You can hook up without an NAA. I use both methods. NAA in my main system with separate Roon NUC and HQPlayer connected via optical to the switch/router.
You can also use a Roon NUC on the network, enter the WiFi IP address for the laptop (instead of localhost) in Roon and then connect the laptop directly to the DAC via usb. This is my preferred method when on holiday and listening via headphones.
When you have Roon Core and HQPlayer software on the same laptop, localhost and USB out to the DAC.
I’m kind of new to HQPlayer, it can be confusing for sure. The setup I’m using currently is a RaspberryPi 4 with HQPlayer embedded installed. I have the NAA daemon on another RaspberryPi 4 which is connected to my dac via USB. Getting the noisy processing far away from the dac is my theory.
I use Audirvana or BubbleUPNP to send music to the HQPlayer Pi via upnp, it upsamples, then sends the output to the other Pi4 NAA daemon. Confusing at first, but does it ever sound good! The Pi4 can handle it too as long as you don’t push it too hard. I’m just doing PCM upsampled to 384 max, poly-sinc-ext2 Filter, and LNS15 Dither. All devices are wired ethernet (ipv6 connection between HQPlayer and NAA devices), stable as can be.
Very true. This is why the MScaler is very good. Plug and play more or less.
However, HQP can sound just as good, even better in the right system.
I’m able to go up to 768 with LNS15, Sinc Mx and poly-sinc-gauss-xla with oR as the NAA. However, on speakers I prefer 384 and 705 /768 with Meze Empy. With speakers, 768 seems to sound a little brighter and the tone, texture while at 384 sounds better. Unlike the MScaler, reducing frequency doesn’t reduce the number of tapps apparently. Does that make a difference?!? Who knows
No problem… yes, an NAA is what you need if not connecting directly. It’s the best way to do it. Maybe a raspberry pi would be a relatively cheap option to experiment with or, a used microrendu?!?
I have an Allo USBridge Signature in the eaves. Ropieee I think offers NAA endpoint capability – so I might get the Allo “black box” back out… A bit annoying though that 2go is a dead end here, and no doubt Chord won’t add NAA in a future firmware update…
Thanks everybody for the help!
P.S. Listening to William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony right now – no doubt we would hear this brilliant piece frequently on the radio if it was written by Gershwin. I wonder how many black composer got “forgotten”…
I think you’re right. Audiophilestyle are sure to have some info on it. As much as I love Chord gear, it is a shame they don’t do firmware upgrades for certain hardware.
“William Grant Still’s Afro-American Symphony”. Added to my new-albums tag in Roon. I love Roon for finding and linking to similar artists etc. It makes it easier to unearth the forgotten about albums/artists etc.
Edit… actually, even if they added the NAA via a firmware update, it still might struggle as it’s 2.4gh WiFi rather than 5gh. I’ve tried 2.4gh with the laptop and it stutters a bit. It would ideally need an ethernet connection.
You are quite right — the WiFi connection of the 2go is pretty poor. Unacceptable actually, but I have mine hard-wired most of the time, and for the occasional “mobile” head-fi session I can live with that. The form factor of the Hugo 2 cum 2go is rather attractive — that is why I couldn’t resist the 2go when I made offered a good price…
Re William Grant Still, yesterday, I learned from my timpanist friend that Chineke! will be performing the Afro-American Symphony in the Royal Festival Hall on 10 July. If you are based in London or nearby… We are trying to organise a sleep-over for our 8-year-old to be able to go. Or maybe this becomes his first concert attendance… But it’s probably pushing it for a boy of his age, even though he likes classical music in principle. We are training him with Berlin Phil’s Digital Concert Hall…
Hi with modern protocols in common use 802.11n on 2.4GHz is significantly more than capable for 192/24/2 PCM streaming… just ensure you have good wifi coverage… and not everything is trying to use a single access point at once… remember multiple low power access points is always preferable to using one single one trying to blast and listen around your house.
However of course if Wi-fi capability is non optimal or too limited buffer on the 2go that’s another matter, but it need be nothing to do with the use of 2.4GHz using modern applicable wifi protocols for our relatively modest throughputs
Opposite end of the country unfortunately. However, we do have The Sage, which is a great music venue and is certainly worth a visit if you are up around Newcastle / Gateshead anytime.
Hardwired? does it have an ethernet port? I have to admit, I know very little about the 2go but like you, I do like the form factor which looks a great portable package.
Yeah, that’s the problem unfortunately. No problems with coverage from meshed 2.4GHz / 5GHz AP’s.
When using HQPlayer and NAA endpoints you are sending PCM files that are 384/32 - 768/32 to the NAA endpoint and from that into the DAC. Ideally, it should be ethernet but I’d imagine, although I haven’t tested, 5GHz may do the job. I know when I upload 8gb footage clips that 5GHz manages very well and a good speed.
Yes, it does — plus 2 microSD slots for 4TB of music (far beyond my needs). And a little while ago it was formally certified as Roon Endpoint — that’s when I got the 2go. We normally spend the entire summer vacation in Seoul (pre-COVID ) — so I wanted a “tidier” head-fi solution than iPhone cum adapter cum USB cable cum Hugo 2…
Ok these are rather larger throughputs… my initial consideration would be the noise generated from transferring that via Ethernet into a transport… I guess you need to carefully physically decouple the transport from the DAC to prevent cross coupling which otherwise would be undermining what you are doing.
Dam… if they’d only update it to include an HQPlayer NAA you’d be set then. But, I guess using a USB in you can make use of the Allo USBridge Signature… just not quite as neat a system.
I just came back from a week away and first time I tested out my mobile Roon / HQP + TT2 / headphone setup… like you, missed out on several other chances due to Covid. Worked well. Just connect the Roon NUC to the self catering apartments router, Laptop connected to WiFi and USB into the TT2. The Hugo 2 /2go would certainly be smaller system!
Yes, large data. I have a headless Mac mini M1 for HQP and a fanless Roon NUC in my network room. They connect to the HiFi switch in the network room via Optical.
A StarTech FMC (soon to be OpticalModule Deluxe) powered by an Uptone LPS 1.2 connects to my OpticalRendu NAA in my music room by way of a 10 metre optical cable. This way I keep as much of the noisy stuff well away from any of the HiFi gear.
A 10m fibre between DAC and transport should do it… is that Toslink? I am curious how you get the bandwidth… but good approach… if you were using coax or usb I would be more cautious…
The 10m optical is Ethernet optical and the NAA which receives the signal connects to the DAC via usb.
I spent a while demoing different USB cables from the oR and settled on a 1m TQ Silver Diamond.
The oR is powered by the Uptone JS-2 and from what I understand, the oR has about 12 LPS’s powering different parts of the circuit board including the USB out. It’s supposed to be one of the best USB outs available and I have to admit, it does sound extremely good.
However, it is sensitive to what goes on before it so spending time getting the network right is very beneficial. In my case I isolated the server and HQPlayer with optical as well.
The HQPlayer is treated a bit like an MScaler. It sits in the network room and I only tweak it if a new filter becomes available to see how it sounds. Other than that, the settings stay unchanged and I just play my music.
Sounds good… yes if there is upstream sensitivity then by definition you have a degree of undesired coupling… but sounds like you have it working well in your system.
Good… of course optical doesn’t remove the digital noise created in the transport from the received signal such as transport clock noise and serial Ethernet noise, but absolutely eliminates any common mode noise in connecting leads.
It’s funny you should say that. That was one of the reasons I was interested in the OpticalModule deluxe. The much better clock and also flow control. HQPlayer benefits from that a lot apparently.