New product launch – beosound theatre?

[Severed_hand_of_skywalker]

ive had the beta from the start and I don’t see any bugs that it has that are worse than the non-beta version.

[BeoMedia]

That’s a very fair point but hardly complimentary of the official software releases ?

[babar]

hi,

I have read most of the posts but not been able to find a complete answer to a question on streaming high res audio to my b&o system.

I am using a b&O sound theatre with the beolab 18 (For rear) & 19 connected to a 77” G2.  The screen and BST are mounted on a motorized future automation mount negating the option of using a line out with a wire to my ipad (or other).

I have an apple tv connected to it using a balun hdmi extender which terminates in  my networking cabinet.

I am a new to my current b&o setup but not high res audio and would like to see if i can get the full benefit of using qobuz, amazon unlimited and tidal (does b&O handle mqa?). on my bang and olufsen system.  The apple tv is limited in the high-res output and I am interested in feeding a 24bit/192khz signal or if not that then a 24/96

1. Is this possible and how do I do it?

2. Does the BST have a built in DAC ?

3. Can i use a DAP or should I use a network streamer?

4. would a Core be of any help in sending a high res audio signal?

5. can i substitute the apple tv for another device which can stream hi-res audio at levels better than apple tv?

6. if anyone has successfully done got high res music to a system like mine how did it sound?

It’s been a few days i’d poring thru the forum pages. thanks so much for your help.  please feel free to add more information than asked for as i’m a bit lost on this.

 

 

[Sandyb]

As someone who had for a long time BL18s and a BL19, I would respectfully say that you really won’t hear much/any difference with hi-res music on these speakers.

Otherwise, the Theatre (as I’m sure you know) doesn’t have a separate digital input which you could use for a network streamer, so you have the option of using the analogue input (USB-C input with the correct dongle), and connect a streamer/DAC to send the Theatre an analogue (hi-res) source.

 

[trackbeo]

That extra D-to-A plus A-to-D resampling round-trip seems anathema, in the high-res world.  Might one solution be acquiring an “old” Oppo UDP-205 for its jitter-eliminating secondary HDMI Audio-only port, and using it as the streamer, thus preserving the signal digitally, into one of the Theatre’s HDMI inputs?  I don’t remember the issues vs. Roon-ready after all this time, but I thought this allowed hi-res all the way until the final renderer’s (Theatre’s) D-to-A?

[Normann]

trackbeo wrote:

That extra D-to-A plus A-to-D resampling round-trip seems anathema, in the high-res world. Might one solution be acquiring an “old” Oppo UDP-205 for its jitter-eliminating secondary HDMI Audio-only port, and using it as the streamer, thus preserving the signal digitally, into one of the Theatre’s HDMI inputs? I don’t remember the issues vs. Roon-ready after all this time, but I thought this allowed hi-res all the way until the final renderer’s (Theatre’s) D-to-A?

Could It be possible to connect a Bluesound Node and use the hdmi output on that and connect to the Theater? As the Bluesound is Roon Ready..

Or an Ifi Streamer and analog out and in on the usb-c using a dongle?

I am  considering buying a Theater these days, but the connection for a Roon Ready device is important for me..

[trackbeo]

Normann wrote:

Could It be possible to connect a Bluesound Node and use the hdmi output on that and connect to the Theater?

Nope, sorry.  Node’s HDMI connector is for input only, from the eARC out of a TV.

Normann wrote:

Or an iFi Streamer and analog out and in on the usb-c using a dongle?

Again, I don’t see the point of stretching for a hi-res data stream, and then doing a conversion to analog in the source device, only to resample it back to digital at the input of the Theatre (later converting it back to analog again to drive the speakers).

The only other possibility I can imagine is if there are applications in the LG panel, or the AppleTV, for your hi-res music service, which can output to the eARC — that supports up to 24-bit 192-kHz.  (Don’t forget to read the HDMI cable markings, because it needs 48 Gbps transmission bandwidth to send that.)  Also bear in mind, if you use any of the self-calibration features of the Theatre or the TrueImage speaker steering, it’s going to muck around with your pristine digital data anyway!

[syrianos82]

Maybe a little off topic:

To my knowledge the easiest and highest signal input is to listen through a recent Apple TV supporting the mid tier lossless (24-bit/48kHz) over hdmi.
indeed the BS TH will modify the signal so much with listening positions but you have a decent digital signal directly to the TH.

its just a hassle to navigate on screen instead of browsing computer or phone with Apple Music.

