Surround Master v2 digital outputs mod

[oelli]

Hi!
My system uses dedicated digital amplifiers for front and back channels (Devialet expert PRO), they work best when using their digital inputs.
For my oppo UDP-203 I have a mod, that replaces the analog output section with 4 coaxial SPDIF outputs (two channels on each connector).
As I unterstand it the Surround Master v2 internally also operates in the digital domain.
So would it be possible to make a modification to output directly the digital signals as SPDIF (avoid the D/A conversion of the Surround Master)?
Because I have digitized a lot of my quad vinyl a digital input mod for the Surround Master would also be great.

Thomas

 

[chucky3042]

Hi!
My system uses dedicated digital amplifiers for front and back channels (Devialet expert PRO), they work best when using their digital inputs.
For my oppo UDP-203 I have a mod, that replaces the analog output section with 4 coaxial SPDIF outputs (two channels on each connector).
As I unterstand it the Surround Master v2 internally also operates in the digital domain.
So would it be possible to make a modification to output directly the digital signals as SPDIF (avoid the D/A conversion of the Surround Master)?
Because I have digitized a lot of my quad vinyl a digital input mod for the Surround Master would also be great.

Thomas

Hi Thomas

We have no plans on the basic SM at the moment to do s but it is something we are looking at of our new super surround preamp .....see Involve Audio Super Surround Preamp (Preliminary info)

 

[oelli]

Hi Thomas

We have no plans on the basic SM at the moment to do s but it is something we are looking at of our new super surround preamp .....see Involve Audio Super Surround Preamp (Preliminary info)

Thanks chucky for the quick response!

This would be great!
I see SPDIF input mentioned in the specs of the Surround Preamp but no outputs. Can the HDMI output be used for multichannel sound? Then I could feed this into my modified oppo and let the oppo convert to SPDIF.

It would be great if a surround passionate record label could be convinced to deliver some of their multichannel recordings as Involve encoded material to iTunes and/or streaming platforms. Nothing exceeds this magic: From an apparently stereo track you get the full surround experience with this magic box.

 

[Overture]

Well SP/DIF is compressed in anything but two channel PCM - we don't currently have plans for HDMI out as the license fee is extortion, but we MIGHT be able to do multi-channel PCM out of a displayport connector that is HDMI compatible - then you can use a cheap DP -> HDMI converter to ferry the signal along.
Even earlier versions of DisplayPort have 8 channels, and the standard is royalty-free. It's also a slightly more reliable connector.

I'll investigate further.

~Bitch

 

[oelli]

Well SP/DIF is compressed in anything but two channel PCM - we don't currently have plans for HDMI out as the license fee is extortion, but we MIGHT be able to do multi-channel PCM out of a displayport connector that is HDMI compatible - then you can use a cheap DP -> HDMI converter to ferry the signal along.
Even earlier versions of DisplayPort have 8 channels, and the standard is royalty-free. It's also a slightly more reliable connector.

I'll investigate further.

~Bitch

I know SP/DIF is only uncompressed for stereo, therefore the Vanity203HD board for the oppo UDP-203 has 4xSP/DIF outputs for 8 channels (7.1):

https://static.webshopapp.com/shops/170546/files/175162763/vanity203-user-manual-v2.pdf
Each SP/DIF handles 2 channels up to 24/192kHz. I use only two of them for front and rear (quadraphonic setup) and the speaker management of the player to convert 5.1 und 7.1 sources to 4.0. The Vanity203HD can even convert DSD to PCM or output DSD via SPDIF as DoP. And the SP/DIF can be modified to allow AES/EBU instead.

This thing is useful for all people that have for example active speakers with digital inputs or for people with multiple stereo amplifiers or stereo DACs. It was the only proper way I found to keep the SACD, DVD, Blu-Ray sound in the digital domain as long as possible and to avoid an A/V-receiver that is sonically imperfect (I am an audio first and home cinema second guy).

The way with the DisplayPort output could be a solution for me.

Thomas

 

[chucky3042]

It would be great if a surround passionate record label could be convinced to deliver some of their multichannel recordings as Involve encoded material to iTunes and/or streaming platforms. Nothing exceeds this magic: From an apparently stereo track you get the full surround experience with this magic box.

So true and that is a major direction we are slowly pursuing, we are still working of a studio surround sound encoder plugin software version.