Multichannel Development Dead?

Has Eversolo abandoned the sole distinguishing feature of the A6, multichannel audio? Any plans to enable bitstream audio passthrough to add more channels and features with limited development time and no additional licensing costs?

 

Nice passive-aggressive post. +plonk+

 

As far as I'm aware equipment that is manufactured to utilise formats like Dolby Digital, Dolby ATMOS, etc have to pay a license royalty to Dolby Labs even if the equipment doesn't actually decode the data back into audio, i.e. it just passes it through. I don't believe eversolo ever applied for or paid the royalty fee on the DMP-A6 models so the likelihood of it ever eventuating is IMHO very slim. Given the DMP-A6 is sold worldwide and also has been in production for a few years now I sincerely believe ieversolo will never apply for a license and even if they did what about all the units that have already been manufactured and sold? IMHO here's no practical way to retrospectively collect the fee from owners to whom units have already been sold. In addition, if my memory serves me correctly, those "in the know" have already explained and commented that the future implementation of Dolby Digital and Dolby ATMOS handling is never going to eventuate.

As for other multichannel formats. I've never succeeded in getting my DMP-A6 to bitstream or decode MLP nor dts either. I've always had to rip these files to WAV to play them. Interestingly @svideo says his DMP-A6 Gen2 decodes / passes through dts (as a native bitstream ???) which certainly isn't my experience on my DMP-A6 (Gen1) unit this far.

Of course, my comments above are just based on my personal observations. Your experiences may differ.

 

Indeed i have several multichannel formats succesfully decoded by the dmp-a6 gen 2
First: the only bitstream i get out of the dmp-a6 gen 2 over HDMI is DSD-64

2: everthing else is decoded to PCM first
DTS 44, DTS48, DTS96. Even a modern bluray dts 5.1 rip is converted to 5.1 pcm correct and sounds wonderfull.
The DMP-a6 is only oblivious to dts-flac. DTS-wav, '.dts' is played correct.
3: '.dts' has no meta data other then album/artist. All other mp3tags are ignored.
4: it plays 5.1 0gg files
5: it plays 5.1, 7.1 flac files (7.1 is downmixed to 5.1) (max 192khz)
6: i don't have wav files
7: it has serious troubles with 4.0 and 5.0 pcm files they are played as 16 bit stereo
8: dts-ex is not played correct. It is effectively a 6.1 format. thus: converted to stereo
9: according to mark everthing is outputted as 16bits ( i cant check, my avr does not report bitcount)
10: no replay gain
11: no room correction
12: no DSP


The list of bugs is long but still it plays 98% of my MCH collection without audible problems.
AND more important it plays gapless!!!!!!!

 

That is very disappointing for someone who wants to listen to Atmos or even Auro music. So what streamers are able to stream Atmos besides devices like Fire TV or Shield? As far as I know some Zidoo players can at least stream Atmos Music from Amazon. In this context I`m wondering, why the "license cost" is no problem here, but it is a problem with Eversolo devices. So it cannot be THAT expensive.
Tidal and Amazon (and some streaming services with Auro (CX) ) are adding more and more immersive tracks and the only choice we have is to buy some of those cheap and ugly FireTV etc. sticks?

 

I agree it is dissapointing.

Shure the zidoo does atmos, it even lets me play tidal connect with atmos ( very poorly atmos, it's DD+ (i tend to call it dd---) )
I can play m4a tracks with atmos.
It will play bluray rips in full atmos.
But the music app is just bad! furiating gaps of ±2 seconds between following album tracks. A playlist functionality that reminds me of the previous millenium.
But video is A-Okay. Rip your music to a single mkv and you're golden.

Eversolo & zidoo both have their own focus and neither is multichannel.
Eversolo is adding streaming services to a media player. (media euh ??? what media???) DMP is a misleading name for a streaming box
Zidoo is adding data services to a video player.
As long as a third party writes a android app, everzidoo is trying to add it to their machines. Tidal is ff-ing up my local play joy. I had to remove it.
I was very angry to find out a third party player is able to play gapless on the zidoo!
I'm very surpised to find a 2020+ hdmi output with only 6 channel support.

maybe next week

 

Has anyone already tried sideloading Kodi for Android? That software has full support for Atmos passthrough.

 

Maybe you shouldn’t be disappointed about features that were, to my recollection, never promised. Buy devices for the features they have, not the ones you want them to get.

 

I actually did not buy it at all, because it can´t play Atmos etc..

 

All the more reason to not be disappointed.

 

My disappointment is not that Eversolo doesn´t "add" Atmos support to the A6, but that there is no streamer (preferably an Eversolo) that can´t play it.

 

Isn't it something that should ring a bell, then??? Not so many manufacturers are interested / can afford taking the job of developing such a (still) niche device?

 

What bell is there to ring?
And niches? Niches like i2s?

 

Sooner or later there will be a streamer (similar to Eversolo, not Fire TV or Shield etc.) , which will be able to stream immersive audio and there will be people like me, who will buy it. The question is, wether it will be Eversolo or not. Atmos tracks are getting more and more and this just cannot be ignored forever. Yes, it may be a niche. But then high end stereo streamers are also a niche.

 

they have zidoo

 

Are you saying the zidoo range can be considers music player/streamer?
To my recollection only the uhd 8000 is able to combine local with streamers.

The zidoo (z9x 8k, Z30, Z3000) is only capable to act as an endpoint for tidal, spotify, qobuz etc and has zero functionality like the dmp a6.
So no combining local tracks with online tracks, no gaples playback on mp8.

Maybe next week with the promised update some music improvements are silently added.

 

Are all these Atmos / whatever formats available on solid media, or are all just available on streaming platforms? Because if it is so, all the Zidoo series you mentioned above (z9x, 8k, Z30, Z3000) are a suitable solution, as they can stream from internet platforms such as Spotify, Qobuz, etc.

As already said, Zidoo has streamers dealing with such formats. Eversolo has been mainly created for stereo audio. You may indeed wish it offered MCH / Atmos / etc. but discrediting it because it does not, when it was never advertised, and there are other opportunities within the brand products, is a little bit arrogant, IMO.

 

Their audio part is copied from Eversolo for the biggest part. And it plays all the movie related audio formats. But it is not an Eversolo.

 

HDMI Multi-Channel Output
Supports DSD Native and up to 5.1 channel output, combining music and home theater for a thrilling surround sound experience.

As stated on the official eversolo site.
Stop pretending its a stereo device!

 

That was a one-go
Does the A8, or the A10 still offer the same...?

P.S.
It can route MCH audio through HDMI to a HT system (or even through coax / optical, with their limits in bandwidth etc.), which, being a multi-analog-out system, can send multiple analog outputs to a multi-analog-input amplifier, and from there drive multi-channel speakrs.

For sure, though, cannot PLAY MCH audio itself, because it has 2 analog outs: L and R, and this makes it a stereo device.