All digital 8xIN, 8xOUT Dirac Live® correction DSP with AES-EBU in/out

[Flak]

This all digital unit has just been released and miniDSP is targeting it to professional surround-sound studios and Digital Cinema (DCI) applications

Details here: https://www.minidsp.com/products/dirac-series/ddrc-88d
Flavio

 

[Wayne A. Pflughaupt]

Pretty curious that they would market it for professional applications, but not make it rack mountable, or even put it in a standard sized, rack mountable chassis.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

 

[ddude003]

An interesting example is application note on how to use the DDRC-88BM to build an active speaker setup fully corrected by Dirac Live... Channels 1 thru 4 bi-amping L & R speakers...

 

[Flak]

Pretty curious that they would market it for professional applications, but not make it rack mountable, or even put it in a standard sized, rack mountable chassis.

Regards,
Wayne A. Pflughaupt

Hi Wayne,

your comment was quite on target... miniDSP has just added the 1/2 rack mount adaptor

Flavio

 

[NBPK402]

Is there any way you could use 2 of these at the same time, and feed the same optical signal. I ask this because I was thinking of this for biamping my front 3 channels, and using Dirac for all channels including Atmos. I did this with the 88m, but did not like the extra a to d conversions which this would eliminate if I can still run Atmos and Auro3d.

 

[ddude003]

Hi Wayne,

your comment was quite on target... miniDSP has just added the 1/2 rack mount adaptor

Flavio

There is a 1/2 rack mount adaptor to mount the unit in a standard rack as an option...

 

[ddude003]

Is there any way you could use 2 of these at the same time, and feed the same optical signal. I ask this because I was thinking of this for biamping my front 3 channels, and using Dirac for all channels including Atmos. I did this with the 88m, but did not like the extra a to d conversions which this would eliminate if I can still run Atmos and Auro3d.

Not knowing exactly what you are trying to connect via the above optical signal you refer to, the only thing I could suggest would be to look at the various optical splitters available... Google is your frenemy... try something like: optical splitter or SPDIF splitter...

 

[NBPK402]

What I was thinking of was getting 2 boxes and using them for all channels including atmos.

 

[ddude003]

What I was thinking of was getting 2 boxes and using them for all channels including atmos.

I would suggest contacting the support group at miniDSP and see what they have to say about your idea... I seem to remember seeing a similar article about using two miniDSP boxes for an Atmos setup on their website... Not sure about the input source or physical media type or number of channels...

 

[NBPK402]

I would suggest contacting the support group at miniDSP and see what they have to say about your idea... I seem to remember seeing a similar article about using two miniDSP boxes for an Atmos setup on their website... Not sure about the input source or physical media type or number of channels...

I used to run 2 ddr88m boxes for atmos...just thought fiber wou,d be better with 1 less DtoA.

 

[Matthew J Poes]

I used to run 2 ddr88m boxes for atmos...just thought fiber wou,d be better with 1 less DtoA.

For surround, how would you get optical out for each channel? Most consumer processors don’t offer multichannel digital out and most pro-processors lack the necessary HDCP to allow use with consumer discs. There may be exceptions of course.

In any case, I like your thinking, I would like to do the same thing, but I couldn’t find a way to do it.

One problem I’ve noticed with optical digital on consumer gear is that it commonly has higher delay. I have no idea why and it might be just a fluke with the tests I was doing. I’m amy case, when running digital out to a processor like this for surround but running other speakers direct from the processor you need to account for that delay.

 

[NBPK402]

For surround, how would you get optical out for each channel? Most consumer processors don’t offer multichannel digital out and most pro-processors lack the necessary HDCP to allow use with consumer discs. There may be exceptions of course.

In any case, I like your thinking, I would like to do the same thing, but I couldn’t find a way to do it.

One problem I’ve noticed with optical digital on consumer gear is that it commonly has higher delay. I have no idea why and it might be just a fluke with the tests I was doing. I’m amy case, when running digital out to a processor like this for surround but running other speakers direct from the processor you need to account for that delay.

I wonder if there is anything that could take a HDMI connector and convert it to 2 or 3 opticals...then you could run up to 3 Minidsp boxes for Atmos, or Auro3d...

 

[NBPK402]

Wait a minute...How about a optical HDMI cable, and remove the connector on one end and replace it with an optical? I am assuming they are using multiple optical strands of course.

 

[NBPK402]

I sent them an email to see what they suggest. I also asked them if it would be possible to daisy chain a box to another box to increase the number of outputs as I will now have 7 biamped channels plus 5 height channels when I get Auro3d. Daisy chaining boxes has been done for years with analog Autopatch boxes, and I believe they also do it with HDMI. It would be perfect to have one box with a HDMI Input, and have 8 channels output as XLR or Optical, and be able to daisy chain it to another box or two for increased channel output.

 

[NBPK402]

Their response was at this time...my only option with them is 2 88m boxes.

 

[NBPK402]

An interesting example is application note on how to use the DDRC-88BM to build an active speaker setup fully corrected by Dirac Live... Channels 1 thru 4 bi-amping L & R speakers...

That is what I did in my last setup, and most likely in my new setup too.

 

[NBPK402]

I think I solved the dilema... you buy a HDMI to SPDIF splitter, and then buy a SPDIF splitter, and 2 of these boxes. Does anyone see a possible problem with this idea...other than I can only do a 5.1 setup without going from 2 boxes to 3? I say this becaise all the boxes I have seen only do 5.1 SPDIF, but the Minidsp does 7.1 SPDIF. It would be great if I could grab every audio channel off the HDMI, and split it to 2 or 3 Spdif.

 

[AudiocRaver]

I think I solved the dilema... you buy a HDMI to SPDIF splitter, and then buy a SPDIF splitter, and 2 of these boxes. Does anyone see a possible problem with this idea...other than I can only do a 5.1 setup without going from 2 boxes to 3? I say this becaise all the boxes I have seen only do 5.1 SPDIF, but the Minidsp does 7.1 SPDIF. It would be great if I could grab every audio channel off the HDMI, and split it to 2 or 3 Spdif.

Like Matt says... I have tried a few cheap HDMI-Audio Extractors, and they RELIABLY gave only stereo out on the optical output with lossless audio. Any other combination I tried either did not work at all or would not recognize and pass HDMI and optical reliably. Also some might give you a surround output on optical if it is Dolby Digital encoded, but not with LPCM signals. That is how they appeared to act anyway. The result was so unreliable I did not spend much time trying to dig deep and resolve.

 

[NBPK402]

Thanks...looks like I have to go with the 88ms then again.