Reality Technologies - New surround technology

[chucky3042]

Hi Lizard King

towards the end of this month, things have been a bit delayed on the plastic box mold but all is progressing. I will give QQ members first preference.

Regards

Charlie

Regards

Hey Charlie

When is a unit likely to be available for shipping to QQ members?

 

[Quadwreck]

Any comparisons to the Sansui QSD-1?

 

[rustyandi]

I have played Involve decoder for a couple of months now
and have had the QSD-1 for 35 years
As a QS decoder it is a 3 band unit.
It has a better front centre hold on the vocal
And as good or better
A friend said that it has a bit better
open sound
The separation is perfect
If and when my QSD-1 breaks down I will miss it
but I will still have the best QS decoder

 

[Overture]

Hello all. David again.

I've been largely keeping quiet because you all know Charlie and he's good at "honest spinning". I'm the guy wrestling the format to the ground and forcing it into the Surround Master. Thought you'd like to know that, good as it is, I've just tweaked something in the equations that makes it even better.

I won't get too technical, but let's say for argument's sake that that there are 3 sets of mathematics listening to each area and making decisions accordingly.
Well it turns out that 1/3 of 1 of those sets was being misrepresented because of the way the mixing components work in the architecture we're using.

Long story short, the circular imaging has been tightened up - now that every component of the equation is being represented properly, the sound is more coherent.

If you remember the three-gun rear projection televisions? They had RGB guns and a "convergence" setting to make sure they all aligned with each other, this is kind of like that, but for audio, in one little part of it. The sort of thing where you don't realise you were getting less-than-perfect results until you heard the difference.
It's not night and day, the underlying algorithm hasn't changed and the decisions are still the same, it's just better.
I wouldn't have felt bad if it had shipped the way it was, but now I'm happier.

In Charlie's words "I messed up" - that's the gentle version of what he said. I blame society.

In other news, we've almost got the center-channel beast hog-tied and submissive, for all you 5.1 fanatics out there (Yes, both of you).

Cheers
David.

 

[byrdman7]

Hi David,
Thank you for your "hog" work.

Regards,
Reagan (1 of 2)

In other news, we've almost got the center-channel beast hog-tied and submissive, for all you 5.1 fanatics out there (Yes, both of you).

Cheers
David.[/QUOTE]

 

[Q8]

I'm guessing its too early for an estimate on a release date and price of the "pro" model with SQ capabilities

 

[phydo]

Charlie:

Will we be able to download firmware updates?

Justin

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Q8

My best guess is the start of next year.

Regards

charlie

I'm guessing its too early for an estimate on a release date and price of the "pro" model with SQ capabilities

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Justin

Unfortunately the plastic box is the limitation - no room for a connection! But we will be offering a return to factory software update service. Having said that, we are spending a great deal of time going through all aspects of the software in these last few weeks before initial release. I have threatened severe beatings to David if there are ANY more errors.

Regards

Charlie

Regards

Charlie

Charlie:

Will we be able to download firmware updates?

Justin

 

[Q8]

Hi Charlie

If you are not able to add a conection for firmware upates with the initial version, you may consider doing so in the future. I believe you company is in Australia correct? It may be time consuming and costly for owners in the Americas and Europe to ship the unit back for a software update. Do you plan on having service providers abroad? Is there an internal interface that the tech-savvy user may be able to access and upgrade?

If this device is as amazing as it seems thus far, waiting for it to be shipped overseas, updated and shipped back may be difficult.

Hi Justin

Unfortunately the plastic box is the limitation - no room for a connection! But we will be offering a return to factory software update service. Having said that, we are spending a great deal of time going through all aspects of the software in these last few weeks before initial release. I have threatened severe beatings to David if there are ANY more errors.

Regards

Charlie

Regards

Charlie

 

[chucky3042]

Hi Q8

Yes, I agree with your comments.

We do have an 3 internally programmable 5 pin connectors on the board (yes there are 3 separate memory chips) and a memory chip blower is required.

We both want and welcome distributors in all countries but as yet none have stepped forward (we have not announced the product outside this forum yet), but a definite requirement will be service backup. Please note as the Surround Master is quite small and light the international postal rates are quite low in the mean time.

Regards

Charlie

Hi Charlie

If you are not able to add a conection for firmware upates with the initial version, you may consider doing so in the future. I believe you company is in Australia correct? It may be time consuming and costly for owners in the Americas and Europe to ship the unit back for a software update. Do you plan on having service providers abroad? Is there an internal interface that the tech-savvy user may be able to access and upgrade?

If this device is as amazing as it seems thus far, waiting for it to be shipped overseas, updated and shipped back may be difficult.

 

[Q8]

I really have to say that I'm glad that there are people like Charlie helping to design next gen surround options. Whether or not you agree with all that his company is doing, it's good to know that the company is truly concerned with making a quality audio experience and is truly interested in the oppinions of it's consumers.

 

[inkubuzz]

i got a...pretty dumb question, but Ill do it anyways.

