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iamjcl
Avid Contributor I
May 14, 2005 2:27 PM UTC

Delay compensation when used with AV receivers

When using the pre-outs of the ZonePlayer into a receiver or Pre/pro, and then having that unit process the signal in any way that requires digitizing the input, there is obviously a slight delay. Using the speaker outputs of the zoneplayer in an area close by results in the dreaded "echo" effect.

Most receivers (newer/better) have adjustable delay, but it doesn't do any good in this case, as the signal is already delayed too much.

If the zoneplayer had a programmable / adjustable delay for the speaker output only, you could utilize the built in amplifier (which is actually quite good, by my ears.)

This would be a VERY usefull addition.

- Thanks

Chris
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    Kadse
    Lyricist III
    Nov 29, 2014 11:37 PM UTC
    I'Ve found myself today with that problem with my yamaha av receiver, reading this thread I know sonos would do nothing and I'm fckd. Look at all the other threads. You pay ****loads of money for Sonos speakers and I'm not saying I don't enjoy them, but delay compensation is something you should expect.
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    fxb9500
    Lyricist I
    Jun 10, 2018 1:00 AM UTC
    Sorry for the thread necromancy here -- this thread popped up on Google and I had the exact same issue.

    I also own an Apple HomePod and got curious to see how it would handle this scenario with the release of AirPlay 2 and Apple's take on multi-room audio.

    No delays with AirPlay 2 on Apple TV 4K with HomePod, even with complex DPSs on the receiver like DTS Nerual:X.

    So that's great news for those of us with Apple devices looking forward to Sonos releasing Airplay 2. (Although I guess we'll see if Sonos can utilize it without delays to other non-Sonos devices).

    Apple has no shortage of talented engineers and money they can throw at a problem, and yet Airplay 2 was something that took them a *long* time to come up with. Perhaps that says something about the level of difficulty designing such a system. On the other hand, Sonos also has a lot of great talent, so...

    What's also neat is that there were no delays on AirPlay 2 multi-room with DSP on the Apple TV without having to configure any settings, both on Direct mode as well as DTS Nerual:X. The Apple TV is connected with HDMI (sending a stereo signal in my test), maybe it can tell whether the receiver is using a DSP? Or I wonder if the HomePod is actually using its microphone array to adjust timing in realtime.
    Anyway, pretty cool!

    EDIT: Actually, it turns out that there _is_ a slight delay when using DIRECT mode, except it's the Apple TV actually being a bit faster than the HomePod. Since the Apple TV 4K has only digital outputs, they probably figure that people will be using DSPs. I like this approach better, tbh. Sonos could just have a switch to shave 50ms of the buffer for the Connect only if people would like to use a DSP. Or they could make the analog output use standard timing, and accelerate the digital outputs by a bit.
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