Yeah, I'd like to know this as well. I don't even understand the '3 chip vs 1 chip' thing. What is it exactly those 'high-end' manufacturers are waiting for that would make a significant different in the quality of the equipment? (Well I understand they're waiting on a chip, I guess the question is what does this new chip do that the current ones don't? As sdurani points out, there are plenty of receivers out there that decode dts-hd ma and dolby truehd.)

I can't answer the question that Sanjay asks (although I'd also be interested to see the answer), but I may be able to help with this one:
The chip that a lot of manufacturers have been waiting for (the Cirrus 49700) does basically the exact same things that the TI Aureus chips do. The only difference is that it does it by itself - as a single chip - where most of the TI implementations are using three chips to perform the same processing. As for why they are waiting, well, that's probably a source of much consternation for more than one company: at some point, probably back in 2006 at the latest, those companies decided to base their designs on the Cirrus hardware instead of the TI hardware. The Cirrus was reportedly due to be available probably a year ago, if not earlier than that. As they developed the rest of the hardware and the supporting software for their products, the 49700 has apparently experienced a series of delays, leaving them with one big piece of the puzzle missing - and a piece that is central enough to enough different things that swapping it out would be costly and time-consuming.

I see - but then what difference does it make in the end? It sounds as if the Cirrus chip is a more elegant solution - fine, but should I care? (I don't know, and I'm really asking; should I? )

In theory, there shouldn't be a difference between whether a single Cirrus chip decodes and processes the audio or whether a trio of TI chips do it - the Dolby and DTS decoding should adhere to the respective standards, and the other common audio processing should be done properly either way. There's a possibility that one option will offer some feature that the other doesn't (things like equalization and room correction, for example, take a fair bit of CPU muscle to do), but I don't know of any specific examples either way in this regard - receivers using the three-chip TI solution offer Audyssey MultEQ and I've read a bit about a Cirrus-based Sherwood product that will include Trinnov's competitor to MultEQ, but I don't know if either of those examples rely solely on the DSP chip or if there's additional supporting hardware involved.

To directly answer the question "should you care" I'll say this much: I would not base a buying decision solely on which DSP chip is used in a receiver or processor, unless the chip in question (and thus the receover in question) was unable to support features that I wanted.

Thanks Gonk that makes sense and that's more or less what I would have guessed. I'd still like lotus to explain his 'cheating' comments though.

Aside from Trinnov, I think another example might be Dolby Volume. It was demonstrated at CES, and so far none of the Motorola or TI chips have it.

As DSP power increases, it's interesting to see what problems manufacturers are able to tackle. First they used DSPs to deal with legacy content in a market where surround had become popular (surround processing). Then it was to deal with unwanted contributions from the listening environment (room correction/EQ). Now they're finally dealing with how our human hearing fails to remain consistent as levels are altered (Dolby Volume, THX Loudness Plus, Audyssey Dynamic Volume/Dynamic EQ).

I forgot about Dolby Volume - what I've read about it sounds quite interesting, but it is still basically MIA on the current receivers and processors. Be curious to see if the 49700 can support it...

Okay, enough already. Outlaw has to have some Idea when this creature will be showing signs of turning up. Give me a sign as in month and year when you think you might be able to at least see this thing.
Gettin Grumpy, Enough already come on Outlaw.

Glenee

[QUOTE]lotus_j
That chip is the 49700 from Cirrus....
[QUOTE]

R-972 will not use the CS chip. It will use two TI Aureus DA7xx chips. The R-872 will use the CS 49700.

[QUOTE]lotus_j
NAD was forced to release their Receivers and Pre-Pros WITHOUT the chip and they didn't use the "3 chip," solution. Instead they made the units modular so the boards could be swapped out this summer.
[QUOTE]

NAD never planned on using the CS chip either...

--------------------------------


My pessimism comes from this... look here -

http://www.prillaman.net/sn2007avr/NC_2007_HDMI_Receivers.pdf (courtesy Gonk). You see the year - yep - 2007 - and possibly printed in 2006.

So, when does this thing ship? Look here - from 2 days ago:

http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=13643391#post13643391

But, Jeff also said this in April 2007, so you decide what to believe:
http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?p=10355170#post10355170
(and this had NOTHING to do with the CS chip...)

Interesting - R-872 is scheduled for production in end-April. R-872 uses the CS 49700. You draw your own conclusion (again, this is from Jeff, who doesn't exactly have a "good" track record when it comes to forecasting arrival dates)

No one is talking - not Emo, not Outlaw... Maybe the 990 replacement isn't too far away....

If the Sherwoods are any indication of the next Outlaw pre/pro, does anyone know if the new Sherwoods can decode both DVD-A and SACD through HDMI like the new Integra pre/pro can?