JLP wdm-ks player - Audiophile Convenience

The holy grail for any computer audiophile is a rendering package which delivers amazing audio playback with the convenience of headless operation. For a long time it held true that if a computer audiophile wanted great audio rendering performance, one needed to forgo headless proprietary control conveniences to do so.

Well consider the seemingly impossible possible... and say hello to JLP wdm-ks player.

So what is JLP wdm-ks player? 

Essentially JLP uses a squeezeserver 7.8 backend running modified versions of squeezelite and portaudio, to produce some pretty impressive & transparent music rendering. 

These modified squeezelite and portaudio files have been coded by the same audio software guru who produced MQN (SBGK). So you can reasonably expect the rendering quality of JLP wdm-ks player to further improve... which is incredibly exciting considering how transparent and dynamic JLP already sounds in these early stages of development. 

You can follow JLP's development... here
http://mqnplayer.blogspot.com.au/

http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2606

Being open source, all source code is freely available for trial, here: 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B3vvH5WBfg8PX1ppR0hkeXZtTEk&usp=sharing

At time of writing this blog, portaudio is at Ver18 and Squeezelite is at Ver20... 

Picture of Google Drive Link

Getting Started

Here's a simple instruction guide I created to help you get going... I wish I had this guide when I started... For a higher level of detail please visit the developers (SBGK) thread. This guide covers the basics to get squeezeserver 7.8 operational utilising SBGK's modified portaudio and squeezelite files. 

1. Download squeezeserver from here.... Your after Version 7.8. 

http://downloads.slimdevices.com/nightly/?ver=7.8

2. Install squeeze server

3. Once squeeze server is installed, install local player plugin from 3rd party plugins. 

a. To do this right click the squeezeserver icon in your PC system tray, click open web control

b. Click the settings button at the bottom of the squeezeserver web control screen

c. Then click the plugins tab 

d. Paste the following link "http://triodeplugins.googlecode.com/svn/trunk/repo.xml" into the third party repository area.

e. Click apply
f. Once the screen has updated, find local player on the list under Triodes 3rd party squeezecentre plugins. Click enable and then select apply. Local player will then install and squeezeserver will request a restart. Confirm a restart.

4. Moving JLP modified portaudio & squeezelite into the required folder. 

Firstly right click the squeezeserver icon and stop logitech media server. This needs to be done prior to copying the new portaudio and squeezelite files in to the bin directory as per the below instructions.

Once logitech server is stopped, go to the following directory in windows explorer...
Your Main Drive C:\ProgramData\Squeezebox\Cache\InstalledPlugins\Plugins\LocalPlayer\Bin

**Note, if you cannot locate your c:\ProgramData folder, you may need to go to your windows folder options and enable hidden files\folders\drives. To do this access your computers control panel and select folder options, show all hidden files and folders.  

Rename the existing portaudio.dll and squeezelite-win.exe files you see in the Bin folder to portaudio.dll.OLD and squeezelite-win OLD.exe. Once renamed you can then copy your newly downloaded portaudio_x64.dll vXX and squeezelite-win.exe vXX (where XX represent the version number) files from google drive into the same directory.

Your Main Drive C:\ProgramData\Squeezebox\Cache\InstalledPlugins\Plugins\LocalPlayer\Bin

As above in the picture, rename these files as follows: 

portaudio_x64.dll vXX
Becomes portaudio_x64.dll

squeezelite-win.exe vXX
Becomes squeezelite-win.exe

5. Return to your PC's desktop 

6. Right click the squeezeserver icon,  click start logitech media server icon again. 

7. Once local player is restarted and your portaudio & squeezelite have correctly been copied into the bin folder, re-enter squeezeserver web control, select plugins and then select local player settings. 
Local player will now be found under active plugins.

You now need to select your required audio output device from the drop down output list. Note you will only be able to select WDM-KS outputs, as JLP only utilises KS streaming.
8. Next you need to import your music library, select the basic tab and point squeezeserver to your music folder. Then hit apply. 

