[Baten]

@Rob Watts
Can you tell how Mscaler (or WTA1 in general) handles surround (ie THX, AC3, DTS etc.) encoded information in movie tracks..

I mean is there a surround format to prefer in technical understanding.

I find it a pity movies are hard to find with just native stereo mixing. Also watching netflix could sound so much better if they wouldnt always have 5+ channels encoded

Err can't you just down mix it? Never had any problems feeding DACs down mixed stereo. Can even use stuff like Dolby Pro Logic or atmos sound processing on windows.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

@Rob Watts
Can you tell how Mscaler (or WTA1 in general) handles surround (ie THX, AC3, DTS etc.) encoded information in movie tracks..

I mean is there a surround format to prefer in technical understanding.

I find it a pity movies are hard to find with just native stereo mixing. Also watching netflix could sound so much better if they wouldnt always have 5+ channels encoded

I think the input has to be in PCM or DSD not in encoded formats like DTS as those have to be unpacked to use the PCM in the files. The M Scaler doesn't have a decoder to do that.

 

[Reactcore]

Err can't you just down mix it? Never had any problems feeding DACs down mixed stereo. Can even use stuff like Dolby Pro Logic or atmos sound processing on windows.

Ofc thats whats done normally.. but it destroys transient reconstructing.. i never hear Mscaler 'magic' with downmixed tracks

 

[Rob Watts]

@Rob Watts
Can you tell how Mscaler (or WTA1 in general) handles surround (ie THX, AC3, DTS etc.) encoded information in movie tracks..

I mean is there a surround format to prefer in technical understanding.

I find it a pity movies are hard to find with just native stereo mixing. Also watching netflix could sound so much better if they wouldnt always have 5+ channels encoded

All Chord DACs and scalers work with stereo PCM, so when using using video it needs to be decoded, down mixed to stereo PCM. Fortunately, my understanding is that a stereo down mix setup is defined within the surround sound formats, as stereo remains the most common usage.

Working directly with surround sound formats is not something on my long term radar at the moment.

Ofc thats whats done normally.. but it destroys transient reconstructing.. i never hear Mscaler 'magic' with downmixed tracks

I have to disagree on that; my Nvidia Shield allows 0.63 sec video delay which means the Hugo M scaler works fully with the 1M taps. And, particularly with true Netflix productions, the SQ is very good. And I have a prototype scaler (the Choral unit for Dave) that has a mode that enables the full 1 sec that Shield allows and that is stunning.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Listening to Bunbury an artist from Spain that sounds great, on the M Scaler and Qutest for the first time ever I feel like his band is at my house. Incredible stuff.

I am Using Paradigm Personas speakers and Parasound JC-5 amplifier and JC-2 preamp. The Chord equipment pairs up great with the system.

 

[Reactcore]

All Chord DACs and scalers work with stereo PCM, so when using using video it needs to be decoded

Hm you actually mean 'extract' a separate stereo track? ..mixing would imply that back channels can interfere with front ones phase wise..

Im still thinking back to my VHS time where the stereo signal carries more channels..

You mention Nvidia.. thats a GPU.. does it have different audio extraction settings?

I watched netflix on a Ipad using CCK and on my TV using toslink out.. i have no options to choose a stereo track only.. i think all surround channels remain embedded in the digital out, since its expected one connects a surround amp to it.

Will still try on my PC using my browser


{1s? That hints to more than 1M taps }

 

[Triode User]

I watched netflix on a Ipad using CCK and on my TV using toslink out.. i have no options to choose a stereo track only.. i think all surround channels remain embedded in the digital out.

If you are using the toslink out from your TV, have a look in your TV audio settings and see if you have the option of outputting the 2 channel audio. My TV has that and other output options In the settings menu. I doubt that my TV itself is doing the processing but I might be wrong.

 

[TonyTripleA]

All Chord DACs and scalers work with stereo PCM, so when using using video it needs to be decoded, down mixed to stereo PCM. Fortunately, my understanding is that a stereo down mix setup is defined within the surround sound formats, as stereo remains the most common usage.

Working directly with surround sound formats is not something on my long term radar at the moment.



I have to disagree on that; my Nvidia Shield allows 0.63 sec video delay which means the Hugo M scaler works fully with the 1M taps. And, particularly with true Netflix productions, the SQ is very good. And I have a prototype scaler (the Choral unit for Dave) that has a mode that enables the full 1 sec that Shield allows and that is stunning.

I may be out of date but I believe the blue ray disc standard calls for a pcm version of the sound to be included on the disc. I set my blue ray player to play pcm stereo. The tt2 sounds fantastic in that situation.

Tony

 

[Baten]

You mention Nvidia.. thats a GPU..

You could just google "Nvidia Shield" you know..

 

[Rob Watts]

I may be out of date but I believe the blue ray disc standard calls for a pcm version of the sound to be included on the disc. I set my blue ray player to play pcm stereo. The tt2 sounds fantastic in that situation.

Tony

Correct, and it applied to DVD's too. The question is what happens with video streaming, whether the decoding and mix down to stereo is done on the fly by the media player, or whether a pre-determined stereo mix is selected and sent to the media player by the streaming service. The lowest data rate would be with a true stereo track being sent, but since it's all propriety it's impossible to know.

I used to buy a lot of Blu ray discs, but not being able to have a copy on my PC means I get better sound (as I can run full M scaling) from using streaming. And streaming is way more convenient.

 

[Baten]

I used to buy a lot of Blu ray discs, but not being able to have a copy on my PC [...]

I have all my BluRays copied into a single file: https://www.makemkv.com/
(just for the record. very neat tool to archive your disks)

 

[GuiltyRocker]

@Rob Watts, Rob would you say the M Scaler works best being fed high res music like 24/192khz, or red book 16/44?

 

[dusty.ro]

@Rob Watts, Rob would you say the M Scaler works best being fed high res music like 24/192khz, or red book 16/44?

Shouldn't you be testing this for yourself?

 

[Triode User]

@Rob Watts, Rob would you say the M Scaler works best being fed high res music like 24/192khz, or red book 16/44?

Rob is on holiday. He may reply but it is probable he will say only use the higher sampling rate file if the album was originally recorded at that rate.

Otherwise you will get better sound quality by letting the Mscaler do all the upsampling and you should use the 16/44 file.

 

[GuiltyRocker]

Rob is on holiday. He may reply but it is probable he will say only use the higher sampling rate file if the album was originally recorded at that rate.

Otherwise you will get better sound quality by letting the Mscaler do all the upsampling and you should use the 16/44 file.

Thanks for the answer. I appreciate it.

Shouldn't you be testing this for yourself?

Good point, I was going to do that, but it's always good to hear from the designer as well.