YARRA 3DX Owners Thread

I’m still waiting, just paid £73 customs charge. I’m a technophobe so don’t understand half of what’s talked about lol.

I'm not 100% sure what the deal is with this soundbar I saw someone also post about this the other week but from my understanding it seems like a generic DSP surround bar being marketed as something new and unique.

I wouldn’t describe YARRA 3DX as a generic DSP surround bar without listening to it.

I’ve tested Yarra 3DX for music playback to some extent.

Prior to receiving the parcel with Yarra 3DX, I downloaded yarra3dx_setup file from the support site. Thursday, July 11, after picking up the parcel I went to my office, unpacked it and I connected one USB port on my laptop to the USB port on the back of the YARRA 3DX by using the supplied USB cable. The sound bar was detected in Yarra 3DX Panel Control and I noticed that a new firmware was available for downloading. The installation went smoothly.

The Panel Control allows for various settings such as the number of listeners (1, 2 or 3), near or far field (based on the distance the listener is from the soundbar), EQ, etc. In addition, the settings can be changed by using the remote control or YARRA 3DX app.

The first files sent to Yarra 3DX were binaural recordings taken from the Internet such as Virtual Barber Shop and Sound of Silence (3D binaural audio) - Simon and Garfunkel Cover - Jarvis Brothers. The immersive 3D surround sound effect was good mainly with the near field option. The alternative (far field) was less convincing. Also, non-binaural stereo music files (flac) were played seamlessly. I asked some of my colleagues in the office to listen to Yarra and their opinions were pretty similar.

After a few days, I resumed the tests with Yarra 3DX at home. The first trial was with Yarra connected to my laptop as described above. I played binaural recordings, both videos (3D binaural audio) and only audio files. This time the immersive 3D surround sound effect was stunning both in near field and far filed options.

As binaural recordings are intended for listening with headphones, I made a compare and contrast test. The same files were played from my Fiio X5 III player by using Meze 99 Classics headphones. Both Yarra and Meze 99 Classics offer impressive 3D surround sound effects from binaural recordings. However, the 3D surround sound effect of the headphones was somewhat confined inside my head. On the other hand, Yarra produced a totally different 3D surround sound effect. The sensation was that the sounds were somewhere above and around my head.

When I also played other non-binaural files (stereo music recordings) I had the sensation that music was heard not in front of Yarra’s speakers but the sounds were somewhere near my ears.

My second option for listening to music with Yarra 3DX was to use my OPPO 103D as a source. I connected one of the HDMI out port of OPPO to the HDMI in port on Yarra by using an HDMI cable. Another HDMI cable went from the HDMI out port of Yarra to one HDMI in port on my TV.

Under this setup, I also played the above-mentioned binaural files. This time I hadn’t that stunning 3D surround sound effect. I can’t figure out an explanation. From time to time there was intermittent or no audio from soundbar. Was that due to handshake issues between OPPO player and Yarra?

I also played the included AIX Records® demo DVD. The demo section consists of fine recordings made by Dr AIX. Most of the files are AC3, 48kHz, 16 bits and 6 channels, which can be decoded by Yarra’s Dolby decoder. The eighths led (from left to right) lights blue when an AC3 file is detected. The surround sound effect was not so impressive as for the binaural files. I sent some multichannel uncompressed digital audio files from OPPO player to Yarra. They were played back, but I couldn’t figure out whether the sound was stereo or surround.

So, these are my findings on listening to music with Yarra 3DX so far. I’m aware that these results are subjective and others can have different experience. I’d be glad to read other opinions here.

I also received my Yarra 3D X today and updated firmware however I can not get the sub to provide any bass support tried optical connection and 3.5mm aux cable
The subwoofer is switched on but will not produce any bass so unable to listen to anything at all as Sound is thin and with no bass so unlistenable
have sent this email to CSR@comhear today
Any help or advice as to why the subwoofer isn’t producing any bass and sits in standby all the time would be appreciated

Email
I have just received my Yarra 3Dx
connected to subwoofer and the
Subwoofer is not connecting stays in standby so no bass at all
Sound is very poor with no bass
I have tried optical and 3.5 mm cable and turned up subwoofer to maximum plus updated the firmware still no bass at all
Subwoofer cone does not move and sub stays in standby regardless of music or sounds including deep bass
Please urgently advise as the Yarra 3Dx is unusable without the subwoofer working and produces very thin sound

Have you tried the two possible solutions when bass is too heavy or low, as described in Yarra 3DX Manual, page 30?

