Vanity
PRO
–
User Manual v1.2
Page 3 of 19
Introduction
The Vanity
PRO
is a multi-channel HDMI digital audio extractor with advanced signal
processing built in. It enables the user to turn virtually any compatible HDMI source into a high-
quality, up to eight-channel digital audio transport which supports PCM and DSD audio formats.
HDMI Audio
HDMI is the primary method of transporting AV signals in the consumer environment. It
works great with high resolution audio and video, but it has never found its way into the hi-fi
world.
Apart from some non-technical reasons, one of the biggest issues associated with HDMI
audio is quality of the clock recovered from the HDMI stream and electrical noise associated with
it. Despite many improvements in the newest HDMI receiver devices, the recovered clock always
suffers from high levels of phase noise. While this is usually not an issue in consumer audio
–
home theatres, sound bars, etc., in the discipline of critical listening the imperfections of HDMI
audio are instantly noticeable. Also, HDMI audio is notoriously known to be sensitive to various
forms of electro-magnetic interference, cabling quality, ground loops and in the hi-fi world
generally considered as inferior when compared to dedicated digital audio transport methods
such as SPDIF, AES/EBU or proprietary links based on the I
2
S bus.
There is usually nothing wrong with the audio data itself, provided the receiver can take
advantage of all the digital formats and sampling rates available on the source side. What can
cause issues is mainly the way the audio data is packed and interleaved with the video data in a
high frequency digital signal and eventually recovered on the HDMI receiver (sink) side. There are
many cheap HDMI audio extractors on the market, and some of them being able to output digital
audio via S/PDIF up to 192kHz sampling rate. But they still don’t
come even close to a good digital
transport in terms of audio quality.
Vanity
PRO
How is the Vanity
PRO
different from all the other HDMI audio extractors? It basically
addresses all the imperfections associated with the HDMI audio, one by one, with a ton of extra
features the others don’t have
.
•
Galvanically isolated HDMI interface from the sensitive audio output circuitry with
separate power connections.
•
Ability to receive PCM and DSD formats at all sampling rates (PCM up to 192kHz).
•
Sophisticated clock recovery using our in-house developed DBLL (Digital Buffer Locked
Loop) system with two custom-made low noise oscillators.
•
High quality DSD to PCM conversion with user configurable parameters.
•
DSD to DoP conversion for raw DSD data output.
•
Up to 8-channel support.
•
Ultra-low noise regulators for the clocks and digital audio outputs.
•
HDMI link monitoring and diagnostics.
•
Configurable output connectivity for stereo and multi-channel setups.
Summary of Contents for VanityPRO
Page 1: ...VanityPRO User Manual...
