Ambisonic UHJ to stereo decoding........

[trevor_bartram]

I have many Nimbus UHJ CDs that havn't been played in years. Playing UHJ on my HiFi results in an overly reverberant sound. I looked online for software UHJ decoding solutions (UHJ CD to stereo CD) but it's complicated. So I tried my HT Sony AVR with the rear speakers disconnected, 4.0 decoding to 2.0 actual. I tried all soundfield settings & the best was Neo:6 Music, it appears to remove a good deal of the reverberation & certainly produces a more pleasant sound. Does anyone know if others have experienced this OR the reason this appears to work? Thanks in advance!

 

[SMc]

I have many Nimbus UHJ CDs that havn't been played in years. Playing UHJ on my HiFi results in an overly reverberant sound. I looked online for software UHJ decoding solutions (UHJ CD to stereo CD) but it's complicated. So I tried my HT Sony AVR with the rear speakers disconnected, 4.0 decoding to 2.0 actual. I tried all soundfield settings & the best was Neo:6 Music, it appears to remove a good deal of the reverberation & certainly produces a more pleasant sound. Does anyone know if others have experienced this OR the reason this appears to work? Thanks in advance!

I was unable to find a playback solution for a different UHJ encoded cd whose content was effectively in quad, a Stockhousen piece for "pianist, percussionist & 4-channel electronic tape."

Apparently certain Meridian processors can do the job. Other solutions I found were computer-based and beyond my skills. I hadn't tried an AVR but it's been so long I see a recording with the same pianist is on a more accessible DVD-V with Dolby and DTS. https://moderecords.com/catalog/274_stockhausencd/

I suppose the curious could try to decode the Apple Music streaming version.

I have a bunch of Nimbus piano cds I could play! Nimbus were notorious for their over-reverberant recording presentation. Maybe four channels of ambiance are folded down to stereo and your solution works by unfolding however imperfectly and then discarding the unwanted extra channels' reverb.

 

[trevor_bartram]

I've connected my CD player to my AVR via coax, so that I don't need the TV on to play CDs. Neo:6_Music appears to be doing a good job of decoding UHJ.