Hi Jack,
I'd rather not use a PC if I can avoid it
And the good news is I actually *can*
I use one openDRC-DI + SMSL M8 DAC per speaker (JBL M2 clones), and I get all the filtering capabilities, bandwidth and dynamic I need.
What else to ask for?... Well, I'd love to have an integrated box and maybe better ASRCs...
As you say the DSP in not the expensive part, but it is 2017 and the now ten-years-old HD2 is still state of the art.
I'd love to see a box with one say Sharc DSP per output for serious filtering capabilities without having to ressort to FFT, decimation, or helping biquads tricks.
Imo PC is easier to use than any of the dedicated boxes and is getting ever easier.
setting up a dedicated pc running debian in a headless form and connected to an rme fireface is hopelessly easy for anyone in this thread,
and you have way more functionality than a box.
1. unlimited number of taps
2. more options for convolution (example cascading multiple filters on one channel(afaik impossible with open drc)
3. potentially much cheaper. A lot more.
4. you can change the filters or settings from anywhere in the world if the box has an internet connection
I know Im preaching to the choir here but just wanted to state this for the record
I have a totally silent pc running brutefir. any changes are done from my laptop via ssh. when I need to upload filters I create them on the laptop using rephase and use a simple command line ftp client to upload the files to the convolver pc. easy as pie.
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You got me thinking: https://www.kickstarter.com/project...to-surround-sound-for-the-raspber/description
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thanks very much, will have a look and will provide feedback here in case I m successful. cheers
Hello Pos, i'm not 1201 but i have an idea how it's done (
): an other PC (or other digital source) stream the output thru spdif or other digital out to the Fireface digital in. You could use the analog input of the Fireface too if you have analog source.
Given the quality of RME's AD/DA and stability of their drivers it is really interesting solution.
1201, could you open a thread about your configuration and notify about it here? I'm really interested in something like that and have some question and don't want to hijack the thread.
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Interesting
How do you stream your music to it?
hi, Since I use mine as a dedicated crossover, I still use an AVR for all my sources and just insert the pc stuff between the AVR and the amplifier.
it could be done digitally bypassing the avr and I have done it before but for home theater its mostly a headache.
Hello Pos, i'm not 1201 but i have an idea how it's done (
You could use the analog input of the Fireface too if you have analog source.
Given the quality of RME's AD/DA and stability of their drivers it is really interesting solution.
1201, could you open a thread about your configuration and notify about it here? I'm really interested in something like that and have some question and don't want to hijack the thread.
sure, ill open one later. my solution is quite inexpensive. more so than any hardware box I know.
cheap pc with a rme digi 9636 adat card, using an rme adi8 pro converter as the ad/da
another guy on another forum is using a tiny pc with the rme fireface ufx via usb for a more high end solution.
Yes exactly what i have in mind (i've got some 'old' but good quality multi i/o soundcard including a 9652 and Aardvark which aren't used so much anymore).
Your solution must be really close to a Fireface, RME ADI converters are quite good.
Thanks, it 's great if you could give information about your configuration including the solution you used for a quiet pc and the way to configure things (i've gave up some times ago about pc configurations... especially using different os than win once i've got my config stable enough-thanks RME!).
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My "smallest" Convolver is a Raspberry Pi B (SingleCore) together with a Wolfson Audio Card.
I am using a modified Kernel to get Mutichannel Out via HDMI using an Onkyo AVR as Multichannel Amp. The Pi is light overclocked.
The System is running headless, Brutefir is used as Convolver.
The SingleCore Pi is capable of running 2 Channels Input and 4 Channel Output. 8192 Taps are used for an overall Frequency Correction and 8192 are used as Crossover. (44.1 / 48 kHz HP and LP Filters are the same on both Stereo Channels, that is a bit confusing on the drawing)
The overall Frequency Correction can be changed ( i can choose between 3 Filters) Filters are changed via CLI with LIRC Scripts.
Music is coming in via SPDIF (Wolfson Card) or MPD running on the same Machine. CPU load is about 90% running rock stable for Hours.
Regards
I am using a modified Kernel to get Mutichannel Out via HDMI using an Onkyo AVR as Multichannel Amp. The Pi is light overclocked.
The System is running headless, Brutefir is used as Convolver.
The SingleCore Pi is capable of running 2 Channels Input and 4 Channel Output. 8192 Taps are used for an overall Frequency Correction and 8192 are used as Crossover. (44.1 / 48 kHz HP and LP Filters are the same on both Stereo Channels, that is a bit confusing on the drawing)
The overall Frequency Correction can be changed ( i can choose between 3 Filters) Filters are changed via CLI with LIRC Scripts.
Music is coming in via SPDIF (Wolfson Card) or MPD running on the same Machine. CPU load is about 90% running rock stable for Hours.
Regards
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B&H Photo Video has that RME ADI-8 at $2200! That is what I was talking about re' the cost of I/O for PC convolver
the pi2 can do 2 channels of 64k taps (e.g. http://www.audiovero.de/en/preamp-14-cleanvolver.php), not sure how many the rpi3 can do
I use Xonar U7 - quite another price
The RME is a weird choise for a multichannel DAC. It has onboard DSP, so you could actually do the eq and filtering with the onboard DSP, but not FIR I guess.
There are many very good USB I/O boxes with no DSP.
Try look at the ESI Gïgaport HD+ - a no nonsense 8 output device with RCA outputs
Even the Singlecore Raspi can do 64 k taps In/Out with 2 Channels on 44.1/48 kHz....
I have two that I bought for under $400 each on good old ebay.
if you are spending that kind of money you can get the fireface ufx for $1500 or the ucx for $899 ?? and those go via usb so no adat interface necessary.
Yes new it's not cheap especially latest generation, but in EU there is bunch of second hand first or second generation (limited to 48 or 96khz) for relatively cheap.
Given the quality of the AD/DA and you have 8 instance of them (8in or out) it' relatively cheap. And it's pro product not consummer, so in 10 year it will still work flawlessly... I've seen unit powered on 24/7 since early 2000 in studio. No problem with them.
Rme cards i know don't have dsp on board used for eq or other things: it's used for the mixing engine which is quite comprehensive and with lot's of routing capability real time as latency is impossible situation when you are tracking an artist. This by itself justify use of dsp in their product iirc.
RME converters are converters with great clocks built in. Just this make them a bargain (more or less equal to what an Apogee BigBen and the like are capable of).
But i don't try to convince anyone...
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I use Xonar U7 - quite another price
The RME is a weird choise for a multichannel DAC. It has onboard DSP, so you could actually do the eq and filtering with the onboard DSP, but not FIR I guess.
There are many very good USB I/O boxes with no DSP.
Try look at the ESI Gïgaport HD+ - a no nonsense 8 output device with RCA outputs
That is indeed a good value but I insist on differential analog I/O for noise immunity and to be able to drive my pro amps.
So far, I find the 114 db dynamic range 8 channel 96K DAC with differential outputs in my MiniDSP 4x10HD to be adequate. (I've got FIR also but its connected via TOSLINK) I've heard others complain of MiniDSP noise with high efficiency speakers, not sure which models, but I've solved all my noise problems so far by correcting my gain staging.
I like AtoD integrated with DSP. Its part of a vain attempt to keep my system simple.