Audio

DTS-HD and DTS:X

The DTS family of surround formats

DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X are the formats most often downgraded quietly by something in the middle of a chain. The Diva does not downgrade them, which puts the responsibility on the EDID and on the output you use.

DTS is a family rather than a single format. At its base is DTS Digital Surround, the 5.1 core at up to 1.5Mbps that an optical link can carry. Above it sit DTS-HD High Resolution, a lossy extension at higher rates, and DTS-HD Master Audio, which is lossless and reproduces the studio master bit for bit. DTS:X is the object-based layer: extra data carried on a DTS-HD substream describing sounds as objects with positions, which the decoder renders to whatever speaker layout you own, including height channels.

The lossless and object formats are always sent over HDMI as bitstream, with the decoding done by the AVR. That is a deliberate arrangement, since object rendering can only match your speaker layout if the device that knows the layout does the work. A player set to decode internally sends LPCM instead, which is perfectly listenable but ends the object rendering and changes what the AVR display reports.

Rate is what separates the routes. The 1.5Mbps core fits an optical connection; DTS-HD Master Audio does not, and needs the high bit rate audio capacity that HDMI provides.

DTS-HD and DTS:X on the HDfury Diva

The Diva does not compress or downconvert incoming audio, so lossless formats leave only by an HDMI output. Only stereo and 5.1 can leave by the S/PDIF output, and the analogue side of that jack is stereo only. In practice the dedicated HDMI audio output, which generates its own 720p or 1080p video stream purely to carry sound, is the route for DTS-HD Master Audio and DTS:X into an AVR, and it works with any source at the Diva inputs.

The other half is the EDID your sources read. In CUSTOM mode choose a table whose audio level is all sound, such as table 17, 4K60-444 600MHz All Sound, rather than one of the SPDIF or Stereo variants sitting next to it. In AUTOMIX tick 7.1 Full, or tick AUDIO OUT so the mixed EDID reports the capabilities of the sink at the dedicated audio output. The control equivalent is set edid audio full.

When DTS:X does not appear

• Check the AUDIO TX0 row in the INFO section, and remember to click REFRESH after changing a disc, since the page does not update itself.
• Check AUD INFOFRAME in the HDR/DV section. For bitstream it usually reports the default, refer to stream header, which is normal rather than a fault.
• Check that MUTE TX0 AUDIO or MUTE TX1 AUDIO in the CONFIG section is not silencing the output you are listening to.
• Check that the AVR is on the HDMI audio output or TX0, not on the optical jack, which cannot carry these formats.

All glossary terms