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[tbng]

I currently use a Meridian ID29 USB output device for audio, but it is only two channel.  I would like to connect HDMI audio (don't use JR for video) to obtain multi-channel, but JRiver/OPTIONS/AUDIO DEVICE displays no option for an HDMI driver.  The driver is there, up-do-date, and the computer tells me it's functioning just fine, but JRiver doesn't seem to know it exists.  What am I doing wrong?

[kr4]

I currently use a Meridian ID29 USB output device for audio, but it is only two channel.  I would like to connect HDMI audio (don't use JR for video) to obtain multi-channel, but JRiver/OPTIONS/AUDIO DEVICE displays no option for an HDMI driver.  The driver is there, up-do-date, and the computer tells me it's functioning just fine, but JRiver doesn't seem to know it exists.  What am I doing wrong?

What is your HDMI input device?  When I was using Meridian, one needed to use an HD621 (or similar) to get HDMi into the system.

[Fitzcaraldo215]

HDMI in Windows can be tricky for several reasons. HDMI is a protocol with two-way authentication via handshake, so unless a valid HDMI hardware device is connected, Windows cannot use HDMI.  HDMI might even disappear from the list of available Windows audio devices if no valid handshake has occurred. BTW, usually a simple video display or TV with HDMI input will satisfy the handshake requirement, allowing both audio and video transmission.  Obviously, other devices, like AVRs, prepros, etc.  also work, as does the Meridian HD621 HDMI converter Kal mentioned.

HDMI audio is also inseparable from HDMI video, and blank video frames are transmitted even with audio-only material. I do not recall ever seeing a separate HDMI audio software driver.  As I also said, I believe HDMI requires certified hardware at both ends to authenticate, starting with PC graphics on a GPU or via integrated Intel graphics on the CPU chip, both with proper video+audio drivers at the PC end of the HDMI connection.

I used to use HDMI to an external preamp/processor.  I used to pull my hair out sometimes getting a proper handshake, even when I did not change the system.  Something about an exactly proper turn on sequence.  I now use USB for Mch audio and HDMI for video only.  I also use a Gefen HDMI Detective+ on HDMI, a godsend totally eliminatining any handshake issues.

[blgentry]

I now use USB for Mch audio and HDMI for video only.

Presumably you use a multi-channel USB DAC?  ...and analog inputs on a pre-pro or something?  I'm curious about your setup.

Brian.

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Presumably you use a multi-channel USB DAC?  ...and analog inputs on a pre-pro or something?  I'm curious about your setup.

Brian.

Yes, I use an Exasound e28 DAC via USB with connection directly from the DAC to my amps.  There is no prepro in my system.  JRiver has very capably assumed most functions a prepro would provide, like master volume and bass management.  I use it in conjunction with Dirac Live VST plugin, which provides room EQ and speaker distance correction.  So, for me, JRiver is much more than a library and player.  It is the very heart of my system.

My source material is ripped files, mostly SACD Mch but also BD or Flac downloads.  I also can play stuff from my PC optical drives on CD, DVD or BD, though that requires de-encryption software.  SACDs cannot be played directly in real time, but I just first rip them to my library on NAS via an offline Oppo 103.  Live or recorded TV is via a Silicon Dust HD Homerun Prime plus a Fios Cablecard. 

There are no other disc players or cable boxes useable or active in my system, which is PC via USB to DAC to amps to speakers for audio, and PC to TV via HDMI with Ethernet input to the PC from the HD Homerun Prime.

[blgentry]

Thanks for the description of your system.  I'm not ready to use pure software for volume control.  I'm kinda sorta close, but I'm not sure I'll ever trust software volume control.  I like buttons and knobs.

The exasound is rather expensive; I hope that means it's also rather awesome. 

Enjoy.

Brian.

[tbng]

Yes, I plug the HDMI cable from the music server into a Meridian HD621 interface.  I pull out a working plug from the HD621, insert the HDMI cable,  and get video from JRiver but no audio, I suspect because there is no HDMI driver to select in JRiver.

[JimH]

It's the video driver that should be delivering the audio (as well as the video).

[Fitzcaraldo215]

WYes, I plug the HDMI cable from the music server into a Meridian HD621 interface.  I pull out a working plug from the HD621, insert the HDMI cable,  and get video from JRiver but no audio, I suspect because there is no HDMI driver to select in JRiver.

Exasound supplies software to integrate its volume control with JRiver's.  So, adjusting volume in JRiver via the PC or via JRemote or adjusting it via Exasound's remote all do exactly the same thing, which actually occurs digitally in the Exasound. 

Yes, of course, it is a digital volume control, unquestionably the best kind known to man.  With all due respect, the belief that an analog volume control is somehow superior is totally without objective proof of any kind, a classic myth.  And, there are many well established theoretical reasons why an analog control cannot be superior to a digital one.  Yes, that is off topic here, I know. Yes, I also like knobs, too. But, sound is most crucially important to me.  I can get used to sliders, up/down buttons, etc. rather than rotary knobs. Digital volume controls could be implemented via rotary knobs, but that is rarely done.

The Exasound is indeed an extremely competent and very fine sounding DAC.  Kal Rubinson recently reviewed the latest E38 in Stereophile and he finds it uniquely qualified among available Mch choices.  I am holding on to my E28, previously also highly regarded by Kal, since it has balanced XLR output connectors, and there is not yet a balanced version of the E38.  The much more expensive alternatives, like a stack of Mytec Brooklyns or a Merging NADAC are just not in the cards for me.  That, and the E28 really does not leave me wanting for better sound.

Hypothetically, if building a Mch audio system, one could do it old school via an audio hardware path:  player, cable box, AVR, speakers or, alternatively, player, cable box, prepro, amps, speakers, either one including PC input.  I think there are economic and performance advantages to my simpler Cablecard tuner, PC, DAC, amps, speakers arrangement, with more of the functionality being in software rather than hardware.

[kr4]

Yes, I plug the HDMI cable from the music server into a Meridian HD621 interface.  I pull out a working plug from the HD621, insert the HDMI cable,  and get video from JRiver but no audio, I suspect because there is no HDMI driver to select in JRiver.

I have never needed such with the HD621.  If it is getting the video out, you need to use the multichannel audio output as the HD621 separates them.  How is the audio output from the HD621 configured and what processor is it attached to?

[kr4]

It's the video driver that should be delivering the audio (as well as the video).

The HD621 splits the HDMI input to HDMI video output and to 4xS/PDIF audio outputs.  There is no HDMI audio output.

[tbng]

The problem is not with the HD621.  I pull out a plug from a working input on the HD621, replace with the HDMI cable from the music server, and get only video, no audio.  The problem exists within the computer or the JRiver setup.

[JimH]

Please re-read Fitzcaraldo215's excellent description of HDMI problems above.

Did you investigate video driver problems and possible updates?

[kr4]

The problem is not with the HD621.  I pull out a plug from a working input on the HD621, replace with the HDMI cable from the music server, and get only video, no audio.  The problem exists within the computer or the JRiver setup.

Agreed.  I had never needed any additional drivers with the 621/861 setup.  Also, I found that this setup is picky about PCM bitrates and ignores DSD.