[Normann]

trackbeo wrote:

Normann wrote:

Could It be possible to connect a Bluesound Node and use the hdmi output on that and connect to the Theater?

Nope, sorry. Node’s HDMI connector is for input only, from the eARC out of a TV.

Normann wrote:

Or an iFi Streamer and analog out and in on the usb-c using a dongle?

Again, I don’t see the point of stretching for a hi-res data stream, and then doing a conversion to analog in the source device, only to resample it back to digital at the input of the Theatre (later converting it back to analog again to drive the speakers). The only other possibility I can imagine is if there are applications in the LG panel, or the AppleTV, for your hi-res music service, which can output to the eARC — that supports up to 24-bit 192-kHz. (Don’t forget to read the HDMI cable markings, because it needs 48 Gbps transmission bandwidth to send that.) Also bear in mind, if you use any of the self-calibration features of the Theatre or the TrueImage speaker steering, it’s going to muck around with your pristine digital data anyway!

Okay, so to ask in an other way.. How is it possible to play Hi-Res audio on B&O speakers?

My set up in the living room to day is beoplay 18, 19 and a Moment. I am thinking to buy a Theater and a LG G3, but I also want my music to sound as good as possible.. So what do people do?

I think it’s a waste of money – to pay many thousands of $$ on equipment/speakers and only play low res files using Spotify..?!

[babar]

Hi Syrianos82,

Thank you for the reply.  that is quite helpful.

I will try out the apps on LG.  When playing thru Tidal, I presume I will only get 44.1 unless the BST does full MQA uncoding (?).  anyone know the specs of it’s DAC?

Has anyone used the LG apps to get 192kHz?

@trackBeo, I believe the AppleTV limits audio to 24-bit/48KHz.

I wish B&O just supported some of the more high-res streaming apps than ones limited to decent quality MP3’s. Deezer is better than Spotify for sure but a far cry from Qobuz.

looking on the web I found, HALL AUDIO WiFi Streamer with HDMI ARC -has anyone tried this?  looks to be made for B&O users in mind.

possible solution:  This Denon – DNP-2000NE – came out earlier in the week.  It has an HDMI ARC out and is a network streamer and Roon Ready.  If I were to connect this directly to the BST using HDMI would it solve the problem?  I would have to then buy a HDMI switch or figure out how to use the Pulse-Eight to do this.

[syrianos82]

Most welcome,

I was also a bit on this research in the beginning when I first purchased my BL 28.

When you look at the specs B&O actually downgraded the WISA KHz from 24-bit/96 (BL 17/18/19) to 24-bit/48KHz, so I kind let it go since we actually upgraded from 16-bit cd’s anyways and I only stream digitally.

Knowing that if you do not hard wire the speakers but send digital audio over WISA the Apple TV as a media player will get you highest quality possible, airplay downsamples the signal to 16-bit. So using BS TH as an airplay device would mean compromising.

I must say I’m very happy with the capability of the BS TH and flexibility to integrate the BL 28 and the BL19&17 into various listening modes. knowing that the signal is a clean digital input that is converted by each speaker seems good enough for my ears 😉

So unless you use the TH to use WISA to speakers, there is little use to look into 24-bit/192HZ…

Found this info on the web:

It turns out that there’s a nuance to the HomePod’s use of AirPlay. It remains true that when you stream from a device like an iPhone to an AirPlay speaker, the stream is limited to 16-bit/44.1kHz. However, when a HomePod grabs a stream natively from Apple Music, it can share that stream with one or more additional HomePods (for the purposes of multiroom or stereo-pairing). It does this using AirPlay and can do so at up to 24-bit/48kHz.

 

[syrianos82]

PS,

don’t forget to set the sound quality to lossless alas in Apple TV. Standard it’s set on 256 AAC

[Sandyb]

You could get a network streamer/DAC that is Roon ready and use its analogue output to connect direct to your BL18s.

I do that with my BL50s, though they have higher capabilities than the 18s.

Again, I wouldn’t get over exercised about hi-res on speakers like the 18s. And also, many B&O customers (some of whom have 18s) use Deezer Hifi, which is not the lower bitrate of Spotify, but full CD quality streams.  That’s generally how a lot of customers use their stuff.

 

[Normann]

Sandyb wrote:

You could get a network streamer/DAC that is Roon ready and use its analogue output to connect direct to your BL18s. I do that with my BL50s, though they have higher capabilities than the 18s. Again, I wouldn’t get over exercised about hi-res on speakers like the 18s. And also, many B&O customers (some of whom have 18s) use Deezer Hifi, which is not the lower bitrate of Spotify, but full CD quality streams. That’s generally how a lot of customers use their stuff.

