By using Audirvana as the music server in this case I get access to all the on-line streaming options that Audirvana supports, and off-loads all the server related processing from the HQPlayer PC.
AUDIRVANA VS HQPLAYER PC
Music source on a NAS, or from Qobuz → Audirvana on a Mac Mini → HQPlayer on a Core i7-8700 based PC → same Bridge/Endpoint as above but with networkaudiod rather than mpd/upmpdcli → USB to the Hugo TT2. If one added the M-Scaler, it would go between the Bridge/Endpoint and the Hugo TT2. Music source on a NAS, or from Qobuz → Audirvana on a Mac Mini → Bridge/Endpoint w/mpd & upcmpdcli → USB to the Hugo TT2. So, to show you how the pieces all fit together, here’s how my digital data flow looks both before and after the addition of HQPlayer… I’ll show you how I worked around that shortly. One disadvantage of HQPlayer (at least the embedded version) is that it doesn’t talk directly to Tidal/Qobuz etc.
Everything I’m going to say about HQPlayer from here on out will be based on the embedded Linux version. It can be used as either a desktop application on Windows/Mac/Linux, or as a dedicated embedded solution on a Linux box with no GUI, which is how I’m using it. If you’re going to do up-sampling, you’ll need a more powerful PC than the minimum suggested in that thread… I’ve not tried it that way, so you’re on your own for that solution… HQPlayer can also function as a bridge/endpoint, or as a server feeding music to a bridge/endpoint. HQPlayer can be used as a stand-alone single box music playback system like the one here: viewtopic.php?f=4&t=2057.
HQPlayer also has a few other capabilities which fit right in with computer based playback. Compared the the M-Scaler, HQPlayer fits the DIY ethic a little better HQPlayer has up-sampling options up to at least 2 million taps on the digital filter. That actually made the desktop version essentially unusable on the Mac Mini I’m running Audirvana on as it took more than 30 minutes to scan my music library, and it won’t start scanning where it left off when you restart the program….
AUDIRVANA VS HQPLAYER TRIAL
You can test HQPlayer without purchasing a license, the only limitation is that it will only run for 30 minutes at a time with the trial version.
AUDIRVANA VS HQPLAYER SOFTWARE
HQPlayer isn’t free, but a suitable PC and the software can be put together for <$1K rather than the $4700 or so a new ($3k or so used) M-Scaler costs. HQPlayer, on the other hand, is a software package that runs on a PC, and also performs sophisticated up-sampling & dithering. The M-Scaler uses some sophisticated algorithms to do the up-sampling and dithering, with up to 1 million taps on the digital filter (the digital filters in most DACs have 256 taps).
I believe the M-Scaler just passes DSD straight through (DaveM?). The M-Scaler then up-samples the music (PCM only I believe) to the highest rate your DAC can handle (or less, if you prefer). Until I started playing with HQPlayer… For those of you who haven’t been paying attention, the M-Scaler is an upsampling device that goes between your digital source (bridge/endpoint for computer based playback, transport for disc based playback) and your DAC. After hearing what the Chord Hugo M-Scaler did for the Qutest DAC when Dave M had them both at my place, I’d been planning to get the M-Scaler to go with my Hugo TT2 DAC.
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