Orei HDA-939 HDMI Audio Extractor Review

[kevin1969]

Indeed, that would obsolete the downmixing. I can't do without it because i own a bunch of DVDs without stereo layer, just 5.1 which comes out of my HDMI audio extractor and which i want converted to stereo for my old but fine stereo amplifier.
I can set the extractor to 2.0 but then my disk player downsamples SACDs and High Fidelity Pure Audio discs (HFPA) to 44.1 and 48 kHz, respectively.

I got into this whole mess because I was previously using the 3.5mm output of the projector to my Powernode and it was the first time I had ever noticed a problem with the dialogue being really soft and hard to hear. Projector didn't have ARC so here we are

 

[kevin1969]

Example:
Premise: your source is outputting an LFE. Then: The Multichannel downmix may include the LFE, which would probably be lost otherwise and now can be output by, for example, a normal sub as part of a bass management system.

Theoretically, this could also apply to other channels like surrounds and whatnot. [1]

The regular extractor probably only uses the readymade stereo track which is always included as a fallback in your average multichannel sound track format and does not use the data from an LFE by design.

I used the words may and probably above, because the manual of this device does not disclose what is exactly happening while downmixing. There was no formular provided to see which components get mixed to what ratio. If implemented sensible, it may sound good, but does not have to.

[1] if that is reasonable is another topic

Do you happen to know if devices like Chromecast and Apple TV actually perform surround downmixing or do they just utilize the alternate 2 channel audio track from the streaming source?

 

[Dallas74]

I won’t use RCA. Just want to extract HDMI to Coax/Spdif out with Dolby & DTS processing capability.

That's what I've been doing also but can't figure this thing out

 

[kevin1969]

That's what I've been doing also but can't figure this thing out

What is your video source?

 

[Dallas74]

I ve got an lg oled

 

[kevin1969]

I ve got an lg oled

You can just use ARC then. What problems are you having?

 

[Dallas74]

Sorry not thinking clearly my video source right now is a Atmos soundbar but my other video source is an old school DVD player that hooks up to rca yellow white red/ optical and I also have a soundbar that's optical as well

 

[Dallas74]

Here's what Im trying to do in trying to hook up my Atmos soundbar and the optical soundbar at the same time now I know that the optical would only do 5.1 dts and dd I'm just seeing if it's possible to run these two together

 

[Fench]

I think the Bluesound Powernode has some sort of center channel enhancement feature but the weather here in Colorado is going to be crap all week so I won't be able to test the ORei downmix because it's for my outdoor setup but when I do I'll let you know.

Any chance to compare the downmixing of the Orei HDA-939 and the Bluesound?
If you say the Orei performs well in that respect, i'll be very tempted to have one sent to The Netherlands.

 

[ban25]

Any chance to compare the downmixing of the Orei HDA-939 and the Bluesound?
If you say the Orei performs well in that respect, i'll be very tempted to have one sent to The Netherlands.

I have a Powernode in a bedroom connected by HDMI ARC and I haven't seen that feature in BluOS. It's just 2-channel. It does support Dolby Digital decoding and for my use-case (bedroom TV with a pair of LS50 Metas), it's perfect. It can also pair with wireless speakers for up to a 4.1 setup, but I don't recommend that because the latency on wireless with BluOS is significant and immediately noticeable (50ms+).

 

[Dallas74]

Finally got it all figured out works like a charm now

 

[kevin1969]

I actually might have a use/need for this!

For a while now, I've been trying to find a solution to allow me to feed an audio signal to my wireless headphones...for my TV setup.
The challenge has been that my headphone transmitter only has analog inputs.
As I found out afterwards, any of the various HDMI audio extractor devices I tried don't decode DD+ (requires licensing $$).
So for now, I've just had to bypass the headphone transmitter and pair the headphones directly with the TV...but then I see significant audio delay issues which is annoying. (The headphones and transmitter support aptX low-latency, which the TV does not, and is something I specifically looked for when choosing a wireless headphone setup)

From what I see with this device, it SAYS that it's able to decode DD+ and give me a 2ch LPCM output, which is what I need. Might have to give this thing a try.

