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Todays way to go for Dolby Atmos Preamp

Krobar

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I looked at his a while ago and the issue is a lack of Atmos/DTS:X software decoders for the PC, 7.1 support is good. It might be possible to get object decoding with a Mac and very expensive Pro Tools plugins but it would be cheaper to buy a prepro. Kodi will decode 7.1 for common formats to PCM and you could then use something like the nice Octo Research 8 channel DAC for 7.1 and you could even run Dirac Live for PC with it which gives 24/96 room correction.
 

Kal Rubinson

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..................and you could even run Dirac Live for PC with it which gives 24/96 room correction.
Actually, up to 24/192.
 

North_Sky

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Thanks for the links. The problem is that you cant disable the amps and Preouts max at 1V.
The only thing to go ist a preprocessor. I have to wait until hdmi 2.1 comes out.
Today any av-reciever is directly old... *junk*
 

Krobar

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Thanks for the links. The problem is that you cant disable the amps and Preouts max at 1V.
The only thing to go ist a preprocessor. I have to wait until hdmi 2.1 comes out.
Today any av-reciever is directly old... *junk*

Marantz AV8805 and Monoprice HTP-1 will both offer an HDMI 2.1 upgrade card. I guess you are a gamer (Not much other current reason to want 2.1).
 

ElNino

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...you could even run Dirac Live for PC with it which gives 24/96 room correction.

As far as I know, there's no way to run Dirac Live for PC anymore, unless you can find someone with a license for the old version and buy it off them.

Apparently the new version of Dirac Live for PC has been delayed indefinitely. There are a few people running a beta of the new PC version, but the beta is closed and someone from Dirac posted here about two weeks ago that they would not accept new people for the beta.
 

Kal Rubinson

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As far as I know, there's no way to run Dirac Live for PC anymore, unless you can find someone with a license for the old version and buy it off them.

Apparently the new version of Dirac Live for PC has been delayed indefinitely. There are a few people running a beta of the new PC version, but the beta is closed and someone from Dirac posted here about two weeks ago that they would not accept new people for the beta.
?????
Buy it here: https://live.dirac.com/pro-audio/?u...il&utm_term=0_29ac2097ee-0bcbe7cf11-356517265

Stereo only, so far but it is available.
 

ElNino

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Wow, thanks! When did that become available? The screenshot on that page is from just three weeks ago.

Now I've got something to try out over the holidays!

I spoke too soon... that page is for something called the Dirac Live Processor, which requires Dirac Live to work. As far as I can tell from their website, there's no way to download Dirac Live... or am I just missing something obvious?
 

Kal Rubinson

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I spoke too soon... that page is for something called the Dirac Live Processor, which requires Dirac Live to work. As far as I can tell from their website, there's no way to download Dirac Live... or am I just missing something obvious?
It's all there. Follow the instructions.
 

Sancus

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ernestcarl

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This thing is awesome especially for the price, but it's quite unfortunate there's no height channel outputs. Also doesn't look like it supports ARC in general, let alone eARC, which makes using it as the main sound output for a HT setup problematic.

I'd prefer something that has balanced outs at least as one may have to use relatively long cable runs, say, something like the Model 976 7.2 HDMI AV Surround Processor. Review can be found here: https://www.avnirvana.com/threads/outlaw-audio-model-976-7-2-surround-processor-review.3778/

Sadly, it lacks height channels so one might likely need to replace it eventually if your planning to implement something like Dolby Atmos in the future. :confused: Definitely not perfect.
 

Sancus

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Thanks, didn't see this one. Over $2k... so quite expensive. But even more so in Canada -- ugh!

I mean, if box size doesn't matter, the Denon AVR line up is fine quality-wise, supports Atmos, and has plenty of RCA pre-outs including height channels.

