[Eich1eeF]

No, that was the original plan but the hdmi board that was used for the first production model didn't allow it. I learned that in a mail exchange with Mike Smyth long ago.

It's in the documentation for the MDS HDMI boards that they only allow inserting 2 channel audio. I'm pretty sure that's also the case for the current boards.

 

[Eich1eeF]

Thanks for that @shmau, that was what I expected.

Well, if I had a digital outputting A16 there is many options out there. The MiniDSP DDRC 88D would be pretty cool. That can add Dirac on all 8 channels. And then off to a dac8 (ideally…)

Well that was exactly my plan. Now I have the DDRC 88D and the DAC 8 Pro, but no Realiser. Nowadays, with Dirac DLBC and ART, I consider that plan somewhat outdated, but the DDRC serves me well for stereo use.

 

[mrmac]

Well that was exactly my plan. Now I have the DDRC 88D and the DAC 8 Pro, but no Realiser. Nowadays, with Dirac DLBC and ART, I consider that plan somewhat outdated, but the DDRC serves me well for stereo use.

Can anyone confirm if the updated hdmi boards can send out decoded LPCM?
Just saw this new device from MiniDSP. Now that would be ideal. Rumours talk about it might be able to do Dirac ART too…

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex-ht

 

[shmau]

Can anyone confirm if the updated hdmi boards can send out decoded LPCM?
Just saw this new device from MiniDSP. Now that would be ideal. Rumours talk about it might be able to do Dirac ART too…

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex-ht

An ARC/eARC port such as that on the unit you linked is an output port (ARC/eARC flows from display to source which is reverse direction), and won't be able to act as an input port. You would not be able to connect the Realiser's HDMI output to it.

 

[GeorgeA]

For those already owning a Realiser A16 unit and wanting both possible operating capabilities: headphones and speakers, wouldn’t be more convenient the upgrade to the speaker edition? A minidsp device can be included in the setup to provide room correction by Dirac. I’m aware that the speaker edition is a compromise compared to a real immersive speaker setup. However, as the Realiser A16 creates an illusion of listening to speakers while wearing headphones, pretty similarly the Realiser A16 Speaker Edition also creates an illusion of listening to immersive sounds using only two speakers.

 

[shmau]

For those already owning a Realiser A16 unit and wanting both possible operating capabilities: headphones and speakers, wouldn’t be more convenient the upgrade to the speaker edition? A minidsp device can be included in the setup to provide room correction by Dirac. I’m aware that the speaker edition is a compromise compared to a real immersive speaker setup. However, as the Realiser A16 creates an illusion of listening to speakers while wearing headphones, pretty similarly the Realiser A16 Speaker Edition also creates an illusion of listening to immersive sounds using only two speakers.

Not very useful if you already have a surround setup. It might be interesting to try but basically that would mean not taking advantage of the actual speakers you have. Additionally if you only need 2ch, then the Realiser already has output options for that, including a downmix output (which may not necessarily be what you want to use but it's there at least).

I would perhaps consider upgrading my unit to either the Dante or the speaker version, but unfortunately shipping is costly and the paperwork to avoid customs on the way back is substantial, at least around here. In fact I had to pay taxes again when my repaired unit came back. And speaking of repairs, honestly as we have seen numerous times in this thread, Smyth QA is terrible, which may lead to a repeat or even several repeats of the shipping process. If your unit is functional, IMHO you're taking a big risk sending it back.

 

[GeorgeA]

If I already had a decent surround/immersive setup and also a separate media room, I wouldn’t take the Realiser A16 into consideration as a digital signal processor to work with amplifiers for speakers. There’re other more convenient options.

 

[mrmac]

An ARC/eARC port such as that on the unit you linked is an output port (ARC/eARC flows from display to source which is reverse direction), and won't be able to act as an input port. You would not be able to connect the Realiser's HDMI output to it.

Well I’m an old audio geek that is still really confused when it comes to eARC…
You’re right, the MiniDSP flex HT defines its hdmi as an output even though it’s technically (and quite obviously) an input. Yes I’m already confused.

But there seems to be plenty of little hdmi converters that would split the output of the A16 (if it indeed dose output a lpcm stream) to a display and to a eARC (soundbar etc)

Confusing potential….

 

[Eich1eeF]

Well I’m an old audio geek that is still really confused when it comes to eARC…
You’re right, the MiniDSP flex HT defines its hdmi as an output even though it’s technically (and quite obviously) an input. Yes I’m already confused.

