Dolby Atmos decoding hardware ???

[VoidX]

Do any of the pro, usb DAC's, designed for mixing, which are 10+ channels, work with standard media players like Kodi, Foobar ect., or do they only playback in DAW's?

ASIO supports them if the player is prepared. Kodi can play sound, but for some reason it breaks if video is involved.

 

[JediJoker]

Do any of the pro, usb DAC's, designed for mixing, which are 10+ channels, work with standard media players like Kodi, Foobar ect., or do they only playback in DAW's?

On Windows, that will depend on your host software's support for ASIO audio drivers, most likely. On macOS, things will most likely "just work" thanks to Core Audio. Linux may also depend on ASIO support; I don't have enough experience to say.

 

[himey]

On Windows, that will depend on your host software's support for ASIO audio drivers, most likely. On macOS, things will most likely "just work" thanks to Core Audio. Linux may also depend on ASIO support; I don't have enough experience to say.

I should have mentioned Windows. With Mac you don't really need a 10 channel device because you can use multiple usb dac's.

 

[VoidX]

I should have mentioned Windows. With Mac you don't really need a 10 channel device because you can use multiple usb dac's.

Those can be merged on Windows with ASIO too.

 

[zeerround]

If you are talking about already decoded atmos, or not yet encoded atmos, etc. then yes, foobar2000 definitely does with a couple caveats. I can't speak for Kodi.

Flac only goes to 8 channels, so you have to use wav or wavpack (wavpack be a lossless compression scheme).

For longer tracks with high channel counts and/or high sampel rates, you may have to use a file format that supports more the 4.2 Gigs in a file (wavpack, w64, etc.,).

Somewhat off topic for this thread but the trick with foobar, to get it to properly play more than 6 channels, is all about channel mapping. Unfortunately there are multiple standards for channel order (in a wav file). Also every piece of software seems to have a different name for each channel, and some make assumptions about the channel mapping.

If you set up your outputs so the 5.1 rear channels come before the 7.1 side channels, you will have less futzing around to do to get 5.1 to play back properly (to put the rears in the rears, vs. sides).

I have a bunch of ffmpeg scripts batch scripts that I apply to the > 8 channel wav files, before using in foobar, to rearrange the channel order and mark it in a tag so a foobar channel mapping can be applied correctly. Media info then looks like:

As opposed to an unmodified 12 channel file:

In foobar ASIO output preferences, you then make your own channel map for that output device.

And here you can see an example of foobar having wonky channel names, compared to say Dolby:

Out 9 is Wide left
Out 10 is Wide right
Out 13 is Top Mid Left
Out 14 is Top Mid Right

You may notice I haven't followed my own advice about making the surrounds come before the sides, but that's because with the A16 making virtual speaker layouts I don't have any control over its input channel order.

Because of that, I sometimes need to use foobar's matrix mixer, to swap the sides and surrounds.

 

[zeerround]

Re: merging multiple audio interface with something like ASIO4ALL, reading the doc, it is possible that the two interfaces would drift out of sync (have different latencies) over time, if not driven by the same clock source inside your PC.

The ASIO4ALL doc says there is no way to predict when this would happen.

But I know at least 2 QQ'ers who are going to try with two HDMI/Display port outputs from a single GPU. They plan to use 2 different AVRs, with LPCM, to get to more than 8 channels, and in one case, de-embedding the LPCM to analog for an AVR with no HDMI inputs. I wish them luck and am tracking their progress.

I have done only a proof on concept here, making a composite ASIO interface out of a couple of random interfaces I have, but no extended listening tests.

 

[VoidX]

I have a bunch of ffmpeg scripts batch scripts

Can I have them to make Cavernize export with this metadata already in the files?

 

[HomerJAU]

Can I have them to make Cavernize export with this metadata already in the files?

Can I suggest the Cavernize export default should use the standard channel order and not the Cavern order?

 

[zeerround]

Who's standard channel order, and witch layouts?:0)

https://mediaarea.net/AudioChannelLayout
But anyway I will attach some scripts. Note that a) they have the path to ffmpeg/sox hardcoded, b) they don't work with ffmpeg 5.x, because it won't take a 12 channel file and complains about the syntax having changed, but no where can I find the new syntax.

