Arcam AV40 AV Processor Review

[Lsc]

Let's hope for the best!

That’s all we can do. I’ll stick with my XMC2. I bought it for brand new for less than $2250 so given what I paid the sound quality even without Dirac (with REW) is outstanding. I use my XMC2 everyday and it does everything very well.
Yes Dirac is the elephant in the room but how is Dirac going to be? It’s been so hyped I hope it’s not a letdown. Plus the way Dirac released version 2.0 with a single API that other companies need to code to, it may not be perfect right away btw Emotiva and Dirac. It wasn’t for other companies so I don’t think Emotiva would be any different.
Back to Arcam!

 

[audioBliss]

I’ve been patiently or impatiently have been waiting for Dirac. Why are you asking me this question when you know the answer?

Because you wrote this

I also thought at one time that Emotiva was going to completely fail and there processors were never going to get Dirac but thankfully I was wrong. I don’t care what the solution entails meaning if I need to use this raspberry pi which is at no cost to me to get Dirac in my XMC2, then that’s fine.

The processors still don't have Dirac and until it's fully functioning and works correctly with bass management we don't know anything I just wanted to make that clear. Emotiva are not alone working like this, I've seen it many times.

 

[audioBliss]

That’s all we can do. I’ll stick with my XMC2. I bought it for brand new for less than $2250 so given what I paid the sound quality even without Dirac (with REW) is outstanding. I use my XMC2 everyday and it does everything very well.
Yes Dirac is the elephant in the room but how is Dirac going to be? It’s been so hyped I hope it’s not a letdown. Plus the way Dirac released version 2.0 with a single API that other companies need to code to, it may not be perfect right away btw Emotiva and Dirac. It wasn’t for other companies so I don’t think Emotiva would be any different.
Back to Arcam!

The Arcam AVR390 from 2016 has Dirac 2.5.3 and Arcam have been useless with the updates but Dirac is functioning and has been for years now. I'm not sure what you mean with Dirac releasing a single API? If all they need to do is implement one endpoint that should be very easy, I'm not sure what the problem is there.

We already know how Dirac is going to be since it's been in products for many years.

 

[Lsc]

The Arcam AVR390 from 2016 has Dirac 2.5.3 and Arcam have been useless with the updates but Dirac is functioning and has been for years now. I'm not sure what you mean with Dirac releasing a single API? If all they need to do is implement one endpoint that should be very easy, I'm not sure what the problem is there.

We already know how Dirac is going to be since it's been in products for many years.

Dirac used to write the interface code with all their licensees. That was Dirac 1.0. With Dirac 2.0, they said that’s too much for them to maintain so they wrote the one API to for processor companies like Emotiva to write the interface code for.
But they wrote the interface code for the MDS systems, hence Monoprice is ahead.

Any other processors that are using Dirac 1.0 is out of scope for this discussion.

 

[Lsc]

Because you wrote this


The processors still don't have Dirac and until it's fully functioning and works correctly with bass management we don't know anything I just wanted to make that clear. Emotiva are not alone working like this, I've seen it many times.

Ah I see. They have completed the development and we are waiting for the rollout.

The we don’t know anything and those types of general statements of I’m turning a blind eye until it actually works on my XMC2 doesn’t make sense to me.

We do know what Emotiva’s current status is. And we are waiting for delivery (at least I am)Now whether it’s going to be 100% bug free we don’t know. But they have completed the solution using the black box.

The bass control module on the other hand... who knows. Emotiva hasn’t said anything.

 

[TimoJ]

Dirac used to write the interface code with all their licensees. That was Dirac 1.0. With Dirac 2.0, they said that’s too much for them to maintain so they wrote the one API to for processor companies like Emotiva to write the interface code for.
But they wrote the interface code for the MDS systems, hence Monoprice is ahead.

Is NAD also using MDS systems interface code? What about MiniDSP? Both had Dirac 2.0 devices long time ago.

 

[audioBliss]

Dirac used to write the interface code with all their licensees. That was Dirac 1.0. With Dirac 2.0, they said that’s too much for them to maintain so they wrote the one API to for processor companies like Emotiva to write the interface code for.
But they wrote the interface code for the MDS systems, hence Monoprice is ahead.

Any other processors that are using Dirac 1.0 is out of scope for this discussion.

What are MDS systems? You mean Dirac wrote the client code for the other manufacturers? What I'm hearing is that all they need to do is write the client code for one API endpoint. That seems trivial?? Like basically enable Dirac to communicate with the unit over the network. There must be a lot more to it. I don't think I quite understand.

