Hello everyone, another newbie / noob here. Also, goes DIY /Cheap in general.

[viveshsahu]

I'v e read all instructions in "introductions" thread.
Will try to follow, most.

Never had a real HiFi system by this forum's standards.
Had single zone, multiple rooms (14 or 18 if aangan is considered) setup since childhood.
Decks and DIY speakers/ DIY amps were normal.
Coming from village area, low budget mode!
Life diverged for last three or so decades.
Settled with HT in a box since last two decades.
Currently going for (spent for) auro setup.
Because, cheapest in auro 3d: x4200 wasn't available ,
Neither was 6500. I went for x4700.
I hope, I'm not breaking forums norms .
Thank you for guidance, the forum helped me a lot.

If you are looking for a cheap good sounding stereo setup then go for norge 2060 + wharfedale 220/225 combo. It will sound great for the money.

 

[RajithKumar]

Yes, 5.1.4 aka Auro 9.1 layout supports all formats. When I got 10.1 setup done, it didn't support Atmos, DTSX as far as I recall. Looks, some later update has allowed it.

Unified layout supports all formats ( Front & Rear heights ) ,But while playing Auro 3d native contents and Auromatic upmixing only the VOG gets engaged. For Atmos /Dts X it will not be engaged.

 

[imagineer]

Another update:
Preset 1 has Auro3D 10.1 (5.1.4+VOG), Preset 2 has 5.1.4 setup (Atmos +DTSX )

I conducted some tests about Atmos and effect of layouts . Wanted to report here. My 1000+ words plus report vanished because I accidentally pushed back button on phone.
Arghhhh... Will go again later.

 

[imagineer]

I conducted some tests about Atmos and effect of layouts . Wanted to report here. My 1000+ words plus report vanished because I accidentally pushed back button on phone.
Arghhhh... Will go again later.

Will keep posting Atmos layout tests now.
Will keep editing for sometime.
Please, ignore the thread for few minutes. I'm trying to re-write the report.

Reason why I wanted to do this,is:
To check if layout of speakers changes anything in actual rendering of audio in Dolby Atmos.

Now, I can't change speaker layouts physically, but I can definitely change configuration settings. That's what I did, to find out ... If, Atmos changes any panning / object placement or audio effects depending on layout (specifically on over the head speakers)

Note: none of this was recorded neither I've equipment to do so. Take this as an opinion. In similar setup, you will most likely find similar conclusions.

Testbed Devices:
AVR: Denon x4700h
PA1: TracAudio Stereo IA , powers Front LR.
PA2: Volt+D which powers two VOG speakers.
Laptop: Dell Latitude 5480, 16 GB, I7, Intel 620 Graphics Card, Focal Fossa, Kodi Matrix.

Testbed Speaker layout:
Bed level, 5.1
Height speakers at apx 30 degrees from MLP. Placed on front and rear from MLP.

Testing Material:
Dolby Atmos Audiosphere (m2ts)
Dolby Atmos Core Universe (m2ts)

Common Configuration:
All bed speakers at -12 db, all height speakers at +12 db.
AVR set at 52 on volume (out of 98?)
PA1 & PA2 switched off.
Subwoofer off
Ambient Noise level between 25-30 db, unless I cough, sneeze or move around

Benchmark:
Both of the sample audios in existing setup.

Test 1, change configuration layout to top fronts, top surrounds:
No change
Test 2, top fronts, rear heights:
No change.
Test 3: top fronts, top rears.
Test 4: 9 combinations of above, with DTSX/ DTS Neural X. Sounded good.
Test 5: Auro 3D, combination sounds better.

Forget , what sounds better (subjective), Note, that the objects don't travel as claimed. Now, I'm not using third party material, neither I'm trying to use "uncertified" configurations.

Folks, thanks for your patience:
Here's my short conclusion:
Atmos is underwhelming, when compared to claims.
It's awesome if you don't know nothing else (Everyone here, is better)
DTS Neural X is better.
Auro 3D is in same league (in same layout).
Once VOG is allowed, Automatic does better job than DTS X.
Opinion again: I would never spend my money on Atmos, again.... Unless they get their act together.

 

[imagineer]

Had a spare RPI4B 8GB, installed LineageOS (konstakang's TV build for RPI4.) + opengapps ATV stock. Didn't even get close on audio front nor the streaming apps side, so installed libreelec. Works like a charm, same as laptop. Again, no 4K requirement.

Another update: if there are any RPI4 HTPC users around here.
RPI 4 indeed plays 4K content(this is known from specs as well), the struggle is to play Netflix content on RPI4 in 4K. Audio part (Atmos etc) was already tested as said above.
Was mostly playing content from laptop lately (post projector installation), tried with RPI4 8GB (Libreelec 10- some nightly build), and Netflix shows and plays a few titles in 4K+ Atmos.
Didn't try to play any prime video movies yet. The add on for that makes it really hard to search. One can easily compare that addon's search capabilities with HEOS. .

Current struggle is to play local HiRes audio content via Libreelec RPI4 in headless mode.

 

[imagineer]

Current struggle is to play local HiRes audio content via Libreelec RPI4 in headless mode.

No more a struggle.
Kore + Kodi plays local HiRes Music without any display, alright!

One has to add display only if you want to do something beyond playing music, eg: System configuration which cannot be done via SSH.

 

[imagineer]

But while playing Auro 3d native contents and Auromatic upmixing only the VOG gets engaged

I was watching Enrique' Bailando (Atmos version) yesterday and noticed, VOG was getting engaged in Auro 3D mode.
Just to confirm, I muted bed layer and replayed the song. I can confirm, VOG was getting engaged.
Not sure how or why, but that's the case. You might want to try that as well and check.

 

[RajithKumar]

I was watching Enrique' Bailando (Atmos version) yesterday and noticed, VOG was getting engaged in Auro 3D mode.
Just to confirm, I muted bed layer and replayed the song. I can confirm, VOG was getting engaged.
Not sure how or why, but that's the case. You might want to try that as well and check.

Yes when you upmix Atmos content via Auro3d Auromatic upmixer , definitely VOG will be engaged. ( Where as rear surround will not .This is due to AVR manufacturer limitations).

 

[imagineer]

Yes when you upmix Atmos content via Auro3d Auromatic upmixer , definitely VOG will be engaged. ( Where as rear surround will not .This is due to AVR manufacturer limitations).

Yup. Got it!

 

[imagineer]

No more a struggle.
Kore + Kodi plays local HiRes Music without any display, alright!

One has to add display only if you want to do something beyond playing music, eg: System configuration which cannot be done via SSH.

Yet, another update. Raspberry Pi 4 was holding good. Wanted to add more duties beyond kodi on libreelec. The plastic case and a fan kept moving cpu temperatures in North of 60 degrees Celsius(Ambient temperature at 30-35).
Added heatsinks for cpu, ram and usb controller ; kept same case with fan and temperature dropped to North of 50s.
Got argon one V2 case from fab2lab (https://www.fabtolab.com/) at cheapest, same folks who got me Allo Volt D+ .
Temperature got to North of 40s!!!
Stuck all the heatsinks from PI (except USB) to Argon one V2 chassis.. Temperature got down 35ish...
Removed GPIO cap on argon, and it got better.
Added old half case including fan on top of the heatsinks and argon case .
Temperature dropped to 30ish.
Workload: NAS, Media Centre, backups, photoprism , PiHole and a firewall.


Added PiHole as a docker instance.