In Reply to: RE: That's a lot of horsepower! posted by milpai on March 17, 2025 at 15:04:16:
HQPlayer is pretty incredible in what it can do with on-the-fly sample rate conversion especially from PCM to DSD but it can be a real CPU hog depending on how you configure it.I had a 2012 Mac Mini at the time with a 2.6 GHz Intel Core i7 quad-core CPU (3.6 GHz turbo boost). Roon allows for HQPlayer integration so I was able to incorporate HQPlayer into my playback system without being forced to use HQPlayer's gawd-awful user interface.
Some HQPlayer configurations were fine but the more complex ones would bring the Mac Mini to a crawl with the case heating up and the fan spinning up like a vacuum cleaner.
It was fun playing with HQPlayer but I decided that the end result while good wasn't something I really needed. Roon on its own sounds fine and Roon soon had it's own internal DSP to play with. I use it for the most basic PCM sample rate conversions like 44.1 to 88.2, headroom management, volume leveling, and the very occasional parametric EQ.
It might be fun to play with HQPlayer again on the much newer Mac Mini M1 that I now have for AV duties. Even this entry level 1st gen M1 CPU is far more capable than the 2012 era Intel i7 quad-core I was running.
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Edits: 03/18/25 03/18/25
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Follow Ups
- I experimented with HQPlayer years ago... - AbeCollins 13:23:06 03/18/25 (11)
- You need a Mac Mini with an M4 Pro chip! - Chris from Lafayette 00:47:04 03/19/25 (10)
- Why doesn't it have 2.5 Gigabit Ethernet? - Rod M 18:04:03 03/20/25 (8)
- Because training wheels are not an option ;-) - AbeCollins 21:53:30 03/20/25 (7)
- If I bought a new NAS.... - Rod M 09:32:37 03/21/25 (6)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - tlea 19:28:54 03/26/25 (2)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - AbeCollins 08:34:26 03/28/25 (0)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - Rod M 14:49:45 03/27/25 (0)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - AbeCollins 21:14:53 03/21/25 (2)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - Rod M 12:22:02 03/22/25 (1)
- RE: If I bought a new NAS.... - AbeCollins 19:19:27 03/22/25 (0)
- Mini M4 Pro would be nice... - AbeCollins 10:38:20 03/19/25 (0)