Audiopraise VanityPRO

23 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

That works!

Can you post your settings for that here?

3 hours ago, vortecjr said:

Can you post your settings for that here?

????  Settings?  I connected the Oppo to the VP by HDMI, set SACD output to Bitstream, everything else to PCM.

Okay great…I just wanted to make sure there wasn’t more to it. 

Latest experiences:
Chain: Mac - USB-C - Motu 8D DDC - AES - Genelec

- Apple Music app: plays 5.1 form Dolby Atmos tracks, with absolutely no Atmos device in the chain.

- Tidal app: Stereo and no mention of Atmos

- Netflix in Safari: Stereo and no mention of 5.1

20 minutes ago, DigiPete said:

- Apple Music app: plays 5.1 form Dolby Atmos tracks, with absolutely no Atmos device in the chain.

Is that a big trick?  I thought the big trick was play Atmos as Atmos without anything Apple in the chain

13 hours ago, Kal Rubinson said:

Is that a big trick?  I thought the big trick was play Atmos as Atmos without anything Apple in the chain

I suppose we are all looking for different tricks.

I would absolutely love to stream as many channels as possible, but without an AVR and directly into AES.
BUT I also have to accept that Dolby and their army of lawyers will crack down hard on any SW or HW attempting to calculate the height channels without a license. And they will probably not license SW any time soon. 
IMO Dolby has build a monopoly with an inferior product (compared to Auro), and they will kick and fight to keep it like that.

The (realistic) trick I'm looking for is to:

• stream 5.1 or 7.1 PCM from any platform 
• music & movies
• at the highest sampling freq. and bit depth offered
• using Mac/PC and/or Apple TV / Fire TV or similar 
• directly to AES/EBU on a PRO DDC or similar

I totally love that surround can now be streamed, but I'm not happy to be forced to buy more sub-par Dolby Atmos labelled and expensive boxes just to be allowed to stream the PCM part.

1 hour ago, DigiPete said:

I suppose we are all looking for different tricks.

Not really.  I was under the impression that playing Atmos content as downmixed discrete multichannel was a default for most of us and not anything surprising.  Playing Atmos as Atmos without specially sanctioned hardware.

Here's my article on the Vanity Pro

My use case for this would be to enable my Apple TV 4K to pass a 4k video signal to a projector while pulling multi channel audio for my HDMI 1.4 AV Pre-Pro.  Devices, admittedly much cheaper, that I've looked at to date get stuck at EDID matching the lowest common denominator standard of the two connected devices.  The question I'm still reading the manual for an answer to is whether the S/PDIF outputs multi channel audio.

On 1/23/2022 at 5:23 PM, http404 said:

My use case for this would be to enable my Apple TV 4K to pass a 4k video signal to a projector while pulling multi channel audio for my HDMI 1.4 AV Pre-Pro.  Devices, admittedly much cheaper, that I've looked at to date get stuck at EDID matching the lowest common denominator standard of the two connected devices.  The question I'm still reading the manual for an answer to is whether the S/PDIF outputs multi channel audio.

I don’t this this will work since each digital output carries only two channels. You would need multiple DACs not a receiver or processor. 

On 1/23/2022 at 5:23 PM, http404 said:

The question I'm still reading the manual for an answer to is whether the S/PDIF outputs multi channel audio.

28 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

I don’t this this will work since each digital output carries only two channels. You would need multiple DACs not a receiver or processor. 

Yup.  Each S/PDIF can handle only two channels but there are multichannel versions of the VanityPlus and one of them has 4 S/PDIF (RCA) outputs to handle up to 8 channels.

27 minutes ago, Kal Rubinson said:

 

Yup.  Each S/PDIF can handle only two channels but there are multichannel versions of the VanityPlus and one of them has 4 S/PDIF (RCA) outputs to handle up to 8 channels.

Right, but receivers and processors don’t work with signals split up this way. That is why I say you need multiple DACs. 

