Usb audio

General Discussion
1

HI Thanks for reading. I want to use a hidzs s9 usb dac for 2 channel audio reproduction, with my vero 4K+
Some of my files are multichannel. Will the Vero 4K+ downmix the multichannel to stereo for the usb dac to convert into analogue
Thanks.

3

Yes. Just set channels to 2 in Settings->System->Audio

4

Thanks! How do you know if the hidzs s9 dac will work with the vero 4K+, also is there any way I find out which usb dacs are compatible with the vero 4K+

5

Vero supports the USB Audio class 2.0 standard. The hidzs website doesn’t mention that but I’d lay money it does support that, especially if no special drivers are needed for Windows/Mac. I can’t vouch for Vero being able to output any more than 192kHz 24bit PCM as my DAC doesn’t go higher. Also I’ve no idea about DSD support. I don’t think Kodi can pass through DSD audio.

6

Thanks do you know if the vero 4K+ kodi can downmix multichannel to 2.0 stereo, and has a slider control to lower or raise the centre channel volume upon downmixing, so i can lower the centre channel volume as it is usually too loud for me.

7

There’s a setting ‘Maintain original volume on downmix’ which is just on or off. I don’t understand exactly what it does. You could experiment with that while playing audio through an AVR or TV to see if it does what you want. The relative volumes of audio to HDMI, USB or analogue out will be the same.

8

I believe that setting applies compression to a downmix. The audio setting that is desired here is not in the system settings but rather in the audio settings that can be pulled up during playback. It is labeled as center channel downmix level or something to that effect. There is a system setting for center channel boost but this doesn’t go in the negative direction. The playback control can.

9

Thanks! Do you think it is sensible to buy a used vero 4K+
I am not sure how long the lifetime of these boxes is, or the failure rate. The vero 4K+ came out about 5 years ago, woud this mean these boxes are coming to the end of their usefull lives

10

I think the sensibility would be dependant on the individual in that different people have different expectations and budgets and sense of value. I would expect the Vero 4k+ to continue to receive updates for years to come. Historically OSMC has provided updates for an exceptionally long time. As for the failure rate I wouldn’t expect that to be an issue outside of maybe the power supply but that can be replaced and isn’t of an uncommon type. Not that the Vero’s have an unusual failure rate on its PSU’s, but switch mode wall warts tend to have a shorter life span than the devices they are plugged into.

Personally, as someone who has a Vero 4k and a Vero V, I’d much rather have the Vero V, especially if it was a daily driver. If I had budgetary concerns I might be tempted into an old model since most of the playback ability is the same, but the used unit would have to be a fraction of the cost for this to make any sense to me.