9. Squeezeserver will scan your library and make it available for playback. 
10. Hit close, FYI the file scanning will continue in the background.  

11. Download a squeezebox control app, or use the logitech web control interface to enable music slection. 
12. If you downloaded a control app, start the app and select the squeezelite player under choose player.... you may need to hit the refresh button a few times to bring the squeezelite player up.... 
13. Once squeezelite player is selected, simply choose the music you want to listen to and sit back and enjoy what your hearing, because its pretty darn excellent. 

I think that covers the basics....

The next step is to load squeezelite as a service rather than a program. A guide on this can be found here:
http://forums.slimdevices.com/showthread.php?100893-HOW-TO-Squeezelite-player-on-Windows-8-step-by-step...... Note you will need to utilise squeezelite v25 and above....

For more in-depth discussion/detail, select the following thread link...
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2606
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/f11-software/jlp-music-player-19302/#post295639

These threads cover more advanced customisations including:
Local player additional options and the affinity core optimisations.

BugHead Infinity blade SQ - The digital monster sound player

Made by a quirky Japanese audiophile suffering from a serious case of vitamin C deficiency, Bughead audioplayer is a highly configurable music player which sounds pretty darn good. 

Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota the software's author complains of suffering from a crazy cocktail of insomnia, migraines and hallucinations, well fortunately his software doesn't inflict the same symptoms, instead this software player prescribes a healthy dose of musicality and detail retrieval. A real treat for headphone users and audiophiles seeking an enhanced listen. 

Actively writing audio software since 2003, Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota's portfolio of software includes Bughead and Rewrite. Rewrite in its self is an impressive file de-fragmentation & optimisation tool aimed at reducing deterministic jitter prior to memory load. In fact both Bughead and Rewrite are squarely aimed at improving sound quality via the reduction of deterministic jitter and its affect on your music. More about this can be read on Hiroyuki's facebook page.

Sound quality philospohy 
Bughead is not your minimalist software package, where less is more. In fact Bughead adopts an equal but opposite approach. 

Research suggests Bughead employs "non disclosed compression" and "active tuning/equalisation/DSP" techniques to improve perceived sound quality. Personally I believe this compression and "audio trickery" can be heard when compared to traditional players such as playpcmwin, foobar, MQn etc..... as small background effects and details are clearly more enhanced and prevalent. 

Whether this is your cup of tee is a personal choice?! at the end of the day you can argue the original mixing engineer intended the sound to be heard differently...... but subjective preferences will always prevail. 

Bughead versions

Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota has created 4 versions of the bughead software. 

1.Bughead 
2.Bughead SQ 
3.Infinity Blade 
4.Infinity Blade SQ (Most highly adopted version) 

Tuning Possibilities
Bughead offers up oodles of sound "tuning' options. In fact one could argue there are too many options, making the user experience both confusing and confronting. Combined with a lack of user documentation and a constant battle with google translator (most source articles and videos are natively Japanese) understanding how to use the software and its settings is simply an exercise in trial and error. 

But don't worry you can't break anything.... so have some fun and experiment. 
Lets take a quick look at the software in operation. 

Tuning options Galore

Tuning Options 1.... 
Snake, Slash, Galaxy, Shine and star...... you must laugh at the names used, maybe they were given during a vitamin C hallucination. Whatever the case these tuning options allow the listener to shape the way things sound. 

Don't ask me what each one sounds like, you will need to try these for yourself! 

Just when you thought 9 tuning options were enough, the menu system provides another 10 tuning options per selection. 

Yes, all these options seem to make a difference to the sound. How they are implemented and what they do..... you will need to discover for yourself. Try them all and see which one suits your setup. 

It appears Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota has been experimenting with different jitter reduction methods and active compression/e algorithms for some time, It is my impression that the tuning options presented to the user represent varying degrees or implementations of these optimisations. 

Tuning Options 2.... 
Here the user gets the ability to alter sound with CPU instruction selection.... tunes via rewrite. 

Rewrite is a small piece of software written by Bughead author Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota.... In a nut shell rewrite de-fragments music files on your computer to reduce jitter issues and improve playback quality, prior to files loading into memory for playback. Click here for more on rewrite. 

