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[tore.vange]

Hi all

I've tried searching for this problem, but I've found nought.

My setup:
Win10 Home 64
Lynx AES soundcard - hooked to a Lynx Aurora
NAD M27 and Crown iTech 4000
Beyma/Acoustic Elegance DIY-build, based on inConcert Miles with separate mid and extra 15" low.

I use JRiver in the latest build and have set up WDM-driver as well, for playback from Spotify (High quality) and other web-based streaming services (Netflix/HBO etc).

I'm experiencing a drastic drop in sound quality when playing blu-ray rips using JRiver. It sounds like the sound is run through a massive digital compression and it is apparent as a kind of aliasing of the sound. Very pronounced for voices. The same sonic abberation is present when playing music from Spotify. For albums I have ripped in flac and play in JRiver, compared to Spotify, the difference is far beyond anything related to Spotify being a slightly compressed format, and the fact that the same error is present for MKV, from streaming from Netflix and other external sources it seems it is a setup-issue.

Playing from flac, the sound is sublime, and very good indeed.

Is there any apparent source of this unbearable flaw? I'm unable to enjoy movies with the sound as it is now.

Best regards
Tore

[JimH]

It's possible you're not getting all the channels mapped correctly.  There is a multi-channel thread here that has a lot of information:
https://yabb.jriver.com/interact/index.php/topic,114360.0.html

[tore.vange]

I have mapping set up in the dsp studio, and have the same mapping in lynx.

I have selected 16 channels and have activated jrss mixing to pull center sound to the fronts.

[JimH]

Did you try reading the thread I linked to above?

Also this:
https://wiki.jriver.com/index.php/Surround_Sound

[JimH]

What arrangement are your speakers in?  2.1?  2.0?  5.1?

[RD James]

That's certainly unusual.
I would start by disabling all DSP except Output Format, and see if it improves things at all.
Make sure that clip protection is enabled in the lower-left corner of DSP Studio.

[tore.vange]

Thanks for the replies.

I've reviewed the three, thanks Jim!

JRiver is set up with 16 channels. Left/right is copied to three additional channels each, sub is added to left/right. The three channels for each front have low pass/high pass depending on what part of the speaker they are mapped to.

Lynx Mixer has the same mapping set up.

My setup is 4.0. Each front has three 15", so they have sufficient punch of needed

Flac in stereo works excellently.

If I disable dsp I would have the entire audio signal routed to each speaker element.

Is there anything I can do to investigate if jriver handles the different inputs differently?

[Hendrik]

What do you have output format in the DSP actually set to?

[tore.vange]

Hi

Sorry for the late reply due to family visiting.

Output is set to 16 channels. Here are some screenshots.

Thanks.
-Tore

[tore.vange]

Limit on size, apparently.

[tore.vange]

And the last one.

-Tore

[Hendrik]

Usually I would recommend to let MC downmix to 4.0 and then process everything with PEQ, unfortunately we don't have the ability to downmix to 4.0 in a 16-channel container built-in, so you'll have to make sure that all channels are accounted for.
Requests for splitting container size and mixing target have come up before, but I'm not sure how we would really expose that.

So some observations:
- With a 4.0 setup, you don't have a center channel, so with 5.1 playback (ie. from movies) you would be losing that. Should have PEQ add it to left/right (unless you do that and its not shown?)
- Left is not copied to #9? Or is there a line cut-off?
- Might make sense to Add the Sub to Left/Right before you copy it to the other channels? From the lowpass values, #9 and #12 seem to be for low frequencies, but never get the Sub channel values?

Otherwise I can only recommend to make sure that every channel actually hooks up to the Lynx channel you think it should.

[tore.vange]

Thanks for valuable input.

I will try your tips on channel copy. I have, since the screenshot, enabled jrss and cleared the center to be mixed into r/l. I will look into the order of the copying fields.

With regards to the issue with sound quality, it doesn't seem like the tips would address the aliasing in sound. Noticable in the midrange when playing anything except two-channel flac. I will do a test to confirm if mp3 played in the regular jriver player is flawless. It should at least rule out issues with compressed signal.

[tore.vange]

So - some more screenshots.

I did do the reallignement of the channel copy/order as suggested, but with no apparent change in sound quality.

Anywhere else I can look?

I've attached screenshots of both the mapping in jriver, the mapping in lynx, and the setup of the output format.

Thanks again.

-Tore