You have too much network bandwidth!!

HQ Player Client shows Qobuz streaming bitrates in real time. I was similarly surprised to find low (<5 Mbps) bandwidth rates for streaming HiRes audio. When I see frequent agonizing over pricey audiophile switches and CAT6 hardware, it begs the question why if one has a WiFi signal that delivers high bandwidth with low latency and high reliability, why consider a galvanic connection (e.g. ethernet) and the extraneous noise it introduces? 

@tomrk Incidentally, HQ Player integrates the GPU with the CPU for sharing the load of upsampling/shaping/filtering algorithms, but only later NVIDIA processors support this feature.

Orb (orb.net) is a free app for just about any platform that allows one to asses and monitor latency, packet loss, and overall system speed and quality in real time. 

A standard CD playing stereo at 16 bits and 44.kHz outputs 1.4 Million bits per second. 

@richardbrand  - I stand corrected!! I made a mistake and did not translate Bytes to bits correctly, my bad.  You are correct.  At 196k/32 bits the signal should be about 12.3 megabits/second.   I really should only do this math in code rather than in my head. 

Right now I’m monitoring my Pi 5 and it’s receiving 1430 KB/second, while playing 176/32 music, approximately 11 megabits / second. 

@elliottbnewcombjr 

what’s the minimum for two tvs simultaneously streaming video with multi-track audio?

For 4K streaming video, it's roughly 25Mbps per stream

For 1080p streaming video it's roughly 5Mbps per stream

For a full surround Atmos, it's about 18Mbps from a bluray disk supporting up to 35 channels, but for streaming purposes, it gets reduced to about 500-750Kbps, so it's trivial compared to a 4K video

It should be noted that in the real world, you generally need double the bit rates above, but a 1GB connection should theoretically handle 20 stream or more with surround sound.   This assumes your bandwidth can deliver 100% of it's bandwidth at all times. In the real world, you could probably do all the TVs in your house.

@ted_b

Incidentally, HQ Player integrates the GPU with the CPU for sharing the load of upsampling/shaping/filtering algorithms, but only later NVIDIA processors support this feature

Interesting.   I looked on their site, what parts and pieces did you put together for HQ player (there are several levels).  I’m using an Intel A770 GPU right now, I guess I’d need to ask them if they support it.

As to the using the GPU, there is some argument that the time the CPU uses to pass the data to the GPU (being limited by the Front Side bus) would effectively negate the advantages of the GPU.  But I’m not aware of someone actually trying it.

@tomrk I’m using HQP for Windows 11, the streamer being a powerful handheld gaming device - ASUS ROG Ally Z1 Extreme. It does not have a supported GPU, so I am unable to select the GPU offload option. Where applicable, GPU offload is managed by HQP for best performance, but there are user definable parameters. With my current setup, I am nevertheless able to comfortably upsample PCM to 1.5 MHz or convert PCM to DSD128 using any of the available shapers and filter algorithms, so this functions like a software based Chord M-Scaler with a vast selection of user definable options. The included Client app has Qobuz integrated, so it is a seamless streaming/upsampling platform, and there are real-time indicators that show the streaming bitrate and how the web connection and your CPU are performing at any given moment. The UI leaves a little bit to be desired, but the audio performance is worth it.

You can download a free trial version for the appropriate OS. It has complete functionality, but it shuts down after 30 minutes and you’ll need to restart it.