Neumi Atom 4K as an Atmos music server

[JediJoker]

So therefore there is still no affordable, all-in-one solution for playing all multichannel audio file formats? (and I mean currently commercially available, not buying an old Oppo machine for example)

Perhaps ask @steelydave about the Ugoos AM6B.

 

[steelydave]

Perhaps ask @steelydave about the Ugoos AM6B.

It's a great solution if you want a 'does everything' hardware box, and as anyone who's seen that thread will know I love it, but there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of similar boxes of varying specs that can be made to run either Android + a media player like Kodi (or similar) or dedicated software solutions like CoreElec. If you're happy to spend $200 CAD (or equivalent) and don't mind doing a little bit of geeky software tinkering then it's the perfect answer, but there are cheaper and more plug-and-play solutions too.

Not to pass the buck again but @HomerJAU probably would have more insight into other alternatives - I actually wonder if we could make some kind of table where people could submit media players and what A/V formats they support, but there's so many of them it may be an impossible task.

 

[FusionHead]

It's a great solution if you want a 'does everything' hardware box, and as anyone who's seen that thread will know I love it, but there are literally dozens, if not hundreds of similar boxes of varying specs that can be made to run either Android + a media player like Kodi (or similar) or dedicated software solutions like CoreElec. If you're happy to spend $200 CAD (or equivalent) and don't mind doing a little bit of geeky software tinkering then it's the perfect answer, but there are cheaper and more plug-and-play solutions too.

Not to pass the buck again but @HomerJAU probably would have more insight into other alternatives - I actually wonder if we could make some kind of table where people could submit media players and what A/V formats they support, but there's so many of them it may be an impossible task.

Thanks, I don't mind spending the money, but don't really want a box that I have to tinker with software to make work. Simple is good! So yes, a list of all devices showing which audio formats are supported would be excellent!

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Well, THAT really sucks! I had no idea. It said it supports MKV, MP4, FLAC, so I just assumed that it would support multichannel audio from all of these.

MKV and MP4 are 'containers'... It's what's placed within the container that's important to know.

Atmos excepted, I'd be interested know how many of these little Android devices are able to 'transcode' lossless multi-channel audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA to multichannel PCM or even lossy multi-channel audio formats such as Dolby Digital (AC-3) and DTS (DCA) to multichannel PCM.

 

[atlantasteve]

Well, THAT really sucks! I had no idea. It said it supports MKV, MP4, FLAC, so I just assumed that it would support multichannel audio from all of these.
So therefore there is still no affordable, all-in-one solution for playing all multichannel audio file formats? (and I mean currently commercially available, not buying an old Oppo machine for example)

That is the reason I returned my device. In the meantime, I am using an external hard drive dedicated to MCH plugged into my OPPO. Not an ideal solution but serviceable.

 

[FusionHead]

MKV and MP4 are 'containers'... It's what's placed within the container that's important to know.

Atmos excepted, I'd be interested know how many of these little Android devices are able to 'transcode' lossless multi-channel audio formats such as Dolby TrueHD and DTS HD-MA to multichannel PCM or even lossy multi-channel audio formats such as Dolby Digital (AC-3) and DTS (DCA) to multichannel PCM.

Yes, thanks. I bought the Neumi 4K on the recommendation of Jonathan at Immersive Audio Album, and it works well for MKV Atmos, transcoding all properly. It is only MP4 (and apparently FLAC) multichannel that are not supported.

 

[FusionHead]

That is the reason I returned my device. In the meantime, I am using an external hard drive dedicated to MCH plugged into my OPPO. Not an ideal solution but serviceable.

I sent a message to Neumi support regarding lack of support for MP4 5.1 files and received this answer back: "The issue you mentioned has also been observed in our tests, where multi-channel audio encoded in LPCM is only output as stereo. Our development team is working to resolve this bug, but we currently do not have an exact timeline." I assume that he is referring to both MP4 and FLAC containers with LPCM. So I will keep my Neumi 4K because it works well for MKV Atmos, and hope that they develop a fix for MP4 and FLAC that can be implemented as a software upgrade.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Yes, thanks. I bought the Neumi 4K on the recommendation of Jonathan at Immersive Audio Album, and it works well for MKV Atmos, transcoding all properly. It is only MP4 (and apparently FLAC) multichannel that are not supported.

Hmmm.... Transcoding or bit-streaming?

'Transcoding' means that the 'device' is able to convert any 2-channel or multi-channel audio format to a 2-channel or multi-channel PCM stream before passing via HDMI to your AVR.
'Bit-streaming' means that the device performs no internal conversion. It simple passes through the original bit-stream via HDMI to your AVR.

There's no-way this device is able to 'transcode' an Atmos bit-stream to a multi-channel PCM stream as all the height channel meta-data would be lost.

 

[FusionHead]

Hmmm.... Transcoding or bit-streaming?

'Transcoding' means that the 'device' is able to convert any 2-channel or multi-channel audio format to a 2-channel or multi-channel PCM stream before passing via HDMI to your AVR.
'Bit-streaming' means that the device performs no internal conversion. It simple passes through the original bit-stream via HDMI to your AVR.

There's no-way this device is able to 'transcode' an Atmos bit-stream to a multi-channel PCM stream as all the height channel meta-data would be lost.