 

[RichB]

What are MDS systems? You mean Dirac wrote the client code for the other manufacturers? What I'm hearing is that all they need to do is write the client code for one API endpoint. That seems trivial?? Like basically enable Dirac to communicate with the unit over the network. There must be a lot more to it. I don't think I quite understand.

Momentum Data Systems:
http://www.mds.com/

They designed the boards for a number of processors, including the Emotiva XMC-1.
The port to those boards gave the companies using MDS designs a leg up.
The DSP's on the Emotiva RMC-1/XMC-2 required porting.

- Rich

 

[audioBliss]

Well that makes it a different ball game altogether.

 

[amirm]

Well that makes it a different ball game altogether.

It does indeed. "Reference code" is usually designed to run on desktop products and is not optimized for memory or CPU resources that are available in the embedded platforms used consumer electronics. I remember when we first tried to port our codecs to ARM. It used 256 kBytes of memory on windows but the platform had only 16 kBytes of memory! I remember my engineers at first telling me it was impossible to do that since just a single transform memory was larger than this. We then hired an expert from ARM to do the optimization and learned their tricks for cutting memory way back.

Over time, I built a 20 person team of signal processing experts and assembly language programmers to handle the myriads of ports we had to do to get universal support. We also had to watch over ports others were doing as they would cut corners on accuracy to get the memory and CPU requirement down.

It is tough, tough work. We had the resources at Microsoft to invest in helping the ecosystem in ways that I am sure Dirac does not.

 

[Lsc]

Glad that’s settled. Back to Arcam. I only came on this thread bc I was considering the Arcam to replace my no Dirac XMC2. But looks like that may not be ideal.
Amir, maybe you can test the XMC2 and RMC1L to see if they measure the same as the RMC1.

 

[RichB]

Glad that’s settled. Back to Arcam. I only came on this thread bc I was considering the Arcam to replace my no Dirac XMC2. But looks like that may not be ideal.
Amir, maybe you can test the XMC2 and RMC1L to see if they measure the same as the RMC1.

PM him, if you are willing to ship it...

- Rich

 

[TimoJ]

PM him, if you are willing to ship it...

- Rich

I thought since Amir is now their best buddy and doing quality control for them, he should easily have access to all those models. Or did Emotiva's podcast maybe exaggerate things...?

 

[RichB]

I thought since Amir is now their best buddy and doing quality control for them, he should easily have access to all those models. Or did Emotiva's podcast maybe exaggerate things...?

From what I read, Amir will test Dirac on an RMC-1. I doubt there is any difference between the front 3 channels since they are the same as the RMC-1.

- Rich

 

[Lsc]

I thought since Amir is now their best buddy and doing quality control for them, he should easily have access to all those models. Or did Emotiva's podcast maybe exaggerate things...?

Yes I like this idea much better thanks!

i don’t have another processor in the interim so sending my unit would be better pretty inconvenient especially in this time where there isn’t much else to do .

I may consider it if things open up and I’m going on vacation.

 

[Lsc]

From what I read, Amir will test Dirac on an RMC-1. I doubt there is any difference between the front 3 channels since they are the same as the RMC-1.

- Rich

I agree. So this would test that theory.
I would like Amir to test the surround DACs for completeness.

 

[RichB]

I agree. So this would test that theory.
I would like Amir to test the surround DACs for completeness.

There is an ante into the game

- Rich

 

[Dimifoot]

From what I read, Amir will test Dirac on an RMC-1.

I am afraid we might have to wait for this review

@amirm regarding AV products I believe that measurements should be done on all channels, since they are equally important for multichannel/immersive music. For example, If the surround channels and the Center channel has a SINAD of 60db, a 90-100 measurement on the LR becomes irrelevant.

 

[Lsc]

There is an ante into the game

- Rich

Lol. While I am somewhat curious, I’m not that curious.

Amir can buy from Emotiva then return if they don’t supply him with a unit. It’ll cost him $50 a unit max so it’s not too bad. It’ll draw more folks and drive up his advertisement revenue .

 

[Krobar]

I am afraid we might have to wait for this review

@amirm regarding AV products I believe that measurements should be done on all channels, since they are equally important for multichannel/immersive music. For example, If the surround channels and the Center channel has a SINAD of 60db, a 90-100 measurement on the LR becomes irrelevant.

The front 3 are by far the most important.