SierraMadre
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User on another forum said Comhear CS have advised that multichannel PCM is inbound in the next few weeks.
Yarra Speaker System
- Thread starter L8MDL
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The long awaited firmware update has been rolled out. There is a post about the new firmware version 1.2.23.374 made by Comhear at kickstarter site. Is the multichannel pcm via hdmi issue resolved? Anybody who can check the new firmware, please write back here.
Hi folks. I’m new here. My Yarra has been updated to the latest FW 1.2.23.374 released 2 weeks ago. I have an Oppo UDP-203 connected via HDMI. The Yarra plays Dolby 5.1 audio from Bluray/dvd in Surround mode but does not reproduce 5.1 PCM from SACD multi-channel discs or Bluray/dvd DTS 5.1. The “best” it will do is to use the internal Surround algorithm to imitate 5.1. This results in an unacceptable reproduction of the original 5.1 mix. I have tested this thoroughly. Hoping the FW fix for PCM 5.1 is not too far away. Cheers.
Hi all. Just updated the FW to 1.2.24.375. I repeated the same tests as with previous FW. Oppo audio output set to PCM. Dolby 5.1 works in Surround mode but SACD & DTS 5.1 music while clearly audible in Surround mode has an obviously strange mix so the PCM issue has not been resolved yet. 
I’ve seen your posts on the other forum and my comment is as follows:
If you set Oppo audio output to PCM, then you couldn’t get Dolby 5.1. Most probably, your test with Dolby 5.1 was carried out by setting Oppo audio output to bitstream and for the following tests with SACD & DTS 5.1 music, you changed the output to PCM. Is my assumption correct/incorrect?
If you set Oppo audio output to PCM, then you couldn’t get Dolby 5.1. Most probably, your test with Dolby 5.1 was carried out by setting Oppo audio output to bitstream and for the following tests with SACD & DTS 5.1 music, you changed the output to PCM. Is my assumption correct/incorrect?
Hi George
The HDMI audio output setting is Bitstream in all scenarios:
1. definitely reproduces Dolby 5.1 audio from Bluray/dvd in Surround mode
2. does not reproduce 5.1 audio from SACD multichannel discs when the Oppo SACD output is set to PCM
3. does not reproduce 5.1 audio from Bluray/dvd DTS 5.1
Thanks. I'll try to reproduce your tests.
SierraMadre
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DTS decoding was never a feature. The recent firmware log mentioning “center channel fix for PCM and DTS” is the first time DTS was ever mentioned by Comhear and was almost certainly in error.
Hi SierraMadre
In the absence of FW info from the Comhear tech person(s), how do u know DTS decoding wasn’t going to be a feature?
Also, how can u be sure PCM 5.1 was also not going to be a feature?
Cheers
In the absence of FW info from the Comhear tech person(s), how do u know DTS decoding wasn’t going to be a feature?
Also, how can u be sure PCM 5.1 was also not going to be a feature?
Cheers
SierraMadre
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Because DTS was never promised in backer correspondence or listed as supported on the Yarra website or crowd funding sites. Those that have asked about it in the past have been told that DTS is not supported and that there were no plans for it at present. Also, Mark Waldrep, campaign creator and one of the development consultants wrote in this very thread that Dolby Digital and stereo PCM was all it could do.
As for mulitichannel PCM, I never said it was “not going to be a feature”. However Dr, Waldrep also explicitly stated that multichannel PCM was not supported either. A few months later Comhear listed multichannel PCM as supported In the run up to shipping to backers but nobody has reported it working properly while plenty have reported it as not working.
@Andre le
I should’ve not written that I would try to reproduce your tests in my post #247. Actually, I didn’t know what were your files for testing. However, I carried out some tests as I did previously.
I’m using my Yarra 3DX connected to a laptop via USB cable mainly for listening to binaural music. This way the device works flawlessly. It’s out of discussion multichannel signals, PCM or other formats, under this configuration.
Then, I connected the laptop to Yarra 3DX via a HDMI cable and I played the same binaural files. The playback was interrupted several times, probably there were handshake issues. I also played the included AIX Records® demo DVD. The eighths led (from left to right) lighted blue meaning that Dolby Digital signal was decoded. The surround sound effect was not so impressive as for the binaural files. I also sent some multichannel uncompressed digital audio files to Yarra. They were played back, but I couldn’t figure out whether the sound was stereo or surround. There were no interruptions when both the Dolby Digital and uncompressed digital files were rendered.