Obviously, I'm not using the correct jargon, sorry. To be clear, I want to be able to play MP4 5.1 audio from the Neumi, and their response makes clear that this is a currently a problem with multichannel LCPM playing as stereo only, and they are working on enabling multichannel. I am no expert, so I can't say if this will entail simply enabling "passthrough" of the LPCM multichannel audio, but I assume so. My Denon AVR successfully plays MP4 5.1 files from my Sony Blu-Ray player's USB port, which I assume is multichannel LCPM passthrough.

 

[SeeMoreDigital]

Obviously, I'm not using the correct jargon, sorry. To be clear, I want to be able to play MP4 5.1 audio from the Neumi, and their response makes clear that this is a currently a problem with multichannel LCPM playing as stereo only, and they are working on enabling multichannel. I am no expert, so I can't say if this will entail simply enabling "passthrough" of the LPCM multichannel audio, but I assume so. My Denon AVR successfully plays MP4 5.1 files from my Sony Blu-Ray player's USB port, which I assume is multichannel LCPM passthrough.

For clarity... The .MP4 container supports several different types of audio stream such as: AAC, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital+ (E-AC-3), lossy Atmos, lossless Atmos, DTS and PCM. Do you know the exact type of audio stream that has been placed within the .mp4 container?

If not, you can determine this by running the problem file through an application called MediaInfo (which must be set to text mode) and posting what it reports 'in full' as a text file.

 

[FusionHead]

For clarity... The .MP4 container supports several different types of audio stream such as: AAC, Dolby Digital (AC-3), Dolby Digital+ (E-AC-3), lossy Atmos, lossless Atmos, DTS and PCM. Do you know the exact type of audio stream that has been placed within the .mp4 container?

If not, you can determine this by running the problem file through an application called MediaInfo (which must be set to text mode) and posting what it reports 'in full' as a text file.

Thanks for the tip about MediaInfo, I installed it and have determined that all of the MP4 5.1 files I have (acquired from various sources), have audio streams specified as AAC LC. From what I've read, AAC LC may be compressed and lossy compared to LPCM. These MP4 files play successfully in 5.1 audio from my Sony Blu-Ray player, but not from the Neumi. As the Neumi support rep referred to problems playing 'LPCM' audio, I will follow up with him and mention that the files I am trying to pay are AAC LC. Hopefully they can develop support for both multichannel formats.

 

[nikomen]

Pros (for me):

Pros (for me):

• It works with MKV files for full 7.1.4 through my Denon

When you say it plays 7.1.4 through your Denon, you mean it plays back Atmos MKV files in Atmos?

 

[atlantasteve]

When you say it plays 7.1.4 through your Denon, you mean it plays back Atmos MKV files in Atmos?

I did not find the unit to playback anything in atmos.

 

[nikomen]

I did not find the unit to playback anything in atmos.

Even in Passthrough mode?

 

[César]

When you say it plays 7.1.4 through your Denon, you mean it plays back Atmos MKV files in Atmos?

I does play MKVs with Atmos

 

[nikomen]

I does play MKVs with Atmos

Thanks! Amazon delivery tomorrow!

 

[nikomen]

Okay, just received the Neumi 4K and testing it out. The good news is that it plays MKV Atmos files successfully with all 7.1.4 channels, when you set Audio to RAW Passthrough. The bad news is I can't get it to play MP4 5.1 files with full surround... it only plays them as stereo, no matter whether I have Audio set to RAW Passthrough or Default. Anybody got a way to fix this? Or does Neumi 4K simply not play MP4 5.1? It is not clear in the manual whether it will or not

So just to clarify, it will play back Atmos MKV files in Atmos? And is the USB really need to be 2.0? I use a different player for all my non-Atmos multichannel files (FLAC 5.1). Are you using the HDMI output to your AVR, or your AVR's USB interface?

 

[César]

So just to clarify, it will play back Atmos MKV files in Atmos? And is the USB really need to be 2.0? I use a different player for all my non-Atmos multichannel files (FLAC 5.1). Are you using the HDMI output to your AVR, or your AVR's USB interface?

Yes to the payback question. I think I have USB drives that are 2.0 and 3.0. No issues at all.
HDMI connection towards AVR is mandatory.

 

[FusionHead]

I does play MKVs with Atmos

So just to clarify, it will play back Atmos MKV files in Atmos? And is the USB really need to be 2.0? I use a different player for all my non-Atmos multichannel files (FLAC 5.1). Are you using the HDMI output to your AVR, or your AVR's USB interface?

Correct, the Atom 4K plays MKV files that contain Atmos audio. The Atom 4K connects by HDMI to my Denon AVR which then plays that Atmos audio over all 7.1.4 channels. You must use HDMI between the Atom and the AVR.

The Atmos 4K does seem to accept USB 3.0 drives. I am using a portable SSD drive over USB 3.0 and it works fine.

Like you, I use a separate method for playing non-Atmos multichannel audio (5.1 MP4, FLAC). I put those files on a USB stick connected to my Sony X800 Blu-Ray player, which is then connected to my Denon AVR.

If, at some point in future, the Atom 4K supports MP4 and FLAC 5.1 audio, I can use the Atom for all of them. However, I contacted Neumi about this and they said that to enable support for those other formats would require a "new chip". Therefore, it is unlikely the current release of the Atom 4K will be upgradeable (i.e. firmware update) to support that.

 

[nikomen]

Yes to the payback question. I think I have USB drives that are 2.0 and 3.0. No issues at all.
HDMI connection towards AVR is mandatory.

Thanks!