Storm Audio Owners Thread

Made a interesting discovery of sorts yesterday. I was playing around with my Apple TV 4k box and the Infuse app to see if was a viable local streaming option for one of my TVs in the house (but was testing it in the cinema room with the Storm). The Apple TV only outputs uncompressed LCPM rather than Atmos for locally steamed files though, which is why I have never considered it as a dedicated player for the cinema room.

The Storm therefore defaults to Auro on receiving the LCPM track (as it does with all non-object based audio), but on putting on a few of my regular demo scenes the sound was much more 'intense'. The bass in particular had considerably more slam/impact.

I would need to do more testing, and it might get fatiguing for a whole movie, but my gut reaction was that the combo of of LCPM and Auro adds slam and impact without losing the 'space' from object based codecs. Not saying its better by any means, but it was certainly very good.

As most movies I would watch have Atmos already I haven't really listened to a lot of content with Auro engaged (but have only heard good things), but the combo seems to have potential. I have no doubt I am committing some sort of cardinal sin, but will report back after a few movies.
 
Made a interesting discovery of sorts yesterday. I was playing around with my Apple TV 4k box and the Infuse app to see if was a viable local streaming option for one of my TVs in the house (but was testing it in the cinema room with the Storm). The Apple TV only outputs uncompressed LCPM rather than Atmos for locally steamed files though, which is why I have never considered it as a dedicated player for the cinema room.

The Storm therefore defaults to Auro on receiving the LCPM track (as it does with all non-object based audio), but on putting on a few of my regular demo scenes the sound was much more 'intense'. The bass in particular had considerably more slam/impact.

I would need to do more testing, and it might get fatiguing for a whole movie, but my gut reaction was that the combo of of LCPM and Auro adds slam and impact without losing the 'space' from object based codecs. Not saying its better by any means, but it was certainly very good.

As most movies I would watch have Atmos already I haven't really listened to a lot of content with Auro engaged (but have only heard good things), but the combo seems to have potential. I have no doubt I am committing some sort of cardinal sin, but will report back after a few movies.

I think Auro sounds better than Atmos most of the time personally. The issue is that (despite what the reviews say!) you can’t apply Auro to an Atmos or DTS:X soundtrack. Dolby introduced a licensing restriction a few years ago to prevent this but it was actually removed a while back.

Storm have not yet updated their codecs to re-introduce/allow the use of Auro on Atmos or DTS:X streams.

Storm are aware and have hinted that there are changes in the pipeline to address this.

I have 4 height speakers and for the vast majority of Atmos mixes these remain silent. You can test this easily in the VU meter function - stick on any Atmos movie on Netflix and you can see what speakers are being used. Just pick any - Project Power for example.

If you turn Atmos off in the Apple 4K settings you can then use Auro and all speakers are used because as you say it reverts to the legacy base layer, the Atmos flag is removed and the Storm is able to implement the Auro codec.

I tend to have Atmos switched off on the Apple TV for exactly that reason.

Hopefully Storm will address this in their next firmware update.
 
Thanks for the info. Means I am not mad for thinking LCPM and Auro sounds better!

I also like the infuse interface on the ATV, now I just need to figure out how to get Netflix subtitles on my scope screen...
 
Who knows.. They're supposed to be extra special with their SNR an just about everything. I want to believe of course - try this article as it all becomes a bit of word salad that I don't fully understand.


Didn't know Lyngdorf owned Dali.

I'm still waiting to see if a Purifi/Hypex manufacturer starts to offer custom power amps without the extra gain stage. Some of the high end gear with alot of voltage on the XLRs (eg. Storm) should be able to drive them to full power and keep the much better SNR and noise performance.

Edit: Actually you would need about 20V from the prepro :/
 


I'd suggest using the same target curves for all speaker groups,
the latest Dirac Live update allows doing that quickly by selecting the All groups option (not available at that time).
Also, the latest Dirac Live will adjust the curtains in order to define the region of frequencies where correction is applied.
:) Flavio
 
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I'd suggest using the same target curves for all speaker groups,
the latest Dirac Live update allows doing that quickly by selecting the All groups option (not available at that time).
Also, the latest Dirac Live will adjust the curtains in order to define the region of frequencies where correction is applied.
:) Flavio


Why isn't he using the 90 degree UMIK file?
 


I'd suggest using the same target curves for all speaker groups,
the latest Dirac Live update allows doing that quickly by selecting the All groups option (not available at that time).
Also, the latest Dirac Live will adjust the curtains in order to define the region of frequencies where correction is applied.
:) Flavio

I am using harman +6db/+4db curves for the subs.
 
Yes - the new firmware 4.1r1 will have this and it should be rolled out this month along with some other improvements.

Nick
 
4.1r1 Firmware is now available. DTS-X Pro and new Expert Bass Management among others. Contact your local friendly Storm specialist for the upgrade.

Nick
 
4.1r1 Firmware is now available. DTS-X Pro and new Expert Bass Management among others. Contact your local friendly Storm specialist for the upgrade.

Nick
I will take some of that action please ;) (once allowed, of course...)
 
Installed it this morning. By the time I finished reading the release notes it was all updated.

Howdy

With the relase of 4.1, are you able to confirm that the Base Layer for speaker setup now goes beyond the previous maximum of 9.1?

I am hoping to run dual discrete surrounds plus front wides for a total channel count of 11.1 on the base layer.

L, C, R
Left Wide, Right Wide
Surr L1, Surr L2
Surr R1, Surr R2
Read Left, Rear Right

thanks
 
Howdy

With the relase of 4.1, are you able to confirm that the Base Layer for speaker setup now goes beyond the previous maximum of 9.1?

I am hoping to run dual discrete surrounds plus front wides for a total channel count of 11.1 on the base layer.

