Custom Reactor and Dante

[booshtukka]

Love my Reactors but it’s time to reduce that latency. So I’m moving my 900s into my office/studio (where they’ll be amazing and the latency isn’t a big issue), and replacing the LJ with a pair of customs.

Next I need a optical > Dante adapter so I can connect to the output of the TV. Something like this:

https://www.micromedia.ch/?product=digim...rca-tos-dc

I’ve already got an analogue adapter for my DJ setup, and I can use the virtual soundcard for VLC etc. 

Questions:

1) any other options for the optical > Dante conversion?
2) the end game is a decoder to get 7.1 out of the optical source, to Dante. I’ve not seen anything reasonable for this yet. Some people have decided a surround signal, then connected Dante adapters to the analogue outputs for all of the channels. That seems mad. You should just be able to get one box that received optical or HDMI, and makes all of the channels available as Dante channels. Ideally including the .1 so you can have 7.7!

I’d love any input anyone has.

[ogs]

That is a very good move. Will you be using the virtual Dante card for your stereo playback? JRiver or Roon? Or maybe something else? I am looking forward to your reports on both functionality and sound quality!

[alandbush]

Next I need a optical > Dante adapter so I can connect to the output of the TV. Something like this:

https://www.micromedia.ch/?product=digim...rca-tos-dc

I’ve already got an analogue adapter for my DJ setup.

I do not think that it will be as straightforward as your analogue adapter connection, i.e. I do not think it is as simple as a standards conversion.
I suspect you will effectively be connecting two endpoints that ‘talk’ Dante but which will require a Dante controller to ensure appropriate data flow.
That would require a pc in the chain but I’m sure a low powered device dedicated to this would be sufficient.

I would like to be wrong however.

2) the end game is a decoder to get 7.1 out of the optical source, to Dante. I’ve not seen anything reasonable for this yet. Some people have decoded a surround signal, then connected Dante adapters to the analogue outputs for all of the channels. That seems mad. You should just be able to get one box that received optical or HDMI, and makes all of the channels available as Dante channels. Ideally including the .1 so you can have 7.7!

I’d love any input anyone has.

Mad, perhaps, but it’s a very niche product, if it exists.

Unless I have been searching the wrong places or searching for the wrong thing, I only discovered an expensive HDMI -> AES XLR converter or a modded Oppo with Vanity board that output to spdif RCA.
Subsequently, I think there are some Blackmagic devices that convert HDMI to SDI and then to AES.

And then, there are very few devices that handle multichannel conversion of electrical digital to optical digital.

For a future proof system, choose a surround receiver/processor and convert analogue to Dante.

[Snoopy8]

1) any other options for the optical > Dante conversion?

Besides the Micromedia product, there is the Audinate product, which you purchase directly from Devialet (professional@devialet.com)

https://www.audinate.com/products/dante-...al-adapter

There is a Radio Labs adaptor

https://www.markertek.com/product/rdl-sf...-interface

2) the end game is a decoder to get 7.1 out of the optical source, to Dante. I’ve not seen anything reasonable for this yet. Some people have decided a surround signal, then connected Dante adapters to the analogue outputs for all of the channels. That seems mad. You should just be able to get one box that received optical or HDMI, and makes all of the channels available as Dante channels. Ideally including the .1 so you can have 7.7!

Dante comes from the prod audio world and is expensive.  There is the JBl SDP-55
https://www.jblsynthesis.com/products/el...P-55-.html

[booshtukka]

I do not think that it will be as straightforward as your analogue adapter connection, i.e. I do not think it is as simple as a standards conversion.
I suspect you will effectively be connecting two endpoints that ‘talk’ Dante but which will require a Dante controller to ensure appropriate data flow.
That would require a pc in the chain but I’m sure a low powered device dedicated to this would be sufficient.

All of my experience points to this working fine. You need a PC to make the connections, but I believe it should work fine.

1) any other options for the optical > Dante conversion?

