Recommendations for Analog Digital converter?

[jannylund]

I use an Apple TV 4k as a primary source connected to an LG OLED65C8. This is then connected to a Marantz NR1607 over HDMI.

The Marantz drives:
- Front speakers Genelec 8340 via analog pre-out. DSP is configured via Genelec GLM.
- Rear speakers are rarely used, some passive infinity. Will replace with Genelec in the future.
- Subwoofer is a Genelec SE7261A. This is a challenge, since it has only digital input. Currently I run it from analog sub out on Marantz -> a no-name Analog/Digtal converter.

In an ideal world, I would replace the Marantz with something that supports multichannel HDMI to AES/EBU, but for the time being, I have not found any good solution for that.

So, on short term, to avoid loss of sound quality, I was hoping someone could recommend a good quality analog -> digital converter.

 

[staticV3]

Hi @jannylund! Welcome to ASR.

You may be able to add digital S/PDIF outputs to your Marantz, then connect both your fronts and sub directly via that, removing an additional D->A and A->D conversion from your signal chain.

From what I've heard, Genelec's AES/EBU inputs have no trouble running off a conventional S/PDIF Coax output.

 

[EERecordist]

Welcome to ASR, you have found a community of experts. That system has AES digital inputs. So you are looking for analog to AES/EBU digital.

Many of the systems in the ASR review index are analog to USB. For a minimal user-configured analog to digital converter many the like the Cosmos E1DA, which could be followed by an inexpensive USB to AES converter. There is a whole topic on ASR devoted to the E1DA. There are Apple ecosystem discussions on ASR too. Great system!

 

[jannylund]

Thanks for the suggestions. Yes, the Genelec's have AES/EBU but they support SPDIF (which is what I feed it with now).

@staticV3 Modifying it might sure be a solution, I have years ago modified an Pioneer AVR to have pre-out in the past so I'm not totally against this. However, I wonder if there is a risk that this signal would be full level and not affected by the sound control of the Marantz? Guess I'll need to google for some service manuals.

@EERecordist looks interesting, but would be even better to find a device that could do it all in one. I'll try to look into these devices a bit.


The current no-brand analog 2 digital converter does what it's supposed to, but I tried using it for full band (SE7261A can forward AES/EBU to 8340) and the quality of vocals and essentially any higher frequencies suffered a lot. Now re-reading the manual I'm starting to wonder if that could have been affected by not using impedance converters, but I would have assumed that with the digital signal it either works or does not work..

 

[staticV3]

I'm starting to wonder if that could have been affected by not using impedance converters, but I would have assumed that with the digital signal it either works or does not work..

Yes, that's usually how it goes with digital audio. You either get the the entire signal, or stutter and drop-outs.

A degradation in sound quality is usually only possible if there's a DSP somewhere in between.

 

[EERecordist]

The Cosmos is very DIY with DIP switches, so not for everyone. Many ASR members use the Cosmos with the free REW software (that REW - Room EQ Wizard which has an ASR topic too) to measure their own analog electronics, or with a calibrated microphone, measuring their listening environment. So the Cosmos can have more uses later.

High channel count streaming surround is early in the consumer space. Professional companies like Genelec have room management systems. I have not researched it, but theoretically an HDMI audio extractor could feed a Genelec monitor management system. I think you are right spending conservatively for now to solve a specific use case. If you like the Apple video and music ecosystem, it would be logical that they would try to make immersive audio easier for their customers in the future.

 

[jannylund]

A degradation in sound quality is usually only possible if there's a DSP somewhere in between.

Yeah, so then I think there are two (or three) options to why the sound was degraded:
1. The cheap analog-digital converter. Maybe it's downsides are more visible on the higher frequencies. (I could potentially test this by feeding the 8340 via it)
2. In the case of SE7261A feeding digital to 8340, it is the DSP of 7261 that is used and the 8340 should be pass through. There's a 10 year age difference here and the DSP in 7261 is more limited, but still would not have expected it to suffer so much that it was easy to hear.
3. Maybe the GLM calibration failed completely as officially, 7261 can not be combined with 8340 (only with 8130). This was however how Genelec recommended I set things up. I'll continue discussion with their support as well to hear if they have some sugggestions.