Are there any 'affordable' multi-channel network music players with an HDMI output

[SeeMoreDigital]

As the title says: Are there any affordable multi-channel network players with an HDMI output that can be connected to an AVR.

All I've seen are stereo units which offer optical/coaxial SPDIF outputs ranging from cheap to very expensive but nothing that can bit-stream Atmos, DTS-HD MA and Flac multi-channel audio files that are stored on my (Synology) NAS.

Surely there's a gap in the market for such a device?

EDIT: Added 'Atmos, DTS-HD MA and Flac' information.

 

[steelydave]

That's what this thread is about:

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-who-cares-about-dolby-vision-playback.36509/

There are plenty of others but I can personally vouch for this one because it's what I use. I think I paid $190 Canadian (approx 110GBP) which seems 'affordable' to me, but maybe @HomerJAU or others could chime in with budget alternatives.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

If you are willing to run Kodi as a media player, you can do it for as little as $50 US with a firestick.

https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/forums/threads/amazon-firestick-4k-max-for-surround-music.35316/

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks to both of you...

I bought myself a couple of second-gen 4K Fire Sticks last year but it all seemed a little too complicated to set them up. The Ugoos AM6B+ looks interesting though.

I was hoping there would be something more 'hi-fi' device looking?!

 

[jimfisheye]

One could put together a frugal computer for very cheap. Either something used for pennies on the dollar. (People sell fully functional computers when their hard drive dies or OS gets corrupted, right.) Or some Raspberry Pie solution could easily be a media server.

The challenges are still 100% working around proprietary decoders and copy protection gone wild schemes. The AVR in question and catering to its HDMI input if there are any restrictions is probably the main question.

You really can find 10 year old fully functional computers that were just abandoned for $50 - $100 though.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

One could put together a frugal computer for very cheap. Either something used for pennies on the dollar. (People sell fully functional computers when their hard drive dies or OS gets corrupted, right.) Or some Raspberry Pie solution could easily be a media server.

I really don't want to buy/build an HTPC type device and have it connected to an AVR. However, a Raspberry Pi sounds interesting (as it offers two HDMI outputs) but only if it can bit-stream lossless Dolby TrueHD audio (with Atmos) and DTS-HD MA via HDMI and transcode 6 and 8 channel Flac to LPCM...

 

[jimfisheye]

I really don't want to buy/build an HTPC type device and have it connected to an AVR. However, a Raspberry Pi sounds interesting (as it offers two HDMI outputs) but only if it can bit-stream lossless Dolby TrueHD audio (with Atmos) and DTS-HD MA via HDMI and transcode 6 and 8 channel Flac to LPCM...

It's either a computer under your control or a computer (called something else) but that is not under your control. (Root OS access and software control.) You can always treat the thing like a specialty single purpose device once setup.

Dolby Atmos is still proprietary. Track down the software or use a hardware product with the decoder installed to it where you don't have root software control and it can be disabled on you. Hoops to jump through either way at present. There's no 3rd choice here yet.

But either way you could treat any computer as a special purpose device. This gives you a matter of fact way to confirm bit perfect or not too FWIW.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Dolby Atmos is still proprietary. Track down the software or use a hardware product with the decoder installed to it where you don't have root software control and it can be disabled on you. Hoops to jump through either way at present. There's no 3rd choice here yet.

Hmmmm... Why would you need any of this if all you're intending to do is pass the native lossless Atmos or DTS-HD MA bit-stream to an dedicated external decoder via HDMI?

 

[jimfisheye]

You need to host those encoded source files somewhere and serve them with a media player. A "passthrough" capable media player in this example. Then you call that computer your media player and make your phone a remote control or something.

 

[paligap]

https://osmc.tv/vero/

I have an earlier version of this (Vero 4K+).

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

You need to host those encoded source files somewhere and serve them with a media player. A "passthrough" capable media player in this example. Then you call that computer your media player and make your phone a remote control or something.

Like many people here I have all my multi-channel audio files hosted on my (Synology) NAS. What I'm looking for is a device/method of accessing and playing them and sending the multi-channel bitstream via HDMI to an AVR.

 

[DuncanS]

I have an Odroid N2 with CoreElec running Kodi, see https://www.quadraphonicquad.com/fo...-to-setup-and-install-kodi.27166/#post-449077

Though its been out the rack for (quite) a while as I was 'playing' with other Universal Disc Players, it did work well, never tried it with Atmos pass through.

£110.39 https://www.odroid.co.uk/bundles/odroid-bundles/CoreElec4GB

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Thanks, it looks most interesting...

 

[LuvMyQuad]

Hmmmm... Why would you need any of this if all you're intending to do is pass the native lossless Atmos or DTS-HD MA bit-stream to an dedicated external decoder via HDMI?

How are your Atmos files ripped? MKV/MKA or m4a?

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

How are your Atmos files ripped? MKV/MKA or m4a?

I have muxed all my Blu-ray audio disc back-ups (Atmos and DTS-HD MA) into the .mka container using MKVtoolNix GUI.

The native DTS audio streams of all DTS-CD's and DVD's have also been muxed into the .mka container. I've even started muxing multi-channel Flac audio into the .mka container.

 

[LuvMyQuad]

I have muxed all my Blu-ray audio disc back-ups (Atmos and DTS-HD MA) into the .mka container using MKVtoolNix GUI.

The native DTS audio streams of all DTS-CD's and DVD's have also been muxed into the .mka container. I've even started muxing multi-channel Flac audio into the .mka container.

Just keep in mind that any media player that uses Kodi will rely on the files to be properly tagged. Right now, you cant directly tag MKA/MKV, although this may be changing in the future. The workaround now is to use MKA plus a CUE file that names and indexes the tracks. This allows proper playback with a displayed tracklist and will also play gapless. Without a CUE file, kodi wont even see the MKA files on the network. This all applies mainly to Atmos playback. I'm unsure of native DTS, but since those have to be bit perfect just to facilitate any playback at all, i assume they cant be tagged either. I convert those to FLAC and use standard tagging routines. Only my Atmos rips use MKA. Everything else is ripped to FLAC.

What advantage do you find to mux MCH FLAC to MKA?

 

[jimfisheye]

Like many people here I have all my multi-channel audio files hosted on my (Synology) NAS. What I'm looking for is a device/method of accessing and playing them and sending the multi-channel bitstream via HDMI to an AVR.

Exactly. And building your own "device" is an option.

 

[somethingcleveridunno]

Like many people here I have all my multi-channel audio files hosted on my (Synology) NAS. What I'm looking for is a device/method of accessing and playing them and sending the multi-channel bitstream via HDMI to an AVR.

Nvidia Shield is highly recommended in the Plex community for its TrueHD and DTS-HD:MA compatibility. 2019 and newer models have full Atmos support, 2017 and earlier have Atmos passthrough. A Shield running Kodi will support FLAC and DSD files (native SACD rips). And be controlled from a smartphone app.

 

[steelydave]

Exactly. And building your own "device" is an option.

Except to build a computer that does what any of these android streaming boxes do, you'd have to pay 10x the price and it wouldn't - and no computer ever weill - support Dolby Vision playback.

 

[Mr. Afternoon]

Right now, you cant directly tag MKA/MKV, although this may be changing in the future.

I'm able to tag MKAs, it might depend on whether your software player reads those tags. I think anything using FFMPEG can read those tags. Foobar and VLC/MPC seem to.