Trinnov Altitude 16 Review (AV Processor)

[FrantzM]

A 16 channel JBL SDP-75 along with four Revel F226Be speakers will be delivered later today. I already have a C426Be. Three Benchmark AHB2s will complete the setup ...... at least for the time being.
Thank you to everyone on this forum to help me work through this purchase.

You should know that I maintain a Hate List ... You working hard but soooo hard to get on it

 

[DonH56]

A 16 channel JBL SDP-75 along with four Revel F226Be speakers will be delivered later today. I already have a C426Be. Three Benchmark AHB2s will complete the setup ...... at least for the time being.
Thank you to everyone on this forum to help me work through this purchase.

That sounds like a pretty incredible system!

Edit: Welcome to the FHL -- Frantz's Hate List.

 

[sondans]

You should know that I maintain a Hate List ... You working hard but soooo hard to get on it

I do work very hard to walk that fine line ... w/o crossing over to the "dark" side.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I do work very hard to walk that fine line ... w/o crossing over to the "dark" side.

As ever, one strives to make the crossover imperceptible.

 

[DonH56]

I gave up and bought a flashlight.

 

[Dimifoot]

Three Benchmark AHB2s

And you will benefit from the gain setting options of the benchmark

 

[sondans]

And you will benefit from the gain setting options of the benchmark

I have been using components I bought about 25 years ago - Classe preamp, Bryston 4B and a pair of Magnepans. When the Revel C426Be showed up a couple months ago I installed it in place of the the Magnepans and the high level of baseline noise was disconcerting. When I then replaced the Bryston with the AHB2 at the proper gain setting I was awestruck by how dead quiet it was!
Dealer will be dropping off the rest of the gear soon. Looking forward to getting it setup!!

 

[Dimifoot]

Dealer will be dropping off the rest of the gear soon. Looking forward to getting it setup!!

What about subs?

 

[Blackdevil77]

@amirm Now that you've had your hands on both the Trinnov and StormAudio units, which would you choose if you had to choose one?

Bumping this question @amirm

 

[Bulldogger]

Ravenna/AES67 coming as a free upgrade this year: Trinnov | Trinnov Audio unveils upcoming Altitude Platform changes in 2021
The A16 already has the dedicated network ports (in addition to the one on the motherboard).

What sample rate? Isn't AES67 limited to 96Khz? Lyngdorf MP60 is limited to 24/48 with AES67. 24/96 would be perfect for A16 but could reduce the capabilities of the A32/

 

[Impossible]

I think anyone wondering why owners love the trinnov is becuase of its eq capability and ability to customise and get the sound you personally love.

Yes the dac section isn't as good as some desktop dac's (no av receiver is) but after correction the trinnov gives you a much better end result then anything else by corrected frequency response, eq, time alignment, impulse and phase. All measurements done using a 3d mic. So very acurate end result.

Trinnov have their own codecs. Unlike every other manufacturer. This is especially noticeable when you have objects virtually moving around the room.

 

[Impossible]

Not sure if its been already discussed but any comments on how the MP-60 would compare to the Altitude16?

Here are the ranges.
Average receivers: Denon, onkyo, pioneer, yamaha.

Excellent receivers : arcam, lyngdorf (MP60), storm
Specifically an arcam with Dirac base management would compair to an MP60.

Then above these trinnov altitude.

The lyngdorf after calibration sounds excellent, has a warm musical sound, a little coloured. And then you can have different bass management presets. In essence the lyngdorf does excellent bass eq. It mostly does not eq much above 500hz.

The trinnov can sound like the lyngdorf if you tune it right. But you can't make the lyngdorf sound like the trinnov. It doesn't have the capability. Lyngdorf is very easy to set up where you will almost certainly have a very pleasing sound at the end. The trinnov requires some experience to setup/eq.

If you have a small room and are happy with up to 12 channels then an MP40 is an excellent choice for its price. But if your thinking MP60 just get the trinnov and pay a calibrator to set it up.