Tuning Options 3.... 
Just when you thought you already had too many options, you have even more!!! Again these settings make a difference. How they are implemented and what they do... yep.... you will need to discover that for yourself. Try them all and see which one suits your setup. 

Interface
Without pointing out the obvious the interface is simple and purposeful. There's no headless operation via a control app here..... unless you implement a windows RDP session or similar, user operation will be via your standard keyboard and mouse..... simply select your file or folder and hit play. 

For those users that love integrated cover art searches, headless control and advanced music cataloging bughead may not suit. 

Features
1. Volume
2. Phase selection
3. Instruction set selection 
4. PCM allows the user to select pcm, or DSD output and its freq... 
5. Tuning options 
6. Left and Right balance control
Volume control (min to max, single digit increments).... Allowing possible use in a system without a preamp whilst in ASIO mode!
7. ASIO status 

Bughead setup page 
To enter the bughead setup page simply click on the opening logo screen.

Once this is done you will be requested to select your appropriate asio output device. 

Once completed the next screen presented will be the setup screen. 

This screen allows the user to select a number of configuration points which either improves or degrades sound quality and rendering playback. 

Some of these options include: 

1. Correct clear sound. Enables memory loading of tracks, provides a weighted 40% improvement in sound quality.  
2. Phase adjustment, my recommendation is to select off. 
3. Memory dim tune mode. Optimises memory loading based on your PC's ram configuration. The software suggests this can improve overall sound quality by 20% from the default 50% degradation to 30%. 
4. Shape clear sound - Jitter introduction - I believe this actually adds jitter into the signal. Which some DACs and users may actually prefer. 
5. Oversampling - I would recommend normal. 

Download
Either of these links will provide you download access. 
Onedrive account for downloads.......     or 
http://oryaaaaa.world.coocan.jp/bughead/index.html

Supported file formats 
WAV, FLAC, DSD, APE, OPUS, M4A, AAC, WV, OGG, CDA
16-32bit resolution 
44.1khz - 192khz rates 

ASIO compatible  
ASIO compatible and configurable with supported playback devices. Including USB DACS and spdif converters, soundcards, etc. 
Configurable options at setup page during startup..... 
Again more tweaking options!!! God knows what they all do..  Too many options!!

Settings include: 
1. Memory optimsation 
2. LPF force 
3. Correct clear sound 
4. Up-sampling  
5. Shape clear sound 

Have fun.... 

Symetrix ZM760 loudspeaker manager

Are you looking for an active DSP crossover & equalisation solution for around the $300 dollar mark?  Let me introduce the superseded Symetrix zone mix 760...

Setting the scene 
If your reading this blogpost, you are likely contemplating building a set of active speakers, or in need of a decent sounding loudspeaker manager which doesn't break the bank..... Sure you have seen miniDSP and its implementation as a cost effective loudspeaker DSP while scouring the web, but are you questioning whether miniDSP is the right solution to provide a quality render/playback? I asked myself these very questions..... this quick blogpost is all about saving you sometime and money..... helping steer you in the right DSP direction.

I trialed miniDSP's balanced 2x4 processor for my active DSP crossover duties. To cut a long story short the miniDSP product was unsuccessful in my active application.... The long and the short of it was the miniDSP balanced I/O's were just too noisy to be taken seriously in my HiFi application. Very prominent signal idle hiss was present with its utilisation in my system, ultimately ensuring it was not suitable for my critical active DSP crossover application.

Understanding the end goal for any DSP loudspeaker management implementation is excellent sound quality, ultra low noise and feature rich DSP functionality, I decided it was time I turned to pro level DSP products for a capable solution..... and so I introduce to you Symetrix's superseded zone mix 760 (ZM760), hot from eBay!

Why Symetrix?
Throughout my career in the AV industry I have used many pro level DSP units for front of house PA and conferencing solutions. One brand in particular I have been very impressed with is Symetrix. So I thought instead of mucking around with all-sorts of entry level consumer grade DSP options, to 'hopefully' find something that was 'quiet', DSP rich and had great sound quality. I decide a secondhand Symetrix DSP would be a great place to start for pro grade specs at second hand prices, as a new Symetrix radius or jupiter was just not feasible.

