Trinnov Altitude 16 Review (AV Processor)

[Helicopter]

Thanks for the review Amir. Here we get performance rivaling TOTL Denon without the amps. Very cool of them to send it for testing.

Above my price range, but I don't think it is a ripoff; just depends how much you want to spend and what features you want. This is a processor versus an AVR with pre outs. I don't have a problem with the price point. Performance looks really good. I am looking forward to the next one.

 

[GWolfman]

Price has me beat.

Thanks for the review!

 

[gonzoucab]

17K and not broken, what a buy

 

[gonzoucab]

Price has me beat.

Thanks for the review!

at least it works

 

[Matias]

Dear Trinnov,

Here is an idea for a smaller model. Call it Lite or EZ, whatever.
- 7.2 XLRs out.
- eARC.
- PEQ a few bands per channel.
- A few HDMIs.
- SINAD 100+.
- Around 2k usd.

 

[Rickt]

It is the one from Trinnov. If I had the time, I would have measured both but did not.

Good review!

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Dear Trinnov,

Here is an idea for a smaller model. Call it Lite or EZ, whatever.
- 7.2 XLRs out.
- eARC.
- PEQ a few bands per channel.
- A few HDMIs.
- SINAD 100+.
- Around 2k usd.

A few bands of PEQ per channel? The unique and defining element of all Trinnov products is the Optimizer.

 

[Matias]

A few bands of PEQ per channel? The unique and defining element of all Trinnov products is the Optimizer.

Of course would be awesome but I did not want to stretch. After all they need to keep the good stuff for the high end models, or why would they exist for 17k, right?

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Of course would be awesome but I did not want to stretch.

IMHO, without the Optimizer, I'd go to another CI-oriented brand like Storm Audio or Audio Control.
The problem for your proposal is that the $2k market is predicated on feature richness and not core quality.

 

[Chrispy]

Every time I look at your AV products SINAD chart it makes me chuckle. NAD occupies the best and worst positions, with a difference of 55db.

$17,000 is a lot of money...

How easy is it to set up with so few controls? Does the remote help?

Just curious, what's most amusing, that one brand has such a wide disparity or is it particularly the extent of that disparity?

 

[Andysu]

Not even barely (no offense, Bear) enough RCA on the back panel, now is there in case the digital soundtrack atmos fails, for proper Dolby 4.2.4 and how good is the Dolby dsu is it flawed with crosstalk leaking into LR and surround. Not enough RCA, so no good for phone turntable now. No RCA for CC tape now is there. Not enough RCA even for Lt Rt Laserdisc and VHS. and how good does it handle video composite.

 

[YSC]

decent performance and provided with the AV processing and surround multi channel speaker possibility... it could be a great multimedia system for cost no object buyers. But yea, seeing the measurements alone (I believe it's not really audible at 100db SINAD or above), it seems prohibitive when you can get a nice car with same budget..

 

[blueone]

Just curious, what's most amusing, that one brand has such a wide disparity or is it particularly the extent of that disparity?

Both.

 

[Chrispy]

Both.

Understood but within a brand only so meaningful and NAD isn't particularly known for the best of anything afaic.

 

[zorax2]

To be clear, this processor is still capable of completely reproducing all 16 bit of the CD format.

Considering that dB is logarithmic, 100 dB is more than any person would realistically need for transparent reproduction.

No need to consider this review fraudulent or something like that you just need to interpret it properly.

Try to focus less on how high the numbers are and more on whether there are breaking faults in the design.

Glad to hear that you’re enjoying your Trinnov with such passion!

https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/the-shoutometer.2555/

I hope I didn't come across as condemning the review in any way as I believe in following the numbers / science particularly with speakers.

I believe I more closely track with what you suggest in that 100 dB is more than enough for transparent reproduction - especially with my 55+ year old ears. I think there comes a point where the cheap "great" DACs outperform units like the Trinnov - but while relevant - it isn't audible to guys of my age or perhaps even younger people with golden ears.

