Optical Direct for Reactors

[matteo71]

Quick update.  I ended up buying the Dante Optical adapters from a local installer as well as Dante analog input adapters.  Using them I was able to achieve a significant improvement in sound quality over my old configuration as well as a very stable configuration.  I'm going to convert all of my phantoms to use Dante going forward.  It's surprisingly easy to setup and seems to be a well supported standard.

Do you have a Power-over-Ethernet switch or Dante adapters are passive ?

[njaiswal]

Quick update.  I ended up buying the Dante Optical adapters from a local installer as well as Dante analog input adapters.  Using them I was able to achieve a significant improvement in sound quality over my old configuration as well as a very stable configuration.  I'm going to convert all of my phantoms to use Dante going forward.  It's surprisingly easy to setup and seems to be a well supported standard.

Do you have a Power-over-Ethernet switch or Dante adapters are passive ?

I have a PoE switch.  The Dante adapters require it.

[chaiwongwaiwit]

Based on my testing, its worse than 60ms... :-(  I'm waiting to hear back from them on the actual measurement.  I'm also waiting to hear back on if I can post the procedure.  On the bright side, all of my reactors are stable now.  No audio issues, no random changing of volume, etc.

Confirmed from Devialet that the latency will be less than 1ms when put into optical direct mode.  The limitation with the reactor implementation is that there is no way to choose which channel the speaker will play from the optical stream.  So you need to split the L/R channels before the signal reaches the reactors.  Using a simple optical splitter will give you 2 reactors playing a stereo mix, not true L/R.  

Below is the procedure to turn on Custom Mode ("optical direct") on a reactor:

Reactor Custom Mode
* Mini-jack connection only (both Analog and Optical)
* Volume fixed to 100%
* Volume setting available on sensor buttons
* BT + Airplay disabled
* Hardware reset only (protected from Power cycling)


Step1: Factory Reset
— Plug-in your Reactor and wait for the LED light to turn white or green
— Long Press on the back button (10sec)
— LED should turn purple and produce a distinctive short sound
— After ~1mn LED will fade in White then turn solid Green

Step 2: Entering Custom mode
— Press simultaneously (+) and (-) top button for 10 seconds
— LED will blink White then turn Green again when you release
— Plug-in your mini-jack (optical or analog) to the back of Reactor within one minute
— LED will turn from Green to solid White
— Unplug Reactor for 10 seconds and plug it back
— That’s it! Reactor is ready in Custom Mode!

— You can check that the setup worked by pressing on the
Bluetooth logo on top of the speaker
—> The LED should not turn Blue

The instructions are straight from Devialet.  Enjoy!

Spoke Alexandre from Devialet Custom Installation and found that the reactor's latency in their "custom install mode" is hard coded at 190ms.  There is going to be an update that reduces it but he didn't know when it will be released.  So now i'm looking at a speaker management system that will allow me to delay the Phantom Premiers by 190ms so that I can align them with the reactors.  I am seriously annoyed right now...

[njaiswal]

Confirmed from Devialet that the latency will be less than 1ms when put into optical direct mode.  The limitation with the reactor implementation is that there is no way to choose which channel the speaker will play from the optical stream.  So you need to split the L/R channels before the signal reaches the reactors.  Using a simple optical splitter will give you 2 reactors playing a stereo mix, not true L/R.  

Below is the procedure to turn on Custom Mode ("optical direct") on a reactor:

Reactor Custom Mode
* Mini-jack connection only (both Analog and Optical)
* Volume fixed to 100%
* Volume setting available on sensor buttons
* BT + Airplay disabled
* Hardware reset only (protected from Power cycling)


Step1: Factory Reset
— Plug-in your Reactor and wait for the LED light to turn white or green
— Long Press on the back button (10sec)
— LED should turn purple and produce a distinctive short sound
— After ~1mn LED will fade in White then turn solid Green

Step 2: Entering Custom mode
— Press simultaneously (+) and (-) top button for 10 seconds
— LED will blink White then turn Green again when you release
— Plug-in your mini-jack (optical or analog) to the back of Reactor within one minute
— LED will turn from Green to solid White
— Unplug Reactor for 10 seconds and plug it back
— That’s it! Reactor is ready in Custom Mode!

— You can check that the setup worked by pressing on the
Bluetooth logo on top of the speaker
—> The LED should not turn Blue

The instructions are straight from Devialet.  Enjoy!

Spoke Alexandre from Devialet Custom Installation and found that the reactor's latency in their "custom install mode" is hard coded at 190ms.  There is going to be an update that reduces it but he didn't know when it will be released.  So now i'm looking at a speaker management system that will allow me to delay the Phantom Premiers by 190ms so that I can align them with the reactors.  I am seriously annoyed right now...