L, C, R
Left Wide, Right Wide
Surr L1, Surr L2
Surr R1, Surr R2
Read Left, Rear Right

thanks
Think this was already answered for you on the other forum, but yes you can go up to 13.1 in the base layer.

Note: You need to have Sure L & R selected before you can choose locations Surr 1 & / or Surr2. You can't just have Surr1 Surr2 without Surr L & R.
 
Tests on asr..did pretty good
 
Tests on asr..did pretty good


I dont believe SINAD is the holy grail but this along with the Datasat and Emotiva are just hitting the 100 db levels. Be great to see how the Trinnov and Lyngdorf fair, if only out of curiosity
 
So been catching up on this thread as since yesterday morning I have a Bryston SP4 in my room alongside the Acurus Muse.
Only been playing around with it a day up to now, the WebUI is really good (sucks on mobile phone though), and still I miss a remote control.
Not sure if I would consider the SP4 over the Muse but have a few days to find out :)

As far as I know the SP4 is a 100% MK1 Storm, if even came shipped in a Storm Audio box and has writing on the back that says: "built in France by Storm Audio'.

So as I have no access to the Storm Audio client portal I have looked on the Bryston website, where all firmware files are just publicly available, downloaded 4.1r1 which loaded just fine coming from 3.3r1.
Even the FW changelog just had the Storm logo on it, so I doubt Bryston does anything themselves to it.

The only true difference I think is licensing as apparently Bryston charges quite a premium for a Dirac license, but as I come from 5 band PEQ per speaker on the Acurus, the 20 bands per speaker on the SP4 should take me in the good direction with some fiddling ;)

But one thing I don't have access to is the monitoring page like shown here:
When I manually type in the address in my browser I get a pop-up about a missing license for it.
Does anyone know if this is a 'premium' with Storm or included as standard? Or any idea if I could get a license file directly from either Bryston or Storm?
 
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Also If I look on the Storm price list, I see 2 different updates:

  • One from MK1 to MK1.5 (which should give me full functionality similar to MK2 according the table somewhere in this thread?)
  • HDMI 7+2 eARC update, what does this add? (besides eARC obviously), does this support HDMI 2.1 in the future? Do I get dual HDMI 2.0 outputs as now only output #2 passes through 4K video?
 
The monitoring is included as standard in the Storm. The only reason to go for the Bryston I could ascertain is if you feel that their divergent module upgrade path would give something extra in the future. But their past record of development timescales and support didn’t convince me at all and I couldn’t personally see why anyone would choose to go that route.

The 1 to 1 instant support from Storm is a major part of the ownership experience.

For informed answers to your other questions I would email Sebastien Gailleton at Storm as he knows the product backwards and sideways! You won’t have to wait long for a comprehensive response!
 
The monitoring is included as standard in the Storm. The only reason to go for the Bryston I could ascertain is if you feel that their divergent module upgrade path would give something extra in the future. But their past record of development timescales and support didn’t convince me at all and I couldn’t personally see why anyone would choose to go that route.

The 1 to 1 instant support from Storm is a major part of the ownership experience.

For informed answers to your other questions I would email Sebastien Gailleton at Storm as he knows the product backwards and sideways! You won’t have to wait long for a comprehensive response!
Thanks! not looking at what the future might bring (or not, had enough empty promises from Arcam in the past), but looking at what the unit could do for me today.
Personally I prefer the looks of the Storm as well (and also my Acurus) and the only reason I'm tempted by the Bryston at this point is the pricing as it is an open box unit directly from the local distributor that is selling it.
If I would have to pay full retail I would never consider it over the Storm and I wouldn't consider replacing my Acurus over it :)
 
I dont believe SINAD is the holy grail but this along with the Datasat and Emotiva are just hitting the 100 db levels. Be great to see how the Trinnov and Lyngdorf fair, if only out of curiosity
I say up front I have no knowledge of Storm devices other than hearing good things. Regarding the SINAD site, I take the info. with a pinch of salt. While they are well intentioned I sure, the result really don't separate good AV from the not so good. Measure thing you simply can't hear it rather pointless graphs that measure things unto 200K, really?

I think you hit it on the head when you sad 'Holy grail' it's rather like the Church of Scientology
 
So been catching up on this thread as since yesterday morning I have a Bryston SP4 in my room alongside the Acurus Muse.
Only been playing around with it a day up to now, the WebUI is really good (sucks on mobile phone though), and still I miss a remote control.
Not sure if I would consider the SP4 over the Muse but have a few days to find out :)

As far as I know the SP4 is a 100% MK1 Storm, if even came shipped in a Storm Audio box and has writing on the back that says: "built in France by Storm Audio'.

So as I have no access to the Storm Audio client portal I have looked on the Bryston website, where all firmware files are just publicly available, downloaded 4.1r1 which loaded just fine coming from 3.3r1.
Even the FW changelog just had the Storm logo on it, so I doubt Bryston does anything themselves to it.

The only true difference I think is licensing as apparently Bryston charges quite a premium for a Dirac license, but as I come from 5 band PEQ per speaker on the Acurus, the 20 bands per speaker on the SP4 should take me in the good direction with some fiddling ;)

But one thing I don't have access to is the monitoring page like shown here:
When I manually type in the address in my browser I get a pop-up about a missing license for it.
Does anyone know if this is a 'premium' with Storm or included as standard? Or any idea if I could get a license file directly from either Bryston or Storm?

Very interested in how you get on and your findings
 
Did you ever compare it head to head with the ACT4?
Alas at home I have only had the ACT4 and naim AV2 using analogue out. I awaited months to have the Storm at home as a demo but that never happened. So I'd love to see how you get on with the Bryston. I would have thought they did something internally say with the analogue boards ? Must be more than just a badge change ?
 

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