 

[kevin1969]

Avantree makes some great wireless headphone products. The Audiplex 2403s transmitter has a 3.5mm analog input as well as optical. I have it for watching movies outside at night without disturbing the neighbors.

Their Audikast Plus Bluetooth transmitter product also has optical in.with APTx support

 

[Fench]

I have a Powernode in a bedroom connected by HDMI ARC and I haven't seen that feature in BluOS. It's just 2-channel. It does support Dolby Digital decoding and for my use-case (bedroom TV with a pair of LS50 Metas), it's perfect. It can also pair with wireless speakers for up to a 4.1 setup, but I don't recommend that because the latency on wireless with BluOS is significant and immediately noticeable (50ms+).

Yes, the Powernode seems capable of absorbing all kinds of (Dolby) surround input signals and output those as decent stereo automatically, without bothering about downmix settings. Really good. It eliminates the need for prior downmixing by an additional device like the Orei HDA-939.
@kevin1969
As you have the Orei already in place, i guess it shouldn't be too hard to compare the downmixing qualities of the two. I looked at the manual of the Orei. If you feed the Orei with surround sound, listen through your Powernode and then turn dipswitch no. 3 of the Orei down, it should instantaneously takeover the downmixing from the Powernode. And vice versa.

 

[Fench]

Avantree makes some great wireless headphone products. The Audiplex 2403s transmitter has a 3.5mm analog input as well as optical. I have it for watching movies outside at night without disturbing the neighbors.

Their Audikast Plus Bluetooth transmitter product also has optical in.with APTx support

I have the Audikast as well. It switches on and off with the TV using a USB controlled power strip. I can use my Avantree Aria Pro headphones immediately for watching TV with aptX Low Latency. No noticeable sound delay.

 

[Fench]

Hi @amirm ,
You tested the Toslink digital output extracted from HDMI input and found that it is bit-exact and works perfectly up to 24 bit resolution. I assume you tested this without the downmix activated. If so, i'd be curious if the response is still that perfect with the downmix switched on. That function might introduce artefacts because of the sound channel superposition, even when all but one channels are empty - i guess. If this makes sense, would you feel like testing this?

 

[kevin1969]

I finally got my whole setup with this extractor working. I wanted to be able to also use the Avantree wireless and Bluetooth transmitters I bought with their respective optical inputs so I set the EDID to only advertise 2ch PCM to my Chromecast (also set to 2ch aka never surround).

I have the extractors optical out to my Bluesound Powernode, the coax out to a optical converter for the Bluetooth transmitter and the HDMI-2 out to another OREI HDA-912 that translates the two channel HDMI audio to optical.

It's a real tangled mess of wires, but everything works great and sounds great.

 

[Fench]

I finally got my whole setup with this extractor working. I wanted to be able to also use the Avantree wireless and Bluetooth transmitters I bought with their respective optical inputs so I set the EDID to only advertise 2ch PCM to my Chromecast (also set to 2ch aka never surround).

I have the extractors optical out to my Bluesound Powernode, the coax out to a optical converter for the Bluetooth transmitter and the HDMI-2 out to another OREI HDA-912 that translates the two channel HDMI audio to optical.

It's a real tangled mess of wires, but everything works great and sounds great.

Could be less messy:
With the HDA-912 set to 2CH, connect it directly to the Chromecast by HDMI. Optical out of the HDA-912 to a small 3-way optical splitter, to the Bluesound and the two Avantrees. Optical splitter ~$15 at Ali, brands: Prozor, Linkfor.

Then sell the HDA-939 to me

 

[winsmyton]

Wow！This is something exactly I want...

Got question, the doc says no Dolby Atmos or DTS-X... so when this kind of signal inputs, what will happen? No Sound or downgrade to DD+? Any 939 users please confirm?

 

[kevin1969]

Could be less messy:
With the HDA-912 set to 2CH, connect it directly to the Chromecast by HDMI. Optical out of the HDA-912 to a small 3-way optical splitter, to the Bluesound and the two Avantrees. Optical splitter ~$15 at Ali, brands: Prozor, Linkfor.

Then sell the HDA-939 to me

Ha! I know.