Hi all,
will the S30 handle HQPlayer?
I’ve heard that it requires a fair bit of grunt to perform without issues.
I currently use Roon as the server and Squeeze as the player.
Thanks, Ian
Hi there, short answer is …NO.
A S30 would require a PC or S40 to run HQPlayer Embedded, the endpoint HQPlayer NAA is only available on the S30.
Thanks Mark,
Guess I’m stuck with Roon and Squeeze for a while yet unless I find a cheap S40 or similar.
Depending on what you hope to achieve with HQPlayer, you may need something more powerful than a S40.
This weekend, for the first time, I have HQPlayer upscaling to DSD512 via integration with Roon. I had to involve my 2019 Mac Pro. The best sound quality that I have heard from Roon.
thanks Kenny.
The guy who who suggested the HQP route to me also uses a Mac Pro.
Sadly, I don’t think my retirement budget will stretch that far.
The $599 Mac Mini with M4 has a Geekbench score of 14605 (multi core). My 2019 Mac Pro comes in at 10556. That means the Mac Mini is 38.4% faster. That’s the device I think I would choose if I didn’t already have the Mac Pro.
I don’t want to put words in @kennyb123 's mouth, but I am guessing it is still a step down from Squeeze/squeeze.
I am not sure if you would be able to use the S40 to employ HQ Player effectively anyway. When I tried the K50 I could only go up to DSD64, anything more processor intensive and it wouldn’t work properly.
Do what many of us do and use Roon for less serious listening and music discovery, and for that time you want to hear that particular recording with the best sound quality switch over to Squeeze server and player. I have a mac pro as well and don’t bother with HQ Player. No need to be sad- I wouldn’t worry about it- you are not missing anything sound quality wise not using HQ Player, but you are saving money not paying for HQ Player.
Hopefully the S30 can be upgraded to the new software stack, when she gets released. You then might be sad then if it cannot. Hopefully Audirvana kicks butt with both HQ Player and Squeeze. 
now that’s interesting! I’ll check it out. Thanks Kenny
Hi Watts,
I do like my Roon but was thinking of giving Squeeze- Squeeze a go again.
In the mean time I’ll wait for that upgrade and probably check out the Mac Mini just to get my head around it.
Thanks for your reply.
My usage of Squeeze is Squeeze/Squeeze/PGGB and therefore local files only. That is heads and shoulders above everything else.
When streaming from Qobuz, I have relied on Roon as it’s the best tool for music discovery. But unfortunately, I had been having a really difficult time enjoying it. I tried Roon/Roon, Roon/Squeeze and Roon/HQPlayer(DSD256). Each of them had me wanting to run back to Squeeze/Squeeze/PGGB.
HQPlayer’s new “fast” modulators have been “transient and load” optimized. I believe that means they have better time domain performance and also require less CPU. The version we have on Antipodes doesn’t support this so I got HQPlayer Desktop running on my Mac Pro in trial mode and finally figured out how to get DSD512 streaming to the K50 without hiccups. The load it places on my Mac Pro is minimal, which is hugely promising as far as this modulator being able to run on a K50 at higer rates. It also sounds great. It seemed to ameliorate the artifacts that bother me when Roon is involved. Does it match Squeeze/Squeeze/PGGB? No.
Begs the question though as to Qobuz streaming in Squeeze/Squeeze vs Roon/HQPlayer/DSD512(fast modulator). This isn’t apples to apples with my DAC as it is essentially two DACs as PCM and DSD have their own converters. I have yet to compare Qobuz natively as PCM vs Qobuz as DSD512.
Two thumbs up for Squeeze/Squeeze/PGGB. Seconded by Squeeze/Squeeze/Mscaler. I was very glad to get Tidal/Qobuz working in Squeeze again. I wish there was a technical reason why Squeeze sounds better than Roon that could be demonstrated.
2 Likes
Demonstrating it would be expensive. It would be a literal science project where the scientific method would be utilized to formulate and test hypotheses. That testing would likely require expensive test equipment and the professionals who would do this testing well aren’t cheap.
I would rather that the dollars needed for this be applied to something that saves human lives. Our ears are a sufficient guide, plus many skeptics would remain unconvinced regardless of what science finds.
1 Like
I can’t verify the reason for the sound difference is the CPU activity, but with Roon the server CPU bounces from 1% to 9%, I have seen it higher, and with Squeeze it almost always is at 0%- never above 1%
1 Like
I run roon, squeeze and hqplayer on my K30, G4 at the same time. Even with roon feeding several non critical end points through the house and squeeze running in the main rig (headphones), squeeze is still noticeably superior. I wonder if squeeze is like jplay and just a controller while roon for sure retransmits the streams. How this would affect the sound I have no idea. I just get very annoyed on the roon forums where there is no latitude for any talk of sound quality. Prog On!
2 Likes
When I compare the CPU usage on my K50 G3 between Roon/Roon and Squeeze/Squeeze, both are almost identical at 0%. Mark Cole suspects that the more intensive network communication with the Roon mothership is responsible for the poorer sound quality. Well, I don’t know. I think most people in the Roon forums are satisfied with the sound, so nothing will change. Significantly more people simply need to cancel their subscriptions and consistently state their reasons regarding the poor sound quality; otherwise, nothing will change, or only very slowly. I also read in the Roon forums that many love Roon’s balanced, darker sound. Roon’s user interface is addictive, so I often switch back to Roon, but it doesn’t take long before I’m proven wrong and switch back to Squeeze/Squeeze for sound quality reasons. My Roon subscription expires today, and I won’t be renewing it. I diligently cite the poor sound quality as the reason for cancellation. But nobody cares. We have expensive components available – the K50 server, Oladra server, and K41 server (€10,000 servers) – and we still can’t get Roon to sound good. It’s certainly better than any run-of-the-mill CPU solution or a Nucleus, but the result is still disappointing compared to Squeeze. Squeeze could certainly sound better than Roon, or at least different, but with a €10,000 server, Roon should be able to sound good, or at least more satisfactory than the current result.
4 Likes