Signalyst HQPlayer - Is it worth the upgrade?
I have been reading high praises in audio forums about HQPlayer rendering the best sound quality from Qobuz or Tidal. I realize best is subjective in the context of one’s system and end user’s personal preferences driven by choice of gear and budget.
I have been a long time Aurender user and also been using Roon now for past 3 years. Those who have read my posts knows my take on Roon as not the best sounding renderer when directly compared with Aurender’s Conductor app. Others may disagree with my position on Roon but those are my findings within the context of my system. I do enjoy Roon interface for obvious reasons but not so much the sound.
The purpose of my post is to explore the possibility of elevating the sound of my existing Roon player (Merging Technologies + player) by integrating HQPlayer as the final renderer. By doing so, Roon will pass along a stream of bits from my local stored files on SSD and stream from Qobuz. This configuration allows me to enjoy the benefits of HQPlayer SQ and the fabulous library management capabilities of Roon at the same time.
I am seeking opinions from those who have actually compared Roon vs HQPlayer or using HQPlayer exclusively. Did you find HQPlayer worth the upgrade? What hardware or device you’re using to enjoy HQPlayer in your system.
Thank you!
PS: Please refrain from posting if you’re in bits are bits, 1’s and 0’s camp or believe high end streamer/servers are over priced and waste of money.
Wanted to revive thread in appreciation of HQ Player. I am in awe of what it has been doing with FLAC files upsampled to 512 DSD. I was gravitating more to streaming for the past couple of years. But with the HQ Player, I have been looking more to listening to my albums. It had Qobuz integration and I will give that a shot soon. @lalitk , I am a bit perplexed with your experience with DSD on HQ Player. Are you using it still? |
thanks for reviving this thread - it’s now highly relevant for me. My DAC sounds better decoding DSD than PCM. My current path is Auralic Aries G2 streamer>Auralic Sirius G2.1 processor>T+A SDV3100 dac. I use the Sirius to convert all files (both stored on a NAS and streaming Qobuz) to DSD 512 natively. It sounds very good. My questions revolved around complexity and utility of HQ Player. My dac has a built in NAA. Do I understand correctly that I could put Roon Core on a PC along with HQ player, settle on conversion and filters and just use my iPad for library management with the Roon interface - and be done? I really dislike tinkering when I want to listen to music. Set and forget is the beauty of my current set up - but it’s also more boxes, cables, etc. I previously had Roon but it didn’t sound as good as Lightning DS - the native app and OS for the Auralic gear I own. But I loved the interface. I’m wondering if I could get back to the Roon interface, perhaps get an upgrade in sound and retain the simplicity of just listening to music (after getting it properly setup). Any experienced users - Is this feasible or a pipe dream? Best, |
Not anymore, the external PC I bought to run HQPlayer proven to be very laborious. The HQPlayer software kept going to ‘sleep’, so I gave up and went back to Roon. Thanks for reviving this thread, I may look into this one more time. Hopefully there is a better way to integrate HQPlayer with my Merging +player. |
I run Roon core on custom server using Euphony operating system. Euphony has the ability to run HQPlayer inside Roon in both 30 minute free trials or purchased full version. In my setup I prefer running Roon sans HQPlayer in 'bridged' mode, where Roon core is on the custom server, Roon Endpoint on my OpticalRendu streamer. HQPlayer simply sounds more 'processed' or hifi like vs my favored Roon only setup. I also minimize any of the 'extra' processing Roon provides, therefore, none of their inferior to HQPlayer dsp, no volume leveling, no volume control, no or throttling of their individual tune or library analysis.
Its been my experience that all this 'extra' processing only emphasizes the digital nature of digital, Yes, there were certain aspects of sound that seem improved in the short run, especially when my digital setup wasn't fully realized. But over the years as my streaming/digital setup has improved to where it now competes favorably to my pretty nice vinyl setup, in other words now finally sounds fully analog, I don't want any semblance of a 'processed' or digital sound to reappear. Based on my experience I now judge HQPlayer as benefiting digital setups that need band aids to cover up for deficiencies somewhere in streaming or full system chain, Get your entire streaming chain in order, this means all the way from internet service through dac, and of course we also need to get our systems and rooms in order which further negates the need for dsp. If you don't need 'help' with resolution, transparency, tonal balance, timbre, in room frequency response at listening position, dynamics whats the point of HQPlayer? Sometimes less is more. |
That DAC you own is a level above the DAC 200 and HQ Player can only take it higher, per my experience. I am new to this whole HQ Player setup and not using the NAA feature. Have you tried the AudiophileStyle forum? I would like to know about this feature (for future) and can post it there. BTW, your system is awesome, yet simple at the same time. @lalitk , I have always admired your setup. Very meticulous and well treated. As for the external PC that goes into sleep, you need to go into settings and choose the power plan to "High Performance". Then you can edit the "power plan" such that when it is "plugged in", it should never sleep, but the display can go into sleep in 1 minute. I suggest that you give that a try and PM me, if needed To each his own and I am glad that you found what you like. Thanks for sharing your experience. |
