I’ve been enjoying using Roon to listen to multichannel audio using a pretty old system with some new additions. I am using a MiniDSP DAC8 multichannel DAC into the 7.1 analog inputs of an ancient Lexicon MC-12HD processor. This processor was once the best multichannel pre/pro you could buy but it has been discontinued for many years. Although it can decode Dolby TruHD and DTS Master HD, it can’t do any of the more recent multichannel formats (Dolby Atmos, etc.). In any event, the power supply in the MC-12HD just failed and can’t be fixed so I need to replace it. One thing that the Lexicon was capable of doing is that any bass management, time alignment and room correction that the unit did was also applied to the 7.1 analog inputs unless one put the unit into Analog Bypass mode. I’ve looked at several more modern pre/pros (I was strongly leaning toward the Marantz AV-8802a) but I’ve discovered that they basically work in a similar bypass mode with their analog inputs. Basically you get only volume control but no bass management, time alignment or room correction for multichannel analog audio.
I can basically afford a fairly high-end setup and I’m considering getting the Merging+NADAC (I have an UltraRendu endpoint so I don’t think I need the Merging+Player). And although the Merging+NADAC has its own volume control and thus could feed my amps directly, it creates a new problem to be solved: I don’t think it does bass management, time alignment or room correction, so if I wanted that (and I do because this is going to go into a high-end home theater system), I’d have to get a pre/pro to do that as well as decode all the requisite blu-ray audio formats. So my first question is whether I really need bass management, time alignment or room correction for music listening. I suspect I do. Then the second question is whether there exists a multi-channel pre/pro that does processing to the analog inputs. Lastly, my search for a new surround pre-pro turned up the two Altitude models from Trinov. These both function as Roon networked endpoints. Does anyone here know whether they do Roon multichannel or only stereo. Maybe I can eliminate the Merging+NADAC and just use an Altitude for everything. Does anyone here have any experience with the Trinov Altitude?
No processor truly applies time alignment or room correction to its analog inputs. Those operations are not feasible in the analog domain. Instead, analog inputs get run through an ADC and digitized or even redigitized. If the latter case, the upstream DAC is superfluous – not a straight, efficient signal path.
Your best course of action is to cut out the multichannel DAC middle man, and get a processor with HDMI input that does bass management, room correction, etc. Or get a processor with a DLNA/UPnP network input, and run the Sonore DLNA/UPnP Bridge software.
As you have mentioned the Marantz AV-8802a as an option in your thoughts, maybe you should have a look at the Anthem AVM 60 if you haven’t already. Its room correction system seams superior to the Marantz.
It’s much cheaper than the Trinov solutions out there, and I always question myself if it makes sense to spend 10k+ kind of money in processors that have a very limited life-span due to new audio/video formats coming.
The trinnov will do what you want and more…its room correction is vastly superior to dirac , roon or any other scheme I have used.
Albeit I dont use an altitude , the correction in my ST2hifi is the same as the altitude , but just on 4 channels …
Ah, yes. I have been wrestling with how to implement Trinnov in my own system but, as yet, have found no suitable solution. 4 channels is not enough for me.
Actually, not. I have no video in this system and no need for the bulk/cost of that device. I also do not know how/if it would accept hi-rez, mulitchannel digital from my server, except by HDMI. I’d also like to have DAC options.
Overall, the Altitude is not suitable for me. I need a 6/8 channel version of the ST2 but with more than 24/96 and DSD…
I just received the following from Trinov support: “Yes, the Altitude32 does support multichannel audio over Ethernet via Roon and its Roon Advanced Audio Transport.”
There are a bunch of systems that seem to have a “home theater bypass” feature that allows you to integrate a two-channel system into a home theater setup but bypass all the home theater stuff for just stereo music listening. I wish there were some way to create an audio-only multichannel chain that could be easily integrated into a home theater system. Once upon a time I was considering using a Parasound P7 for this but couldn’t figure out how I would integrate a multichannel DAC into the mix.
Something to play with in analog to get bass management of a sort is an old Outlaw Audio ICBM-1 analog bass management device. I have one with my miniDSP u-DAC8 and it does work. But, I prefer the Marantz implementation of Audyssey MultXT32 via HDMI.
I have not been brave enough yet to figure out how to measure for and use Roon’s robust sound correction for a 5.2 surround environment. Kal, I do ask if you now have some wisdom to share on how to use a UMIK-1 mic to properly measure a multichannel system for Roon. If this is off topic, perhaps this last thought can be split into a separate topic. JCR
Bass management is easily accomplished in ROON or in JRiver if you know what settings you want.
You need more than just a microphone; you need a measurement/filter calculation program. The simplest is XTZ but the least expensive but still potent is REW. Beyond that are complex programs. All will direct you how to measure with you microphone, show you what is going on and guide you to building filters/convolutions that can be implemented in ROON.
Possibly since we had been discussing Trinnov specifically.
Is there a KB article or detailed guide on how to implement bass management in Roon? I haven’t been able to locate much information. What I’m after is setting a cross-over point (say 80Hz) and routing the low frequency content of the front channels (and center/surround channels if present) to the subwoofer, in addition to discrete content that the source may contain for the SW channel, if any.