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Possible solution for DTS/Dolby/Atmos+eARC+HDCP to AES/EBU - via Dante? (for Okto DAC8PRO etc)

When is the expected release date of DPR-16?

Initially it was Q3/Q4 2025.
 
poopy said:
When is the expected release date of DPR-16?

Initially it was Q3/Q4 2025.
Click to expand...
They just started shipping the APR. So I would not expect the DPR for another quarter or two. Or maybe not even this year.
 
Anyone have a Genelec 9301a? I can't get the 9301a to be recognized fully by GSM. It just says 'update' or 'offline' and I can't update via the normal firmware screen. And my 'Use 9301a' checkbox on the subwoofer is not selectable.

I have a ticket into Genelec.

1774069917708.png
 
Eventually it updated on it's own.

And with that I have immersive nearfield system launch. It's so much fun.

8488.png


Thanks to those that helped without making me read this entire thread.
 
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darth said:
New project for you
imagine those speakers vanishing away
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's gotten a little tight in my 10x10 office. I thought about ceiling mounts, but it didn't work.

Sounds amazing though. The nearfield immersive experience is so good.
 
NuprimeX H16-AES 'first light' mini-review.

I recently received one of the NuprimeX H16-AES devices.

After some 'not so accurate' software upgrade instructions, it managed to find the file and upgrade (via USB stick, and have to remove the cover to access) more or less by itself.
Operationally, I'm only interested in Atmos (and other surround formats) decoding to AES for my OktoDAC8, for 8 surround channels.
(I do mains EQ and bi-amp xovers with a Flex analog on the Okto outputs.)

And, I'm happy to say it works exactly as expected:

- I can switch the OktoDAC inputs from USB (PC files) to AES (movies from Apple TV or Oppo BR player) 'on the fly' from the remote. Nice.
- Confirmed - current release of OktoDAC software provides AES volume control via Knob or Remote. A major convenience.
- Nuprime software (for my use case, 7.1) seems stable and works well (the 'as shipped' software was unlistenable, with crackling and noise randomly on all channels!)
- It has many more features than I have any interest in, but comes with a microphone and specific input for it, too.
- It was well packaged, in a 'briefcase style' outer box with a well cradled inner box w/ foam protection, and has a nice weight to it...though most of that is just the case, as there are only a few small boards inside:) Presentation of the product was quite good, happily.
- Finding the right DB25-AES cable, for under $200 (I don't need all 16 outputs!) was a pain, but I found an 'imperfect' one on eby for much cheaper, and it works fine but needs some touch ups. (Also found a DB25 connector with solderless connections which I will convert to, eventually.)
- Atmos (finally!) is properly 'rendered' when its e-arc is plugged in to a recent Hisense TV.
- Pleasant surprise is that the OktoDAC display accurately reflects how many channels a particular source is sending - something that with a PC/USB/JRiver input never varied b/c I have it set to always convert to 7.1).
- That display was very helpful in confirming that the original software was truly faulty, as the Okto display reflected flickering outputs and varied channels being activated...lots of blinking.
How on earth Nuprime released such defective software (it took two or three releases to get it to work?) is disturbing, but it looks like they finally got it right, at least for my use case.

NEXT STEPS - Video.

My system uses an old Sony projector, via a set of wireless adaptors (took a lot of experiementation), which I haven't even tried to get working with the Nuprime unit - yet.

So, I'll be searching for an affordable ultra short throw (UST) projector that passes Atmos 8 channels, which so far has eluded me....and it takes a LOT of digging to determine which USTs actually support 8 or more channel Atmos via earc.
Rtngs.com does provide that info on tested devices, but they've only tested a small number of USTs, and of course now you have to pay to see those details :mad:

UST Suggestions would be appreciated, but I'm trying to keep my projector purchase to under $1500, so also looking at slightly older used USTs, as well.
(The newer Hisense USTs support it, but are out of my price range so far.)

(UST will allow me to move the projector under the 'screen' and so can hard wire it directly to the Nuprime HDMI/ e-arc and won't need to hang from the ceiling and use wireless to it)

EXPERIENCE - so far:
The sound quality is excellent, and a very noticeable improvement from the Oppo103/analog > ADC/USB -> PC/JRiver, which had a pretty low SN/DR...not to mention Atmos decoding as well.
The dynamic range improvement, in particular, is dramatic. Sound effects in movies can be really terrifying now:)
There is also a gain difference between PC USB and Nuprimve AES inputs, which I have not tracked down yet, but it's pretty noticeable, having to 'dial back' the AES inputs by around 10db to match Okto output levels between AES and USB. Not hard to fix, of course.

So, I now have a PC 'hybrid' based AV system, with PC/USB for very hi-res audio files via OktoDAC8, and nearly Hi-res streaming/Bluray/Atmos via Nuprime AES -> OktoDAC for movies or Apple Music (which I'm still struggling to get used to, but their classical selection, including surround, is pretty good.)

