Music in the Round

I began with my longtime reference, Willie Nelson's Night and Day (DVD-A, Surrounded By Entertainment SBE1001-9, DVD-A). After all this time, I thought I had the measure of this recording. I was wrong. Compared with the sound of this disc without the Trinnov Altitude 32, the placement of each instrument shifted subtly: The rear-channel sources were no longer elevated as they had been before. And each instrument now had a discrete image, one that was not associated with the physical position of any of the speakers. The performers and the ambience of the conjured space were solidly correlated to each other, not to my room.

Here's another ear-opener. Craig Morris's 2019 Grammy-nominated album Three Pieces in the Shape of a Square (24/96 FLAC, Bridge/Highresaudio.com) (footnote 3) contains a work by Philip Glass titled Piece in the Shape of a Square, for which Morris and his recording team devised a creative approach. Imagine 30 music stands arranged in a circle in a large recording space: One trumpet player walks in a clockwise circle inside the perimeter of stands, playing a short phrase at each stop, while another player walks in a counterclockwise circle outside the perimeter, playing other, similar phrases. (By means of overdubbing, Morris played both parts.5) The combination of this remarkably pure-sounding recording and the Altitude 32, using either JRiver or Roon, presented both incarnations of Morris with precision as he stepped from spot to spot around the listener. It was easy to appreciate the constantly shifting antiphony.

This remarkable combination of transparency and precision characterized the Altitude 32's performance, regardless of the source. Disc playback revealed new glories and subtle felicities, even from the familiar. The glowing adagio of Bruckner's Symphony No.7 in E (Ivan Fischer, Budapest Festival Orchestra, Channel Classics, CCSSA33714, SACD) has always been one of my not-so-guilty pleasures. While this recording does not displace all of its predecessors, the combination of virtuoso playing and virtuoso sound recording allowed me an indulgent bath in Romantic richness through the Altitude 32: Never before have I been so totally and warmly immersed with just five channels.

Going way beyond five channels, I popped Bern Bern Bern by Bernie Dresel and the BBB (BD, Dig-It Recordings, no catalog number) into the Oppo to hear what 5.2.4 could do. Listening through the same speakers, in the same difficult, square room, the transformation wrought by the Altitude 32 was striking. Again, the sound seemed to be entirely unconstrained and dissociated from the speakers and the room. The illusion of being transported was convincing.

The subtler pleasures of the Hoff Ensemble's Polarity (SACD and BD, 2L Records, 2L-145-SABD) were even more revealing. The 5.1 SACD sound was lovely, with the piano and bass up front and the percussion behind. The percussion, though, had always seemed unnatural, recalling how multichannel naysayers carp about arbitrary instrument placement; with the Auro-3D rendition, I sensed the great space of the Sofienberg Church behind and above me—I could almost smell it—and, yes, the percussionist seemed appropriate in that location.

Multichannel inputs and formats
Can the Altitude 32 do absolutely everything? No, but its limitations are few and acceptable. First, as noted before, it can decode almost every known codec except DSD—but since most servers and disc players can convert DSD to PCM on the fly, that becomes less of an issue. Second, the Altitude 32's PCM processing is limited to 24/192—but that's enough: Higher sample/bit rates are hardly distinguishable—and rarely available—outside the audiophile world. I leave it to the reader to decide if these are real sticking points.

On the other hand, the Altitude 32 can take it—with respect to its high-resolution multichannel inputs, that is. HDMI is a given, of course, so it can connect with multichannel disc players and music players like other pre-pros. In that way, I was able to play directly from the Qobuz app—but, due to a limitation in the app, only in stereo. However, I was able to play multichannel files using HDMI directly from JRiver or Roon, which can play multichannel content from Qobuz.

The Altitude 32 can also accept a 7.1 channel analog input and—get this—multichannel via ethernet/LAN. (There's no USB audio input, but the HDMI and ethernet/LAN inputs make USB irrelevant.) I loved the Altitude 32's ability to stream via LAN. JRiver, working via DLNA, should be set to convert DSD to PCM and to downsample output to a maximum of 24/192. The Altitude's Network menu input is already set for this. Roon was even quicker to set up, since the Altitude 32 is recognized as a Roon-ready endpoint with full compatibility with the Roon Advanced Audio Transport audio-distribution technology; consequently, Roon already "knows" what to do. You need only specify that you want multichannel (5.1 or 7.1) rather than stereo, then click play; the Altitude 32 will detect this and display Roon on its front panel. Wow: Shouldn't all AVRs and pre-pros be able to do this today?

