Overview
HQPlayer is an advanced, up-sampling media player. It offers some of the best software-based up-sampling and sigma-delta processing available on the market today, as well as convolution, channel mapping, and networked audio output solutions.
Roon can be configured to turn a copy of HQPlayer into a Zone. If you have multiple instances of HQPlayer running in your home, you can configure Roon to use each one as a separate Zone.
In all these configurations, HQPlayer owns the final connection to the device, and Roon is just passing along a stream of bits from your media files.
This allows you to enjoy the processing benefits of HQPlayer and the library management capabilities of Roon at the same time.
Roon can stream directly to
HQPlayer, whether both applications
are running on the same machine or if they're on different machines on
your network.

Note: HQPlayer 3.12.0 or higher is required.
Setting Up Roon and HQPlayer
To set up Roon to output to HQPlayer follow these steps:
Step 1:
In order to connect to HQPlayer using any address other than
`localhost` or `127.0.0.1`, you must enable the "Allow control from
network" feature in HQPlayer. This is the globe icon on the far right-hand side of the HQPlayer toolbar:
Mac
Windows
Step 2: In Roon, go to Settings/Setup/HQPlayer and click "Add HQPlayer".
Step 3: Enter the network address where HQPlayer is running:
- If HQPlayer is running on the same computer as your Roon Core, leave the default `localhost` value, then press Add
- If HQPlayer is running on your network but on a *different* computer, enter the local IP address of that computer, then press Add.

You can find out your IP address by
following the instructions here -- just make sure to use your
local IP address, as opposed to your external/public IP address. The local address will most commonly look like `10.x.x.x`, or `192.168.x.x`.
- Finally, choose HQPlayer from your Zones menu
Notes for Roon/HQPlayer
-
When controlling HQPlayer from Roon, use the transport controls within Roon.
If Roon detects that you've manipulated transport controls from
HQPlayer, it will stop the music and release control of HQPlayer.
-
HQPlayer has multiple options for displaying the playtime: “time”,
“remain” and “total remain”. You will want to select the first option of
"time" in HQPlayer for the playback bar to properly progress in Roon.
-
An HQPlayer instance can only be controlled by one external piece of
software at a time. This is an HQPlayer limitation. If you attempt to
initiate control from another piece of software, Roon will lose control
of HQPlayer.
-
HQPlayer filter settings can be adjusted from within HQPlayer. This
works best if you first press the "stop" button in HQPlayer, then make
the adjustments you want, then proceed with using Roon.
-
If you're using a device in HQPlayer, make sure that the device is
disabled in Roon's audio settings. Both Roon and HQPlayer expect to
have exclusive access to the device, and they might conflict if you
configure both at the same time.
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