Variations on:

ffmpeg.exe" -y -i %%x -acodec pcm_s24le -af "pan=7.1+TFL+TFR+TBL+TBR|FL=c0|FR=c1|FC=c2|LFE=c3|SL=c4|SR=c5|BL=c6|BR=c7|TFL=c8|TFR=c9|TBL=c10|TBR=c11" "%%~nx_12ch_mapped.wav"

 

[VoidX]

Can I suggest the Cavernize export default should use the standard channel order and not the Cavern order?

It does (E-AC-3 standard channels in their Dolby order), but it's not yet burned in the file.

But anyway I will attach some scripts.

Thanks!

 

[HomerJAU]

Who's standard channel order, and witch layouts?:0)

Probably the standard used by most with rears before sides as that’s what AVRs seem to play in my testing.

 

[VoidX]

Probably the standard used by most with rears before sides

It's already this way. Here are the orders.

 

[VoidX]

Who's standard channel order

WAVEFORMATEXTENSIBLE channel masks are now included in WAV exports in version 1.6. I'm disappointed because my player (MPC-HC) simply skips height channels if the channel count is over 8. Manual setup of the mixing matrix doesn't help, it even breaks <=8 channels.

 

[zeerround]

Foobar2000 and Adobe Audition are both working and can have their output mapped according to the Name of the channel (vs. to Order of the channels).

7.1.4 and 9.1.6

ffmpeg 4.x (5.x doesn't work) can add the channel names.

 

[zeerround]

To go beyond 8 channels you are going to need to use a player that supports ASIO devices, and have an ASIO driver for your device.

OR, have a WASAPI driver, for your device, that supports more than 8 channels (haven't see one in the wild, only loop back drivers).

 

[mandrix]

Since @zeerround mentioned it earlier in the thread, seems as good a place as any to talk about "my Frankenstein" pc setup to play Atmos.
If not then Mods please move it elsewhere or tell me where to place this post.

Inspired by @fredblue 's success with Atmos playback on his Mac and combining two AVR's to attain more channels. I managed to do something similar but using a pc and two AVR's.
I give full credit to zeeround in thinking this out and providing me a roadmap to get this done.

I have an AVR that is Atmos 5.1.2 capable, but I wanted to go beyond that to 5.1.4 or 7.1.4.
At present I'm pretty much limited to using the Dolby Reference Player for decoding along with the ASIO4ALL driver to attain 12 channel playback of Atmos, although I certainly can utulize all 12 channels in Foobar and Audition for pcm playback or mixing..

I'm using my Onkyo 8 channel AVR with input from my pc's HDMI out for the 7.1.
I'm using an older Sherwood all analog 5.1 input AVR, being fed by an HDMI > 7.1 analog extractor, and it in turn is fed by the Displayport out on my pc using a DA to HDMI cable.
This gives me the two sound devices in Windows I need to combine with ASIO4ALL.. Although only one device can be default, using ASIO4ALL (in apps that will let you use it) lets me combine the two devices and present as one 16 channel device to derive more channels..
So as I said, the Onkyo is giving me 7.1, and the HDMI extractor feeds the analog inputs on the Sherwood for the 4 overhead speakers. So effectively 7.1.4.

The ASIO4ALL driver took some time to get configured correctly. Not because the process is difficult, but because what I can only believe was interference from Windows 11.
Now it all just works.
All in, minus the two AVR's I already had, and the Dolby Reference Player, was roughly $70 for the Monoprice HDMI 7.1 analog extractor and the DA to HDMI cable.

Eventually I hope to get an Atmos capable 9.2 channel AVR. I'm looking at several that have the goods to give me 5.1.4 Atmos output but can process 2 more channels and send through the pre-outs to a separate amp if I choose to do so for 7.1.4 or maybe 5.2.6. In the mean time I'll just enjoy what I have.

 

[himey]

I noticed that DRP has its own channel mapping feature. Can someone tell me if it re-routes the channel? Say I turn off the center channel. Is it smart enough to send that center channel audio to the front speakers?
Does anyone know of an Atmos mix with the majority of the lead vocals in the center channel? Maybe one of the Steven Wilson mixes? I would like to test turning off the center and see if the vocals get sent to the front, like it would with a receiver. Thanks in advance.