Arriving at our destination
The Trinnov Optimizer's ability to do a 2D or 3D remapping melds a disparate aggregation of speakers within the constraints of a real-world room into a seamless soundfield of perfectly placed virtual sources, whether in two channels or many. Considering what it can do, and how well it does everything, its limitations are inconsequential. The Altitude 32 has transparency and tonal precision that are elusive in HT processors, and is competitive with any high-end preamplifier, A/V or not.

Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI DAC
Until multichannel replaces stereo and becomes the standard for audio—I am not holding my breath—I am compelled to find products that will let the curious dip their toes into the pool. One new candidate is the Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI D/A processor ($299), a utilitarian little box that apparently was designed for HT fans who own 4K video displays, but whose AVR is long in the tooth. It strips out and decodes the high-quality audio embedded in a high-quality HDMI v2.0a video stream, while the video is sent directly to the display.

I see the real-world utility in that, but to someone who's interested only in audio, this is just a DAC with an HDMI input—and that makes it rather unusual. If you look at the universal disc players on the market today, analog outputs are almost extinct—and if there are any left, they're stereo only. Multichannel? Sorry.

So I couldn't resist asking for a review sample—and, like the good boy I was supposed to be, I hooked it up as intended. I connected the analog outputs to the analog inputs of the Marantz AV-8805 (and, later, to the Trinnov Altitude 32). HDMI came from either an Oppo UDP-205 or my Mac mini-based server that runs both Roon and JRiver. The HDMI video output goes to the pre-pro.

I powered up the Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI DAC with its only control set to LPCM 7.1 CH and confirmed that the video was passing through to the pre-pro via HDMI. To hear the output of this little DAC, all I had to do was switch the pre-pro to the analog 7.1 input. Even more amazing is that Qobuz, Roon, and JRiver all recognized its presence as Extractor, capable of exclusive mode (WASAPI) audio in multichannel at up to 24/192!

I was skeptical enough to be surprised that the Extractor worked so well—but I was stunned that it sounded so good. How good? I liked it better than sending the audio via HDMI through the Marantz and its DACs. It seemed just noticeably cleaner and more open. Perhaps a little bright, but not to any great detriment. Compared to HDMI or network input to the Altitude 32, though, it didn't quite make the grade.

You say you want more for your money? (Cue the carnival barkers!) Well, step right up: You don't even need a fancy 4K display, or any display at all, to use the Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI DAC . . . er, Extractor. I took it back to my New York apartment and hooked it up to the second HDMI port on my Baetis Prodigy-X server. Since the main HDMI out is connected to the 27" system monitor, I didn't want to mess with it, even though that meant the Extractor would not have anything connected to its HDMI output. Now, in the weird and wonderful world of HDMI, there is handshaking between devices that allows them to function compatibly. This handshaking is an EDID (Extended Display Identification Data) code informing the source of the target device's capabilities. This smart little processor actually has the ability to generate an EDID6 that tells the source that a hi-rez display with multichannel audio is connected. To fool the source, just keep the switch to the far right.

The Essence DAC wasn't nearly as detailed in the midrange or bass, nor as delicate in the trebles, as the resident exaSound e38 DAC, but, in direct comparisons, it was not shamed. It was more than okay, and a bit more pleasant than its only competition in the price range: the miniDSP U-DAC8, which is a USB DAC. So, horses for courses.

That's it. The Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI DAC is an inexpensive product that fills a niche in the market and offers more than respectable sound. It doesn't make any audiophile claims, but it could—how refreshing!

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Footnote 3: I first heard this impressive surround demo at an AES seminar on multichannel audio, as part of a presentation by John Newton, who was one of the recording engineers. It was produced by legendary tuba performer/founding member of the internationally renowned Empire Brass Quintet, Sam Pilafian, who passed away at age 69 on April 5. See more information at here. At the moment, this wonderful recording is only available in CD or pristine 24/96 PCM.

Footnote 4: The Essence Evolve II-4K HDMI DAC can generate up to three different EDIDs, and the other two are actually programmable for those with suitable needs and skills.