My reference DACs are the Chord Electronics DAVE and TT 2. Note: DSD output impressions added to “The Battle” section. Chord Electronics DAVE and Hugo M Scaler.High Fidelity Cables MC-6 hemisphere power distributor.Snake River Audio Signature Cottonmouth power cables.Audio Art Cable Statement e SC Cryo speaker cables.Iconoclast UPOCC XLR and RCA interconnects.The Linear Solution Reference CAT7a Ethernet cable.Innuos Phoenix USB reclocker (used in the entire review between PC and DACs).Danacable Trustream and Final Touch Audio Callisto USB cables.HDPlex 400W linear power supply connected to the Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler.ROG Zenith II Extreme Alpha motherboard.24-core AMD Ryzen Threadripper 3960X (water-cooled).
I also tried to run Roon Core in a Docker container on the Unraid server and it didn’t sound great either. Streaming the same files over the network to my 50TB Unraid server didn’t sound as good (sharper). I also copied all my FLAC files to this PC. This is not optimal from a noise perspective, but it’ll ensure no bottlenecks. I also used the Roon phone app as a remote. Since those interested in HQPlayer will probably have their own music server, I installed Roon Remote, Core, and HQPlayer on one of the fastest PCs on this planet. HQPlayer’s trial allows you to use the software for 30 minutes at a time for 30 days. I’ll be testing HQPlayer 4.10.3 and Roon Core/Remote 1.8 Build 764 (64 bit). So is HQPlayer too good to be true? Let’s find out.
I’ve tried Roon’s upsampling feature and it wasn’t great (sounds better without it). If I could save a ton of money and have one less box, power supply, and cable to worry about…why the hell not. I’m setting up a new listening room so I figured this was worth looking into. I received many emails requesting a review of HQPlayer: A $260 piece of software that is potentially better than the $5,000 Chord Electronics Hugo M Scaler.
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