1 hour ago, vortecjr said:

Right, but receivers and processors don’t work with signals split up this way. That is why I say you need multiple DACs. 

Right, or a single multichannel DAC.  Receivers and prepros can't handle it.

We just completed some tests using a modified OS on a SGC Sonic Transporter to add multichannel output via its HDMI port while streaming from Roon. If you are interested in this solution please email me at [email protected] with the subject HDMI-ST.

On 2/8/2022 at 2:11 PM, vortecjr said:

We just completed some tests using a modified OS on a SGC Sonic Transporter to add multichannel output via its HDMI port while streaming from Roon.

This would be perfect for my Theta Casablanca. I can use the full 7.2.4 Atmos option.
 

Of cause you had the VanityPRO in mind. So a question to you Jesus:

Can you daisy chain 2 VanityPRO’s and get 16 channels ?

If yes, How would you implement immersive audio to such a solution?

Can some magic between HQplayer and Sonore happen ? (Not sure if HQplayer is needed)

I mean, one would need some sort of SSP SW ?
Which I have, but my understanding is the VanityPRO is missing ?

On 1/17/2022 at 1:12 AM, DigiPete said:

I only spin once.
To rip surround music from mostly Blu-rays.
 

Can you create a thread tell us how ? 

Yes, HDMI output for ripped Atmos content would be killer. Sometimes HDMI is required for the height channels to work. 

On 2/26/2022 at 4:53 AM, R1200CL said:

This would be perfect for my Theta Casablanca. I can use the full 7.2.4 Atmos option.
 

Of cause you had the VanityPRO in mind. So a question to you Jesus:

Can you daisy chain 2 VanityPRO’s and get 16 channels ?

If yes, How would you implement immersive audio to such a solution?

Can some magic between HQplayer and Sonore happen ? (Not sure if HQplayer is needed)

 

I mean, one would need some sort of SSP SW ?
Which I have, but my understanding is the VanityPRO is missing ?

 

 

You would not be able to do that.

As I undertsand it you could stream a ripped Atmos file with any Sonic Transporter via HDMI to a receiver or processor that supports Atmos. However, the Sonic Transporter and the VanityPro do not directly support Atmos onboard. 

On 2/26/2022 at 11:02 AM, R1200CL said:

Can you create a thread tell us how ? 

I can do better - I'll direct you to Quadraphonicquad - the central hub for all surround stuff.
Here is a good thread to start you off: Converting MCH discs 101: Overview

While I love 'Quad' for all the useful info (and yes we are some CA's there), I still lack the razor focus on high end I find here.
Let's hope the mix will send us on a good projectory!

Man, I've been waiting over 10 years for streaming Multi Channel to AES . . . .  🙄


PS Don't miss the 'Surround Poll Charts' to find the best sounding recordings

 

4 minutes ago, DigiPete said:

I can do better - I'll direct you to Quadraphonicquad - the central hub for all surround stuff.
Here is a good thread to start you off: Converting MCH discs 101: Overview

While I love 'Quad' for all the useful info (and yes we are some CA's there), I still lack the razor focus on high end I find here.
Let's hope the mix will send us on a good projectory!

Man, I've been waiting over 10 years for streaming Multi Channel to AES . . . .  🙄

 

Hi Pete! I plan on only focusing on Atmos for audiophiles. I won't even have a screen in my listening room :~)

I want to reproduce what the artist intended, whether that's two channels or 7.1.4. 

Are you doing multichannel to AES right now?

24 minutes ago, The Computer Audiophile said:

Hi Pete! I plan on only focusing on Atmos for audiophiles. I won't even have a screen in my listening room :~)

 

I want to reproduce what the artist intended, whether that's two channels or 7.1.4. 

 

Are you doing multichannel to AES right now?

