Roon vs Roon with HQ Player

MPW

MPW

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Please discuss the sonic differences experienced by adding HQ Player to Roon. I use Roon by itself currently and do not do any upsampling as my DAC does this as part of its processing. Curious to know if HQ Player will improve sound quality in this configuration or only if upsampling or DSP is involved. Thanks in advance for the insight.
 
I do use Roon to resample all my files to DSD128 before sending the files to the Bricasti M12, as that unit has separate dac boards for sigma/delta conversions, and DSD. Just a choice for me.

To use the HQPlayer upsample/resample functions, you need the HQ side in Roon turned on, and you need an HQPlayer endpoint (NAA) (I’m pretty sure your opticalRendu does that, but you would need to look into turning that on) I’m also aware that he offers a free trial before you need to buy the license to keep using it.

Miska (HQPlayer guy) runs a thread on audiophilestyle, where you can read more.

There certainly are people who swear by the results. The Bricasti does not function as an NAA, so I can’t help with results.

Here is the website for the software: Signalyst
 
I use HQPlayer and Roon Core on my PC server. I use Roon controller on my Microsoft Surface. I setup HQPlayer as a zone (or whatever they currently call it in Roon). Of course within the HQPlayer software you setup the DAC drivers to use and what filters you like, etc.

With Roon 1.8 they made it much easier to switch zones back and forth and therefore it was fairly easy to compare Roon to Roon with HQPlayer. They are close but it became apparent quickly that HQPlayer was a bit fuller, a bit more detailed; all in all a bit more musical and more enjoyable. I actually was hoping that I could no longer hear a difference because HQPlayer is more demanding on my hardware so I was hoping to be able to stop using it. Also I would have preferred to use Roon completely by itself.

By the way, all digital files get up-sampled to DSD512/48 which is 24.6 Mhz.... This signal is feed out of the server to the DAC and the T+A also uses a completely different signal path for DSD, which was developed in house.
 
MPW said:
Please discuss the sonic differences experienced by adding HQ Player to Roon. I use Roon by itself currently and do not do any upsampling as my DAC does this as part of its processing. Curious to know if HQ Player will improve sound quality in this configuration or only if upsampling or DSP is involved. Thanks in advance for the insight.
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I am not sure that you can easily do an apple to apple comparison between the two.

Both Roon and HQP allow you to do upsampling. They also allow you to use customer-developed DSP like room correction.

Yet, even if you are using the same DSP correction filters and upsampling mode on both products, HQP also utilizes filters developed by HQP that are not available in Roon.

Those filters affect how the music will sound. So from the objective point of view, Roon and HQP will sound different as a result of the filters.

There are a lot of filters available to use. Some folks use different filters with different kinds of music (classical, rock, etc.) Others use the same filter regardless of music. But since each filter is different they will have a unique effect in what a person will hear.

Keep in mind that some of those filters demand the use of heavy CPU processing power which only the more powerful computers can properly do. That creates a limitation for those who want to experience the most power-hungry filters from HQPlayer.

I personally enjoy the interface and music management capabilities of Roon. I also enjoy the flexibility that HQP provides. And Roon and HQP play very well together, I’m keeping both of them.
 
Before adding HQPlayer, perhaps you may just try using Roon to upsample CD rips of 44.1kHz to DSD256 (or DSD128 if DSD256 does not work) vs Roon lossless output of 44.1kHz. This former path bypasses the internal DSD256 upsampling of the SA-10. There are a few upsampling options that are present in Roon. Doing these experiments you may perhaps gain some insight on what a change of upsampling algorithms impact SQ in your own setup, and help you determine the next step of whether going through a HQPlayer trial (if you have a sufficiently powerful computer).

Another thing is, I think it's worthwhile to test the support of DSD256 in your setup first, as I'm not quite sure it'll work. In case you can only achieve DSD128, you may also think about whether this is factor for your decision.
 
wklie said:
Before adding HQPlayer, perhaps you may just try using Roon to upsample CD rips of 44.1kHz to DSD256 (or DSD128 if DSD256 does not work) vs Roon lossless output of 44.1kHz. This former path bypasses the internal DSD256 upsampling of the SA-10. There are a few upsampling options that are present in Roon. Doing these experiments you may perhaps gain some insight on what a change of upsampling algorithms impact SQ in your own setup, and help you determine the next step of whether going through a HQPlayer trial (if you have a sufficiently powerful computer).

Another thing is, I think it's worthwhile to test the support of DSD256 in your setup first, as I'm not quite sure it'll work. In case you can only achieve DSD128, you may also think about whether this is factor for your decision.
Click to expand...

Great idea. I am definitely going to give that a try.
 
Did some testing this morning using Roon’s upsampling capabilities. My DAC (Marantz SA-10) will indeed accept DSD 256. More listening is needed, but my initial impressions are that using Roon to upsample resulted in more width and depth to the soundstage with more bass impact, and an overall more real sound. Will report back more as I spend time with it. I would recommend trying this if you have a DAC that accepts DSD and are using Roon. Could be a nice (and free) improvement. Thanks for the suggestion Peter.
 
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