Elytone VID 1X1. Mini immersive surround processor with Dante output.

[Audiovibes]

Interesting development here! 1 tiny single board that does it all. HDMI eARC input, Atmos, DTS:X and all the spatial surround format decoding, and bitperfect 16 channel output via Dante. This is going to enable a new generation of amazing low cost pure digital only products:

VID-1X1｜HDMI Audio｜Audio Solutions｜Elytone

The VID-1X1 provides the ability to decode multichannel Dolby/DTS encoded audio onto Audio-Over-IP formats (like Dante or AES67). It uses the latest HDMI 2.1 (up to 8K) and eARC. The product has a built in web-GUI for configuration and headphone output for monitoring.

www.elytone.com

 

[Audiovibes]

Looks like this company has finished turnkey system designs for OEM’s to licence:

Licensing & Technologies — MidEngine Audio

www.midengineaudio.com

Can’t want to see some finished products hit the market! Will certainly be quick for OEM’s to develop. They’ll just need to pay all the licensing fees.

 

[Audiovibes]

I think this might be the board Arvus is using in their H1-D. Connector spacing aligns. Same with the reset button. Same SHARC processor and promised capabilities as well. The Coax out can be pulled off one of the board pins. Let’s hope someone does a better job getting a fully functional unit to market.

 

[Audiovibes]

Looks like Storm Audio adopted the exact same Elytone NAP1 DSP module used on the VID-1X1, for use in their 35 channel ISP 32 Elite processor.

Networked Audio Processor (NAP1)｜Networked Audio Processing｜Audio Solutions｜Elytone

NAP1 is a breakthrough in miniaturization and audio performance: a comprehensive audio system driven by a powerful multi-core application processor with on board memory, and power circuitry - all in a module about the size of a business card. NAP1 is designed to integrate networking, processing...

www.elytone.com

So when a solid implementation based on the VID-1X1 hits the market, it will share the same DSP as the highest end SHARC based 35 channel Atmos processor on the market.

Evidence below:

 

[gdickins]

Regarding MidEngine, the VID1X1, the overlapping appearance of hardware .... guilty as charged ;-)

Of course, it all stems from the Elytone NAP1 module (Sharc SC598).
The VID1X1 and other compact OEM hardware shown above are aligned.
Of course every OEM is different in terms of the value add and wider product features.
I can speak for the VID1X1 and a set of units I have which will track the core firmware release.

It has been a long and rewarding partnership with Elytone to get this unit close to firmware readiness.

 

[Highfidelity]

Regarding MidEngine, the VID1X1, the overlapping appearance of hardware .... guilty as charged ;-)

Of course, it all stems from the Elytone NAP1 module (Sharc SC598).
The VID1X1 and other compact OEM hardware shown above are aligned.
Of course every OEM is different in terms of the value add and wider product features.
I can speak for the VID1X1 and a set of units I have which will track the core firmware release.

It has been a long and rewarding partnership with Elytone to get this unit close to firmware readiness.

Please DM me, or drop a line at www.dickins.com if you are interested in directly sourcing small volume (or single) units. Geek to geek.

When will a VID1X1 based implementation truly be ready for prime time?

 

[gdickins]

When will a VID1X1 based implementation truly be ready for prime time?

It is up to each OEM what they consider "ready" and whether or not they invest in any work or testing themselves.
That said, a firmware number shift from 0.8.15 to 0.9.0 is telling.

 

[somebodyelse]

That said, a firmware number shift from 0.8.15 to 0.9.0 is telling.

Telling in what way? Without changelog or knowing the developers' release numbering policy it doesn't tell me anything.

 

[Highfidelity]

I suppose Avrus is the only well known box out in the wild that currently uses this platform. It’s just a shame Matthew decided to release it so prematurely with so many promises before working out the bugs. As he’s taken a major blow to his reputation. However I’m confident the hardware is solid so only a matter of time before all the kinks are ironed out.

 

[gdickins]

>

Telling in what way? Without changelog or knowing the developers' release numbering policy it doesn't tell me anything.

Thanks for prompting somebodyelse. I was being a bit cryptic.

It is not yet a 1.0.x so still considered pre-release by developers.
Though firmware is best judged on activity and development - so the many revs on 0.8.x was a stack of great work. And 0.9.x is a great milestone release.

I am now shifting a unit from my test bed to my theatre!

 

[Highfidelity]

The main question is how is it possible for Dante DEP running on the VID 1X1 to be assigned leader clock when DEP isn’t capable of being the leader clock? If the leader clock is a product downstream of the source it won’t be in sync with the HDMI video. And it certainly won’t have the ability to switch sample rates on the fly to match the content sample rate, even with SRC, if it’s locked to the clock of a downstream device set to a fixed rate.

 

[welwynnick]

The penny drops. This is why I think AES3 may be better than Dante. I think it allows the system to maintain a conventional clocking architecture.