 

[mandrix]

I noticed that DRP has its own channel mapping feature. Can someone tell me if it re-routes the channel? Say I turn off the center channel. Is it smart enough to send that center channel audio to the front speakers?
Does anyone know of an Atmos mix with the majority of the lead vocals in the center channel? Maybe one of the Steven Wilson mixes? I would like to test turning off the center and see if the vocals get sent to the front, like it would with a receiver. Thanks in advance.

Never tried it. But I don't think so. Don't currently have anything converted to truehd center-vocal centric.

 

[VoidX]

Does anyone know of an Atmos mix with the majority of the lead vocals in the center channel?

Try movies

 

[zcftr29]

Since @zeerround mentioned it earlier in the thread, seems as good a place as any to talk about "my Frankenstein" pc setup to play Atmos.
If not then Mods please move it elsewhere or tell me where to place this post.

Inspired by @fredblue 's success with Atmos playback on his Mac and combining two AVR's to attain more channels. I managed to do something similar but using a pc and two AVR's.
I give full credit to zeeround in thinking this out and providing me a roadmap to get this done.

I have an AVR that is Atmos 5.1.2 capable, but I wanted to go beyond that to 5.1.4 or 7.1.4.
At present I'm pretty much limited to using the Dolby Reference Player for decoding along with the ASIO4ALL driver to attain 12 channel playback of Atmos, although I certainly can utulize all 12 channels in Foobar and Audition for pcm playback or mixing..

I'm using my Onkyo 8 channel AVR with input from my pc's HDMI out for the 7.1.
I'm using an older Sherwood all analog 5.1 input AVR, being fed by an HDMI > 7.1 analog extractor, and it in turn is fed by the Displayport out on my pc using a DA to HDMI cable.
This gives me the two sound devices in Windows I need to combine with ASIO4ALL.. Although only one device can be default, using ASIO4ALL (in apps that will let you use it) lets me combine the two devices and present as one 16 channel device to derive more channels..
So as I said, the Onkyo is giving me 7.1, and the HDMI extractor feeds the analog inputs on the Sherwood for the 4 overhead speakers. So effectively 7.1.4.

The ASIO4ALL driver took some time to get configured correctly. Not because the process is difficult, but because what I can only believe was interference from Windows 11.
Now it all just works.
All in, minus the two AVR's I already had, and the Dolby Reference Player, was roughly $70 for the Monoprice HDMI 7.1 analog extractor and the DA to HDMI cable.

Eventually I hope to get an Atmos capable 9.2 channel AVR. I'm looking at several that have the goods to give me 5.1.4 Atmos output but can process 2 more channels and send through the pre-outs to a separate amp if I choose to do so for 7.1.4 or maybe 5.2.6. In the mean time I'll just enjoy what I have.

Hi Boondocks... I think that must make me the other one! I've been playing with trying to set up a (very) low budget Atmos system for the past few weeks and I'm just about there.

I had an existing 5.1 setup using a Yamaha RX-v667 7.1 reciever which is several years old now, and inspired by this article (Building A 7.1.4 Dolby Atmos System On A Budget | IAA) have picked up a second AVR (Onkyo TX-sr605) from ebay for £45 plus 4 second-hand ceiling speakers (Polk Audio RC601) for £90. I've used an old PC from work which has both HDMI and two Display Ports on the motherboard to drive both AVR's via ASIO4all (I used the DP ports) with decoding of Atmos content by DRP and WavPack files by Foobar. All seems to work well so far, balancing the levels from the two ARV's is a little tricky, but I used a sound meter app on my phone with a test tone file I created in Audition which did the job. I've only gone 5.1.4 so far due to space limitations, but I will add sides if I can work out the speaker placement. To run both AVR's to a single Subwoofer, I made a simple passive mixer cable like this (Why are two 1 kΩ resistors used for this additive stereo to mono conversion? (For audio inputs to an amplifier)) - I just needed a couple of 1k resistors at a grand cost of 7p each!!

I'm a fan of creating my own upmixes (see here: Demucs + CentreCutCL - Stereo-to-5.1 Script v 0.2b) and intend to make use of the extra height channels in future versions of my script. I am super excited that I can now hear the explosion of Atmos mixes that have come out over the past few years, together with Sony 360RA stuff - Bowie 'Space Oddity is great with the countdown circling above your head!

I'm quite keen to do a write up of the whole process similar to the article that originally inspired me - which I would post here so that others can also have a go.