So off to eBAY I went, eventually managing to track down two superseded Symetrix ZM760's on ebay ranging from $250-300 a unit.... an absolute bargain for any DIY speaker builder.

The Symetrix zone mix 760 is essentially a 12input, 6output closed architecture DSP and loudspeaker manager. The ZM760 doesn't offer the vast open architecture and customisation seen in more expensive pro level DSP units; I.e Symetrix Solus or Radius for example. Instead the ZM760 favours a more basic fixed DSP offering and graphical user interface which provides a good mix of user-ability and functionality.

Symetrix market the ZM760 as "a complete paging and music management solution designed to save you time and money. Built upon proven and reliable technology, it is perfect for restaurants, hospitality, night clubs and more." .......in my application it also appears the ZM760 is an excellent DIY loudspeaker manager with an adequate assortment of DSP tools to accurately tune and time align your DIY speaker setup in their environment. More on the ZM760's DSP features in a bit.

RECAPPED

To diverge quickly, the Symetrix DSP units I purchased both had 'very' noisy power supply units. So I cracked open the cases and inspected the switch mode power supplies for any easy to see issues. It was obvious both main capacitors had prominent bulges, so I replaced the caps with new 450w 47uf units. While I was under the hood, I also replaced the single 50v 47uf cap at position 6 plus the four 35v 220uf caps at positions 1,2,3,4.... with brand new high quality panasonic caps. Once completed, and the power supplies were recalibrated to deliver 23.7vdc, I promptly powered the DSP units and observed, "power supply silence" just what I was after...... we were now ready to make music! ;)

OLD

Operational noise: Symetrix 

I must point out, once I had the ZM760's connected in my system; it took all of 2 seconds to appreciate the signal idle noise of the Symetrix was markedly less than the miniDSP 2x4 balanced processors they had replaced in my system. Infact the ZM760's could be considered 'quiet' with the right high quality electrical stable source. A welcomed outcome, but still not silent mind you.

The ZM760's performance mimicked my positive experience with the Extron DMP44, which I had previously used to benchmark the miniDSP against. The DMP44 performed flawlessly in the DSP idle hiss/noise department (again not silent but very good), which easily shamed the miniDSP 2x4 balanced highlighting its excessive output idle noise.

Subjectively I believe the ZM760's represent some of the best value & sounding processing I have heard for DIY'ers looking for similar low cost solutions.

A QUICK OVERVIEW OF THE SYMETRIX 760 FEATURES: 

Lets quickly review some of the DSP's rich feature list.

INPUTS

The unit is loaded with 12 analog inputs
4 balanced mic/line (either balanced/unbalanced)
8 unbalanced (great for native RCA equipment connection)

Each input provides the following functionality 
Signal inversion on mic/line balanced inputs
White noise generator (inputs 1-3)
Pink noise generator (inputs 1-3)

Discrete channel digital trim
Discrete input fader control
Discrete channel compression
Mic / Line level settings
Input EQ - 5 band parametric equalisation on all inputs
Channel mute
Equalisation bypass
Selectable 'freq' for rumble filter
Signal routing and matrix control

Discrete input auto gain control
Discrete and accurate meter monitoring


OUTPUTS 
The unit is loaded with 6 balanced outputs, which can be terminated in either balanced or unbalanaced configuration

Each output provides the following functionality 

8 bands of parametric equalisation

Discrete channel delay up to 341ms!!! I think delay is covered! lol
Signal inversion on all output channels
Butterworth / Bessel / Linkwitz Crossovers are selectable at 6,12,18,24,30,36,42,48db
Crossovers can be high and low pass
Discrete and accurate meter monitoring
Discrete output channel limiters
Equalisation bypass
Output mute

SORRY
No FIR equalisation is provided
No Biquad filtering is provided
For me this is not an issue, the Symetrix provides more than enough parametric equalisation for my builds & room.

