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Post by bastille on Nov 20, 2019 14:43:08 GMT -5
There is now a scenario developing where I may be keeping everything. I am a complicated snowflake. If thats the case I will be seeking an RMA to have my XMC-A looked at for potential defective status. Does anyone know where I can download the 1.5 firmware? I dont see links in the product page.
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Post by thxultra on Nov 20, 2019 16:17:22 GMT -5
There is now a scenario developing where I may be keeping everything. I am a complicated snowflake. If thats the case I will be seeking an RMA to have my XMC-A looked at for potential defective status. Does anyone know where I can download the 1.5 firmware? I dont see links in the product page. The XMC-2 firmware is the same as the RMC-1 you can get 1.5 here emotivalounge.proboards.com/thread/55473/archive-version-rmc-firmware-2019 |
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Post by bastille on Nov 21, 2019 17:12:57 GMT -5
So some interesting testing with the Arcam. The Arcam occasionally clips the first half second but not a full 2 seconds like the Emo was doing. Also song changes on playlists have no problem in Tidal which was definitely happening with the Emo. Some songs do not mute at all. Songs i'm using as tests include Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. The first sound is a bass kick. followed by a softer drum. Emo was missing the First stonger kick every time. The Arcam misses it too but only if skipped ot that song. Another song for testing is Milli Vanilli's Girl you Know Its True.
There's dialog to start the song. A woman talks first. The Emo misses the entire female first dialog. The Arcam doesnt miss it at all. DOesnt matter if its siwtched to or played from previous completeion. Really weird stuff.
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Post by dkersten on Nov 21, 2019 17:59:31 GMT -5
I haven't tried with music, but I get this issue with Plex when I skip ahead or back. For the ~150-300ms the sound is not present, the XMC-2 decides to switch to PCM 0.0. Then after the video starts to play again, the XMC-2 takes over a second to lock into the audio track. Since I am on video, I can see this happening because it displays it. In many cases, it drops to PCM 0.0, then goes to PCM 2.0, then to 5.1, then to TrueHD or DTS or whatever the movie is using. Sometimes it skips straight to the final audio, but most times it has to cycle through a few before settling in on one.
I would bet it is doing the same on the CD's you are using, you just aren't seeing it.
I don't understand why other processors don't have this issue. I don't recall having this problem with the XMC-1 either, but I guess I wasn't using Plex back when I had the XMC-1 running in my old theater, and the XMC-1 stayed in a box waiting for Atmos for over 2 years before being traded in. Even the Plex menu navigation does this. It clicks each time you move to something in the menu, and the clicks stop if you don't do anything for a few seconds and the display comes up showing PCM 0.0, then after a few more movements in Plex the clicks come back on and it displays PCM 2.0. THIS issue was a major problem with the XMC-1, and it happened all the time in Kodi. When I sold that house and started watching a regular TV, I was surprised to hear the clicks when navigating again. Now I get them sometimes, but not always. Very annoying for such an expensive processor.
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Post by emofrmcgy on Nov 21, 2019 19:34:08 GMT -5
So some interesting testing with the Arcam. The Arcam occasionally clips the first half second but not a full 2 seconds like the Emo was doing. Also song changes on playlists have no problem in Tidal which was definitely happening with the Emo. Some songs do not mute at all. Songs i'm using as tests include Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. The first sound is a bass kick. followed by a softer drum. Emo was missing the First stonger kick every time. The Arcam misses it too but only if skipped ot that song. Another song for testing is Milli Vanilli's Girl you Know Its True. There's dialog to start the song. A woman talks first. The Emo misses the entire female first dialog. The Arcam doesnt miss it at all. DOesnt matter if its siwtched to or played from previous completeion. Really weird stuff. How's the sound quality on the arcam ? Is it a pile compared to the emo? |
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Post by bastille on Nov 21, 2019 23:26:27 GMT -5
