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Let's share diagrams (and photos) of our total physical audio system and the whole signal path, with a few words and/or links

four_strings_good said:
Here is a block diagram of the system I assembled for playback of spatial audio in Apple Music. The headphone adapters in the 8-channel DAC are the Apple dongles that measured well when Amir tested them. My total cost for the USB hub, the four headphone adapters and the four RCA adapters was $68.99 (plus tax - Canadian funds)!

I have learned that many/most Atmos music mixes don't use the LFE/subwoofer channel. I figured out how to extract varying amounts of LF content from the main left and right channels and route bottom end content to my subs using DSP - specifically Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack app. I also used their Loopback app to create an 8-channel aggregate audio device with zero drift. This much fun ought to be illegal :cool:
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Welcome to this exciting thread, and I thank you for your sharing simple but impressive multichannel (8-Ch) system!

Even though I believe that Mac's multi-DAC sync-aggregation feature (and/or well as Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack app) works fine for synchronization of all the 8 channels, have you ever objectively measure/confirm (using synchroscope?) the synchronization throughout one music track, especially time alignment between your subwoofer and main SP's woofer? By "rime alignment", I mean simultaneous kick-up of 8-Ch and no drift/fluctuation of sync throughout the music track.
 
dualazmak said:
Welcome to this exciting thread, and I thank you for your sharing simple but impressive multichannel (8-Ch) system!

Even though I believe that Mac's multi-DAC sync-aggregation feature (and/or well as Rogue Amoeba's Audio Hijack app) works fine for synchronization of all the 8 channels, have you ever objectively measure/confirm (using synchroscope?) the synchronization throughout one music track, especially time alignment between your subwoofer and main SP's woofer? By "rime alignment", I mean simultaneous kick-up of 8-Ch and no drift/fluctuation of sync throughout the music track.
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Thank you for this. I have not noticed any drift or sync issues so far. The wonderful support people at Rogue Amoeba assured me that Loopback takes care of drift correction. The preamp that is connected between the DAC and the sub amp includes a phase switch, and the INVERT setting measures and sounds best. Image attached with notes.
 

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four_strings_good said:
Thank you for this. I have not noticed any drift or sync issues so far. The wonderful support people at Rogue Amoeba assured me that Loopback takes care of drift correction. The preamp that is connected between the DAC and the sub amp includes a phase switch, and the INVERT setting measures and sounds best. Image attached with notes.
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Thank you for your quick response!
It looks quite nice, and your settings and diagrams/photos would be invaluable info for many people onboard on this thread, especially for Mac people.:D
 
four_strings_good said:
The preamp that is connected between the DAC and the sub amp includes a phase switch, and the INVERT setting measures and sounds best.
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Yes, good and important point, even though it would be greatly dependent on individual room-mode/room-acoustic.

I too set the "phase inversion switch = ON" (can be easily controlled by IR remote) of my L&R heavy-large active subwoofer YAMAHA YST-SW1000 for optimal total sound quality at my listening position in my acoustic environments (ref. #931 and #1,009 as well as #497 on my project thread).

Yes, I find your system setup, including the software VU-meters, of 5-way 10-channel stereo configuration is essentially quite similar to my present setup; it is quite impressive you have achieved it with affordable USB hub + multiple DAC dongles!
Fig03_WS00007533.JPG
 
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Hello again @four_strings_good,
If possible, I (we) would highly appreciate seeing your photo(s) of total audio system and your listening room, in the near future! :)
 
dualazmak said:
Hello again @four_strings_good,
If possible, I (we) would highly appreciate seeing your photo(s) of total audio system and your listening room, in the near future! :)
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Well...the system is not quite ready for its close-up. The listening room is my man cave/home studio/office, and function rules over form at all times. In other words, my setup isn't the prettiest, but I really don't care. My quest is to make the rig sound as good as it possibly can. Appearance is a distant second.