Plus signal inversion is provided on both inputs and outputs.

ZM760 SPECS 
Click here for the quick start guide.

PROGRAMMING
Programming is via a fixed architecture interface. Connection to the unit is via Ethernet. Which is a big bonus feature over any hardwired USB programmable DSP.

This enables DSP files to be complete, uploaded and downloaded via a wireless Ethernet connection once the unit is connected to your wireless home router!!. a very convenient feature (Welcome to pro level gear!!) Software is found here: 

FRONT PANEL 

If you have any questions, send a message! cheers 

HIFI Near field listening

Are you listening to your room, when you should be listening to your speakers?

I pose this question, because I believe many music lovers/audiophiles make the mistake of selecting a far-field listening position, which forces these individuals to listen to more of the room than necessary.

For me near-field listening offers many sonic and acoustic advantages over and above far-field listening. However we need to realise that not all speaker systems lend themselves to a near-field listening scenario. Typically speakers which don't work well in near-field setup exhibit the following characteristics:

• Large physical size 
• Larger than normal distances between drivers
• Reduced high frequency dispersion patterns
• Speakers which require +2m from listener to speaker to achieve driver coherence. 

On the flip side speakers which exhibit wide dispersion, decent driver integration/cohesion and imaging, open up the possibility for near-field experimentation.

So what is near-field listening?
Near Field Listening can generally be described as a listening position relative to your speakers of less than 2-1.5meters. NFL promotes an acoustic listening scenario in which "the room" is less likely to impact on your aural experience when compared to traditional far-field positions.

Its important to note, NFL still requires careful consideration and application of acoustic treatment/principles to achieve best outcomes.

NFL is not a substitute to room acoustic treatment and optimisation.

Although the definition above is probably an acceptable technical definition, I take a slightly more "liberal" approach and application of the definition. I like to describe NFL as a listening position of less than 2meters which is equal distance to both left and right speaker positions, and the same distance again exists between each speaker (equilateral triangle). In this listening position you are also ideally closer to the speakers than you are to their nearest primary reflection point. 

Traditional Equilateral NFL Positioning..  
As you can see in the below NFL diagram, the listener and speakers form an equilateral triangle, which aims to organically optimise soundstage composure, soundstage depth and musical imaging.

Treating primary & secondary reflection room points to improve NFL acoustics. 
The point of this blogpost is not to provide an acoustic treatment lesson, however some basic principles need to be covered. The image below details a "standard" listening room, which has acoustic optimisation. 

Take particular notice of the primary reflection points, which occur at the mirror points between the listener and the speaker (both walls and ceiling points). Its always important to note, in near field listening scenario we are trying to position ourselves and our speakers, at a distance closer than that of the first primary mirror/reflection points, but these points need either absorption of diffusion treatment to manage acoustic reflections and bass anomalies. 

In a near-field listening scenario I suggest the following acoustic treatment be considered as a minimum, to help control primary reflections.  

• Front wall panels directly behind each main speaker. A mix of absorption and diffusion are suitable
• Bass Traps. Bass needs to be controlled! More bass is not necessarily the best medicine. Controlled taught and defined bass is what you are after. Try using bass traps in the corners of your space. Full height floor to ceiling and at least 600-800mm wide. 
• Side walls @ primary reflection points, Absorption at primary reflection / Diffusion also suitable to retain air, space and life in the room
• Back wall for primary reflection point, Combination of absorption /diffusion 

Note, NFL success will also be impacted by environmental factors including:
Room shape, ambient room noise (noise floor), room dimensions, furnishings, location of these furnishings, Floor finish, Windows? V's Plaster, etc..... Everything needs consideration ;)

Near-field listening Pro's & Con's 
In a nut shell near field listening has the following benefits over more traditional far field listening.

Higher sound pressure level per amplifier wattage (Headroom)
Inverse square law tells us, for every doubling of listening distance, there will be a corresponding SPL loss of 6db. The reverse is also true, the closer one listens to the point source the louder it will be for any given input power. This fundamental truth organically provides reduced system distortion on application.