Besides the Micromedia product, there is the Audinate product, which you purchase directly from Devialet (professional@devialet.com)

https://www.audinate.com/products/dante-...al-adapter

There is a Radio Labs adaptor

https://www.markertek.com/product/rdl-sf...-interface

Both of these devices look like optical outputs rather than inputs? I'm looking for something that will take the optical output from the TV and send it over ethernet.

[Snoopy8]

I do not think that it will be as straightforward as your analogue adapter connection, i.e. I do not think it is as simple as a standards conversion.
I suspect you will effectively be connecting two endpoints that ‘talk’ Dante but which will require a Dante controller to ensure appropriate data flow.
That would require a pc in the chain but I’m sure a low powered device dedicated to this would be sufficient.

All of my experience points to this working fine. You need a PC to make the connections, but I believe it should work fine.

That is correct.  The Dante Controller on a PC is for setup only.  Dante runs independently of the PC.
 

1) any other options for the optical > Dante conversion?

Besides the Micromedia product, there is the Audinate product, which you purchase directly from Devialet (professional@devialet.com)

https://www.audinate.com/products/dante-...al-adapter

There is a Radio Labs adaptor

https://www.markertek.com/product/rdl-sf...-interface

Both of these devices look like optical outputs rather than inputs? I'm looking for something that will take the optical output from the TV and send it over ethernet.

Ooops.  Radio Labs have an optical input SF-DN4
https://www.rdlnet.com/Dante/

[booshtukka]

Just got off the phone with someone Devialet recommended I spoke to. He couldn’t give me figures on the difference in latency with customs va standard reactors. And the customs have no controls on them at all, which means just feeding them a signal would give me no control over volume. I’d need a DSP, which I could write a UI for over IP, but still wouldn’t have surround processing.

The surround processors are so big and expensive, and do a ton of stuff I don’t need. And taking the analogue outs over a series of AVIO connectors seems crazy since I’m going from digital to analogue to digital. I don’t think it’s quite where I want it to be.

[booshtukka]

Feels like the Anthem AVM 60 is the way to go. But then Dante wouldn’t really add anything - I could just run analogues to the ins on the reactors?

My AV cupboard is super shallow. if I put the anthem on its side would it catch fire?

[booshtukka]

Also does it output to the 2 HDMI outs at the same time?

[njaiswal]

Love my Reactors but it’s time to reduce that latency. So I’m moving my 900s into my office/studio (where they’ll be amazing and the latency isn’t a big issue), and replacing the LJ with a pair of customs.

Next I need a optical > Dante adapter so I can connect to the output of the TV. Something like this:

https://www.micromedia.ch/?product=digim...rca-tos-dc

I’ve already got an analogue adapter for my DJ setup, and I can use the virtual soundcard for VLC etc. 

Questions:

1) any other options for the optical > Dante conversion?
2) the end game is a decoder to get 7.1 out of the optical source, to Dante. I’ve not seen anything reasonable for this yet. Some people have decided a surround signal, then connected Dante adapters to the analogue outputs for all of the channels. That seems mad. You should just be able to get one box that received optical or HDMI, and makes all of the channels available as Dante channels. Ideally including the .1 so you can have 7.7!

I’d love any input anyone has.

Hi!  So I personally have these adapters from micromedia to connect my bluesounds to the dante network
https://www.micromedia.ch/?product=digim...ca-tos-poe

They work really well and are extremely stable.  I have the audinate dante adapters from devialet to convert the dante signal to optical, however, there is no reason you can't use the micromedia adapter for that purpose.  One thing to note is that the micromedia adapter is bidirectional, meaning it does both input and output.  So if your source is near  your reactors, then  you could use a single adapter for both the source and a single reactor.  If you want stereo then you'll need 2 adapters and instruct the dante network to send the left and right channels to them respectively.  

I went with the all digital route because I read that the optical signal provides a better sound experience than an analog one.  And to my ears that is accurate.

I have had no issues with dante at home.  My wife and kids simply love listening to the Phantoms in the house now.  I have physical remotes for the phantoms in the public spaces and have a Symetrix controlling the volume and tone for the remaining phantoms.  

Good luck.  Keep us posted on what you end up doing.