@hgeifman HQP does not do the same thing as the PS Audio new DAC does. It does not just upsample to DSD.
It gives you a vast choice of modulators and filters to suit your room and equipment. That is its defining factor.
Upsampling PCM or DSD in 2022
The purpose of this post is to ask the collective about the best options for upsampling today, and whether it’s worth doing. I stumbled into this topic after recently considering Paul McGowan’s take on DSD, and after reflecting on the upsampling in my home theater system.
Paul believes that DSD is world’s better than PCM. That caught my attention, because, until now, I have been operating under John Darko’s view that high res (i.e. 24-bit and above) is nice but not worth chasing--CD quality is good enough. But audio does seem analogous video. And 1080p isn't good enough for my video streams. So, I now want to give DSD and upsampling a shot.
In my home theater system, I use an Nvidia Shield TV streamer for its AI upsampling, driven by its graphics processor. Plenty of video content is still being released or only available at 1080p. Although upsampled 1080p isn’t as good as 4k, it’s better than basic 1080p. That upsampling makes a big difference for me. I strongly dislike watching 1080p content on my 4k TV. As far as I’m aware, the Nvidia Shield streamer offers the best video upsampling on the market, and it only costs >$200. It occurred to me that I might get similar gratification by upsampling audio too.
Upsampling can be performed at the DAC, streamer, server, or somewhere in between. Here are the major options I’ve considered so far:
- PS Audio’s Direct Stream DAC costs 6k. As an FPGA unit, it has lots of extra power that this manufacturer directs towards upsampling, and upsampling PCM to DSD is a major selling point for this device. Unfortunately, you have to get to the Direct Stream in the lineup to experience that feature.
- Chord’s Hugo M Scaler costs 5k. Although Chord builds FPGA DACs too, Chord sells a separate component for upscaling. In the audio chain, the M Scaler sits between a streamer and DAC. Because Chord separates out upsampling functionality into its own component, Chord’s solution is likely more expensive than PS Audio’s.
- HQ Player software costs >$300. HQ Player is a software service that can be installed on a server, or on a computer that sits between the server and streamer. Besides being affordable, you can pair HQ Player with Roon. The author of AudioBacon reports HQ Player introducing up to 30 seconds of lag to an audio stream when set to the most demanding upsampling algorithm even when used with a powerful Windows computer. But another commenter mentioned that his M1 Apple device introduced zero lag when running HQ Player.
Because the retail price of the components in my stereo system came out to about 5k (when new), HQ Player is where I’m looking for now. Please comment if:
- You know about some other upsampling options I ought to consider;
- You have opinions about the value of high res audio or upsampling; or
- If you have anything you’d like to add to the conversation.
- ...
- 40 posts total
@reg19 , therein lies the issue with HQPlayer, there are many choices of modulators and sampling rates to choose from. I found the process difficult to narrow down for all different types of music, there was no ‘one’ setting that a) worked for the DAC b) different modulators worked against each other for say jazz, 70’s rock, or vocals. The process was such that tuning HQPlayer was needed per album. That was the time to stop tinkering and listening instead. For years now, I just let the DAC convert PCM/DSD the sample rate of the album, done. The Playback Designs MPD-3 DAC I own internally converts anything to DSD, I liked the sound of that DAC, it now has a fault, so it’s a dust collector. |
@reg19 , yes finding that one setting was the undoing, could never find the right combo. Upsampled to DSD128, try this and that on headphones, took a few weeks of tweaking time. Spat the dummy one day just had enough. |
@rms456 if you’re only going to DSD128, you’re not getting the HQP benefit. Perhaps, you need more computer power? I use a M1 Mac Studio. On HQP5 (much better than HQP4), I find that going to DSD512 using AMSDM7EC 512+fs / Sinc mGA gives a very smooth analog sound with tremendous layering / soundstage. Or, sinc-long with PCM768 / LNS15. That’s it. Two settings. |
- 40 posts total