A while back, I was part of a group that did blind test of a variety of mid to high-end pre-pros and AVRs. We did instantaneous switching between sources on request of the listener with two different speaker systems and none of us could consistently differentiate between everything. Our initial bias for nearly all of us was that the high-end processors would trounce everything else from a sound quality perspective - that wasn't the case - at least without using Audyssey, DIRAC, etc just direct, unprocessed sound to the speakers.

With that, I believe the biggest differentiator between "decent" measuring processors (other than price) is their sound correction algorithm. I would particularly love to do blind testing of the Storm w/ DIRAC vs. the Trinnov Optimizer just for fun but I'm thrilled with the Altitude and my own perceived sense of the remarkably improved sound in my room that was substantially greater than I would have ever have believed possible. My guess is that both the Storm and Trinnov would sound fantastic but perhaps slightly different with both providing fantastic sound.

 

[Chrispy]

@amirm in the case of a processor capable of so many things, how about tests that reflect a range of performance with various parameters employed as far as dsp within the unit? How much would that add to testing?

 

[zorax2]

How easy is it to set up with so few controls? Does the remote help?

The provided remote control is fairly basic. To setup things up properly, you need to use a VNC client (I'm using VNC Viewer) to gain access to all of the operating menus and features. I'd never used a VNC client previously but it was easy to use from my iPad, iPhone and computer.

For day to day use, the normal remote is sufficient. Our family uses a URC MX-990 custom programmed remote (that I program myself) which is both very powerful and reasonably affordable compared to high-end remotes like Crestron, etc.

I found my initial out of the box calibration using Optimizer to be relatively easy after having read the manual. It gave very good results. I've since done a couple of other calibrations as I've gained experience and knowledge of the many features to improve things further.

I've finally got most of my speakers precisely positioned and will next laser measure and do a final "base" calibration that will measure everything. From that "base" calibration that I save, I'll be able to save up to 32 different variations / profiles of that "base" calibration without needing to get the microphone out to measure everything again.

Trinnov can virtually move all speakers with "3D Remapping" to the preferred speaker positions but I think most Trinnov users try to get everything as close as possible to the ATMOS speaker location specs and use that. They may also try to see if Trinnov's 3D remapping to ATMOS (if you can't exactly match the specs like front height instead of front top) sounds better. My system is more ATMOS based for the speakers. I do not use remapping and I enjoy how things sound with my existing ATMOS speaker positions for DTS and AURO-3D as well. With that, I'll say some of the well heeled folks with Altitude 32s may have an individual speaker for every ATMOS, DTS and AURO-3D specified speaker location - I can't imagine the expense of that!

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I’ve been waiting for this review for a while as I had also offered to send a Trinnov Altitude 16 to Amir a few months ago as well. I love the science aspect of the reviews and it was interesting to see how the Altitude measures.

What I can say is, numbers be damned, the Trinnov Altitude 16 took my room’s acoustics to a whole new level. I’m not talking marginally either (as I had expected) but substantially better sound quality that was immediately very obvious and not just new purchase bias. My prior processors were a Denon X4300, Marantz 7703 and Marantz 8802 with and without the Audyssey app.

I found the Trinnov optimizer relatively easy to use. There is a tremendous depth to it in terms of the ability to do whatever you want. As good as I have it now with the Altitude 16, I believe that a pro could get even a little more acoustic bliss out of it.

I’m running a 7.2.4 setup with Kef Reference 205, 203, 201 and 202c speakers, PSA TV42 subs and Crowson Tactile Transducers in an acoustically treated room. Every single time I sit in my theater, I am amazed at how incredible everything sounds. Everything is just so much more accurate, dynamic, precise, etc.

