360RA decoding via hardware - McIntosh and other MPEG-H ready receivers
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So, none of the 110-120V variants sold in North America? Odd that they'd have different digital hardware/software depending on mains voltage.
The ability to decode 360RA would be in the Firmware (factory or updates). Perhaps the plans for firmware updates are different in Europe/East and America. And the suported devices will update over time.
Once we have an AVR that is able to decode 360RA, we need to feed it via HDMI.
This is what DENON web page says:
""""""""
... Select Denon AV receivers are capable of 360 Reality Audio playback by connecting a 360RA streaming device via HDMI. Stay tuned for further updates!
""""""""
AFAIK, there is still no streaming device that supplies via hdmi 360RA
DENON says: "Stay tuned..." so here we are still waiting for further news...
What do you mean?
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What you mean?
That you have the advertised equipment to play 360RA in discrete MCH through an AVR.
But it seems that nobody has achieved to play 360RA on MCH AVR yet.
The Tidal subscription needed is called "Tidal Hi-Fi Plus". It is the most expensive.
Is that what you have?
yep
I can't get anything out of Onkyo USA about MPEG-H, future firmware updates, nothing. I don't even know if a firmware update could enable MPEG-H decoding. Same with Auro3D.
When you get right down to it, I don't know jack, and Onkyo ain't talkin'. My TX-RZ50 does not decode MPEG-H or Auro3D.
Assuming no firmware update is forthcoming, I assume a playback device would have to be connected via HDMI that actually decodes MPEG-H or Auro3D, either one. But then it would have to be passed as pcm? What can of worms would that open? Or limitations, HDMI specifications (sic) aside?
School me if you got a better handle on this than I.
When you get right down to it, I don't know jack, and Onkyo ain't talkin'. My TX-RZ50 does not decode MPEG-H or Auro3D.
Assuming no firmware update is forthcoming, I assume a playback device would have to be connected via HDMI that actually decodes MPEG-H or Auro3D, either one. But then it would have to be passed as pcm? What can of worms would that open? Or limitations, HDMI specifications (sic) aside?
School me if you got a better handle on this than I.
Long rant here…
I bought a new Google TV Chromecast 4K to test if Amazon Music or Tidal could stream 360RA as posted on Marantz Cinema Series picture I attached.
The only surround format possible is Atmos in Tidal, just like Apple TV.
Tidal app shows 360 songs and albums, which is different from Apple Tv app, but it gets an error, as well when trying to play MQA songs.
In Amazon Music app is no different. There’s no 360/Atmos available.
You can only see at which sample rate that song is streamed and it doesn’t go over 16/48 Opus.
I think this 360RA/MPEG-H is frustrating and it looks like smokeware To me…
I’m not saying that it’s not good but th only MPEG-H support is for professional and it’s available in binaural mix for consumer which is completely nonsense to me if there’s hardware available to decode it properly.
Ps.: Fire Stick 4K is “another” capable system that should do the job but I’m VERY sure it won’t
I bought a new Google TV Chromecast 4K to test if Amazon Music or Tidal could stream 360RA as posted on Marantz Cinema Series picture I attached.
The only surround format possible is Atmos in Tidal, just like Apple TV.
Tidal app shows 360 songs and albums, which is different from Apple Tv app, but it gets an error, as well when trying to play MQA songs.
In Amazon Music app is no different. There’s no 360/Atmos available.
You can only see at which sample rate that song is streamed and it doesn’t go over 16/48 Opus.
I think this 360RA/MPEG-H is frustrating and it looks like smokeware To me…
I’m not saying that it’s not good but th only MPEG-H support is for professional and it’s available in binaural mix for consumer which is completely nonsense to me if there’s hardware available to decode it properly.
Ps.: Fire Stick 4K is “another” capable system that should do the job but I’m VERY sure it won’t
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Either Marantz jumped the gun or else one hand (Tidal/Amazon) doesn't know what the other (Marantz) is doing.
Have you reached out to Marantz technical support?
I didn’t reach out Marantz yet. I think the problem is from Amazon/Tidal, or Chromecast TV. Let’s say I’m not interested in 360/Atmos thing and I bought the Chromecast for it’s 24/96 support and I want to play Hires music. That doesn’t work as they say, that starts an even further problem they didn’t solve. There are lots of topics on reddit about the MQA on Chromecast that couldn’t be streamed at the best quality available
And when looking at MPEG-H specifics on the Chromecast MPEG-H is restricted to mhm1 sub format, which is different from mha1 available from Tidal or Amazon
I think that is the App Player from TIDAL that has not been yet updated to 'recognize' the 7.1.4 MCH 360RA file (that we have confirmed is streamed by TIDAL), and bitstream it through HDMI.
The same way 'old' players like DUNE and Oppo, in my case, don't recognize the MPEG-H 3D format and cannot play the file.
The industry effort has been put on delivering immersive 360RA to the masses in the form of virtualized binaural stereo for headphones.
They are forgetting, or don't care about the small amount of consumers that want to play 360RA in a discrete speakers AVR system.
Have you tried it with the Tidal App on the Chromecast stick?
Have you tried it via the Chromecast protocol to stream a 360 Song to the Chromecast stick with your phone?
What is you Speaker Setup and which Marantz AVR do you have?
I get the errors (360 or MQA) when using Tidal in the Chromecast stick.
if I stream a 360RA song to my Chromecast it changes from 360 to Hifi.
i have a Marantz SR7015 in 7.1.4 configuration
I took a very quick look at the specs on the Marantz and didn't see anything about decoding 360RA?
Ahh--I wonder if that's the crux of the problem. I've tried Fraunhofer's VVPlayer for MPEG-H 3D, which is also (currently) limited to MPEG-H files using the mhm1 codec. I've been told that they will consider adding support for mha1 in a future software update; perhaps the decoder built into the new Marantz & Denon receivers could also be updated. It's odd both that Tidal & Amazon have chosen to use the older codec (when Deezer offered 360 RA, they used mhm1) and that Fraunhofer doesn't just support it out of the box.
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It should because it’s stated on Sony site, though it’s limited to only 220/240V models. I live in Italy
I think the 2023 models from Sound United (both Marantz and Denon--which have been discussed in another thread? or is it this one?) with 360 RA support aren't limited to the European versions, however.
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