Muffled audio on the Z9S (fixed)

I'm having an audio problem with my brand new Z9S (both during movies and in the music app).
The audio on de Z9S seems muffled/not cripsy compared to both my Shield TV and the Denon onboard media player.

I've set the HDMI audio to RAW and the Playback effect to "Off", but the sound still behaves as if there still is some kind of Playback effect.
- During music the hidef flac seems dull and far from crispy.
- During movies it seems that there is no dynamic sound as well (volume drops during explosions etc).

Are there any other options/settings I need to set in order to fix this?

 

As long as you have "HDMI audio" set to <RAW> and "Downmix HD Audio output" set <off> then the audio is bitstreamed so what squirts out the HDMI is bit for bit what's in the file - no processing.

Check the Denon settings, particularly "cinema eq", "dynamic eq" and "dynamic volume" (depending what model it is).

 

Downmix HD audio is also set to <off>, but I’m pretty sure there still is some post processing, even though everything is set to passthrough.
The sound quality and the volume drops during dynamic action scenes are very different on the Z9S than on my Shield TV. They are both connected (using HDMI) to my Denon receiver, so I can eliminate the Denon settings out of the equation.
I also had to set the volume to 50% on the Z9S to get the same volume output as my Shield TV and the Denon media player (on the Shield I have the option to turn off the volume control and let the receiver control the volume).

 

Ok, there's definitely something wrong there - if it's bitstreaming, the Zidoo volume cannot effect the output.

If the volume control does indeed control volume then by definition that is processed and not bitstreaming.

If you're sure all settings are correct then I'd suggest a full factory reset.

(I take it you only have HDMI out connected?)

 

But Music Player output will still be processed with HDMI set to RAW.

 

Sorry - yes, hadn't considered Music Player - not something I use...

 

So how can I turn off any audio processing on the Z9S?

I will try a full factory reset tomorrow. But my instinct tells me something is going on with that Playback Effect setting (even when it’s set to <off>).

 

I did a full factory reset. Unfortunately it didn't help.

 

Strange problem and definitely not common. Sure the AMP is not in "Night Mode" or some other dynamic volume control? Often settings on an AMP can be made port specific (try swapping as a test).

Playing movies with HDMI Audio set to RAW the volume control of the Zidoo should be inactive. A message should appear it cannot be used when trying to do so. You are sure being using HDMI and not SPDIF or Analog?

Music Player sound is always being processed regardless that setting (as it uses Zidoo specific drivers for HD audio not supported via Android).

 

As far as movies go (assuming DTS or Dolby audio), then the audio will be bitstreamed - if you can adjust volume on a such a movie then bitstreaming isn't working for some reason.

As for Music Player, as I say, it's not something I use (I use Linn DS for music) but out of interest I just tried it.

I tried 3 types of file, all stereo:

1. 16-bit 44.1KHz CD ripped to FLAC
2. 24-bit 48KHz Linn Studio Master FLAC
3. 24-bit 192KHz HD-Tracks FLAC

These were played using a Denon 7200 to M&K LCR 750s with a Rel Studio II sub in stereo (no DSP).

I also used a Vertex to check what the Zidoo was spitting out.

In all cases it was PCM 24-bit 48KHz stereo.

And although it made a real arse of working out the meta data despite all tracks being tagged perfectly, the sound was perfectly respectable. Ok, not up to competing with my Linn, but not far off. I'm actually quite impressed.

So, there's something going on in your setup we haven't found - the key here is checking if you can adjust the Zidoo volume when playing a Dolby or DTS movies - if you can then something funky is going on.

And as Nice Monkey says, you haven't got the S/PDIF plugged in have you??

 

Just to add - if you can adjust the volume on the Zidoo on a Dolby or DTS movie then something funky is going on with the Zidoo, if you can't adjust volume and the amp reports Dolby or DTS the something funky is going on with the amp.

 

You must be using the wrong setting! Setup => Audio => Audio native Sampling => ON
This should reproduce all 3 files in the correct native format. Should sound even better.

With OFF (=default) it uses the standard Android driver with fixed 48 kHz resampled output.

 

I'm using HDMI out. No cable in HDMI in.
The S/PDIF isn't plugged in (though it cannot be set to <off> in the settings).
Night mode and dynamic volume control are switched off in my amp.

I've tested:
Different cable and different HDMI port - No Effect
Changing NuPlayer / Native player - No Effect
Turning off and on the 192Khz setting - No Effect

I can still change the volume (no message) in both the settings and during playback of a TrueHD track and the sound seems muffled compared to the media player in my Denon x4200W and the Shield TV.

 

Update: the interface on my Zidoo behaves as if I control the volume (UI meter is showing and changing when using <up> and <down> buttons), but it doesn't have any effect on the volume.
No message appears.

 

Ok, so if you can change volume on a Dolby TrueHD track and HDMI output is set to RAW then I'd have to call faulty unit on this one!

The only other thing I can think of trying is reverting to a full image firmware (the only one I think is available online is v1.7.8) using the emergency restore procedure...

Then once you have 1.7.8 installed, restore up to current firmware by the usual method.

USB image here:

https://mega.nz/#!qYMyUSYS!w84xlVPvl6ymjnILocIxsmMOQIYY4wPZOICGmq9JmKM

Instructions for restore by emergency method:

https://www.zidoo.tv/Support/support_guide/guide_target/ua1h3YuLrJzeq7k9e[ld]3ulg==.html

 

Doh!

Told you I didn't use it

 

Ah, ok, so that's bitstreaming, I get the same behaviour, no message - does the amp show TrueHD?

 

Good to know you see the same behavior. And before I forget: thanks for your help/insights guys!

I've just reverted to a full image firmware (v1.7.8) using the emergency restore procedure. after that I restore up to v2.2.82 by also using a USB update (just to be sure OTA won't give any issues). - No Effect

The movie I'm testing only has one TrueHD audio stream but my amp shows Dolby Atmos.
When I play the same file on my Shield TV the amp shows TrueHD. Just noticed that difference. Weird!

Also when I press the info button on my Zidoo remote it mentions 48Khz everytime, no matter what I play (I have tested loads of HD audio demo's).

edit: typos

 

So firstly, Object encoded Atmos audio is held in a TrueHD container for backward compatibility, so if it's an Atmos track and you have Atmos speakers connected, the Denon will show Atmos, if you don't have Atmos speakers it would show TrueHD.

Not sure why the Shield shows TrueHD - only thing I can think there is the client you're using on the Shield is maybe not setup for Atmos?

48KHz would be correct for TrueHD, Atmos, DTS-HD, Dolby Digital, DTS etc - that's the sample rate they use. Also, when you press info, that's just showing you the info for the file.

So all that said, the fact that the Amp shows Atmos means the Zidoo is bitstreaming which in turn means that we have to assume the output from the Zidoo is ok - it can't mess with the bitstream. It can downmix of course, but then the amp wouldn't show Atmos.

So two more things to check:

1. As Nice Monkey suggested, try plugging the Zidoo into the same HDMI input as the Shield.

2. Check your speaker assignments on the amp - you haven't defined any speakers in the setup that don't exist?

 

FIXED IT!

It was the receiver *blush*. I swapped the Shield and the Zidoo and the sounds was cripsy. I feel so stupid. It seems that the Denon is storing all kinds of settings on each HDMI channel.
Thanks for all the help guys, learned a lot!