JBL goes Dirac Live ready and Class-D

[SpoOokY]

Look like i dont have any problem with sub output. -4.5 in avr and just under half on sub. I have xtz cinema 1 edge

Good to read that! I guess my Nubert sub just requires a pretty high signal to wake up. Anyway, I leave it on all the time now. Costs some energy but saves my nerves .

 

[TSB]

I don't think there's any information on that, at least that I've been able to find. The only shot I can find of the internals doesn't seem to shed much light on the matter either:

I'm assuming that board at the bottom in the power supply, and the only other board clearly visible is the HDMI board at the top. What I assume are aluminum heatsinks are likely attached to the amplifiers?

I would expect that JBL is using their own design, or perhaps pulled from a sister brand like Crown?

Despite the name printed on it, that isn't just an HDMI board - I see a network module with attached antenna on the left.

 

[Doctors11]

Despite the name printed on it, that isn't just an HDMI board - I see a network module with attached antenna on the left.

Post #35 shows another interior shot.

 

[fristil]

Some first reactions.

1. Wish there was multiple display settings, the default with big orange circle takes up 1/3 of display, so info text are small and volume numbers are even smaller.

2. Osd display lag 0.5 sec so really annoying when you click around the menu

3. Missing info button on remote

4. Speaker bindnings only kind of take 1.5 mm cable and only from top or bottom, usually thats from an angle, left or right.

5. When i switch movies from my zidoo it lower the volume

Need to watch some movies to see how it sounds

 

[kyuu]

Despite the name printed on it, that isn't just an HDMI board - I see a network module with attached antenna on the left.

Yeah that's interesting. The middle and right antenna ports seem to go to the board on the right side (from the perspective of the picture), while that one on the left does seem to go to what must be a network module on the left side of the HDMI board. I would think that all the network stuff would be on the same board, separate from the video stuff.

I also somehow only just noticed that we can clearly see two Cirrus Logic chips on the HDMI board. One of those must be the DAC, as I'm not sure what else Cirrus Logic produces that would be present. Too bad it's too low resolution to clearly read what's printed on the chip. I can tell the first the first three characters are "CS4" on the larger chip, which matches the first three characters of most of Cirrus Logic's DACs. Anyone who has received theirs brave enough to pop the lid and get a better picture of the internals?

 

[tusc]

Is there something you want to do with Daphile that you can’t do? Is it just clumsy to use? With a Nuc PC, you should be able to run any number of options, including Kodi, JRiver, Lyrion Music Server (formerly Logitech Media Server), and others. I would think you should be able to find something satisfactory.

I forgot about LMS! I think I needed to read up on DLNA players and renders and which solution offered the ability to deliver local audio files unaltered to the MA7100HP. I abandoned the Plexamp idea as it doesn't support playing to DLNA renderers easily.

LMS has a great plugin (DLNA bridge) that can send unaltered audio files to a DLNA renderer (MA71000HP) including info on media resolution and cover art. You can see the cover art on the AVR screen and the JBL app. When you first enable it, it'll discover all renderers on your network and make them available for playback from the LMS web UI. I can also play to my older Denon receiver and Sonos devices.

 

[tusc]

3. Missing info button on remote

I agree. One thing I miss from the NR7100 is the on-screen media info. For example, there was a button (I) that would show the video and audio format currently playing. The MA7100HP just shows audio info.

 

[SpoOokY]

Some first reactions.

1. Wish there was multiple display settings, the default with big orange circle takes up 1/3 of display, so info text are small and volume numbers are even smaller.

2. Osd display lag 0.5 sec so really annoying when you click around the menu

3. Missing info button on remote

4. Speaker bindnings only kind of take 1.5 mm cable and only from top or bottom, usually thats from an angle, left or right.

5. When i switch movies from my zidoo it lower the volume

Need to watch some movies to see how it sounds
View attachment 389449

Fully agree with your points. The menu is slow and even gets wrong colors when a Dolby Vision stream is being shown .
The biggest joke is that flimsy remote. Feels like something from wish for a dollar or so. But okay, once set up, I really do not need it that much.
Anyway, still satisfied with it, much more than with my T758v3 .

 

[tusc]

Does anyone find it odd there are no critical reviews out yet from an unbiased audio reviewer? It's been shipping for over a month now. Even JBL's site shows stock now.

 

[SpoOokY]

Does anyone find it odd there are no critical reviews out yet from an unbiased audio reviewer? It's been shipping for over a month now. Even JBL's site shows stock now.

Yeah, it’s a little bit odd especially as those AVRs are the new kids in the block. I don’t get it and hope that those devices get enough attention so that JBL stays in the market.

Enjoying some music

 

[kyuu]

@tusc @SpoOokY @fristil Any of you willing to pop yours open and get some pics of the internals where we can read what's printed on the chips?

 

[SpoOokY]

@tusc @SpoOokY @fristil Any of you willing to pop yours open and get some pics of the internals where we can read what's printed on the chips?

Even though I would love too, removing my selfmade back cover and all the carefully hidden cables are not that motivating to be honest . Isn‘t that something Amir is doing? I have seen a lot of photos from internals in the reviews.

 

[Slare]

Audyssey is much better compared to EZSet EQ it seems.