Adjust the bass level of the soundbar in the Graphic EQ.
Toggle the Bass Boost On/Off with the Bass Boost Button.

Have tried both as advised on page 30
Can I ask you on your subwoofer there is a green light that States is standby
When your subwoofer works does it light change colour from green
Also I have touched the speaker cone under the subwoofer and it doesn’t move even if I send deep bass to it
Thanks would appreciate your reply to my question

Also did your sub work straight away the minute you connected to the Yarra using the subwoofer cable
Any advice on connection would also be useful

My subwoofer worked straight away the minute I connected it to the Yarra by using the subwoofer cable. I fiddled a bit with the remote to change the settings (sub volume and bass boost).

I’ve noticed that green light when I turned the subwoofer on. I can’t tell you whether or not the colour changed because that led is on the rear side. If it’s not too late for you, I can check that issue tomorrow. Right now, my Yarra rig is disassembled.

In order to learn whether or not your Yarra subwoofer is faulty, it might be useful if you connect Yarra to another subwoofer, a different one. Maybe you could borrow one if you don’t have one. Or better, take the sound bar with you to a friend of yours who has a subwoofer and is willing to help you.

If you could check the standby light colour tomorrow
Also what connection have you been using to get your subwoofer to work
I used my MacBook Pro and optical connection and my Pioneer DAP Hi Res connected with simple 3.5 mm aux cable

Did you use optical or other connection

I connected one USB port on my laptop to the USB port on the back of the YARRA 3DX by using the supplied USB cable. The sound bar was detected in Yarra 3DX Panel Control (windows app - windows setup utility). The other connection was for the subwoofer, as described in the manual at page 14.

I can’t understand what’s the role of the Pioneer DAP Hi Res (connected with simple 3.5 mm aux cable) in your setup.

For another setup, I connected one of the HDMI out port of my OPPO BD player to the HDMI in port on Yarra by using an HDMI cable. Another HDMI cable went from the HDMI out port of Yarra to one HDMI in port on my TV. The subwoofer was connected as previously mentioned.

Hi there,

I’ve checked whether or not the colour of the light from the led at the back of subwoofer changes when Yarra 3DX plays back audio files. I can confirm that the light stays green both in standby and during playback. I played back Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which conveys plenty of bass. I’ve attached two photos of the subwoofer (3 - Subwoofer standby and 4 - Subwoofer playback) where you can see that green remained unaltered.

I’ve also attached other photos showing 1 – connection by usb cable, 2- settings in windows app - windows setup utility, 5 – soundbar during playing back a binaural file and 6 - soundbar during playing back an AC3 file (please note that the eighths led (from left to right) is blue, which means that the internal Dolby decoder is on.

I hope that my findings are somewhat helpful and you can sort out the issue with your subwoofer.

gactm said:

Hi there,

I’ve checked whether or not the colour of the light from the led at the back of subwoofer changes when Yarra 3DX plays back audio files. I can confirm that the light stays green both in standby and during playback. I played back Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor, which conveys plenty of bass. I’ve attached two photos of the subwoofer (3 - Subwoofer standby and 4 - Subwoofer playback) where you can see that green remained unaltered.

I’ve also attached other photos showing 1 – connection by usb cable, 2- settings in windows app - windows setup utility, 5 – soundbar during playing back a binaural file and 6 - soundbar during playing back an AC3 file (please note that the eighths led (from left to right) is blue, which means that the internal Dolby decoder is on.

I hope that my findings are somewhat helpful and you can sort out the issue with your subwoofer.

Click to expand...

Thanks so much for your help
Can I ask you where did you get the music
Bach’s Toccata and Fugue in D Minor,
Was this from a CD
Also you say you had AC3 blue light on what did you do play to achieve this was this using your Oppo 103D or some other source

I would like to try exactly same setup as you
Last night I noticed on my PC the Yarra app shows a setting called increase subwoofer level gain did you adjust this before playing anything after you updated your firmware

I am thinking of resetting everything through this app on pc with subwoofer attached

Really appreciate your great help

By googling with binaural as a key word I was able to find two sites dealing with experimental binaural sound.

