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Post by igorzep on Aug 26, 2015 12:38:16 GMT -5
The XMC-1 does include a whole slew of "direct access" commands.. (Many of these were always there, but they have been expanded.) POWER TOGGLE, BASS/TREBLE UP/DOWN! Finally! Have to return to programming my remote... Thanks for the docs, hopefully I will be able to extract useful information for my OneForAll remote.
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Post by igorzep on Aug 5, 2015 5:58:35 GMT -5
also, any idea why the front left speaker is re-tested at the end? I get 6 test tones for 5 speakers... It is to detect the difference in the delay between channels. As the overall 'speed' of clock can be a little bit different from the standard and measurements take quite some time for the error to become significant this additional measurement allows to account for clock speed variations.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 23, 2015 12:06:19 GMT -5
I am not sure what you mean by me getting the information from old DSD thump topics; but the I called Emotiva about this. They told me they're working on a firmware to fix it. I like my XMC-1, but don't like the digital noise it makes with DSD or switching sound formats. If you asked specifically about that (switching sound formats and DSD) then you got answer about the old one... The 'digital zeroes' in between tracks on a CD does not involve switching sound formats (or resyncs) and still produces similar noises. Last answer I have about this is that they can reproduce it but they don't know what is in the DSP chain causing it and don't know if they can fix it... So, if you want your XMC-1 to be click-noise/cut-content-free ask them specifically about that ensuring they do not assume DSD start/end and content switching problems.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 23, 2015 2:16:08 GMT -5
I hate the digital noise (pops) it makes when switching sound format or whatever the cause is. MarkC/brasil (above) has the same problem. MarkC clearly have 'perfect silence'/'zero samples' problem and brasil - the DSD thump issue. Those are different issues with probably very different causes... I called Emotiva and they said their next firmware should fix it. It's in "Beta" stages now, so I hope it's out soon. It is good if there are progress on the digital zero noise/distortion problems, but from your message it is not clear to what it is related. I guess you just got an answer about the old DSD thump topic - it is no news they are improving it.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 13, 2015 14:20:14 GMT -5
If bluray player can output LFE in analog... then probably it is a (best) solution. But only working with one source.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 13, 2015 14:11:37 GMT -5
1. I have a Crowson Tranducer hooked up to my Right Sub pre out... It looks like this thing is not compatible with Dirac... And hardly you can do anything with it without Emotiva extending the firmware. If you want to keep it then Y connector will be probably the best solution... but you'll get EQed sound to the transducer also (that is probably not what is desired). Another option would be abandoning Dirac and configuring manual parametric EQ... I know, this is poor suggestion.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 13, 2015 14:06:01 GMT -5
Guess I missed the post last week. But it exists as described. There is no change in my system from -15 to + 11 It is just crazy... As explained - the limiting comes from summing several sources 1) Dirac needs to 'boost', but you can't boost of you already at the full scale, so the signal is scaled down and then 'amplified' back, just by displaying different numbers on the screen. It is rumored that Dirac may need up to 10dB of boost, so the total volume headroom is limited by that amount. 2) Different channels might have different sensitivity, and they also can be 'boosted' to match more sensitive ones, all with the same technique (numbers on the screen), so this can add another 10dB easily... 3) You can create even more mismatch (or reduce it) when tweaking level settings, including permanent and temporary level trims. If you have such a large limitation I would first check and ensure that all channels (amps+speakers) have pretty much the same sensitivity re XMC-1 output voltage. Subwoofer is the first one to check if it is set to too low sensitivity (so it might reach it's voltage output limits on XMC-1 and block volume increase on all channels). The end of the story... The problem seems not with the limiting, but XMC-1 applying hidden parameters that newer displayed to the user. So, we don't know what is causing it and as it is unknown (and needs some tools and experience in the field) - it can't be fixed, even if it is a user error (but I wouldn't call it a user error because the user does not have a tool to do it without error). So, this is just poor programming/design of the feature. Too bad there are too many such design/programming issues. Too bad some of them cannot be worked around easily or sometimes at all. For you, with this issue, I think it should be solvable. For me there is no limiting at least up to 0dB MV, for more I haven't checked carefully as I newer listen at that levels.
