Schiit Syn Review, Discussion, Impressions, Measurements

Discussion in 'Digital: DACs, USB converters, decrapifiers' started by purr1n, Mar 31, 2023.

  1. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    I'm very interested if the rear channels pan correctly in games. Gaming with surround speakers is crazy immersive, and I would hate to lose that.
     
  2. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    Hah! I have to F with stuff for you guys, the readers! Been doing this for 12 years now so really want to keep stuff to minimum.

    Playing around with the Syn more, playing a few test videos from YouTube, it would seem that the Syn decoding is most like pro logic: left, center, right, and surround. Or it could be the encoded fallback mode in matrixed stereo is pro logic. In other words, the L and R surrounds seem to always play together

    That being said, the Syn fakes the directional cues by using a combination of speakers. For example, for sound that is supposed to be coming from the behind and to the right, we would have output from both surround speakers in the back make the sound with a slight bit of output from the front right speaker. As the sound circles around from behind right to dead right, the front right speaker increases in output.

    With test videos and sound files where discrete channels are supposed to be playing, there is quite a lot of "bleed" between the channels. It seems horrible using test files with discrete channels, but in practice where sounds are moving along with the visual cues, the illusion is pretty complete. Of course a digital 9.1 setup would be better because of steering to more discrete channels and less bleed to other speakers.

    Finally, the game will have to support it. The last two first person games I played were Elden Ring and HZD. Neither support surround. I mostly play ARPGs. I hear the BF and Star Wars FPS games will support surround, but have not tested these titles.
     
  3. LetMeBeFrank

    LetMeBeFrank Won't tell anyone my name is actually Francis

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    Oh wow, I didn't know elden ring wasn't true surround. I played that via Nvidia shield in my living room and the "surround" was convincing enough that I could tell when things were coming up behind me (like those damn imps dropping behind you) and I didn't notice the surrounds were mono.

    If the Syn can do similar that might be good enough for me.
     
  4. mkozlows

    mkozlows Friend

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    It definitely is for consoles. For PC... it seems to be, but there are people who can't get it to work. Given the zillion different ways PCs can output multichannel sound (sound cards with multichannel output jacks, SPDIF, HDMI), it's probably a situation where some things work and not others. Game Stream is pretty straightforward (multichannel PCM out via HDMI), so it's probable that you're getting true surround.
     
  5. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    I love this thing, it's so weird. I never would have expected a tweakable Pro Logic processor to be released in 2023.

    I reverted back to 2.0 for movies and TV so long ago I'm going to have to first buy speakers to make this all work. This is actually exciting.
     
  6. dmckean44

    dmckean44 In a Sherwood S6040CP relationship

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    I was pondering this last night as I was falling asleep. If there's no steering in the surrounds and the channel is effectively mono, is it really necessary to use two surrounds? I was thinking about how much things would be simplified hardware wise if I only needed two sets of speakers and 4 channels of amplification to get LCR and surround.
     
  7. Pancakes

    Pancakes Friend

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    I think a single surround speaker would be too easy to localize. With a L/R pair it's more of a general sense of sound behind you which is more realistic.
     
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  8. lostinpr

    lostinpr New

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    Are you sure the sub output tops at 80 Hz? I asked Schiit and they answered that the sub output is a simple line out.
     
  9. Gazny

    Gazny MOT: ETA Audio

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    Measurements have it at 80hz 18db slope
    The “main” out might be the variable line out mentioned.
     
  10. lostinpr

    lostinpr New

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    my speakers are the NHT Superzeros and when I had an AVR I set the crossover at 120 Hz because the SZ have a low limit of 85 Hz but it feels like they have little output below 100 hz. if the SYN has a filter set at 80 Hz I feel it is too low for my speakers.
    am I right to worry about it?
     
  11. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    The NHT Superzeros roll off super early well above 120Hz. It is possible that the Syn could work if there happens to be a room mode that bounces up the 100Hz region. The 80Hz crossover works better for monitors with at least a 5" woofer and ported design.
     
  12. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    BTW found out Diablo 4 sounds fantastic with the Syn with the speaker setup set to Pro Logic.
    IMG_1107.jpg

    The mastering is actually pretty good, very good the the game. The narration in the cutscenes in center. Dialogue is the front without bleed into the surround. The surround channels handle ambient. In other words, it's not fake ambient surround.
     
  13. M3NTAL

    M3NTAL Friend

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    Can the Syn do multiple configurations out? Lets say I want a L/C/R + Sub - (3.1) Can it do that or only 5.1?
     
  14. yotacowboy

    yotacowboy McRibs Kind of Guy

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    Is no one going to ask what's scribbled out for the output device?
     
  15. Wobbletits

    Wobbletits Facebook Friend

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    I am pretty sure you can use any combination of the outputs with or without l/r being processed but I will tell you tomorrow for sure...
     
  16. Wobbletits

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    You can for sure run just LCR+sub if you want, or whatever combination... idk if I like the sound with LCR+sub only, but I didn't play with the knobs at all until I had 5(+1?) speakers hooked up. I had very little time this past weekend.
     
  17. Clemmaster

    Clemmaster Friend

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    How does it pair with Urd? :cool:
     
  18. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    I do 3.1 a lot because I am too lazy to bring out the surrounds sometimes. I have yet to install the permanent surrounds in the ceiling.

    The center channel really helps with shows and the width helps make the room sound bigger like a theater.
     
  19. Grattle

    Grattle Friend

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    He probably has Syn 2.0 with a multibit TI chip and Unison.
     
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  20. zerodeefex

    zerodeefex SBAF's Imelda Marcos

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    I wish @schiit would make a HP focused version of the Syn in the Hel form factor. It would be absolutely killer as a virtualized HP AIO for gaming on PC/console.
     
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