Signalyst HQPlayer - Is it worth the upgrade?

Thanks @milpai 

I hope it’s the upgrade you suggest. I wasn’t able to audition the new DAC in my system against the DAC 200. But, it also comes with a particularly nice preamp. So, I’m reasonably confident I’ll be pleased. (It does mean I’m now selling my integrated and getting a new amplifier - it’s an expensive hobby…).

And, you’re right about the DAC 200 and DSD 512. That’s what I currently give it with my Sirius processor and it’s very, very good.  Sourced that way, I found it to be better than any other sub $20k DAC I’ve auditioned. 

I look forward to giving HQPlayer a trial and will certainly circle back to you and the group with my progress and findings. With the built in NAA, it’s sounds like I might actually be able to get down to 2 boxes - the SDV 3100 and whatever amp I settle on.

Best,

@mgrif104 ,

One thing I will mention is that "not all the bits are the same". So when I got the T+A new, I used Foobar to send DSD 512 and DSD 1024 to the DAC and noticed a difference over the previous DAC. But it was not a "game changing" experience that folks talking about. So I decided to give the HQ Player a try. All I will say is that with 30 seconds of 512 DSD with HQ Player to this DAC, I simply purchased the HQ Player.

Hence I hope that you are able to try out the HQ Player with the new DAC.

@milpai 

Noted and good to know. I absolutely will try HQplayer and DSD 512 and 1024 and report back my results.

Best,

I have found, and now addicted to, HQPlayer desktop running on Mac Mini M4, upsampling Roons files natively, installed and playing on the same Mac mini, over Ethernet to my Holo Audio Red transport, over i2s to a Gustard R26, was the largest leap in sound quality since buying an SFP network switch, galvanically isolating my system, and externally clocking my DAC and switch. Truly incredible depth and width in soundstage, and the texture transformed into something completely different, and favorable. Like liquid honey in the mids, the voices had more definition and authority but somehow floated to your ears on a stream of liquid instead of beaming to them. Bass became velvety! I am now on the hunt for any and all accessible, upsampling DSD DACs. PS audio DirectStream perfect wave mkii and Meitner audio MA3 are in my sights. 
 

So to answer your question yes, it is WELL WORTH the 2 or 3 evening tearing your hair out with Mac OS and HQplayer preferences. I’d be happy to lend an hand or advise, but Grok Ai app got me through the whole process in a few evenings. Then  if you’re able to separate the Roon program and Hqplayer on separate components. Say a Silent Angel Rhein Z1C with 10mhz clock input running Roon, Roon operates much much better on Linux, hands down less glitches and dropouts. The engineer at AfterDark told me this ‘seperatizing’ is the best next leap in sound quality.

Hi @jbuddha882 - your post is great!  Liquid Honey!!  My experience with HQplayer upsampling to DSD has been great as well - so far I have been very budget limited and have been using the trial version on a laptop that's not very powerful, so I'm limited to low bit rates.  I have also preferred using Jplay as opposed to Roon.  You can try Jplay on a free trial and can control bit rate, modulator and filters from Jplay.  My plan is to find a mini pc with a Core i7 or similar and use HQplayer embedded and hopefully get this done for well under $1000.

I am puzzled by your comment that you are looking for upsampling DACs.  I believe one of the great benefits of HQplayer is that it does the upsampling work so the DAC doesn't have to.  So I think you should be looking for a DAC with "NOS Mode".

I too I have found that using AI (Chat GPT, Google Gemini, etc.) has made understanding the various HQplayer settings and their effect much easier to navigate.