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Post by igorzep on Jul 3, 2015 8:01:59 GMT -5
IMO. your "Wrong" was rude. This was only a fact about the statement quoted (particularly in the context of the preceding question). We are not in the kindergarten to be offended by the truth. Here's some study material... Besides that you are switching the topic there are quite a lot of staff ranging from objectionable or badly explained to simply incorrect in the text that follows... I will not go into detail as it would be infinite talk but I would recommend you to change your preferred literature. Back to the topic (the room response)... Do most of your mixing at medium volume and then occasionally test it at lower and higher levels, since the tonal balance will change. The bass and treble frequencies are boosted when you play at higher volume levels. As already stated by other members the fact is that even without a change in the frequency response the perceived tonal balance will change with volume. This is perception - not the response that changes. And should be addressed with Loudness feature, or with tone controls based on listener preference. This have nothing to do with measurements. The original question was at what level to measure. And the statement was suggesting that the result (flatness of frequency response curve) depends on the level because of the room acoustics. This is simply not true. There can be some differences due to drivers are overloaded and go to compression/clipping nonlinearities, but this will usually happen at levels that are far from being tolerable by the ear (or even dangerous to hearing depending on system SPL capabilities). And only this, among with the mic sensitivity (and noise floor) can limit the possible measurement level, not the room acoustics.
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Post by igorzep on Jun 28, 2015 13:05:51 GMT -5
Do it yourself before suggesting that. Otherwise you are not only wrong, but behave rude!
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Post by igorzep on Jun 28, 2015 12:05:54 GMT -5
Very important, room modes get excited at different volume levels. Wrong.
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Post by igorzep on Jun 21, 2015 12:02:09 GMT -5
Get clicking/popping noises and also cuts of the content with any content containing digital silence. Test files here (test tone and two cuts of between track content from CDs). XBMC audio feedback cuts most of the ticks when browsing. All this is in any listening mode. Also get random popping noises when watching high-res TV channels (newer had anything like that before XMC-1). Toslink from the TV, Dirac preset. Cannot confirm if this happens or not with other presets (as obviously cannot replay the content again). The character of pop doesn't look like the above issue (no cuts heard and might happen even if there are no periods of silence). But as one of the members above have pointed out - this might be subwoofer channel only pop (it sounds like it might be, then it is understandable why there is no audible cut in sound). PS. I do NOT have any DSD in my system. Addition: I am getting clipping noises (as with integer-overflow with truncating the highest bits leading to wrap-around extreme positive values to extreme negative ones and vice versa - i.e. very loud high-frequency static noise) at loud scenes when watching some TV channels encoded with 5.1 DolbyDigital. I tend to think this is also XMC-1 bug as when I can hear clipping distortion on the TV itself (downmixed to two channels) there is no loud static - it seems XMC-1 integer-truncates big values instead of clipping/limiting them when decoding lossless stream...
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Post by igorzep on Jun 16, 2015 7:09:54 GMT -5
I have had no clicking issues with any blu-rays. That's not to say there is not some sort of problem. Have you called Emotiva about this? If so, what did they say? Did they try to help you address the issue? You rarely will find it with blu-rays (at least as long as you don't skip chapters). This is more probable with music albums consisting of silence separated tracks (if it happens to be perfect silence - you are caught into the problem). It happens terribly a lot with non-movie and non-music audio content that is, for example audio-feedback from different consumer devices (internal menu of media-players, HTPC sounds, game consoles, etc). I've reported the problem to the Emotiva a few weeks ago, but they answers are not promising.
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Post by igorzep on Jun 16, 2015 6:58:18 GMT -5
Would it make you happy if they arrested Dan, had him tried in court for fraud, closed down Emotiva, and gave you back double what you paid? No. I would be happy, if the attitude to the problem was adequate, they would be thankful for users providing them clean easy reproducible test cases (something they should have done but failed, OK that happens, this is not the problem, problem is the willingness to stand behind the product, and running away from solving problems), and I would be happy to get the problem investigated and fixed (now I see only theorising about that is only 'test files' problem).