A good link comparing listening distance to SPL

Amplifier power requirements V's distortion 
Expanding on the point above. Reduced SPL requirements, equates to reduced load both constant & transient on amplifiers. Potentially reducing amplifier distortion. Obviously not true in all scenarios.

Speaker Distortion 
Speaker driver excursion is reduced as SPL requirements are lessened for the same frequency response. Organically this limits the amount of transducer electro-mechanical distortion induced into the music reproduction.

Room Distortion | Acoustic Interaction Minimisation 
Measured at the same frequency & location, the lower a sources actual SPL, the less acoustic energy produced. This equates to less acoustic/room overlay/distortion due to less acoustic/room interaction.

Acoustic reflections at primary and secondary locations still need to be addressed (at a minimum) for best acoustic performance, but near-field listening by its very nature positions the listener directly in the source emitted sound wave for direct and reflection "minimised" listening.

Better stereo separation 
The further a listener sits from the source (speakers) the more potential for breakdown in stereo image projection/presentation.

NFL naturally promotes excellent stereo imaging/separation and arguably presents a signal which is more immediate and heightened in its detail presentation and retrieval, when compared to the same signal at a far-field listening position.

Disadvantages include: 

Aesthetics
Depending on your room setup and furniture arrangement, a near field setup may not be possible. The wife approval factor (WAF), such a inconsistent and formidable power.

NFL requires speakers which have good/great driver integration & frequency coherency 
Speakers which have poor driver integration due to design or driver placement may not lend themselves to near field listening. This is really something that must be subjectively tested. I know from experience large JBL style monitors 43/44 series do not lend themselves to near field listening, and to be fair this was never a design intention, but this example makes my point nonetheless.

In general terms, smaller speakers with close proximity drivers work best in near-field applications. These speakers tend to have high frequency drivers with wide dispersion wave guides and/or soft dome style drivers which promote wide dispersion in the applicable driver frequencies.

Less bass due to less acoustic loading & help from your listening space   
Some users report less bass energy in near-field listening applications. I can't really say I have found this to be true, as I use dual subwoofers firing into the near-field listening position. Each subwoofer offers full manipulation of phase, polarity and Parametric frequency equalisation making mains to subwoofer phase alignment and frequency crossover much simpler. I believe this negates any potential loss of bass at NFL ranges.

I will however concede that many audiophiles may find by moving away from the traditional corner/wall loaded speaker setup, bass will be reduced. Personally, I have never been one to place speakers close to a wall or corner to enhance bottom end, as I believe soundstage and mid range clarity suffers, but nevertheless a bass reduction in this instance would be highly expected & likely.

That's enough from me,
Try NFL for yourself.....

Rewrite 1.25 x64 - Bughead Emperor - Audiophile file optimisation

Are you the type of audiophile looking to squeeze every last drop of sound quality from your highly optimised digital hifi rig? 

Well if you are take a look at the following piece of ingenuous software. 

Rewrite is a small piece of software written by Bughead author Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota.... In a nut shell rewrite de-fragments music files on your computer to reduce jitter issues and improve playback quality, prior to files loading into memory for playback. Does it work? I'll let you decide....  

The engineering behind this software is apparently based on Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota's efforts found here at http://www.purebasic.... an effort to reduce jitter in a PC's memory buffer for improved audio quality. 

Download here 
Click here to enjoy magical access to Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota's one drive. 
One Drive Download

Interface

Simply select your files and hit start!

Please be-aware once you run the software, moving and/or copying files will negate the benefit..... files will need to be re-optimised prior to playback. 

Its also worth noting rewrite has been developed & designed to de-fragment/optimise program files including Bughead, MQN, VLC, foobar etc for improvements in render quality. This optimisation will also work on any directory, simply access your directory of choice and hit the start rewrite data button. A very interesting piece of software indeed. 

Word on the MQn thread is that a similar version of this software will be developed for future versions of MQn.... Check it out developments here: 
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/

User instruction selection 

Here users have the ability to configure AVX, MMX, SSE, NFX instruction sets.... 