Holy Grail, partly met. OktoDAC8 for the Win!

Many thanks to all those who have reported on these (Atmos) challenges before.
 
Thanks for the fair and reasonable review. All too often people concentrate exclusively on the downsides of a new product. We're left wondering if it actually does what it's supposed to do - in this case surround decoding with multi-channel digital outputs, so you get the SQ of an uncompromised converter, without spending tens of thousands. It's good to hear that the answer is "yes". My only concern now is whether the unexpected effort to get the H-16 working has put Nuprime off this market, meaning they might have second thoughts about the HX-16 model, or committing themselves to supporting existing models going forwards.
 
Neddy said:
UST Suggestions would be appreciated, but I'm trying to keep my projector purchase to under $1500, so also looking at slightly older used USTs, as well.
(The newer Hisense USTs support it, but are out of my price range so far.)
Click to expand...
Hisense PT1 might be your best bet, I see them going for as low as $1998 CAD so I assume they can be found stateside for around your budget. Not the brightest projector but if you’re looking at projectors at all I’m assuming you have a light controlled room.
 
Good catch, thanks!
My use is almost always in a dark room, so this looks ideal.

When I first looked at this model, I couldn't see that it has an e-arc port, but now having an account with Rtngs, I can see it supports 7.1 atmos.
Also, I hadn't able to find a Hisense listing of that in it's specs, so I'd dismissed it as 5.1 only (and the back panel pics are so poor I wasn't able to make out the 'e-arc' hdmi label on back).

So, thanks - since I had been already looking at this one, I just placed an order. I'll update this when I receive it.

This is less than half (but, ebay) the cost of my Sony projector nearly 20 years ago; even the 'list' price is nearly a thousand less.
I'll surprised if this one lasts 20 years (and the Sony still works fine, but only supports basic hdmi, and at 1080i.)
 
Sound quality of my H16-AES isn't that great as soon as you increase volume levels. I can hear noticable distortion. Couple that with it crashing every few days or loosing all its settings, it's just annoying to deal with. I would not recommend them as a company or bother with their next product. If you see the last few posts on the other forum, they literally took their existing bug list that were issues before and conveniently made them non issues lol. Couple that with incorrect marketing specs (incorrect channel count and being able to support more than 48khz) that they had to adjust post release adds to that red flag list.
 
darth said:
Sound quality of my H16-AES isn't that great as soon as you increase volume levels. I can hear noticable distortion. Couple that with it crashing every few days or loosing all its settings, it's just annoying to deal with. I would not recommend them as a company or bother with their next product. If you see the last few posts on the other forum, they literally took their existing bug list that were issues before and conveniently made them non issues lol. Couple that with incorrect marketing specs (incorrect channel count and being able to support more than 48khz) that they had to adjust post release adds to that red flag list.
Click to expand...
Sorry that sounds like a disappointment.
 
Neddy said:
Holy Grail, partly met. OktoDAC8 for the Win!
Click to expand...
That was one of the most encouraging posts I've read.
darth said:
Sound quality of my H16-AES isn't that great as soon as you increase volume levels. I can hear noticable distortion.
Click to expand...
And that was one of the most discouraging.
The raison d'etre for the H16 is to decode the audio and off-board the processing and conversion, and with it, the constraints on sound quality.
If the H16 is adding audible distortion, that might be worse than an AVR with analogue outputs.
Have you tried playing a stereo source directly via spdif or toslink, and comparing the same source via HDMI with the H16 in the loop?
 
The more I read, the happier I am with 5.1 and a VanityPro.
 
Mort said:
The more I read, the happier I am with 5.1 and a VanityPro.
Click to expand...
I've been giving serious thought to getting a VanityPro or HD621 or Yulen's black box, all of which seem to have had the thumbs up in these pages.
Firstly, I think I might actually prefer 7.1 done right, over immersive done wrong.
Secondly, I think I'll first try to get a simpler system running with Audiolense or similar, before I get too ambitious with immersive.
 
welwynnick said:
I've been giving serious thought to getting a VanityPro or HD621 or Yulen's black box, all of which seem to have had the thumbs up in these pages.
Firstly, I think I might actually prefer 7.1 done right, over immersive done wrong.
Secondly, I think I'll first try to get a simpler system running with Audiolense or similar, before I get too ambitious with immersive.
Click to expand...
Immersive done wrong in terms of EQ/DSP or DAC performance?
 
90sNintendoKid said:
Immersive done wrong in terms of EQ/DSP or DAC performance?
Click to expand...
I see an ideal immersive system as having a layered architecture, with one unit and one function at layer, and industry standard interfaces in between.

