Essential Install | AVRs , Amps and Playback
DID YOU KNOW : Horror movie soundtracks sometimes include ‘ infrasound ’. Below the range of human hearing , viewers can ‘ feel ’ it and the affect can be to induce anxiety
New from Datasat is the aptly named RP 7200 PowerHouse
The UDP-205 from Oppo Digital provides a root to high-quality disc playback
and an all mode balanced surge protection design ( SPD ) to ensure bidirectional protection and reduced ground interference .
CAVD has also been at pains to underline why it feels Datasat should be the first choice in high-quality AV delivery , arguing that converts always point to the sheer quality of the core sound processing . Before any application of EQ or room correction , CAVD says the RS20i and LS10 offer the most accurate surround decoding on the market at the price point . The source for this accuracy is said to be Datasat ’ s experience in both creating and innovating digital surround sound as a category .
CAVD also argues the products are easy to set up either via the large built-in touch screens or over a VNC from a laptop or iPad . The distributor also argues that the installer does not have to be an expert sound engineer to get great results , with the products doing the work for you . The distributor also argues that as the products have their roots in the commercial cinema market , many thousands of the manufacturers AP20 processors are installed around the world , reliability is not an issue . However , on the rare occasion support is required , both UK and the US teams are on hand .
Fleshing out the performance of the RS20i and LS10 , as well as DTS : X via the upgrade , both already support Dolby Atmos and Auro 3D , either decoding from the source , or to enjoy via up-mixing .
The RS20i , with an expansion card , can output up to 24 channels , with the LS10 offering 15 balanced outputs .
Dirac Live functionality is on-board to offer room calibration ; CAVD says great results are possible with just an hours extra work . HDMI 2.0 / HDCP2.2 on selected inputs on both processors is available too . Both machines are RS232 compliant as well .
Choose Your Oppo
For a long time the Oppo brand has offered installers the quality they crave in a playback partner for disc-based content . With the advent of 4K content , there has been lots of talk about how to get enhanced content to the viewer . One of the best ways to do this is still via a disc and Oppo is keeping pace by introducing its UDP-205 audiophile universal player . A step-up from the recently released UDP-203 , the UDP-205 brings top-of-the-line audio performance to a universal player that supports 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray and many other digital audio and video formats . The maker explains that the UDP-205 carries many of the same features as the UDP-203 : playback of 4K Ultra HD Blu-ray , regular Blu-ray , Blu-ray 3D , DVD- Video , DVD-Audio , SACD and Audio CD . Also on-board is High Dynamic Range ( HDR10 ) and firmware upgradable to Dolby Vision , dual HDMI outputs – HDMI 2.0 for UHD and HDMI 1.4 for audio and an HDMI 2.0 input port for external streaming devices or set-top boxes .
The audio performance of the OPPO UDP-205 is a significant upgrade over the UDP-203 and previous generation players , offering reference level sound quality through the analogue outputs , improving the clock precision of the HDMI audio output and increasing the power of the built-in headphone amplifier . For the analogue output stages , the UDP-205 uses two ES9038PRO DACs , which are the flagship of the ESS Sabre Pro series .
Keeping the two-channel crowd happy , the UDP- 205 offers a dedicated stereo output in addition to its 7.1-channel analogue audio output . The stereo audio output is powered by a dedicated ES9038PRO DAC chip and specially designed buffer and driver stages . It provides both XLR balanced and RCA single-ended connectors . The balanced output features a true differential signal path all the way from the DAC to the 3-pin XLR connector . Oppo says that transmitting a pair of differential signals , the balanced output provides better common-mode noise rejection and improves signal quality . In addition to its playback capabilities , the UDP-205 adds a USB DAC , a coaxial and an optical digital audio input so users can take advantage of the audio performance of the UDP-205 with other sources . The asynchronous USB DAC input supports sample rates up to 768 kHz PCM and DSD 512 . By bypassing the low fidelity , poor quality DAC of traditional computer soundcards , the UDP-205 can set content stored on a computer free from by using the ES9038PRO DAC . The UDP-205 can also convert digital signals from cable and satellite boxes , televisions , video game consoles and other digital transports with coaxial and optical digital outputs to analogue .
The UDP-205 also features a high-stability , highprecision HDMI clock and a special HDMI audio jitter reduction circuit . PCM and DSD signals rely on the HDMI clock directly , so the HDMI audio jitter reduction circuitry can improve the sound quality here too and for compressed bitstream audio , it helps to ensure errorfree transmission .
HEOS Link
WIRELESS PRE AMPLIFIER : TURN ANY STEREO SYSTEM INTO A WIRELESS ZONE .
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56 | May 2017