So some interesting testing with the Arcam. The Arcam occasionally clips the first half second but not a full 2 seconds like the Emo was doing. Also song changes on playlists have no problem in Tidal which was definitely happening with the Emo. Some songs do not mute at all. Songs i'm using as tests include Michael Jackson's Billie Jean. The first sound is a bass kick. followed by a softer drum. Emo was missing the First stonger kick every time. The Arcam misses it too but only if skipped ot that song. Another song for testing is Milli Vanilli's Girl you Know Its True. There's dialog to start the song. A woman talks first. The Emo misses the entire female first dialog. The Arcam doesnt miss it at all. DOesnt matter if its siwtched to or played from previous completeion. Really weird stuff. How's the sound quality on the arcam ? Is it a pile compared to the emo? The sound is very good but I have not put it through the full listening test. I have been scrambling to get info on these HDMI problems. My first impressions were as follows. Unboxing it I was very disappointed in the build. It feels like a cheap DIY kit. Very unaesthetic edges and screws. Plain finish and a weak attempt at rounding at the front to avoid what would be a plain squarebox. Through and through every bit the blandness you would expect of a well done bologna sandwich. The Emo as you all know is a piece of art at every corner. Major edge to the Emo here. Once it was p lugged in and in place, the minty green lighting does bring out a certain charm to it. Maybe its just my affinity to the Matrix movie. But it doesnt look bad in the shelf. Upon powering it up immediately the biggest difference is the minute long boot up is gone. Thing thing goes from stone cold OFF to playing sound in 5 seconds or less. The menu is pretty bland but not a big deal. First run through a playlist the unit is definitely a premium sound. Its very different from the Emo. It's definitely a powerhouse. Its much louder than the emo and it takes over the room more than the emo does. It also has better bass and low end for sure. Its a crisp slam but very accurate and feels great vibrating the body. The emo didnt overwhelm me in the bass department. Its there and it sounds good but its not exciting. The emo sounds great no question. I want to call the emo warm but its incredible at playing digital music. The staging and imaging seems better on the Arcam at first listen. But slightly. The Arcam may get a full test tonight. I ordered and A/B XLR switch to give the 2 a full comparison this weekend. I will be deciding by monday whether to go through with the RMA. First thoughts in movie watching was that the Arcam made my center channel more crisp. But I didnt watch a full reference movie yet. My center channel in the emo setup sounded a bit muffled. I run the full Def Tech 9080 5 channel setup FYI which has 3 built in 12in subs. 1 each on the fronts and the center I have a set of Buchardt S400 SEs which I will also be bringing down to test out on both. |
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Lsc
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Post by Lsc on Nov 22, 2019 1:29:22 GMT -5
@ bastille
How does the prepro have better bass? Is it how the Arcam is eq’d or is there a setting that boosts the bass?
I guess the bottom line is whatever sounds the best and functionally works the best. Like you said the ATV4K unfortunately doesn’t output high quality sounds (Apple probably should think about this) so I use my iMac 🖥 for Amazon Music.
I’m thinking about trying the Monoprice if it does come out on time with Dirac. I was hoping the XMC2 would have Dirac by now. The poor RMC1 buyers spent $5k over a year ago, still no Dirac and seem to have more issues that the XMC2.
So I guess I can’t complain too much. I had the XMC2 for less than 6 months, have virtually zero issues and paid less.
I’m a little more eager now bc I installed the JBL in-ceiling speakers for Atmos and want a little help from Dirac.
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Post by emofrmcgy on Nov 22, 2019 9:45:29 GMT -5
Thank you bastille I find that VERY helpful. Which arcam are you using again ? |
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joeh
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Post by joeh on Nov 22, 2019 11:24:16 GMT -5
I recently upgraded from the XMC-1 to the XMC-2. I also purchased a Samsung Q900 8K tv and a new Apple 4K Tv. I was only briefly able to get the Apple TV to play through the XMC-2. When I first received the XMC-2 I could not even get any sound through my speakers, which are also from Emotiva. I called Emotiva and they immediately where able to upgrade me to the latest firmware, 1.7. That helped. It allowed me to set up my speakers using a sound pressure meter. Under this firmware I was able to briefly use my Apple TV. And when I say briefly, I mean briefly. I was able to play a few trailers. But the sound and picture died after playing two or three trailers. Emotiva acknowledge that they are having problems interfacing with the Apple TV. But when I called again they said they where not having any real issues. Somebody is lying!
I am planning to purchase a Panasonic Blu-ray (UB-9000) in the next couple of weeks. If these problems continue with the blu-ray then I think I might ask for my money back.
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Post by bastille on Nov 22, 2019 11:24:49 GMT -5
Arcam AVR860
The bass is just more powerful. Not sure im refined enough to describe it any better. I have done no setup other than speaker levels and distances. It has Dirac active but I probably wont run that until holiday time off.