Ez set stinks imho, it and buggy software always crippled hk avrs that had relatively great amps and stellar looks.

If the sub $1k models had audyssey appropriate to their cost tiers they’d move a ton of them on styling alone, even with mediocre amplification. Ez set is a brutal deficiency.

This is not the case for the expensive ones with dirac as an option, but on those the prices are too high to be missing everything else. My .02 the buyers of $1k plus AVR’s are a slim, picky lot. And they should be given the cost.

I’m sad about this as the lower priced boxes would be great for me in secondary systems. I have some slim marantzs that are past due to be replaced.

 

[SpoOokY]

Ez set stinks imho, it and buggy software always crippled hk avrs that had relatively great amps and stellar looks.

If the sub $1k models had audyssey appropriate to their cost tiers they’d move a ton of them on styling alone, even with mediocre amplification. Ez set is a brutal deficiency.

This is not the case for the expensive ones with dirac as an option, but on those the prices are too high to be missing everything else. My .02 the buyers of $1k plus AVR’s are a slim, picky lot. And they should be given the cost.

I’m sad about this as the lower priced boxes would be great for me in secondary systems. I have some slim marantzs that are past due to be replaced.

I would not say so. It is what it is, a simple correction of the bass. It is certainly not as good as Audyssey XT32 and Dirac in that respect, but is is as good as regular Audyssey MultiEQ and it has one big advantage. It does not alter the sound signature of the system at all. Again, Audyssey and Dirac, even with corrections of only the bass, somehow always changed the sound in my personal tests. EZ Set flattens the bass, has its weaknesses, but all other frequencies are not affected at all. That is something I like because I wanna hear the sound signature of my Special Forty and not some artificially created frequency response.

Edit: And again, for me the missing features like analog outputs, old video inputs and so on is an added value!

 

[kyuu]

Even though I would love too, removing my selfmade back cover and all the carefully hidden cables are not that motivating to be honest . Isn‘t that something Amir is doing? I have seen a lot of photos from internals in the reviews.

Amir has not said if he will be doing a teardown or not. If he asks, I will certainly give him the OK.

 

[SpoOokY]

Amir has not said if he will be doing a teardown or not. If he asks, I will certainly give him the OK.

That is very nice of you. One day earlier I would have done it. But I really spent some time with cables and the cover….

 

[kyuu]

That is very nice of you. One day earlier I would have done it. But I really spent some time with cables and the cover….

No worries! I can certainly understand not wanting to undo all the work you did getting your setup the way you want it.

 

[Slare]

I would not say so. It is what it is, a simple correction of the bass. It is certainly not as good as Audyssey XT32 and Dirac in that respect, but is is as good as regular Audyssey MultiEQ and it has one big advantage. It does not alter the sound signature of the system at all. Again, Audyssey and Dirac, even with corrections of only the bass, somehow always changed the sound in my personal tests. EZ Set flattens the bass, has its weaknesses, but all other frequencies are not affected at all. That is something I like because I wanna hear the sound signature of my Special Forty and not some artificially created frequency response.

Edit: And again, for me the missing features like analog outputs, old video inputs and so on is an added value!

I get your perspective but as a multi channel AVR room correction is the biggest feature difference for most folks and simple pure or 2ch mode remains for music. Full range correction has huge benefits in commonly terribly compromised living rooms, which is where I’d guess about 95% of low to midrange boxes sit. If the bottom 3 models had eq/xt/xt32 progression they’d become so much more attractive to me. EZ set makes them completely non-competitive to me. Only place I’d call it ok is if they had a 2 channel model.

 

[kyuu]

I get your perspective but as a multi channel AVR room correction is the biggest feature difference for most folks and simple pure or 2ch mode remains for music. Full range correction has huge benefits in commonly terribly compromised living rooms, which is where I’d guess about 95% of low to midrange boxes sit. If the bottom 3 models had eq/xt/xt32 progression they’d become so much more attractive to me. EZ set makes them completely non-competitive to me. Only place I’d call it ok is if they had a 2 channel model.

I'd suggest that for anyone with half-decent speakers, full-range correction is not only not necessary but can often be detrimental. Correction should often be limited to the low frequencies. Granted, there are plenty of people out there who do not have half-decent speakers... but then again, poor speakers often have poor directivity and therefore trying to EQ out their flaws is futile, at best.

 

[SpoOokY]

I get your perspective but as a multi channel AVR room correction is the biggest feature difference for most folks and simple pure or 2ch mode remains for music. Full range correction has huge benefits in commonly terribly compromised living rooms, which is where I’d guess about 95% of low to midrange boxes sit. If the bottom 3 models had eq/xt/xt32 progression they’d become so much more attractive to me. EZ set makes them completely non-competitive to me. Only place I’d call it ok is if they had a 2 channel model.

I am running a 4.1.2 system in a living room. Sounds great .
You‘re right in many aspects! But actually the most critical frequency spectrum is between 0 - 500 hz. And there EZ Set is clearly doing something. I know the corrected curve is nonsense. But I can clearly hear the increased tightness of the bass.

Edit: and btw, the low flexibility with Audyssey, which not even lets you alter the target curve properly, is a huge letdown!!