• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

JBL Synthesis AVR and Processor with Dirac

There is an argument one can make to force Dolby to license the patents under FRAND terms thanks to interoperability rules.
I don't know that RAND licensing was part of format acceptance for Blu-ray formats. Regardless, the reason that won't work though is that you can't license the copy protection for BD formats for open source platforms. Without a BD format license, Dolby has no obligation to license you anything.

The proposal here is to get Atmos and include it in some bootleg implementation of BD/UHD format. That just won't work.
 
Some chance since we have some relationship with Harman (although much weaker outside of the speaker line).

What about putting a SDP 75 on the bench? It would be really interesting to see if the DAC section is better than other AVRs/processors...
 
Last edited:
What about putting a SDP 75 on the bench? I would be really interesting to see if the DAC section is better than other AVRs/processors...
What about sending one in for review? ;)
 
What about putting a SDP 75 on the bench? I would be really interesting to see if the DAC section is better than other AVRs/processors...
I don't have one or I would.
 
Specs (Trinnov Altitude 32) look good:

ADC Resolution / Sampling Rate: 24 bits/96 kHz
DAC Resolution / Sampling Rate: 24 bits/192 kHz
A/D Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 119 dB (A-Weighted)
D/A Signal-To-Noise Ratio: 118 dB (A-Weighted)
Analog Input Impedance: 20 kOhms / 10 kOhms
Reference Level: +18dBu @ 0dBFS (Balanced)
Clock / Jitter:Jitter attenuation > 50 dB above 100Hz)
Power Supply: Independent for audio and processing
Saftey Components: AntiPop relays on each output
 
Specs (Trinnov Altitude 32) look good:
I think it uses pro audio interfaces so it will likely be good.
Starting at $17,000 and going up to over $30k, I would hope for some top shelf numbers.
I just got my SuperPowerBall ticket and keeping my fingers crossed. ;)
 
I don't have one or I would.
@amirm
Do you know when the 24 ch version will be available? Couldn't find anything concrete yet, and even called Harman Germany... they don't know either.
 
Currently have the Arcam AV40 if people have any questions. It is the cheaper sister product to the SDP-55, same platform but without Dante and with a slightly lower grade DAC.
 
Currently have the Arcam AV40 if people have any questions. It is the cheaper sister product to the SDP-55, same platform but without Dante and with a slightly lower grade DAC.

No Logic16 in this either, right?
 
Currently have the Arcam AV40 if people have any questions. It is the cheaper sister product to the SDP-55, same platform but without Dante and with a slightly lower grade DAC.

Is it’s digital out a duplication of an analog out -> can you connect an external DAC for e.g. Channel 1+ 2/mains?
 
Last edited:
Right, Logic16 will be only in the JBL's, unfortunately...

Correct. There is the usual 16 Channel stereo type mode. It will have Auro and Dirac BM added same as the JBL but Dante, Logic 16 and slight better DAC are JBL exclusive.
 
Somewhat off-topic, I finally got my SDP-75 set up yesterday. Still need to get the Harman tweaks loaded (apparently they do that remotely), and do some fine tuning, but so far it seems nice. :) Ain't shipping to Amir, don't want to know... :) But the spec sheet is decent for an AVP. Not as good as many of the DACs he has tested, but they don't do all the processing this thing does. Documentation needs some work...

Wasn't really expecting much change in sound coming from Dirac Live to their Optimizer but it sounds better to me. Purely expectation bias, but the measured impulse response is better than before, and the subs seem to have integrated well where before I had to spend hours dialing them in.

I had forgotten just how much I hate mucking around with all those cables. I have a massive clean-up job pending to dress the cables that I just yanked out of my old processor and ran around to the new.
 
Somewhat off-topic, I finally got my SDP-75 set up yesterday. .

You bought the last one at Walmart, didn't you? Now they are out of stock! I was looking forward to the layaway option and you totally ruined it.
 
If anyone is interested in these the firmware is beginning to look stable with the last 1.28 release meaning I don't have any day to day annoyances with my AV40. Dirac Bass Management is meant to release with the next firmware so <3 weeks.

There are a few interesting features other than the obvious stuff on the spec sheet:
Up to 5 subs
Support for CH/VOG (Instead of top mids)
Decent streaming support (Roon, Chromecast, Airplay2 and Native apps)
MQA support (Not that I care)
Stereo analogue passthrough support (Uses analogue volume control)
 
Back
Top Bottom