Multichannel question -- what is this even called?

[mkt]

"Any avid reader of Audio Science Review knows that we are disappointed with the objective measurements of today's home theater receivers and surround processors."

It would seem that a 5.1 setup like this https://www.frontendaudio.com/genelec-8330-lse-surround-sam-monitor-package/ (5 active monitors + 1 sub all with digital inputs with room correction) would be a solution for the speakers, DACs, and amplifiers part of a 5.1 system.

My question is what hardware/software is needed to connect the content (e.g, from a PC, Amazon fire, idk) from HDMI or USB to XLR AES/EBU? I've googled but I don't even know what it's called. (This is my excuse for such an uninformative thread title).

Thanks in advance.

 

[pkane]

"Any avid reader of Audio Science Review knows that we are disappointed with the objective measurements of today's home theater receivers and surround processors."

It would seem that a 5.1 setup like this https://www.frontendaudio.com/genelec-8330-lse-surround-sam-monitor-package/ (5 active monitors + 1 sub all with digital inputs with room correction) would be a solution for the speakers, DACs, and amplifiers part of a 5.1 system.

My question is what hardware/software is needed to connect the content (e.g, from a PC, Amazon fire, idk) from HDMI or USB to XLR AES/EBU? I've googled but I don't even know what it's called. (This is my excuse for such an uninformative thread title).

Thanks in advance.

AV or Home Theater or Surround sound processors are some of the common devices used for this purpose. These decode various multi-channel audio formats and provide line-level output to multiple active speakers or external amps. Some multi-channel DACs and sound cards can also help if they include the decoder for the audio format you are trying to play.

 

[mkt]

Thanks! Are there AV or Home Theater or Surround sound processors that provide digital outputs? I ask because it seems that there might an advantage to only using the DACs in the monitors.

 

[MZKM]

Not without spending an ungodly amount of money.

 

[Chrispy]

Why would the dac in the monitor be an advantage? Due DRM issues the digital outputs are largely gone from avrs/pre-pros (or are hdmi)

 

[mkt]

Why would the dac in the monitor be an advantage? Due DRM issues the digital outputs are largely gone from avrs/pre-pros (or are hdmi)

Probably a newbie question, but might the genelec dac’s be transparent and the AV ones not so much?

But if DRM is the issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

 

[wwenze]

HDMI audio extractor

As for USB-->AES/EBU, that's just your typical sound card.

I don't recall seeing one that does 5.1 HDMI into 3x SPDIF however. It can exist, in theory.

If you use a pro-audio soundcard or USB interface, you can route the channels into 3 SPDIF however way you like.

 

[Chrispy]

Probably a newbie question, but might the genelec dac’s be transparent and the AV ones not so much?

But if DRM is the issue ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Why wouldn't the avr dac be as transparent as that in an active speaker?

 

[HammerSandwich]

Won't free/affordable software handle 5.1 just fine? New formats such as Atmos are a different matter, as I understand it, but a MiniDSP or pro interface with 6+ channels should do the job for basic 5.1, right? Figure $400 and up.

 

[mkt]

Won't free/affordable software handle 5.1 just fine? New formats such as Atmos are a different matter, as I understand it, but a MiniDSP or pro interface with 6+ channels should do the job for basic 5.1, right? Figure $400 and up.

Thanks! This MiniDSP product seems to do the multichannel USB to AES-EBU step that I wan not familiar with https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/u-dio8
I'm not sure what a pro interface is, but the google results suggest a wide range of functionality.

 

[mkt]

Why wouldn't the avr dac be as transparent as that in an active speaker?

"Any avid reader of Audio Science Review knows that we are disappointed with the objective measurements of today's home theater receivers and surround processors. They generally rank in the third performance tier and often below a $9 phone dongle in distortion and noise."

Of course, you'd have to take the speakers apart to measure their DACs, so who knows. According to @Ilkka Rissanen "We use very high quality DACs inside our speakers which do not subjectively change the audio quality."

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Thanks! This MiniDSP product seems to do the multichannel USB to AES-EBU step that I wan not familiar with https://www.minidsp.com/products/usb-audio-interface/u-dio8
I'm not sure what a pro interface is, but the google results suggest a wide range of functionality.

Details here: https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-93-minidsp-ripping-sacds

 

[HammerSandwich]

I'm not sure what a pro interface is, but the google results suggest a wide range of functionality.

There are a few threads here. Off the top of my head, search for Behringer, Focusrite, MOTU, RME. And there's the Okto 8-channel DAC.

 

[Tom C]

Details here: https://www.stereophile.com/content/music-round-93-minidsp-ripping-sacds

Both topics of that column are very helpful and informative. I never realized synchronizing three separate 2-channel DACs is possible. I think that question gets asked every once in a while, but is not always answered correctly. Thank you, Kal.