I used some reference songs last night to test things out. The Arcam is able to deliver on some songs that felt like the Emo was unable to drive properly. For example Dire Straights Money for Nothing. Some songs I wasnt happy with on the emo sound solid on the Arcam, examples Purple Rain, a couple Mazzy Star songs and Wicked Games. But the Emo has a creaminess that the Arcam doesnt seem to have , at least yet. Not going to be too broken in so I will hold off a little longer on calling the Arcam harsher than that Emo but right now thats my first thought.
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Nov 22, 2019 11:38:21 GMT -5
I recently upgraded from the XMC-1 to the XMC-2. I also purchased a Samsung Q900 8K tv and a new Apple 4K Tv. I was only briefly able to get the Apple TV to play through the XMC-2. When I first received the XMC-2 I could not even get any sound through my speakers, which are also from Emotiva. I called Emotiva and they immediately where able to upgrade me to the latest firmware, 1.7. That helped. It allowed me to set up my speakers using a sound pressure meter. Under this firmware I was able to briefly use my Apple TV. And when I say briefly, I mean briefly. I was able to play a few trailers. But the sound and picture died after playing two or three trailers. Emotiva acknowledge that they are having problems interfacing with the Apple TV. But when I called again they said they where not having any real issues. Somebody is lying! I am planning to purchase a Panasonic Blu-ray (UB-9000) in the next couple of weeks. If these problems continue with the blu-ray then I think I might ask for my money back. Very strange. I had to revert back to 1.5 from 1.7 due to not getting audio with video on standby activated (low power mode - unit off - using TV's speakers). Worked fine with the amp on. I have an Apple 4KTV and a 65" Samsung 4K TV from end of 2015 model year. Has HDR. The Apple TV picture works great and I have no issues. They told me they were working on the audio issues and seemed to think certain brand of TV may be the culprit. I would doublecheck all your Apple TV settings and make sure that you have a certified 4K or 8K HDMI cable from your Apple TV to the XMC-2 and from the XMC-2 to your TV. You can purchase these cables from Monoprice inexpensively. |
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Post by thxultra on Nov 22, 2019 11:48:50 GMT -5
Arcam AVR860 The bass is just more powerful. Not sure im refined enough to describe it any better. I have done no setup other than speaker levels and distances. It has Dirac active but I probably wont run that until holiday time off. I used some reference songs last night to test things out. The Arcam is able to deliver on some songs that felt like the Emo was unable to drive properly. For example Dire Straights Money for Nothing. Some songs I wasnt happy with on the emo sound solid on the Arcam, examples Purple Rain, a couple Mazzy Star songs and Wicked Games. But the Emo has a creaminess that the Arcam doesnt seem to have , at least yet. Not going to be too broken in so I will hold off a little longer on calling the Arcam harsher than that Emo but right now thats my first thought. Interesting to read your thoughts. I said the same about the Bass sounding more refined on my XMC-2 vs my Marantz 7702mkii. Getting really strong clean bass from the XMC-2. When you had your XMC-2 did you have the setting set to get bass from your subs and mains? I found this to make a big difference with my setup. Glad to hear good things about the Arcam they make nice gear as well. |
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joeh
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Post by joeh on Nov 22, 2019 11:58:45 GMT -5
I recently upgraded from the XMC-1 to the XMC-2. I also purchased a Samsung Q900 8K tv and a new Apple 4K Tv. I was only briefly able to get the Apple TV to play through the XMC-2. When I first received the XMC-2 I could not even get any sound through my speakers, which are also from Emotiva. I called Emotiva and they immediately where able to upgrade me to the latest firmware, 1.7. That helped. It allowed me to set up my speakers using a sound pressure meter. Under this firmware I was able to briefly use my Apple TV. And when I say briefly, I mean briefly. I was able to play a few trailers. But the sound and picture died after playing two or three trailers. Emotiva acknowledge that they are having problems interfacing with the Apple TV. But when I called again they said they where not having any real issues. Somebody is lying! I am planning to purchase a Panasonic Blu-ray (UB-9000) in the next couple of weeks. If these problems continue with the blu-ray then I think I might ask for my money back. Very strange. I had to revert back to 1.5 from 1.7 due to not getting audio with video on standby activated (low power mode - unit off - using TV's speakers). Worked fine with the amp on. I have an Apple 4KTV and a 65" Samsung 4K TV from end of 2015 model year. Has HDR. The Apple TV picture works great and I have no issues. They told me they were working on the audio issues and seemed to think certain brand of TV may be the culprit. I would doublecheck all your Apple TV settings and make sure that you have a certified 4K or 8K HDMI cable from your Apple TV to the XMC-2 and from the XMC-2 to your TV. You can purchase these cables from Monoprice inexpensively. To get the Apple TV to play I had to downgrade to 4K at 25 khlz. And as I said that was only temporary. If I plug the Apple TV directly into the Samsung tv it works just fine. This verifies my HDMI cable. The cable I use are from Knukonceptz. Here is the link. www.knukonceptz.com/home-theater/dvi-hdmi-cables/sp/krystal-hdmi-20-certified-high-speed-hdmi-cable-with-ethernet-4-feet/ |