I haven't tried altering settings from AVX so please let me know your observations if this setting is altered. Good luck, let me know how you go

Other webpages discussing rewrite
http://jplay.eu/forum/computer-audio/drastic-sound-quality-improvement-rewrite-data-1.0/

Mr. Hiroyuki Yokota discussing rewrite. 
http://www.purebasic.fr/english/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=61402

MQn minimalist PC music player - The king of sound quality

Could MQn be the best sounding pc music player available?

Many believe it is....I am one of them.... and for those who have not yet tried MQn.... if you think your current Jplay, Playpcmwin, cMP cPlay, vortexbox, foober2000, MPD solution is rocking, wait until you try it!

Essentially MQn is a highly optimised (sound quality first/convenience second) wasapi based open source ram loading music player (that's a mouthful), which as the description suggests is capable of loading any number of concurrent .wav files you select for playback into memory before playback begins (subject to ram availability). There's no fancy interface, no fancy controls, no fancy branding..... MQn just plays .wav files and sounds amazing doing so.

Link to mqn blog.... by SBGK

See below... MQn's basic command prompt interface. 

MQn has amazing forum support, it's members are passionate and keenly involved in the players evolution. Check out the threads at TirNaHifi.org. 

http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2439
http://www.tirnahifi.org/forum/viewtopic.php?f=15&t=2418

MQn apparently plays flac in certain containers/bit rates.... however I could only get .wav playback to work. So if .wav only playback this is an issue, your either going to need to find the solution yourself and try the software, or click away and be happy with your current player. 

Pssst....... I'll let you into a little secret, your missing out big time!!

For some, .wav only playback may be the straw that breaks the camels back. However, I urge you to stop and try the software, before you make this judgement. I was one of those individuals that thought I couldn't live without flac playback. But after I heard MQn v2.59, My priorities changed, I forwent any playback convenience in favour of unadulterated sound quality; Converting & re ripping my entire CD collection :)

Listening to MQn I'm not sure how much better PC music playback can possibly get.... Subjectively, MQn delivers an extremely detailed, rich and dynamic 'analog like' musical rendering performance. It's mid range and upper bass qualities remind me a lot of the organic presentation vinyl provides. MQn really does have wonderful jitter free & blooming mid range,,,, with very strong/detailed upper and mid bass response/rendering. 

So how do you get started? 
Make your way to the MQn google drive repository >>

Download these 4 files, into c:\musicplayer\*.* on your PC. 
1. Paste.exe
2. MQn.bat
3. One of the mqn play files
Read the MQn read me file found in the google drive folder to select which file is suitable for your means of playback. Some files have been optimised for Realtek outputs, USB or a combination of both.
4. MQn control.exe

Once completed, select any/all .wav files you wish to listen to (you are only limited by RAM availability) then simply right click the file(s) and select copy, or conversely hit control & C, both functions load your music files ready for MQn to place them in ram. 

Once the files are copied, make your way back to the c:\musicplayer folder and double click the MQn.bat. A command prompt will appear and music "should" play (as per the above command prompt image). If nothing happens make sure you have no other instances of players such as squeezelite open, as MQn needs direct and exclusive access to your output device. 

Note, not all versions of the mqnplay worked on my pc, so you might have a bit of trial and error finding one that works on your machine. Its important to note, different mqnplay versions 1,2,3, are optimised for various outputs. So pay attention and select the most appropriate file for your desired output method. There are 3 options: 

MQn file optimisations include: 
Text is extracted from the MQn help file. 

MQn.exec1 is for realtek laptop drivers/HDMI and some dacs
MQn.exec2 is for usb eg I use it for my MF Vlink 192 usb/spdif converter
MQn.exec3 is a vanilla version and should work with everything, but sound very slightly 

Personally I prefer an archive version v2.59.... however I don't mind 2.71 either, especially when I'm looking for a higher level of detail retrieval. The trade off is a slight shift towards a more digital rendering quality. 

Either way Mqn is brilliant. Guys, that's all I need to say...
Let me know your thoughts