But there seems to be plenty of little hdmi converters that would split the output of the A16 (if it indeed dose output a lpcm stream) to a display and to a eARC (soundbar etc)

The HDMI output cannot carry more than 2 channels of PCM. see http://mds-av.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/02/HSR-T-Series-Rev-1c.pdf

The audio decoder can then provide a downmixed stereo PCM signal for the HDMI transmitter. Audio can be inserted into one output port.

If you want digital multichannel output, the AES/EBU and Dante options exist exactly for that purpose.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

You cannot, and you also cannot have individual delays for each speaker. The A16 alone is therefore not really capable of being a full blown processor. I have the AES model which is connected to two Okto Research dac8 PROs. The dac8 PROs are connected to a mac mini which receives the signal from the dac8 as USB audio, manipulates it as needed and then outputs it back to the dac8 for analog output.

The Dante model would be much more flexible as far as connectivity options go so it would definitely be my choice today.

Hold on, are you saying you use the analog outs of the A16 to send analog AES/EBU to twin OCTO DAC 8 pros, then send two LPCM usb streams via AES/USB to a PC. have the PC do DSP on each independent stream, then send them back to the respective Octo via usb as LPCM streams to be separately decoded by each OCTO. How do you keep the streams in sync? Aren't there timing issues? Where's the master clock controlling all 16 channels?

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Can anyone confirm if the updated hdmi boards can send out decoded LPCM?
Just saw this new device from MiniDSP. Now that would be ideal. Rumours talk about it might be able to do Dirac ART too…

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex-ht

Highly unlikely that that processor will get DLBC, let alone ART. MiniDSP's processor in their boxes are very limited. It can't even come close to a PC in the number of taps it affords with Fir filters. While the filters Dirac uses are mixed, I've never heard MiniDSP having any plans to update any of these boxes, including the SHD, to even DLBC. Absent another brand new box from MiniDSP don't think it will happen. And Dirac may not be wild about the idea either. ART is currently available as an offering only the the ultra premium Storm Audio processors which are direct competitors with Trinov. They may not want to set up an economy outfit like MiniDSP as a competitor with those guys.

 

[sander99]

are you saying you use the analog outs of the A16 to send analog AES/EBU

That is not how I read it, but as follows:
He has the AES model A16, the A16 sends 16 decoded channels digital via AES/EBU to the Okto Research dac8 PROs, the dac8 PROs passes the signals on digital via USB to the MAC, the MAC does the additional DSP, sends the result back digital via USB to the dac8 PROs, thedac8 PROs converts to analog. By the way I didn't know this was possible, that the dac8 PRO could support this signal routing I mean, if so that is great!
Ah yeah, quick look at the okto website seems to confirm this: "Bit-perfect upstream AES/EBU to USB data path with simultaneous playback for real-time DSP, monitoring or recording"

 

[shmau]

That is not how I read it, but as follows:
He has the AES model A16, the A16 sends 16 decoded channels digital via AES/EBU to the Okto Research dac8 PROs, the dac8 PROs passes the signals on digital via USB to the MAC, the MAC does the additional DSP, sends the result back digital via USB to the dac8 PROs, thedac8 PROs converts to analog. By the way I didn't know this was possible, that the dac8 PRO could support this signal routing I mean, if so that is great!
Ah yeah, quick look at the okto website seems to confirm this: "Bit-perfect upstream AES/EBU to USB data path with simultaneous playback for real-time DSP, monitoring or recording"

Exactly

 

[phoenixdogfan]

That is not how I read it, but as follows:
He has the AES model A16, the A16 sends 16 decoded channels digital via AES/EBU to the Okto Research dac8 PROs, the dac8 PROs passes the signals on digital via USB to the MAC, the MAC does the additional DSP, sends the result back digital via USB to the dac8 PROs, thedac8 PROs converts to analog. By the way I didn't know this was possible, that the dac8 PRO could support this signal routing I mean, if so that is great!
Ah yeah, quick look at the okto website seems to confirm this: "Bit-perfect upstream AES/EBU to USB data path with simultaneous playback for real-time DSP, monitoring or recording"

Doesn't this still create the possibility of the two digital streams going out of sync, inasmuch as each stream is being reclocked by each individual Octo, and there exists no master clock for all 16 channels?

 

[shmau]

Doesn't this still create the possibility of the two digital streams going out of sync, inasmuch as each stream is being reclocked by each individual Octo, and there exists no master clock for all 16 channels?

That's correct but it's not really a big deal. On macOS it's set up as a 16ch aggregate device and one of the dac8 is the master clock. The other one has drift correction enabled. I don't have any problems with this. However, since the dac8 in AES/USB mode uses the clock signal it recovers from AES to also clock the USB data transfer, technically speaking it should be the Realiser that sets the effective clock for both units and drift correction probably isn't even needed. However that goes beyond my knowledge.