Thank you for explaining.

I did see that the 18’s has limited capabilities for high res music files..The 28’s also looks like the same, unfortunately..

Of course the quality of the recordings has a lot to say, but I would love to take a step up to benefit the speakers potensial.. And it look like the first step is the 50’s.. It’s a huge step money wise.. 🙁

[babar]

hi Sandyb, treackbeo,

thanks for your feedback.  earlier above treckbeo mentioned that a conversion from digital to analogue back to digital and analogue ge an adverse impact given i am using a BST.

if i were to use a  room ready network streamer would this problem persist?

the goal would be to use roon as the control and potentially other services to stream music and get out of having to use the lg apps.

my bl18 and 19 are hardwired.  does this change anything in my setup?  however they are placed as rear speakers.

i currently use roon with network streamers with other non b&O loudspeakers in other rooms in the home and  also on with a headphone dap using services which offer 192kHz.

 

 

 

 

[Normann]

Hi.

 

Could this be a product that can be used with BT to use t’s potential?

 

ZEN Stream

 

 

[Sandyb]

Not sure exactly what’s your priority here is.

To use Roon in your Theatre/18s/19 setup? Or to use hi-res music?

You can obviously use Roon in that setup, as the Apple TV is Roon Ready, so will use Roon’s RAAT protocol to stream to. I dont do that with my Apple TV in my living room myself, but I have a different setup with a 3rd party streamer/DAC direct to my front L/R speakers.

I dont really have anything to add re hi-res music to my previous posts I’m afraid.  Personally I’d only want to listen to music (2.0) through front left / rights – other combinations of speakers (including the Theatre) doesn’t do it for me.

[babar]

Hi Normann,

thanks a really interesting idea.  I’m sure given the !&o limitations the Bluetooth codecs being use are not of the highest standards specially after reading how they downgraded the WISA capabilities.

got me thinking about using the ifi go blu (https://ifi-audio.com/products/go-blu/) which I use to send high-res from the phone to the headphones.l when moving around.

It’s Bluetooth specs are “

Qualcomm’s aptX Adaptive and aptX HD, Sony’s LDAC and HWA’s LHDC, regular aptX and aptX Low Latency, AAC (Apple iOS devices) and SBC (the ‘plain vanilla’ Bluetooth codec).

Of the 24-bit-capable codecs, aptX Adaptive and aptX HD support up to 48kHz, while LDAC and LHDC reach 96kHz.”

one could plug this into the line out jack on the BST. And stream from a mobile phone or the dedicated network streamer you mention also from ifi.

any thoughts on how this would sound & work? That it’s a DAC, could pose a problem.  Is there a mode in the theatre to just send out stereo direct?

Wish there was an easy way to charge this too.l as I have no extra power socket where my system is set up.  Possible to use the usb c socket on the b&o to charge this?  Maybe a device which can break out the usbc into usb c and a line in?  @steve?

 

 

 

[Normann]

Sandyb wrote:

Not sure exactly what’s your priority here is. To use Roon in your Theatre/18s/19 setup? Or to use hi-res music? You can obviously use Roon in that setup, as the Apple TV is Roon Ready, so will use Roon’s RAAT protocol to stream to. I dont do that with my Apple TV in my living room myself, but I have a different setup with a 3rd party streamer/DAC direct to my front L/R speakers. I dont really have anything to add re hi-res music to my previous posts I’m afraid. Personally I’d only want to listen to music (2.0) through front left / rights – other combinations of speakers (including the Theatre) doesn’t do it for me.

The main thought with this is to play hires on my 18+19.. The BT should just be the “main controller” for my setup.. That was my idea.. But maybe it’s better to do t your way, just connect directly to the 18.. Does your speakers start up and shut down when you start/stop playing music?

Maybe I am just thinking a littlebit wrong here..

[babar]

Hi Normann,

I’m looking to get Hi-Res Audio (higher than 48kHz) using the BST.  I  don’t want to use 2 channel on the beolab 18’s as they are setup as rear speakers.  Thus the only option is to use the BST.

The AppleTV is limited to 48kHz so running Roon on it is nice but limited in quality.  Roon uses AirPlay to stream so that further reduces the quality of what may likely be a 192kHz file.

If I were able to connect a high-res network streamer then I was hoping to be able to send a higher-res audio file than otherwise possible using AppleTV or using Deezer.

My speakers start and shut-down with the BST.

 

 

[Author]

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