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Post by igorzep on Jun 16, 2015 6:30:13 GMT -5
Call me Monday and I'll arrange a refund. I don't want you to be unhappy. From a cost efficiency standpoint, aside from what Dan has already said would be addressed, the other "problems" do not appear to be of a pressing nature. If it bothers Igor so much then I agree with the statement that he should just get a refund and go to happier pastures. Refund available here too! PM for payment... How easy it is for you Americans. But would I be refunded for the losses I get with this "free try" of the device... Including shipment back and forth to the farthest end of Europe plus all the taxes (that alone is as much as someone paid for XMC-1 and I had no 40% card as many of you)? I don't hear 19 out of 20 audio feedback ticks XBMC sents when I browsing through menus - is it an academic issue (95% distortion)? What about games then, are they 'academic'? Well... audiophiles who think no sound except music is worth to be reproduced by XMC-1 (which is not quite the only thing expected from Audio (not just Music/Movie) processor / digital audio hub), when I get MUSIC tracks cut at the beginnings (not just when sync is established, but also in the middle of stream) is it 'academical'? Not even telling about weird noises everyone complaints about when doing FWD/REW/NEXT/PREV on their players (and their players honestly keep connection to the XMC just with the specific purpose to avoid such noises)... Are they 'academic' too... in the context of a device that is claimed to provide excellent SOUND. Isn't it worth to be fixed in a cost/efficiency standpoint? The 'sound' is after all - is the primary marketing 'feature' of the product. And the device cannot really boast about having many features besides that. Is it economical to be compromised on the very basis it exists?
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Post by igorzep on Jun 15, 2015 12:54:11 GMT -5
Awaiting a firmware update that will resolve the clicks and pops from the speakers during broadcast TV via ARC and during logo/menu changes from BD when the audio resolution changes or goes silent. I believe most of the clicks/pops you get come from the same bug I discovered with popping/cutting sounds when there are some occurrences of perfect silence in the stream (and/or when some internal DSP buffers are cleaned when listening mode changes) - menu navigation is perfect example of this. But as I am claimed the only one concerned - no action is promised. So, please complain!
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Post by igorzep on Jun 14, 2015 15:07:48 GMT -5
igorzep, You're plain wrong. We ARE addressing the Oppo DSD "saga" as you dramatically describe it. I know you are addressing this Oppo DSD 'saga'. But this is why I've said NOT ONLY this 'saga'. There are other serious issue with cuts/pops in ordinary PCM content! And from the response I've got from KeithL this is not something you are willing to fix (as I am claimed to be the only one concerned). I wrote an extensive email today with example music files affected, and there are lot more 'audio' that is not just music that is badly affected by the bug (such as audio feedback from media player navigation, games, etc. and I really don't think it will be as complicated to localize the issue and make a fix as with the DSD issue, especially with so good reproducible test cases). I really hope this one will be considered as important and not only make me happy but also allow me to recommend your product again. (Not that I'll stop criticizing it for other issues and quibbles, and sometimes 'stroking the flame' around it, but still, I'll be able to recommend it where it fits).
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Post by igorzep on Jun 14, 2015 14:48:44 GMT -5
4) Dirac preset delay/trim settings not visible/adjustable (igorzep has been asking for this, too) This single thing would help diagnosing a lot of issues. There is a lot of space for user errors and even if what user does is perfect there is still enough entropy to screw the result. Only this feedback from the program would save a lot of time and trouble letting user know something is going wrong even before completing the calibration.
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Post by igorzep on Jun 14, 2015 14:44:37 GMT -5
This one cracks me up. So many people here were total d _ _ _ s to other people here who voiced this same opinion. Validation. Agree, but there are more critical issues to fix still... I don't think one single person here has mentioned this. I would if were not present with more serious issues. My prev. unit had 0.5dB increments and this is what I would like to have with XMC-1 too. 1dB is sometimes less granular than I would like to have (sometimes there is too much audible difference between neighbouring values).
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Post by igorzep on Jun 14, 2015 14:38:53 GMT -5
millst - I actually agree with each of his quibbles, but they pale in comparison to the sound (and video!) quality. There is no difference in video quality with any cheap AVR on the market... 1:1 in to out. Why should it even be mentioned as long as it works as expected... On the audio quality... I don't think that pops/skips/cuts of the sound are all properties of good audio quality. And I don't think it deserves to be called a 'quibble'. This is a serious defect, especially for a unit of this price (and invalidating any 'audio quality' claims - there could be nothing worse in audio quality than no sound at all when it is all there in the audio stream).
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Post by igorzep on Jun 14, 2015 13:36:38 GMT -5
Everyone that owns an XMC would agree that it is a stellar piece of equipment. I don't. I was quite impressed by it when not owning... Now when I own it - not so much and would NOT recommend it to anyone... at least until cutting/popping issues (not just the DSD/Oppo saga) are solved (and I don't see any willingness from Emotiva to do that).
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