M1 is under-utilized by HQP in many cases (Hugo 2 plugged into the Mac Mini M1):
PCM 44.1k->705.6k - LNS15 (average % out of 800%=all 8 cores utilized)
I have a true NOS DAC (Adagio) so for me HQP is meaningful (to your point) …
That’s pretty damn impressive. Makes a complete mockery of what it took to run the big filters, modulators and high-order noise-shapers on Intel hardware/GPUs.
If I was running a NOS DAC, I’d put HQPlayer into my normal Roon chain.
We’ll have to see what winds up in the new speaker rig as to whether it becomes relevant to me again in the future.
Rob Watts hinted at a new upscaler product targeted at DAVE by end of next year in a recent post. Is that what you speak of?
That is, indeed, the wee beastie I refer to!
First of all: thank you very much for taking the time and explaining everything in this thread so thoroughly!
Right now, im using a Soncoz LA-QXD1 DAC that implements a ESS ES9038Q2M Chip. I was curious about the possibilities of bypassing the internal oversampling by using software like Audirvana or HQPlayer. I downloaded the Data sheet of the named ESS chip and found something interesting:
Do I have to externally OS to exactly x 8 of my source file or can i go even beyond and still have the internal OS of my DAC bypassed? So for example going from a 44.1 file to 705.6
To bypass the dac oversampling, you’ll want to use USB connection and use 352/384 or 705/768 sample rate.
thanks ant!
so x 8 is like a “minimum” and x 16 works just as fine?
if so, then I’ll rather chose the 705/768 sample rate instead. it should theoretically be “better” or no? btw. my m1 mac doesn’t even break a sweat doing it.
any advantages or disadvantages to be aware of?
In my opinion, higher upscaling gives me a little bit better depth and separation.
what about OS to DSD, will this also be bypassed by the internal OS of the DAC?
Bypassing the oversampling filter on an ESS DAC chip requires one of two things:
Sending sample data that is at the same bitrate as the DAC chip’s maximum oversampled input value. This only bypasses the upsampling step, not the rest of the processing.
Specific support from the DAC implementation to set the bypass_osf flag to disable oversampling. It seems your SONCOZ DAC does not do this:
DACs using XMOS controllers (like the SONCOZ) can be setup so the XMOS board does the oversampling work instead of the DAC chip, in which case how you bypass things there (and/or what you can bypass) can vary.
Per the above highlighted section, it looks like native DSD is passed to the DAC chip untouched. What the chip does there, by default, or via whatever DAC chip processing options have been set from the XMOS controller, is less clear.