1774876111892.png


Advantages:
  • Powerful DSP processing
  • Good value
  • Easy upgrading route
  • Open, flexible, scalable, non-proprietary architecture
  • Physical separation of playback & processing & conversion & amplification
  • Opportunity to use DSP for speaker cross-overs
  • Opportunity to use any source
  • Opportunity to use any interface
  • Opportunity to use any hardware
  • Opportunity to use any software
  • Opportunity to use any speakers
Each unit in each layer can be optimised for what it does best, so the open layered architecture allows every layer to perform.
A decoder with digital outputs like the H16 is the door that opens all this up.
 
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Brief update on the H16-AES plus UST projector:

- due to a 'non-ship' fleabay seller, I had to wait and reorder a different, pricier, UST projector (Hisense PX3Pro 4k), which I've had for less than a week.
I chose to spend a bit more and get a 'factory reconditioned' unit bc it comes with various warranties. (The laser module is apparently not replaceable.)

Aside from it taking a good bit of fiddling with projector location and height to get the image 'right', it has been excellent.
I'm still using a wall I painted with Goo Screen paint 20 years ago, and I expected to have to update that, but so far it's been a non-issue.
When magnified, there is some screen sparkle, which is odd, because I sanded the texture off that wall before painting.

There IS a slight curve in part of that drywall I'd never noticed before, which is very evident with the UST laser, but not at all noticeable with the overhead projector - fortunately just on the edge of the actual screen image...but not something I'd considered beforehand.

The image quality and brightness is very impressive (I am NOT very sensitive to color/movie adjustments, so am Not a critical viewer) - but I can say that out of the box it's noticeably brighter, clearer and far more detailed than my old Sony overhead projector.
(At some point I'll try to capture the differences, but for now, I'm too enthralled with the results to bother with.)

My listening/living room faces due south and that wall has floor to ceiling glass there, so brightness was a concern.
Turns out to not be a major issue with this unit (which is brighter than the less expensive unit I first tried to order.)

I do have blackout blinds for all the windows in that room, but I've found that it's only needed (and then only the south facing glass) on cloudless days - cloudy or rainy weather does not need any room darkening to be usable...though for 'serious' movie watching I still lower the big glass blind during the day.

That also means there's a temptation to use the projector for casual daily music playback, but it's kind of a waste of laser life, I think (I have a 55" TV on a lift hidden behind the subwoofer the projector sits on, so I can flip between TV and projector easily).

And, so far, it doesn't seem to have a 'hobbs' meter' to track laser life (the Sony has an excellent one for lamp life)....something I was hoping Hisense would include, but doesn't.

My screen area is about 120" (I think, I haven't measured it yet, the 'screen wall' is ~12'x 9')

I did learn one 'danger' factor right away: I have one cat who likes to lay in that spot (formerly a center channel speaker), so after shutting it down, I put some foam there to discourage him and protect the laser 'well'.

That night we had massive storms and several power outages....so as soon as power came back, I ran up to check on it, and sure enough the projector had woken up when power was restored, and was booting to an active screen...or trying to, thru the foam stuff.
I caught it just as it was finished booting, so I removed it quickly, but that could have been a major/fire hazard disaster if left to burn thru the foam!!
I'll research the (many) power options more closely and make sure (and test!).
Hisense DOES recommend that you cover the unit to reduce dust on the optics, so....hm.
They really need to have an integrated, motorized cover to protect against that....

The H16-AES is working well, though there is nothing anywhere in the system AFAIK to indicate when it's receiving Atmos, which I would sure love to have.

The OktoDAC does show which AES channels are active, so I can use that to tell if audio is coming in at 5.1 or 7.1

The H16 software is so rudimentary as to be annoying (are the 80s calling?), but it works (barely) well enough.
(I'm still learning how to interpret - and use - the clumsy software.)

Both the H16 and projector are upgraded to the latest software, and I've not detected any increase in distortion at that 'danger' mark of 47 on it's volume setting, but I keep it a few db below (40-45) just in case. (Years ago, Emotiva had processors that had odd 'volume' settings too...IRCC, it was 59 for their max outputs?)

I've not tried connecting more HDMI sources to the H16 yet, so can't speak to burps when switching inputs.
I have noticed occasional (say, twice per movie?) very brief noise glitches, like little crackles or static...but are tiny and not much of an annoyance, or threat...but still odd.
The Okto does rather nicely reflect any 'random' changes in channel counts in real time (say, when switching between movies, or, with the original software, decoding glitches), so I can use that to assess anything odd happening in 'channel' counts.

I'm not using any of the other/ DSP features of the H16, so I can't comment on the efficacy of any of them (yet).

It'll take months to fine tune all this tech to my comfort and satisfaction, but for now, I'm very pleased with the results, esp for a relatively modest investment) and in a fairly bright room. Daytime movie watching - without blacking everything out - is now very useable.
 
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