[chaiwongwaiwit]

I tested the Reactor's direct mode as the center channel in my home theater system and using Audyssey for room correction. The corrected distance for the center channel was 0.2 ft from my listening position while the rest of the speakers were 15-16 ft. away! I think it tried to compensate for the Reactor's latency. So I think even in direct mode, there is an unacceptable latency and it can't be used with other speakers unless used with Dante. (I don't know how to use it)

[njaiswal]

I tested the Reactor's direct mode as the center channel in my home theater system and using Audyssey for room correction.  The corrected distance for the center channel was 0.2 ft from my listening position while the rest of the speakers were 15-16 ft. away!  I think it tried to compensate for the Reactor's latency.  So I think even in direct mode, there is an unacceptable latency and it can't be used with other speakers unless used with Dante. (I don't know how to use it)

You'll need to add 190ms of latency to every other speaker to compensate for the reactor.  That means you need to add approx. 190ft of distance to all of your channels.

[chaiwongwaiwit]

I tested the Reactor's direct mode as the center channel in my home theater system and using Audyssey for room correction.  The corrected distance for the center channel was 0.2 ft from my listening position while the rest of the speakers were 15-16 ft. away!  I think it tried to compensate for the Reactor's latency.  So I think even in direct mode, there is an unacceptable latency and it can't be used with other speakers unless used with Dante. (I don't know how to use it)

You'll need to add 190ms of latency to every other speaker to compensate for the reactor.  That means you need to add approx. 190ft of distance to all of your channels.

[Wuchst]

Hi there.
As I am struggeling between the Reactors and the Premiers, I have a question about the connections.

I´ve read the whole threat but I did noch really understand what is meant by optical direct mode and what ist just the normal optical mode.

Here is, what my hearing-settings are:

Everything is planned for Stereo or maybe 2.1 or 3.1

1. It´s meant to here spotify and other internet radios hopefully without taking the phone every time (maybe with something like this: https://www.hifiklubben.de/stereo/radios...und-radio/)
For that I want to use just two pair of Phantoms

2. Here Music from a CD-Player an watch films on TV (using the german SKY-TV https://www.sky.de/ ).
Therefore I planed to send all Sound-data from CD-Player and TV to the AVR. The AVR has an optical output. I planed to use this optical output to go to the Phantoms (either the Reactors or into the Dialog from the Premiers).

Is this a possiible way to go and can I here Stereo with a Setup like this?
If not, wich hardware do I need?

Or will it maybe work with a cinch -> Headphone -> Adapter? From TV and Argon Streamer to the AVR. And from AVR left cinch in left Reactor an right cinch in right Reactor.

Sorry für asking but my thoughts were that it is an simple thing to use the old stuff together with the new stuff.

[njaiswal]

Hi there.
As I am struggeling between the Reactors and the Premiers, I have a question about the connections.

I´ve read the whole threat but I did noch really understand what is meant by optical direct mode and what ist just the normal optical mode.

Here is, what my hearing-settings are:

Everything is planned for Stereo or maybe 2.1 or 3.1

1. It´s meant to here spotify and other internet radios hopefully without taking the phone every time (maybe with something like this: https://www.hifiklubben.de/stereo/radios...und-radio/)
For that I want to use just two pair of Phantoms

2. Here Music from a CD-Player an watch films on TV (using the german SKY-TV https://www.sky.de/ ).
Therefore I planed to send all Sound-data from CD-Player and TV to the AVR. The AVR has an optical output. I planed to use this optical output to go to the Phantoms (either the Reactors or into the Dialog from the Premiers).

Is this a possiible way to go and can I here Stereo with a Setup like this?
If not, wich hardware do I need?

Or will it maybe work with a cinch -> Headphone -> Adapter? From TV and Argon Streamer to the AVR. And from AVR left cinch in left Reactor an right cinch in right Reactor.

Sorry für asking but my thoughts were that it is an simple thing to use the old stuff together with the new stuff.

Hi!  To answer your question, optical direct vs regular optical.  In my situation my house's layout and construction prevented me from using my Premiere's or Reactors stereo functionality through their intended use; via some sort of network connection (WiFi, Ethernet or PowerLine).  In order for me to obtain stable audio output I needed to move the stereo processing away from the Devialet and on to an external system (in my case it is the Dante audio protocol, for others it has been the use of optical splitters, extenders, and ADCs).  

If you're able to establish a solid network connection between the phantoms and your legacy equipment then the simplest solution is to use the regular optical connection (just beware that most AVR's optical outputs are not variable, meaning that you will need to control the volume of the phantoms via Devialet's application).  If you are unable to establish a solid network connection between your phantoms then use the optical direct mode and turn the phantoms into simple speakers.

[Wuchst]

Thank you for your help.

I‘m now using a cinch-headphone-Adapter for watching TV. The cable is put in the right Reactor. I thought that the Reactors would create a connection between each other to sound stereo. But now only the right Reactor makes Sound. How am I able to use both Reactora as Stereo with cinch-/headphoen-Adapter?

The Reactor also is very quitly in comparison to connection via bluetooth or wifi. Does anyone know why this could happen?