JBL SDP 58 vs Monoprice Monolith HTP-1 Considerations and Purchase Advice

[stevenswall]

This thread is making me not want to buy an SDP-58.. Are these mostly Dante issues? If I plan to use it with just an XBOX X and PC as sources and use the standard XLR outputs and no Dante am I going to run into these probs?

Depends on if you get a bad unit. Get one new/through a dealer if you don't want it to be your problem.

 

[kacos]

This is with Dante unplugged

Try disabling Dante from the engineering menu - unplugging doesn't change anything

 

[stevenswall]

Try disabling Dante from the engineering menu - unplugging doesn't change anything

This was done, and fixed both issues: XLR no longer crackled, and Dante worked without the tic when I re-enabled it.

BUT this is often the case when changing things or power cycling. The issue comes back a few hours or days after.

Maybe I'll have to rewire things and just use a LCR setup for a few days.

Ultimately though, Dante is the biggest differentiator this product has: other players do upmixing, handle the same common formats, have XLR outputs, and use a web interface for configuration, etc.

 

[stevenswall]

This thread is making me not want to buy an SDP-58.. Are these mostly Dante issues? If I plan to use it with just an XBOX X and PC as sources and use the standard XLR outputs and no Dante am I going to run into these probs?

I just tested mine with Dante off. If you are going to hook it up with XLR I don't hear the issues I've mentioned when I'm only using XLR.

 

[stevenswall]

Ordered a Monoprice HTP-1. We'll see if there are any issues with that.

Some documentation of the switches I used with Dante:

GS105PE
GS108PEv3
GS308EPP
TPE-TG84

Those are the Netgear switches I've used and one TRENDnet. None of them worked.

I've also used the dumb device below that only injects PoE power and doesn't perform any switching.

That was used with a Dante Avio adaptor to AES over XLR, and with the adaptor or the JBL set to the master, there was still a ticking sound every several seconds when Dante is enabled.

Troubleshooting further with JBL they confirmed there is an issue even with replaced Dante boards and they have been working on it for over a year now. Source was Spotify connect directly to the JBL unit so no source devices would be the issue.

Harman Issue Number IMS0024523

 

[stevenswall]

Something is very wrong if every other kind of data that has ever been passed over ethernet works with any switch that I can get at Best Buy or Walmart since the beginning of human existence.

Even with thousands of devices on a professionally build independent network like at BYU Provo (Brand new state of the art music building with multiple recording studios, and immersive audio room, BYU football stadium, etc), talking with one of the audio faculty members they have had issues, and in his work with live performing artists things cut out.

Seems no more reliable and in some cases less reliable than analog, but more convenient.

From my perspective the blame doesn't lie with network switches that work for trillions of packets a day using any other protocol, so I think the manufacturers of the devices or Dante, or create a white list of devices and remove marketing materials that claim you can expand the network or solve problems with off the shelf networking gear.

Glad XLR works and most people use that. Curious what an installer would have done and perhaps I should have gone that route and eventually I'd have gotten a golden unit. Unfortunately it's hard to trust installers as the ones nearby in Utah are impossible to get ahold of an fairly unresponsive. May be similar to handyman companies and home improvement contractors: I think there's too much business here and they can't manage their communication effectively so it takes ~6 months for things to get fixed... Making me far more likely to go to DIY route because now not only am I saving money, but months of time.

 

[ban25]

Ordered a Monoprice HTP-1. We'll see if there are any issues with that.

Some documentation of the switches I used with Dante:

GS105PE
GS108PEv3
GS308EPP
TPE-TG84

Those are the Netgear switches I've used and one TRENDnet. None of them worked.

I've also used the dumb device below that only injects PoE power and doesn't perform any switching.

That was used with a Dante Avio adaptor to AES over XLR, and with the adaptor or the JBL set to the master, there was still a ticking sound every several seconds when Dante is enabled.

Troubleshooting further with JBL they confirmed there is an issue even with replaced Dante boards and they have been working on it for over a year now. Source was Spotify connect directly to the JBL unit so no source devices would be the issue.

Harman Issue Number IMS0024523

FWIW, I've had three NetGear GS308 switches fail, just handling normal home network traffic, nothing special. I would not recommend them under any circumstances. These days I run a variety of Ubiquiti hardware, specifically a pair of Lite 16 PoE and Lite 8 PoE switches. I do not recommend the Flex Mini as it has performance / power issues and encountered frequent resets when I was using to stream audio from a Bluesound Powernode.

Not saying that different switches will fix the problem, just that I've seen them fail in completely different use-cases.

 

[kacos]

switches I used with Dante

The issue is not with switches or other Dante devices.
It's the JBL implementation that has the problem in the communication between the DSP(s) & the Audinate Dante card.