I had the MP60 before I got my Trinnov.

 

[apgood]

Here are the ranges.
Average receivers: Denon, onkyo, pioneer, yamaha.

Excellent receivers : arcam, lyngdorf (MP60), storm
Specifically an arcam with Dirac base management would compair to an MP60.

Then above these trinnov altitude.

The lyngdorf after calibration sounds excellent, has a warm musical sound, a little coloured. And then you can have different bass management presets. In essence the lyngdorf does excellent bass eq. It mostly does not eq much above 500hz.

The trinnov can sound like the lyngdorf if you tune it right. But you can't make the lyngdorf sound like the trinnov. It doesn't have the capability. Lyngdorf is very easy to set up where you will almost certainly have a very pleasing sound at the end. The trinnov requires some experience to setup/eq.

If you have a small room and are happy with up to 12 channels then an MP40 is an excellent choice for its price. But if your thinking MP60 just get the trinnov and pay a calibrator to set it up.

I had the MP60 before I got my Trinnov.

StormAudio is not in the same range as Arcam and Lyngdorf. It has a higher channel count (24 decoded & 32 processed), AES/EBU digital out (and in) options, extensive bass management, active crossover & PEQ options and soon to have 32 in/out AES67 option. It is closer to the Trinnov than the others.

Just because it has Dirac as an automatic room correction option and uses a chip for decode of Atmos, DTS:X Pro & Auro in common with the others doesn't mean it is at the same level.

Yes, Trinnov's Optimiser and Intel CPU with software decode architecture are great features / strengths, but there are also drawbacks like needing to periodically restart a Trinnov to maintain stable operation (daily or weekly depending on who you talk to), the Altitude 32 has issues with its IR control and cannot be either shut down or started via IR (can't remember which) not an issue if you use Control4 or similar, or are happy with using Web interface). Also it is designed to be a single zone device, which it does very well, but could be show stopper for some.

End of the day each device has strengths and weakness based on its architecture, feature set and how they are implemented. There is no such thing as best device without qualification that is overly simplistic and will lead someone buying something that does fit their needs. There are potentially a best device for a specific set of requirements and use case. If for example you need greater than 24 Atmos/DTS:X Pro decoded channels (vs processed) then Trinnov Altitude 32 is your only real option.

 

[Impossible]

Storm is not in the same price range no, but for end result that is the range from my own personal experience.

And to be clear the storm is excellent. But in the same room I don't think you could tell the difference blind test with it and the arcam with bass management Dirac.

To put into context this is my rating out of 10 for end sound result.

Denon, pioneer, yamaha, onkyo : 6/10
Arcam others with dirac: 8.5
Storm: 8.7
Lyngdorf: 9
Trinnov: 9.5

 

[mant]

I listened to NAD M17 and Storm in a treated room, Storm clearly sets itself apart from NAD, especially in the area of bass control and dynamics.
It is a misconception that all Dirac devices have the same sound.

 

[Impossible]

Agreed. Not all are the same. And I didn't say they were. The storm is definitely very good.

 

[Blackdevil77]

When are the altitudes supposed to get the DAC board upgrade?

 

[Dj7675]

My understanding is they revised the current DAC to get better performance and those are already in production. Units with the improved performance I don't think are in the U.S. distribution yet. I asked Trinnov support and they said to work with your dealer if you want to be certain you have the improved version. I was also told that serial numbers starting with below will have the tweaked DAC for better performance.
Altitude 16- 1308
Altitude 32- 1390

 

[Blackdevil77]

My understanding is they revised the current DAC to get better performance and those are already in production. Units with the improved performance I don't think are in the U.S. distribution yet. I asked Trinnov support and they said to work with your dealer if you want to be certain you have the improved version. I was also told that serial numbers starting with below will have the tweaked DAC for better performance.
Altitude 16- 1308
Altitude 32- 1390

Interesting, thanks for the info

 

[Impossible]

I'll be waiting for the new dac.