Hi, Pavel. Any news on my VanityPro Which won't boot ?

Hi Ecess,
Did you see my PM?
Cheers,
Pavel

Hi Pavel,
I received my unit on Thursday and have been using it the last couple days. It has the latest firmware and the multichannel XLR output board. So far I haven’t experienced the dropout issues reported by others with the previous version of the firmware.

My setup is described briefly below.

Blu-ray player {configured to output LPCM and for SACDs, DSD} >> VanityPro >> Okto DAC8 Pro

In my listening tests so far I’ve had the VanityPro configured to convert DSD to PCM with 176.4 KHz output sample rate and using the Slow HB filter.

I tested a mix of DVD-Audio and SACD stereo and multichannel discs. My SACDs and DVD/Blu-ray audio discs now sound pretty good when played from my Blu-ray player. I’ll have to do a proper A/B comparison but I think it sounds pretty close in quality to what I get when I stream the DSD and FLAC files direct to my DAC over USB.

However I think I may have identified a bug in the SACD 4.0 downmix implementation. I observed the following:

With 4.0 music in a 5.1 container ( so LFE and C are empty) the downmix output is stereo instead of a 6dB lower version of the quad input

With 5.0 music in a 5.1 container ( LFE empty) the downmix output only has content in FL , FR and C instead of a true 4.0 output

With 3.0 music in a 5.1 container ( LFE, SL and SR empty) the downmix output only has content in FL , FR and C instead of a true 4.0 output . Also I can tell that the center channel wasn’t added to the front left and right channels as the vocals on this album are all in the center channel and that remains the case when the downmix mode is enabled.

So it looks like the downmix formula in the manual is not being applied and it simply drops the rear channels when this mode is activated. Please fix this in the next firmware release.

Otherwise, this is a fantastic unit and I’m very satisfied with my purchase.

Thanks,
Esosa



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/16/2022 10:23PM by Ozymandias.

Hi Esosa,
Thanks a lot for your feedback! I am glad to hear that you are happy with the product. The dropouts should not happen any more with the new firmware even without adjusting the DPLL setting of the ESS DAC in the OKTO, so thanks for confirming that. We will have a look into the 4.0 downmix function. Should you have more feedback or comments, don't hesitate to share!
Thanks again!
Best Regards,
Pavel

HDCP doesn't seem relevant for audio. I have the Vanity Pro working well with Roon Labs and Jriver. Sound quality is superb.



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/18/2022 12:21AM by Karl W..

Hi Esosa,
I have checked the DSD 4.0 downmix algorithm and it is indeed messed up a little. It is now the surround channels instead of LFE and Center that get mixed with the front channels, while the FLE and Center are thrown away. Thanks for flagging this up, it will get fixed in the next firmware version.
Best Regards,
Pavel

Ozymandias Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------

> So it looks like the downmix formula in the manual
> is not being applied and it simply drops the rear
> channels when this mode is activated. Please fix
> this in the next firmware release.

Hi Karl,
Many thanks for your feedback. I mam glad to hear the Vanity^PRO delivers on the audio quality front!
Best Regards,
Pavel

Karl W. Wrote:
-------------------------------------------------------
> HDCP doesn't seem relevant for audio. I have the
> Vanity Pro working well with Roon Labs and Jriver.
> Sound quality is superb.

Hello Pavel,
Is it possible to set the audio delay in the VanityPro?
With an eARC HDMI from the TV into the VanityPRO, I consider to use the USB module and apply convolution in Jriver for room correction.
This would add a substantial delay to the sound.
Could I adjust the audio delay in the VanityPro?
Such that the audio is AHEAD of the video up to 0.5 seconds to compensate the audio delay from the convolution engine further up in the audio chain.
Regards, Frank

Hello Frank,
At the moment, there is no audio delay adjustment in the VanityPRO. There is still some RAM left in the FPGA to implement a small delay line - in 8 channels the resources are disappearing quickly - and we will consider the implementation in due course. I understand your intended application and associated requirements, but I am afraid this is something completely different league. Delaying audio is relatively easy. It still takes some memory, but it is not crazy numbers. IF you want to make audio to go AHEAD of video, then you need to delay the video and we are talking HUGE amount of data. Not mentioning having to extract video from HDMI for per-frame delay adjustment, etc. I did a quick search and there seems to be some devices doing this listed HERE.
Hope it helps.
Regards,
Pavel

Hi,

Is the Downmix Function suitable for running a 5.1 Audio signal into the AP and having it output 2 channel stereo?

I tried this using my Sony UDP X-1100ES and the result was the vocals all were pretty much only coming out of the right speaker. I switched off the Downmix and the vocals were balanced between the two speakers, but I think I mass missing some of the mix from the rear and center channel. Any ideas?

EDIT: I continued to play with the settings, shutting off the rear and special effects channels (leaving on the front stereo), and it still didn’t work. All vocals are coming out of the right front. I tried the swap channel, that didn’t work either. I shut off the downmix on the AP and instead I’m using the downmix on the UDP and that seems to work. Not sure the sound quality is optimal, but it’s working!



Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/09/2024 12:35AM by Drew769.

Hi Drew769,
Thanks for the post. It is hard to tell, where the issue with downmix might be. Could you please share more details how the VanityPRO is configured and what firmware version it is running? Also, can you confirm the player is configured to output full 5.1 or 7.1 channels and you get correct number of channels shown in the home screen on the VanityPRO? I have just checked the mixing ratios with the latest firmware and it all seems to be fine as per description in the user manual. I would also suggest to use some channel ID test tracks to help you identify if you are getting the correct mix and how the downmix output sounds. You can find some multichannel ID files here: https://www2.iis.fraunhofer.de/AAC/multichannel.html
Please try and let us know.

Regards,
Pavel