WM8746

[rx7691]

Hi all
I finished building a DIR9001/TDA1543A Dac for my TV, and came to realize I cannot switch the output format from 5.1 to 2 channel for my DAC. In some quick research, I came across the WM8746 6-channel DAC. Does anybody have any experience with this IC, and if so, by reading through the manual, it seems rather straight forward!
Any inputs would be really great, as I would simply need to convert the 5.1 digital from my TOSLINK to 5 seperate channels, of which I would only take 2, for stereo. (My receiver is quite old and only uses two channels, and has no digital inputs....the reason for this project.....)

Thanks in advance!!

Ken

[rx7691]

Read through the spec sheet again, and it has 3 digital inputs, so I'm guessing it isn't able to decode the 5.1 into separate channels. any ideas of confirmation?
DACs | WM8746 | Wolfson Microelectronics

Ken

[BrianDonegan]

Unless something has changed recently, you need software to decode the 5.1 signal, licensed from Dolby Labs (etc), which you cannot just buy.

[rx7691]

Yeah, I was afraid of that. This may be a dumb question, but is all 5.1 audio 'dolby' formatted, whether it says dolby or not?

Ken

[SoNic_real_one]

Over a S/PDIF connection (copper or optical) you cannot send more that 2 uncompressed audio channels (PCM). There is not enough bandwidth.
In order to "cram" 5.1 channels you need some software compression scheme like DolbyDigital or DTS - are the facto standards for the existing receivers.
There are products that decode those signals, but those are hard to use by DYI. Example:
http://www.cirrus.com/en/products/cs495xx_family.html

[rx7691]

Thanks Sonic. You seem to be my worst enemy lately, with your constant delivery of bad news! hehe. I guess that's what the forums are for, right? For noobs like me to learn something and not sounds dumb again in the future

Thanks again for the help.

ken

[eclectic2k]

Originally Posted by SoNic_real_one

There are products that decode those signals, but those are hard to use by DYI.

or ST Micro STA310 ($12 @ digikey) ??

Likely still not easy to DIY. Though I've in the past been tempted to buy and crack open one of these:
Gefen, LLC - GefenTV Digital Audio Decoder

Then I realized it's just TV (that I don't watch much) and there isn't any programming where I'd care about sound quality.