Focus Fidelity Filter Designer

[Confused]

Following on from my earlier post about the potential benefits of running the Focus Fidelity convolutions after upsampling. (Post #60)

I have recently tried running the convolutions in HQPlayer, rather than Roon. So I am still using Roon to feed HQPlayer, but previously I loaded the convolutions into Roon, so they would typically be used at 16/44.1, and then sending the convolved result to HQPlayer, which would upsample to 24/192 before feeding the Devialet. Now HQPlayer looks after both the upsmpling and convolutions, which are dealt with at 24/192.

Does it sound any better? To my ears yes, most definitely. The most noticeable thing being a noticeable uptick in overall clarity and definition. Things like cymbals now take on an incredible sense of impact and realism. I could write much audiophile waffle about this, but I think it is enough to say that this is now the best I have ever heard my system, I am very glad that I tried this.

As a thought, I suspect that a similar uptick in performance could be obtained using the convolutions in Roon and also using Roon to perform the 24/192 upsmpling. (much as David mentioned in an earlier post) Although this is just supposition from myself, I have not actually tried this. (and I am not likely to bother trying this either, as I much prefer my system with Roon plus HQPlayer, rather than Roon on it's own. I mentioned this in the Zen Stream thread)

I have to admit that I was a little worried about trying the convolutions in HQPlayer. Relative to Roon, HQPlayer is not the most user friendly and intuitive piece of software. These worries proved utterly unfounded however, it was very easy to get Focus Fidelity to produce the mono filters required by HQPlayer. (this is detailed in the latest instructions) Then loading them into HQPlayer proved to be surprisingly quick and simple. I think from deciding to try this, to creating the mono filters and actually having them up and running in HQPlayer took maybe 10 minutes.

One disadvantage of running the convolutions in HQPlayer is that you lose the capability Roon has to swap between filters using the remote app whilst listening. Although in a way this might actually be a positive for HQPlayer, as when listening it stops any temptation to mess about with filters and rather forces you to simply listen to music. Although you cannot remotely change filters in HQPlayer, it is still very easy to do, taking much less than a minute for the swap.

EDIT: Something I forget to mention in the above post. One other advantage of using the convolutions in HQPlayer, is HQPlayers "loopback" function. I sometime use the PC to play YouTube clips, playlists in iTunes, sometimes free Spotify, and so on. HQPlayer loopback is basically a virtual soundcard, so anything you play on the PC runs via your main system. So with the Focus Fidelity convolutions in HQPlayer, I get the benefit of the convolutions even when using YouTube or similar. This is quite a bonus.