Multichannel DAC lobby!

[phoenixdogfan]

Possibly, but I'm a wuss.

For $128.52? Just do it, and ship it directly to Amir for measurement, if he agrees.

 

[Musty]

For $128.52? Just do it, and ship it directly to Amir for measurement, if he agrees.

I'm in the UK but I wouldn't be averse to sorting something out along those lines if there was an interest.
I suppose one of the things I was hoping for was to find out if there was already some experience of these kind of products, if there was an opinion on whether such an endeavour was likely to be a waste of time and expense.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I'm in the UK but I wouldn't be averse to sorting something out along those lines if there was an interest.
I suppose one of the things I was hoping for was to find out if there was already some experience of these kind of products, if there was an opinion on whether such an endeavour was likely to be a waste of time and expense.

I am really curious, of course, but I stop short of admitting interest.

 

[Dion_Sinewave]

Hi everyone. I’m seriously considering buying a Danville Signal DSP Nexus:
https://danvillesignal.com/dspnexus-dsp-audio-processor

I am in the market to replace my 2x Dolby Contours that I use as for my 4 way active system.

Definitely will send to Amir first! I wonder if anyone has any opinion on this device?

I also have an Octo DAC8 pro on order but no idea how long that will take to arrive.

 

[dualazmak]

Hi everyone. I’m seriously considering buying a Danville Signal DSP Nexus:
https://danvillesignal.com/dspnexus-dsp-audio-processor

I am in the market to replace my 2x Dolby Contours that I use as for my 4 way active system.

Definitely will send to Amir first! I wonder if anyone has any opinion on this device?

I also have an Octo DAC8 pro on order but no idea how long that will take to arrive.

As shared in my post here, I had nice e-mail communications with Al Clark of Danville Signal, and I intensively discussed with him for their dspNexsus 2/16 which will be available hopefully by the end of this year. I am also seriously considering having dspNexus 2/16, if it will be available within a year or two... Until then, I continue using DAC8PRO in my multichannel system.

 

[Dichotome]

I’ve just bought an RME Fireface UFX at a good price.

 

[ZeDestructor]

the thing about the use of multi-ch DAC in consumer market is, multi-ch DAC does not contain any audio codec to decode Dolby/DTS/Auro3D signal.

And since SACD is not available on PC, nor as bit-stream for external processors, multi-ch DAC has very limited use in LPCM, file-based DSD/DXD.
This market is already saturated by interfaces, that is harder to use, requires routing, relies on even more advanced connection and engineering such as AoIP and thus will not work out of the box.

Multi-ch DAC will not be a thing as long as codecs remain closed and proprietary. MPEG-H could be a game-changer though.

You don't need a codec in the DAC because you decode in software on the machine.

The last time I checked, Dolby TrueHD and DTS-HD MA were playable in their full lossless formats upto 7.1ch.
Atmos and DTS:X have their 7.1ch lossless core playable, but no object audio (yet... there is a bit of interest and development work going on for that end of the format).
Auro3D from what I read is just extra metadata embedded in an LPCM 7.1 stream, so that would be the hardest one to get going, but not impossible given that a true Auro3D setup is still just DSP-based afaik.

There is a worry about patents in the US (until about 2035 for Dolby TrueHD/DTS-HD MA, 2039-2040 for Atmos/DTS:X, anyways), but for most countries that's not an issue since there are no software patents (nor have I heard of any USA-based individual user getting sued for codec-related patent infrigement).

SACD isn't a problem either - as Kal already mentioned, it can be ripped, and personally I would always convert to PCM during playback because the convenience of having shared mode playback for things like having music while playing games or chatting with friends on Discord far outweighs the sound quality improvment of exclusive or non-PCM modes.

As for MPEG-H... MPEG-H feel like a play for putting proprietary file formats when open Ambisonic file formats already exist.

 

[Ongii]

(...)Pro audio has many solutions but lack some of the features home audio often desires - like a remote!

This is what I am lacking the most.
I have a PC running JRiver + Dirac Live, doing all the nice stuff on multiple channels. Then a multichannel DAC (a Focusrite 18i20) and great Hypex power amps. Guess what? I have to insert an AVR, with all its unused video and audio features, in the middle of the chain, Just to have a multichannel volume regulation

 

[dualazmak]

This is what I am lacking the most.
I have a PC running JRiver + Dirac Live, doing all the nice stuff on multiple channels. Then a multichannel DAC (a Focusrite 18i20) and great Hypex power amps. Guess what? I have to insert an AVR, with all its unused video and audio features, in the middle of the chain, Just to have a multichannel volume regulation

Just for your reference, in my case, I can use JRiver (or DAC8PRO) for master volume controller, after setting rerative gains with EKIO, DAC8PRO and/or multiple "integrated amplifiers" and active L&R sub-woofers;

Edited to add:
For the details of my above latest configuration, you would please visit my posts here and here.

 

[DWPress]

Just to have a multichannel volume regulation

Had the same problem with the MiniDSP 4x10 I used before and solved it with a MSB 8 channel volume control unit. I have it for sale here on ASR if you're interested but it has unbalanced connections only.

 

[Ongii]

Had the same problem with the MiniDSP 4x10 I used before and solved it with a MSB 8 channel volume control unit. I have it for sale here on ASR if you're interested but it has unbalanced connections only.

Thanks, but I live in Europe

 

[restorer-john]

Just for your reference, in my case, I can use JRiver (or DAC8PRO) for master volume controller, after setting rerative gains with EKIO, DAC8PRO and/or multiple "integrated amplifiers" and active L&R sub-woofers;
View attachment 149138

Your diagrams are so cool.

 

[restorer-john]

Thanks, but I live in Europe

It's got switchable mains voltages. Or are you worried about the shipping cost?

 

[Dion_Sinewave]

I just bought another multi channel DAC and I would really like to discover what ASR thinks about Professional options. I see a few guys here with RME and Rane, but I use a few Dolby Lake devices for my 4 way active setup.

My new Dolby Lake DLP 4x12 with 8x AES in and out and Dante!
Its incredibly flexible and has phenomenal EQ and low latency

 

[gene_stl]

Way kewl!