Basically I have had back and forth conversation with the tech guys at minidsp about the UDIO-8 and I have to say that I am in no way grasping an important point in a multichannel or 2/3 way digital filter DSP set up. I am sad to say that I am embarrassed and just can't get my head around it.
When connecting the UDIO-8 to a DAC i get a stereo signal from 1/2 out then a mono from 3/4 out and mono again from 5/6 out. But according to the tech guys this is normal. But when if I was to connect one DAC to a power amp to drive the woofers if the DAC play only from one side I'm struggling to see how that is right? Obviously I am missing something here. This is what they had to say.
"If the spdif is out to a DAC then that DAC out to the amp that amp needs to play in stereo right? So how is mono okay? I can't have one amplifier playing from one speaker.":
ANS: No. Not at all needing to be stereo. A DAC has a OUT1 and OUT2. It doesn't need at all to be stereo. You could have
PC - > UDIO8 -> SPDIF1 = DAC1 = L&R (just happens to be stereo signal) / SPDIF2 = DAC2 = Center, SUB (not at all stereo, these are unique channels) / SPDIF3 = Surround L&R
Could be
PC -> Software doing DSP = > UDIO8 => SPDIF1 =DAC1 = Left Low, Left Mid / SPDIF2 = DAC2 = Left High, Sub Left / SPDIF3 = DAC3 = Right Low, Right mid... e
The latest conversation led me to believe that the DSP upstream must be playing a role. I do use audiolense and am aware that the crossover filters will assign each channel its frequency range but if one of the DAC's are playing only from the left or right side what do I do with the amps other side.
Anyway, hopefully someone will identify my sticking point.
Originally I was under impression that with each playing stereo content I could essentially connect one to my pre pro and another to my main DAC using the main DAC for my main left right and the 3/4 out would connect into my pre pro for my surround backs which will encode surround formats. I mean that is what it is advertised at right, a USB to SPDIF interface but I get one side playing from the other outs other than 1/2.
If the above is impossible then if someone can help me understand how I would set up my active speakers bypassing a passive crossover using a DAC for each frequency. Or ideally explain their explanation in laymen terms.
When connecting the UDIO-8 to a DAC i get a stereo signal from 1/2 out then a mono from 3/4 out and mono again from 5/6 out. But according to the tech guys this is normal. But when if I was to connect one DAC to a power amp to drive the woofers if the DAC play only from one side I'm struggling to see how that is right? Obviously I am missing something here. This is what they had to say.
"If the spdif is out to a DAC then that DAC out to the amp that amp needs to play in stereo right? So how is mono okay? I can't have one amplifier playing from one speaker.":
ANS: No. Not at all needing to be stereo. A DAC has a OUT1 and OUT2. It doesn't need at all to be stereo. You could have
PC - > UDIO8 -> SPDIF1 = DAC1 = L&R (just happens to be stereo signal) / SPDIF2 = DAC2 = Center, SUB (not at all stereo, these are unique channels) / SPDIF3 = Surround L&R
Could be
PC -> Software doing DSP = > UDIO8 => SPDIF1 =DAC1 = Left Low, Left Mid / SPDIF2 = DAC2 = Left High, Sub Left / SPDIF3 = DAC3 = Right Low, Right mid... e
The latest conversation led me to believe that the DSP upstream must be playing a role. I do use audiolense and am aware that the crossover filters will assign each channel its frequency range but if one of the DAC's are playing only from the left or right side what do I do with the amps other side.
Anyway, hopefully someone will identify my sticking point.
Originally I was under impression that with each playing stereo content I could essentially connect one to my pre pro and another to my main DAC using the main DAC for my main left right and the 3/4 out would connect into my pre pro for my surround backs which will encode surround formats. I mean that is what it is advertised at right, a USB to SPDIF interface but I get one side playing from the other outs other than 1/2.
If the above is impossible then if someone can help me understand how I would set up my active speakers bypassing a passive crossover using a DAC for each frequency. Or ideally explain their explanation in laymen terms.