So far I haven't found anything less than $4000(US)(Monoprice Monolith) that combines:
  • Atmos support
  • Good room correction(Anthem/Dirac or equivalent, Audyssey XT32 is OKish)
  • Good multi-channel upmixing(Auro3D and Harman Logic being the only ones I've heard people-in-the-know say positive things about)
  • eARC support(so you can use the device for sound output from TV apps and so you don't have to worry about processor latency, future HDMI version support, don't have to pass every HDMI input through the processor, etc etc)
And the nice to haves:
  • Balanced outs
  • Small-ish box(doesn't really need to be as big as an AVR with no amplifiers..)
The JBL SDP-55 is also a thing, but at $6000US, that Logic16 better be the most amazing upmixing that has ever existed...In general it is really hard to find anything that beats "just use a Denon AVR as a preamp" on cost and functionality, let alone size.
 

ernestcarl

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I mean, if box size doesn't matter, the Denon AVR line up is fine quality-wise, supports Atmos, and has plenty of RCA pre-outs including height channels.

So far I haven't found anything less than $4000(US)(Monoprice Monolith) that combines:
  • Atmos support
  • Good room correction(Anthem/Dirac or equivalent, Audyssey XT32 is OKish)
  • Good multi-channel upmixing(Auro3D and Harman Logic being the only ones I've heard people-in-the-know say positive things about)
  • eARC support(so you can use the device for sound output from TV apps and so you don't have to worry about processor latency, future HDMI version support, don't have to pass every HDMI input through the processor, etc etc)
And the nice to haves:
  • Balanced outs
  • Small-ish box(doesn't really need to be as big as an AVR with no amplifiers..)
The JBL SDP-55 is also a thing, but at $6000US, that Logic16 better be the most amazing upmixing that has ever existed...In general it is really hard to find anything that beats "just use a Denon AVR as a preamp" on cost and functionality, let alone size.

I'm realistically only interested in a processor that's actually affordable. Anything that's $3-6k is just way too overly exhorbitant in my book. Again, how the hell are most people supposed to take advantage of all that Atmos goodness affordably? Right now, the average Joe most likely will have to resort to super sucky HTIB soundbar solutions. Pretty sad state of affairs if you ask me.
 

Sancus

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I'm realistically only interested in a processor that's actually affordable. Anything that's $3-6k is just way too overly exhorbitant in my book. Again, how the hell are most people supposed to take advantage of all that Atmos goodness affordably? Right now, the average Joe most likely will have to resort to super sucky HTIB soundbar solutions. Pretty sad state of affairs if you ask me.

Well like I said, you pretty much have to use a Denon AVR for that. The minimum for Audyssey XT32(the one that actually manages bass in a reasonable manner) is the AVR-X3600H which can be had for $800 CAD or less, has height channels, eARC, and 11.2 preouts. Amir even tested 'em and as long as you stay under 1.5V output, they're more than good enough to be fully transparent. If you don't care about the room correction because you're going to use something further down the chain, you can go even cheaper than that, but mind the # of preouts etc that you need.

Is it dumb that you have to buy something huge with amplifiers built in just to use it as a preamp/processor? Yes, really dumb, but unfortunately processor-only products remain a very premium/niche market.

It is hard to imagine anything that checks my boxes above for less than $1000 USD just because the proprietary algorithms(Dirac, Auro3D, etc) have quite some licensing cost. But yes, $4-6K is totally absurd.
 

ernestcarl

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Well like I said, you pretty much have to use a Denon AVR for that. The minimum for Audyssey XT32(the one that actually manages bass in a reasonable manner) is the AVR-X3600H which can be had for $800 CAD or less, has height channels, eARC, and 11.2 preouts. Amir even tested 'em and as long as you stay under 1.5V output, they're more than good enough to be fully transparent. If you don't care about the room correction because you're going to use something further down the chain, you can go even cheaper than that, but mind the # of preouts etc that you need.

Is it dumb that you have to buy something huge with amplifiers built in just to use it as a preamp/processor? Yes, really dumb, but unfortunately processor-only products remain a very premium/niche market.

It is hard to imagine anything that checks my boxes above for less than $1000 USD just because the proprietary algorithms(Dirac, Auro3D, etc) have quite some licensing cost. But yes, $4-6K is totally absurd.

Here's a funny thing: Amazon Fire Stick 4K *I'm getting one this x-mas just for testing.

This thing $35.00 gadget is advertised as "Dolby Atmos" ready -- even if it becomes obsolete in a few years, at least it's costs peanuts to replace. Complete opposite to those gigantic processors/receivers you actually have to plug them into -- not to mention all the speakers you have to figure out a way place properly in the room.
 
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