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Nov 22, 2019 12:16:11 GMT -5
Very strange. I had to revert back to 1.5 from 1.7 due to not getting audio with video on standby activated (low power mode - unit off - using TV's speakers). Worked fine with the amp on. I have an Apple 4KTV and a 65" Samsung 4K TV from end of 2015 model year. Has HDR. The Apple TV picture works great and I have no issues. They told me they were working on the audio issues and seemed to think certain brand of TV may be the culprit. I would doublecheck all your Apple TV settings and make sure that you have a certified 4K or 8K HDMI cable from your Apple TV to the XMC-2 and from the XMC-2 to your TV. You can purchase these cables from Monoprice inexpensively. To get the Apple TV to play I had to downgrade to 4K at 25 khlz. And as I said that was only temporary. If I plug the Apple TV directly into the Samsung tv it works just fine. This verifies my HDMI cable. The cable I use are from Knukonceptz. Here is the link. www.knukonceptz.com/home-theater/dvi-hdmi-cables/sp/krystal-hdmi-20-certified-high-speed-hdmi-cable-with-ethernet-4-feet/I will double check my settings tonight when I get home, but I believe I'm set on 60hz and I have it set to Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate. Isn't 25hz a European standard? I'm certainly not an expert at this stuff....maybe someone else with much more knowledge can chime in. Have you tried a Factory Reset on the XMC-2? You can do this with or without saving settings. Might be worth a shot. Then try downloading 1.5 firmware first. |
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Post by bastille on Nov 22, 2019 12:20:02 GMT -5
Arcam AVR860 The bass is just more powerful. Not sure im refined enough to describe it any better. I have done no setup other than speaker levels and distances. It has Dirac active but I probably wont run that until holiday time off. I used some reference songs last night to test things out. The Arcam is able to deliver on some songs that felt like the Emo was unable to drive properly. For example Dire Straights Money for Nothing. Some songs I wasnt happy with on the emo sound solid on the Arcam, examples Purple Rain, a couple Mazzy Star songs and Wicked Games. But the Emo has a creaminess that the Arcam doesnt seem to have , at least yet. Not going to be too broken in so I will hold off a little longer on calling the Arcam harsher than that Emo but right now thats my first thought. Interesting to read your thoughts. I said the same about the Bass sounding more refined on my XMC-2 vs my Marantz 7702mkii. Getting really strong clean bass from the XMC-2. When you had your XMC-2 did you have the setting set to get bass from your subs and mains? I found this to make a big difference with my setup. Glad to hear good things about the Arcam they make nice gear as well. My opinions on the bass shoudl be taken with a grain of salt. I did not feel that the bass on the Emo was weak. And it was certainly very clean. But I am using the Definitive tech 9080 series which means the front stereos each have a 12 inch sub built in and the crossover handles the low cutover. The Arcam may be just a matter of louder bass at this point and I may need to adjust the bass setting on the speakersto make a direct comparison. |
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joeh
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Post by joeh on Nov 22, 2019 13:25:57 GMT -5
I will double check my settings tonight when I get home, but I believe I'm set on 60hz and I have it set to Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate. Isn't 25hz a European standard? I'm certainly not an expert at this stuff....maybe someone else with much more knowledge can chime in. Have you tried a Factory Reset on the XMC-2? You can do this with or without saving settings. Might be worth a shot. Then try downloading 1.5 firmware first. When I received my XMC-2 I could not get it to anything. No sound out of speakers, no acknowledged connection to the TV. I called Emotiva and the first thing we did after verifying all the connections was to reset the unit. That accomplished nothing, except to erase all of my previous setup. We then proceeded to upgrade the firmware to 1.7. That at lease allowed me to get some sound out of the speaker for the setup. Using the remote the tv then acknowledged the setup commands but I found that even that is spotty. |