As Amir mentioned, the Trinnov support team is world class. I’ll bet you could get help from them on any question within 20 minutes, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week. They are incredibly knowledgeable and helpful and want each owner to get the most out of their “machine” (must be a French thing).
I’d been strongly considering the Marantz 8805, the Monolith HTP-1, the JBL SDP-55 and am so incredibly thankful I got off the never ending upgrade cycle by virtue of purchasing the Trinnov. I genuinely believe it is an end-game processor as they continue to make improvements that are free to existing owners and they stand behind their products. In the long run, I’ll probably end up better off financially as compared to upgrading to the latest and greatest new pre-pro every 3 to 5 years with the satisfaction of having enjoyed my Altitude in the interim and the belief that, with continual free upgrades, my Altitude will always be the latest and greatest without another big expenditure.

Trinnov has a new 5 year warranty extension program where they will refresh / upgrade your Trinnov to new specs at a very reasonable price. They will also offer new HDMI replacement cards (once everything is ironed out with the new standard) at reasonable “cover their cost” type pricing rather than “boutique” type pricing. I’m not aware of any other AV company that does something similar.

In general, my understanding is that Altitudes are sold at MSRP through integrators as part of a package that may or may not include acoustic calibration. That being said, if you’re considering purchasing an Altitude vs. any other moderately priced product, contact some dealers as you may become very intrigued if you’re willing and able to do your own calibration and buy a calibration microphone. It will still be a LOT of money but you may be pleasantly surprised.

So back to the science aspect, I’ll offer somewhat of an analogy using speaker reviews. For any given “X” number of speakers, I would hands down take the Altitude 16 with Revel F208s vs. a Marantz 8805 or anything else with F228Be or F328Be speakers if I wanted the best bang for the buck sound quality. Regardless of what you have for speakers, I believe the Altitude 16 will wring out every last bit of performance from your speakers and never leave any doubt about that.

Ive set up three of these now. I really like them. You really can’t compare the Japanese receivers and processors to this. It’s setup flexibility is nearly unmatched. I believe Storm and Datasat are similar but Trinnov has some capabilities I’ve only ever used with their processor.

besides the larger channel count, the DSP is so flexible it can be used as the core DSP of an active speaker. If you use an active home cinema speaker like Grimani and Procella, this can act as the crossover. It has tons of crossover options, PEQ, etc. The channel mux then lets you route whatever channel in to whatever channel out. This is the key feature missing from many cheaper processors.

the setup flexibility is just unreal and provides real solutions to common problems.

the Room correction is also very unique. I recently read the manual and then received a full training on it. I talked with the engineers a bit about how it worked. The flexibility far exceeds that of any other room correction I have ever used. It’s highly adjustable. Enough so to really get you in trouble. You can change how it equalizes the direct sound, early reflections, and late reflections separately. You can adjust the octave smoothing applied to the late reflection Eq. You can even change the window length. This is great for addressing different types of rooms with different degrees of treatment.

the ability to change the perceived elevation of the channels is also surprisingly good. Part of me hates the idea of utilizing a $17k processor on an Inceiling surround system. But it makes it a lot better.

finally, I can set them up from anywhere in the world. I can log into the device and manage it from anywhere. Even my phone. When it comes to customer service on custom installs, this is a big deal. Some others have this ability too, but not the cheaper ones. I am working with an installer in Israel and we have a client with a Trinnov processor. I am currently redoing the setup to incorporate a more complex bass management arrangement. I can do it from here in Florida. No problem. Minimal work on the part of the client. The most he has to do is move a mic around for me.

 

[amirm]

@amirm in the case of a processor capable of so many things, how about tests that reflect a range of performance with various parameters employed as far as dsp within the unit? How much would that add to testing?

Stuff like xover I could test but i suspect there is nothing exciting there. If you mean room EQ, then measurements are not that useful. Listening tests are paramount.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

"Good news is that Trinnov is among just a couple of companies that has promised new generation of DACs to provide better performance." So do the clients who spent $17k for that "not broken" processor get a complimentary retrofit of those new generation DACs?