I got a OPPO 93, the Oppo has HDMI outs and 7.1 analog outs. How do I connect this to the oppo and then to the reciever? I dont have a dedicated Cd Player so I could benfit from the Surround Master. I guess my only choice would be using hdmi por everything but CDs and analog for cds and I would have to change the output from the oppo every time... am I right?

Do yo have more pictures of the Surround Master??

 

[sukothai]

If I remember right, all outputs are active all the time on the Oppo. You don't have to switch anything.

 

[inkubuzz]

hmmm. ut if Im playng a CD and I have the player connected via analog to the receiver (5.1), how do I connect the surround master? im already using the analog output of the oppo right?


For DVDA, SACD, etc. I would have to use the HDMI output of the oppo, and for surround master I would have to use the analog, leaving my without DSD conversion directly form the oppo for my SACDS

....................................................HDMI 1 for SACD/DVDA, etc.......................FL/FR analog for the surround master, leaving me without fronts for 5.1 (or7.1) with analog output.


So, if I really want DSD for SACDs, I would have to buy an additional CD player, or am I missing something here?

What I think im trying to say is:

Wouldnt a HDMI (or coaxial or optical) input to the surround master be a good addition or is it just crazy talk what Im saying? @:
as I said, I dont know much about techincal stuff... I just enjoy musi and specialy sourround and I really want this Surround Master :banana:



Edit:

Oh, of course if the surround master has 5.1 inputs and 5.1 outputs, what I was saying does not have any logic at all and you guys can beat me up bad...

 

[sukothai]

I misunderstood your question. The 95 has an extra set of analogue outs, but you will have to get a switcher for the 93. A Zektor HDS4.1 works nicely.

 

[jsrstereo]

hmmm. ut if Im playng a CD and I have the player connected via analog to the receiver (5.1), how do I connect the surround master? im already using the analog output of the oppo right?


For DVDA, SACD, etc. I would have to use the HDMI output of the oppo, and for surround master I would have to use the analog, leaving my without DSD conversion directly form the oppo for my SACDS

....................................................HDMI 1 for SACD/DVDA, etc.......................FL/FR analog for the surround master, leaving me without fronts for 5.1 (or7.1) with analog output.


So, if I really want DSD for SACDs, I would have to buy an additional CD player, or am I missing something here?

What I think im trying to say is:

Wouldnt a HDMI (or coaxial or optical) input to the surround master be a good addition or is it just crazy talk what Im saying? @:
as I said, I dont know much about techincal stuff... I just enjoy musi and specialy sourround and I really want this Surround Master :banana:



Edit:

Oh, of course if the surround master has 5.1 inputs and 5.1 outputs, what I was saying does not have any logic at all and you guys can beat me up bad...

inkubuzz:

See Post # 108 for link to pdf of the Surround Master user manual - maybe that will help answer your questions. I believe it has 2-channel RCA analog inputs only, but no 5.1 inputs.

 

[chucky3042]

Hi All
Sorry about the delayed response, things are a bit busy.

Actually I am not familiar with the Oppo but you guys are correct in saying this version of the surround master only supports stereo RCA input, we chose this to keep the cost/ size down. I do maintain that stereo is still the most used format and I would prefer to see all manufactures provide this as a minimum.

Looking at the FAQ files from Oppo and a few other forums I found the following:

How do I hookup my 2-channel (stereo) audio system (to play SACD and DVD-A) to the player since it does not have stereo outs?

You have to use the FR and FL channels from the 7.1 analog outputs to get the stereo output (set the BDP-93 to do a stereo down-mix for > 2 channel sources). Also, just in case you are not aware, the BDP-95 will be released in the near future as a replacement of the BDP-83SE which will have much better DACs for analog outs. You may want to wait for it if you have a high end stereo setup.

So check the menu system, I will ask my main geek (Dave) tomorrow for verification.

Regards

Charlie

 

[Q8]

Charlie,
Aren't you limiting yourself a little bit by only offering stereo RCA inputs? The mainstream electronics people are going to have a hard time accepting this as the future of surround with only stereo RCA input jacks. I couldn't imagine it would increase the cost too much by adding a digital coax input. I know you are biased against 5.1, but there is already years and years of Movie and Music content recorded in 5.1. I believe you want this to be a hit with the home theater crowd, and I think you even mentioned trying to get INVOLVE used in the movie theater industry. Why turn your back on decades of discrete content? Even if the output is mixed back down to 4.0 or 4.1. If I want to play a movie, or a Multi-channel digital music piece, i would not want to pipe in stereo to your unit and let it create a new mix. I want to be able to hear the original mix the way the engineer intended (yes, I know, if I want to listen to the content this way, I can just connect a DVD player to a surround reciever. The only reason why I make this case is because you want to make this a sort of swiss army knife of preamplifier, a bridge between new and current and future technology. I would think that you would not want to omit an entire generation of content. )

Thanks!

 

[quadsearcher]

5.1 passthrough using HDMI or even just digital coax would require a D to A stage, a costly and unneeded complication, and while I like the swiss army knife idea, it is not practical. I'm just sayin', for me, I like to keep analog as analog, and digital in the digital domain until the final D/A stage.
IMHO.