Supernait and Humax Foxsat HD audio

Posted by: mroyle on 19 March 2009

Hi - newbie here - I'm hoping for some guidance please... just got a Supernait and I use the Apple TV for music source via toslink into Aux1 - all works well and very pleased with the result. Also I've connected my Humax Foxsat box to Aux2 via toslink. Again all works well except for when I select the HD channel on the Humax - and then I get a screechy noise. The Humax support folks tell me HD audio is typically 5.1, however the Supernait manual states (I paraphrase here) that all outputs will be muted if 5.1 is the input protocol. So I'm confused! Hope I've explained this clearly and any advice on how I might workaround the issue to get the HD audio via the Supernait would be very welcome. Many thanks.

Posted on: 19 March 2009 by winkyincanada

My SuperNait will fail to to detect, and try to translate/convert, non-compatible digital signals (from my cheap multi-region DVD player). It gives a screechy/buzzy/clicky kind of noise. It seems that the circuits that detect the non-compatible signals aren't entirely foolproof. I don't worry. I just use the analogue option instead.

I can't help with a workaround to access a "HD" signal. I think you would perhaps need a proper AV receiver with decoding ability for the particular protocol/standard.

Posted on: 20 March 2009 by Frank Abela

The alternative is to tell the Humax to output downmixed digital stereo. That way you enjoy the D/A conversion of the SuperNait.

Posted on: 20 March 2009 by winkyincanada

Agree with Frank if the Humax can do the down mixing then the D/A stage in the SN is likely much better than the one in the Humax.

I can't get my cheapie DVD player to do a digital downmix though (no surprise) but some discs will work digitally if I can select a 2-channel audio option in the disc menu. It's not consistent, though. Rather than muck around, I just use the analogue and accept the compromise.

Posted on: 21 March 2009 by Adrian Pasciuta

The same problem exists with the Foxsat HDR (the Freesat recorder). This is a bug in the current Foxsat firmware. There is an option in the menus to downmix but it does nothing. I've reported this to Humax support but got some lame response about how you can use the remote to switch audio channels from 5.1 to stereo. No idea if this will be fixed.

I ended up initially going the analogue route but since I have the Humax connected to the TV via HDMI I've now connected the TV's optical out to my DAC which is then connected to the Naim. The TV does the downmixing just fine.

Adrian

Posted on: 21 March 2009 by winkyincanada

Interesting. I also use the TV's optical out to the SN, but for Blu-ray. But the TV doesn't do the downmix. The Blu-ray player is set to provide 2-channel and the TV just passes this through. The DVD player, however can't downmix and causes the problem. I'm going to check out the TV menus to see if I get the TV to downmix to 2Ch for all sources.

Posted on: 22 March 2009 by Gordon Lau

make sure your digital audio output is not only set to 2-ch downmix but also in PCM. You'll only hear noise if not, as signal will be in bitstream format.

Posted on: 22 March 2009 by winkyincanada

Thanks. will try this.

Posted on: 30 March 2009 by mroyle

Hi all - thanks for the feedback and comments. I too have tried selecting the 'downmix' option on the Humax but to no effect whatsoever. I'm still also puzzled why the Supernait doesn't auto-mute as it states it should in the handbook.

Mike

Posted on: 30 March 2009 by js

quote:
Originally posted by Gordon Lau:
make sure your digital audio output is not only set to 2-ch downmix but also in PCM. You'll only hear noise if not, as signal will be in bitstream format.

This one!