 

Hey Chris

I've been doing 5.1 from ripped files direct to AES since 2011!
My Genelec SAM series monitors has AES direct input (as well as analogue XLR), so this has been my goal from the get go.
And yes - Genelec SAM's are still insane value for the money if you want high-end! 👍

Weiss AFI1 DDC was my daily driver for years, but the proprietary driver didn't get updated, so I had to give up this great HW.
I talked to Daniel Weiss, but nothing can be done short of running a very old computer with old OS.
Interface chip company went bust 😒

The modern Motu 8D DDC is my new go-to, with no obsoletion in sight. And at $595 / €645 it's an absolute steal.
And it can naturally be daisy chained for more channels - gotta love PRO audio!
For my use, it's an absolute gem with 8 channels out - 4 AES and 4 S/PDIFF (with converters to AES), and it sounds just as glorious.

Tidal multi-channel / Atmos is my challenge, so I'm following AS with renewed interest!
Yes, Apple music will give me 5.1, but I way prefer Tidal's offerings. 
It would be so awesome! 😃

53 minutes ago, DigiPete said:

Hey Chris

I've been doing 5.1 from ripped files direct to AES since 2011!
My Genelec SAM series monitors has AES direct input (as well as analogue XLR), so this has been my goal from the get go.
And yes - Genelec SAM's are still insane value for the money if you want high-end! 👍

Weiss AFI1 DDC was my daily driver for years, but the proprietary driver didn't get updated, so I had to give up this great HW.
I talked to Daniel Weiss, but nothing can be done short of running a very old computer with old OS.
Interface chip company went bust 😒

The modern Motu 8D DDC is my new go-to, with no obsoletion in sight. And at $595 / €645 it's an absolute steal.
And it can naturally be daisy chained for more channels - gotta love PRO audio!
For my use, it's an absolute gem with 8 channels out - 4 AES and 4 S/PDIFF (with converters to AES), and it sounds just as glorious.

Tidal multi-channel / Atmos is my challenge, so I'm following AS with renewed interest!
Yes, Apple music will give me 5.1, but I way prefer Tidal's offerings. 
It would be so awesome! 😃

Very cool and creative. I agree, pro audio is a crazy value and so flexible. 

Tidal is going to be a challenge. The company is limiting devices that can play Atmos for some reason. I have an email in to Tidal, but don't know if anyone will respond. 

Here are some quick update on the VanityPRO development. Audiopraise is designing 2 new output boards as follows:

One with USB Audio interface with ASRC. The main idea is to be able to feed 8-channel HDMI audio straight into a PC for multichannel processing with the option to fix the USB Audio sampling rate via a bank of ASRC. The is an output card with USB Audio Device capable of 8-channel operation. On top of that, there is a bank of asynchronous resamplers which will allow the USB Audio to run at fixed sampling rate set from the host PC. There will be an ASRC bypass mode for bit-transparent transmission. There will be also a digital audio output (from the USB interface) and digital audio input (auxiliary input that can be routed to USB).

The second board is a multichannel I2S with four HDMI connectors (for 8 channels), which is a fairly simple board that just converts I2S to LVDS signals via HDMI with PS Audio/ Sonore pinout. 

23 minutes ago, vortecjr said:

Here are some quick update on the VanityPRO development. Audiopraise is designing 2 new output boards as follows:

 

One with USB Audio interface with ASRC. The main idea is to be able to feed 8-channel HDMI audio straight into a PC for multichannel processing with the option to fix the USB Audio sampling rate via a bank of ASRC. The is an output card with USB Audio Device capable of 8-channel operation. On top of that, there is a bank of asynchronous resamplers which will allow the USB Audio to run at fixed sampling rate set from the host PC. There will be an ASRC bypass mode for bit-transparent transmission. There will be also a digital audio output (from the USB interface) and digital audio input (auxiliary input that can be routed to USB).

 

The second board is a multichannel I2S with four HDMI connectors (for 8 channels), which is a fairly simple board that just converts I2S to LVDS signals via HDMI with PS Audio/ Sonore pinout. 

 

Nice!

17 hours ago, vortecjr said:

One with USB Audio interface with ASRC.

What is ASRC ?