To conclude, I’d say that HDMI connection is still buggy and I’m going to stick to listening to binaural music by using my Yarra 3DX via the USB cable.
I should’ve not written that I would try to reproduce your tests in my post #247. Actually, I didn’t know what were your files for testing. However, I carried out some tests as I did previously.
I’m using my Yarra 3DX connected to a laptop via USB cable mainly for listening to binaural music. This way the device works flawlessly. It’s out of discussion multichannel signals, PCM or other formats, under this configuration.
Then, I connected the laptop to Yarra 3DX via a HDMI cable and I played the same binaural files. The playback was interrupted several times, probably there were handshake issues. I also played the included AIX Records® demo DVD. The eighths led (from left to right) lighted blue meaning that Dolby Digital signal was decoded. The surround sound effect was not so impressive as for the binaural files. I also sent some multichannel uncompressed digital audio files to Yarra. They were played back, but I couldn’t figure out whether the sound was stereo or surround. There were no interruptions when both the Dolby Digital and uncompressed digital files were rendered.
To conclude, I’d say that HDMI connection is still buggy and I’m going to stick to listening to binaural music by using my Yarra 3DX via the USB cable.
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Gday GeorgeA
Confirming that after running the latest FW, Dolby 5.1 audio via HDMI works fine from Blu-ray or dvd.
5.1 PCM or DTS unfortunately does not because this was not a feature that was promised by the developers, as SierraMadre posted. This means I can’t enjoy 5.1 audio from my SACD multi-channel discs or DTS only music. Bummer!!
Cheers, André
SierraMadre
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If you have a device that can transcode into Dolby digital, I.e. take DTS or another format and convert it into Dolby for bitstreaming out to the Yarra, then you can enjoy the content in question. Xbox One X definitely offers this capability (I have one and have used it to convert DTS, multichannel PCM and binaural PCM into Dolby digital for the Yarra), presumably the original One and One S too. PS4 not sure but possibly.
What might be the reason for converting binaural PCM into Dolby digital, as long as Yarra 3DX is capable of rendering binaural audio signals?
SierraMadre
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Yarra requires its surround mode to be engaged (i.e. a second dose of HRTF/ binauralisation to be be applied by the Yarra) in order to accurately render directional audio / positional cues from native binaural content or content that has been pre-binauralised using another device/VSS solution (e.g. Dolby Atmos for Headphone, Creative SBX, Sennheiser GSX, DTS Virtual X etc.). However, doing this in my experience significantly compromises audio quality, making presentation too bright, forward, thin and metallic, upper mids and highs in particular.
It occurred to me to try the same selection of binaural content again but rather than in PCM form, fed to the Yarra as Dolby Digital 2.0 stereo instead. So I set the Xbox to output bitstreamed Dolby Digital and tried a variety of binaural demos on the net (virtual barber shop, Dolby channel’s Atmos demos etc.) and a bunch of games using Dolby Atmos for headphone.
Results were actually decent this time and much better than the PCM scenario mentioned above. Engaging Yarra surround mode when fed with binaural content transcoded into stereo Dolby Digital, audio quality was not overly compromised as with the previous PCM scenario. By comparison, audio was warmer, richer, more substantial and most important to, non-fatiguing. Positional cues were correctly placed although not quite as pronounced or precise as previous binaural PCM scenario. Irrespective, the trade-off was more than acceptable to me. I’ll take good directional cues *AND* better audio quality instead of great directional cues + poor audio quality any day.
NB: Setting the Yarra to stereo mode and not engaging its HRTF processing in this Dolby Digital scenario is still a no-go for binaural content and differs little from just pumping content binauralised for headphones into conventional speakers in that directional cues are off. In Yarra’s stereo mode, Virtual barber shop sounds like somebody else’s hair is being cut in front of you, engaging the Yarra’s surround mode is still required (whether feeding the Yarra Dolby Digital stereo or PCM stereo) in order to ensure that it sounds like one’s *own* hair is being cut.
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