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cawgijoe
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Post by cawgijoe on Nov 22, 2019 13:37:37 GMT -5
I will double check my settings tonight when I get home, but I believe I'm set on 60hz and I have it set to Match Dynamic Range and Match Frame Rate. Isn't 25hz a European standard? I'm certainly not an expert at this stuff....maybe someone else with much more knowledge can chime in. Have you tried a Factory Reset on the XMC-2? You can do this with or without saving settings. Might be worth a shot. Then try downloading 1.5 firmware first. When I received my XMC-2 I could not get it to anything. No sound out of speakers, no acknowledged connection to the TV. I called Emotiva and the first thing we did after verifying all the connections was to reset the unit. That accomplished nothing, except to erase all of my previous setup. We then proceeded to upgrade the firmware to 1.7. That at lease allowed me to get some sound out of the speaker for the setup. Using the remote the tv then acknowledged the setup commands but I found that even that is spotty. Thats nuts. Unless someone else here has a solution, especially concerning your Apple TV 4K not working after a short period of time, I would call Emotiva back to try and resolve and if that doesn't work, ask to return it for them to check it out. Not something you want to do I'm sure. You can reset the unit and save settings prior to doing that. You would save settings internally, then reset, then bring them back in. Sounds like that is not the issue though. |
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Post by thxultra on Nov 22, 2019 13:56:26 GMT -5
Interesting to read your thoughts. I said the same about the Bass sounding more refined on my XMC-2 vs my Marantz 7702mkii. Getting really strong clean bass from the XMC-2. When you had your XMC-2 did you have the setting set to get bass from your subs and mains? I found this to make a big difference with my setup. Glad to hear good things about the Arcam they make nice gear as well. My opinions on the bass shoudl be taken with a grain of salt. I did not feel that the bass on the Emo was weak. And it was certainly very clean. But I am using the Definitive tech 9080 series which means the front stereos each have a 12 inch sub built in and the crossover handles the low cutover. The Arcam may be just a matter of louder bass at this point and I may need to adjust the bass setting on the speakersto make a direct comparison. Ya your definitive setup works different from my setup for sure as I'm guessing you are just running your speakers through the left and right outputs with the speakers set to large. I'm running the older B&W 703's (set to large) as mains and have a M&K 350 and a EAW sub that I'm running off a QSC amp (each using a separate output from the XMC-2 if I ever expand to more speakers I may have to dasy chain them). I actually found the XMC-2 to blend the bass between these speakers really well. Songs like Proclin by Moby sound much (for lack of a better word) deeper with the XMC-2 then my Marantz did. Always like Arcam gear though as well. You made a good choice there. |
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Post by bastille on Nov 22, 2019 16:01:22 GMT -5
Im looking forward to some a/b ing this weekend. Waiting on the xlr a/b switch.
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Post by bastille on Nov 22, 2019 23:22:52 GMT -5
My opinions on the bass shoudl be taken with a grain of salt. I did not feel that the bass on the Emo was weak. And it was certainly very clean. But I am using the Definitive tech 9080 series which means the front stereos each have a 12 inch sub built in and the crossover handles the low cutover. The Arcam may be just a matter of louder bass at this point and I may need to adjust the bass setting on the speakersto make a direct comparison. Ya your definitive setup works different from my setup for sure as I'm guessing you are just running your speakers through the left and right outputs with the speakers set to large. I'm running the older B&W 703's (set to large) as mains and have a M&K 350 and a EAW sub that I'm running off a QSC amp (each using a separate output from the XMC-2 if I ever expand to more speakers I may have to dasy chain them). I actually found the XMC-2 to blend the bass between these speakers really well. Songs like Proclin by Moby sound much (for lack of a better word) deeper with the XMC-2 then my Marantz did. Always like Arcam gear though as well. You made a good choice there. Correct. And I set subwoofer to know so the fronts get the full range and split to the subs. I like the theory and execution of it so far. The timing of the low end matches the rest of the signal perfectly with the crossover doing the LF send. You lose placement capability but im in a small room so 3 subs in cinema dont really care where the placement is. |
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