I realized yesterday evening that using the 6-CH input on my Yamaha receiver means I am bypassing all of the DSP in the receiver. The ear-level and height speakers in the system are set to SMALL in the receiver's SOUND menu, but the block diagram in the receiver's service manual tells me that the 6-CH inputs are essentially "pure direct" inputs without any DSP. This necessitates another revision to my Audio Hijack session file. I am going to stick a 12 dB/octave 90 Hertz high pass filter ahead of the amplifier channels that feed the ear-level and height loudspeakers. I doubt that this will make much of an audible difference, but it seems the right thing to do.
 
four_strings_good said:
I realized yesterday evening that using the 6-CH input on my Yamaha receiver means I am bypassing all of the DSP in the receiver.
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May I ask you which model is your multichannel "Yamaha receiver"?
 
dualazmak said:
And I believe we should clearly separate the two points/issues in this regard of multiple-channel DAC processing;
1. trigger (kick-off/start-up) synchronization (or not) among the DAC channels, even if the strict synchronization (drift correction) could be achieved afterwards,
2. clock synchronization = drift correction among the multiple DAC channels after starting/triggering playback of a music track.
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The various Audio-over-IP protocols (Ravenna, Dante, AVB, or AES67) have long since addressed these challenges.

My 9.1.4-channel fully discrete immersive audio system is implemented using Ravenna/AES67 (with ST 2022-7 redundancy) and Dante/AES67 — without any AVR or AVP in the signal path. Although Dirac Live + Bass Control is present in the setup, I seldom activate it (only upon specific guest request). For the vast majority of listening (99% of the time), room correction and DXD / DSD256 upsampling are performed exclusively via HQPlayer Embedded.

ST2022-7 W9 KH310.jpeg
 
four_strings_good said:
As noted on the block diagram here, the receiver is a Yamaha RX-V640. I have owned the receiver for more than 20 years(!)
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Oh, yes, thank you again!

I have once tested, in June 2020, Yamaha MX-A5200 11-Ch AV amp (ref. #175 on my project thread).
That was the very first step on my long exploration journey towards present multichannel multi-SP-driver multi-amplifier fully active audio setup (ref. #931, #1,009, #1,022). ;)
In my case, all the XO/EQ/Group-Delay etc. were/are always done in upstream digital domain within PC using DSP software "EKIO".
Fig03_WS00007533 (2).JPG
 
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elguapo said:
My 9.1.4-channel fully discrete immersive audio system is implemented using Ravenna/AES67 (with ST 2022-7 redundancy) and Dante/AES67 — without any AVR or AVP in the signal path.
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Welcome to this exciting thread with your system diagram.

Yes, in case if I would further go forward (towards more than 16-Ch) beyond my present multichannel setup (ref. #931, #1,009, #1,022) based on OKTO DAC-8PRO, I will surely go into wired Ethernet audio-over-IP world of Ravenna/AES67 and/or Dante/AES67 using Merging HAPI MkII or RME M-32 DA Pro II. :D

By the way, if possible, I (we) would highly appreciate seeing photos of your amazing 9.1.4-channel fully discrete immersive audio system in your listening room...
 
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dualazmak said:
Hello @8x24 inch,

Welcome to this exciting thread and thank you for your above posts #426, #427 having your amazing system diagram and photos!

Just as possible reference for people onboard on this exciting thread, during the past 3 days, @8x24 inch and myself had interesting and invaluable discussion on the thread entitled "Manually time-aligning subwoofer(s) to mains - how to" in our posts #203 through #216; your review on those posts is highly recommended.
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Listening in a room with short reverberation and a high proportion of direct sound
 

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System 1: Water wheel > pulley system >stone cylinder > dragon's tooth > 1 meter megalodon hide conic horn suspended on a 75cm pivot, 2 kg tracking force.

I am amazed at the complexity of some of the systems owned by members of this forum. Mine is only complicated by the number of analog sources I hardly ever use but refuse to give up. I'll work it out and post soon.
 
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