · May 23, 2022, 9:43am

Just to answer my own question, above:
I found that I needed to program HQPlayer more than once (both “ALSA Backend” and “Network Audio” needed to be set to the ProUSB setting) to make it work. Then it worked.

audioscience · July 6, 2023, 8:30am

I’ve been having a problem getting hqplayer to work with K22/K40 and Roon. Worked on it for a couple of days before discovering the following:

There is no need to buy hqplayer. There is an embedded copy in K22.
HQPlayer will only work for me if I use USB. It does not work with the reclocker.
HQPlayer sounds better than raw Roon. Remember you don’t need to buy hqplayer if using Antipodes.
Squeeze sounds better than HQPlayer on K22. Squeeze sounds more natural, less processed. It is a level above HQPlayer and that’s without using the reclocker. Raw Roon sounds too compressed and bright on my system, compared to HQP and Squeeze.
Antipodes needs to create a version of Squeeze which curates music better than Squeeze.

kennyb123 · July 6, 2023, 5:01pm

This can easily be missed, but to have HQPlayer work with the reclocker, one must change the setting that follows. Presently it’s set to use USB but the top optoon is the reclocker.

Windyb · July 6, 2023, 9:18pm

“Remember you don’t need to buy hqplayer if using Antipodes.”

… but be prepared to have to restart HQPlayer every 30 minutes if you have not purchased a licence.

MarkCole · July 7, 2023, 1:59am

If anyone needs help or a step thru instructional session on HQPlayer just book an appointment for remote access support and I’ll happily get it going for you.

For a two box set-up using Roon+HQPlayer use the dedicated pre-set, this enables both
HQPlayer Server and Roon Server as well as HQPlayer NAA on the player.

Launch HQPlayer Setup from the Solution Dashboard, use admin and admin to log in.

Inside HQPlayer Set-Up
Use Network Audio and tick Auto Rate Family

Set the PCM bit-rate so that it is not higher than your DAC can handle

Set the Network Audio Back End to match your selected output on the Antipodes, note that Antipodes: Antipodes USB Audio 2.0: USB Audio is the internal connection to the re-clocker, in the example below DX3 Pro+ is USB out of my K50

Click Apply

OK, so now HQPlayer is setup, now you need to set Roon up with HQPlayer.

Get the IP Address of your server from the dashboard

Inside Roon, go to Settings / Setup / HQPlayer - add the IP address of your Server to the add HQPlayer pop out box

Awesome, almost there, Go to Settings / Audio you should see HQPlayer, name it whatever you like, select it as your playback “zone” play a track

You should see HQPlayer in the signal path, with your set filters and sampling rate

2023_07_07_13_58_17_Roon

As mentioned the Trial is 30 minutes from the start of the HQPlayer process. When you restart HQPlayer, you get another 30 minutes of trial. License key removes this limitation.

Re-start HQPlayer server in the server tab of the dashboard

2023_07_07_14_05_49_K50server_Server_Dashboard

audioscience · July 7, 2023, 2:24am

Thanks, I wondered about that. It is just that I have not used HQP for more than 30m. I rather listen to Squeeze.

audioscience · July 7, 2023, 2:30am

Thanks Mark. I found instructions for setting up HQP opaque. I’ve been spinning vinyl today to get away from the digital mess.