 

[Highfidelity]

The penny drops. This is why I think AES3 may be better than Dante. I think it allows the system to maintain a conventional clocking architecture.

So does Dante when hardware based Dante chips are used in the source. Dante also uses P2Pv2 clock sync between all the devices for nanosecond sync between speakers and devices.

The real advantage comes from AES67 compliant protocols when active speakers are used. If you're just using it to connect the AVP to a DAC sitting on the same equipment rack you might as well just buy an AVP with built in DAC’s.

 

[welwynnick]

So does Dante when hardware based Dante chips are used in the source. Dante also uses P2Pv2 clock sync between all the devices for nanosecond sync between speakers and devices.

There are some problems with that.
Maybe that's OK in a recording studio, but in a domestic environment we typically have HDMI sources instead.
How do we know when hardware based Dante chips are used in a source? I've never seen a manufacturer promote that.
I recall an owner saying that the Arvus H24D has the option to set the source as master clock, but I don't believe the H1D or VID1X1 do.
Although AOIP can be used with stereo, there's little advantage compared with immersive audio.
Apart from a few Blu-ray Audio discs (which I love), immersive audio is associated with film soundtracks, and the audio has to be synchronised to the video, not vice-versa.
Having said all that, I'd love to get gdickins take on this.

If you're just using it to connect the AVP to a DAC sitting on the same equipment rack you might as well just buy an AVP with built in DAC’s.

I disagree with that for the four other reasons I gave in carolimagni's thread. All AVPs have poor DACs, though maybe the Hyperion can buck that unfortunate trend.

 

[Highfidelity]

Boxes such as the one this thread is about solve the solution of decoding the HDMI source and spitting it out via Dante.

The Storm Evo has a Merging ZMAN based hardware board. The Audiosource Hyperion series likely uses either a Dante Brooklyn 3 board, or Dante IP core running on an ZYNQ FPGA. Which are both leader clock capable. The new Trinnov CI likely uses a Brooklyn 3. The Avrus H24D uses a Dante Broadway chip which is leader clock capable, but was discontinued in 2021. So that unit will likely die when stock of that chip runs out.

like I said in my last post, the major advantage of AES67 comes in a domestic environment when you have several active speakers located around the home. You can mount a switch in utility room alongside a multichannel DSP server and run Ethernet to each speaker in multiple rooms.

For example my DSP server is setup for 256 channels of DSP. So I can handle DSP in multiple atmos rooms with a single server. And each speaker just needs connected to the network. It’s also possible to send HDMI over fiber optics from several TV eARC ports to a single AVP. And remote switch them to remap the output to the AVP. So a single AVP can handle multiple rooms.

Using AES3 for a setup like this would be a nightmare.

 

[welwynnick]

The Storm Evo has a Merging ZMAN based hardware board. The Audiosource Hyperion series likely uses either a Dante Brooklyn 3 board, or Dante IP core running on an ZYNQ FPGA. Which are both leader clock capable. The new Trinnov CI likely uses a Brooklyn 3. The Avrus H24D uses a Dante Broadway chip which is leader clock capable, but was discontinued in 2021. So that unit will likely die when stock of that chip runs out.

That's all fine, but none of them are sources.

 

[Highfidelity]

That's all fine, but none of them are sources.

Those are sources for the Dante network. And obviously you would connect either the TV eARC out to them. Or if they have multiple inputs with HDMI switching you would connect things like an Apple TV, PS5, Blu-ray player, Kalideascope, cable box etc to them as a source. Or you can connect multiple eARC outputs from multiple TV’s to each HDMI input if you want to only buy 1 AVP to handle multiple rooms.

 

[welwynnick]

Those are sources for the Dante network.

Yes, but that doesn't matter, they are sources for the system.
The source should be the clock master for the rest of the system.
The rest of the system, including the network, should ideally be synchronised to the sources.

 

[Highfidelity]

Yes, but that doesn't matter, they are sources for the system.
The source should be the clock master for the rest of the system.
The rest of the system, including the network, should ideally be synchronised to the sources.

The way eARC works is the clock from the AVP is sent back to the TV to clock sync the TV to the AVP. The reason most AVP’s have multiple HDMI inputs is so when you run the hdmi sources through them and then connect the TV to the AVP hdmi out it syncs the video to the audio.

This is how all AVP’s work to sync the audio and video regardless if they have analog outs, AES or Dante.

 

[gdickins]

Boy, this is right in my domain.
This is at the core of what creates interesting issues with HDMI -> AoIP.
Unless you are in production, a HDMI source is a free running clock intermittent. And AoIP needs a stable clock.
Taking the HDMI timing and pushing that out to AoIP would not be wise - or very stable downstream.

So generally, all cases of HDMI -> Dante/AES67 will be going through some form of ASRC.