TERZO ORECCHIO | Registrazioni Binaurali is in Italian, nevertheless you can live there. Besides Toccata there are many other recordings.

TERZO ORECCHIO | mp3

and

Le son binaural, which is a French site. You can download various samples by clicking Télécharger.

For example, Orgue P.Quoirin, Carpentras

Le Son Binaural Natif - Bernard Lagnel

Previously I used my OPPO player to play AC3 files. By the way, I hope you found the AIX Records® demo DVD in the box of Yarra. There are some fine music recordings made by Mark Waldrep (aka Dr AIX) on that DVD. I’ve noticed that most of the demo files included are AC3, 48kHz, 16 bits and 6 channels.

Today, I’ve succeeded to convey multichannel AC3 files from my laptop via HDMI cable. After I installed Kodi (formerly xbmc) – a free media player and selected allow passthrough at audio settings, I saw that blue light. So, for my no. 6 soundbar playback AC3 photo, I disconnected the USB cable and used the included HDMI cable.

The update of the firmware was somewhat tricky for me. After I unpacked the soundbar and subwoofer, I made a setup with the USB cable and didn’t pay attention to that application. Later on, I noticed that there was a new firmware available and went for it. However, I messed up and the result was no sound at all. I reinstalled the firmware and there was sound again. After that I began changing various settings.

gactm said:

By googling with binaural as a key word I was able to find two sites dealing with experimental binaural sound.

TERZO ORECCHIO | Registrazioni Binaurali is in Italian, nevertheless you can live there. Besides Toccata there are many other recordings.

TERZO ORECCHIO | mp3

and

Le son binaural, which is a French site. You can download various samples by clicking Télécharger.

For example, Orgue P.Quoirin, Carpentras

Le Son Binaural Natif - Bernard Lagnel

Previously I used my OPPO player to play AC3 files. By the way, I hope you found the AIX Records® demo DVD in the box of Yarra. There are some fine music recordings made by Mark Waldrep (aka Dr AIX) on that DVD. I’ve noticed that most of the demo files included are AC3, 48kHz, 16 bits and 6 channels.

Today, I’ve succeeded to convey multichannel AC3 files from my laptop via HDMI cable. After I installed Kodi (formerly xbmc) – a free media player and selected allow passthrough at audio settings, I saw that blue light. So, for my no. 6 soundbar playback AC3 photo, I disconnected the USB cable and used the included HDMI cable.

The update of the firmware was somewhat tricky for me. After I unpacked the soundbar and subwoofer, I made a setup with the USB cable and didn’t pay attention to that application. Later on, I noticed that there was a new firmware available and went for it. However, I messed up and the result was no sound at all. I reinstalled the firmware and there was sound again. After that I began changing various settings.

Click to expand...

Hi hello thanks so much have not had chance to do any more testing

One thing is a little confusing is in picture 3 subwoofer in standby light looks orange however in picture 4 turns to green on playback or is this the phone camera causing the colour change

Most subwoofers I have used in the past change from red in standby and blue when playing

Did you notice any colour change would be great to know before I setup all again

Thanks

With my naked eyes it seemed no colour change. If there was a colour change, I think that label just below the LED indicator wouldn’t not be “standby”. They should’ve written, for example, “standby/playback”

New firmware available, version 1.2.15.360. There's no change log.
Configuration utility unchanged, version 1.0.20.0.

Hi, I have opened mine yesterday. Didn't had time to do the updates, just wanted to test sound ASAP and before kids will go to sleep.

Bluetooth - nothing special, however sound is more surrounded, like it is not from speakers, but from the wall, behind it. Android does recognize aptx HD connected device. Sound is reach without lack of treble, like in my previous, cheep soundbar.

Optical - I have played some DTS 5.1 movies for a while. Soundbar connected to 7 years old Samsung D7000. Movies was played directly from cloud drive and I must admit, that it simulated home theater quite well. I was able to hear sound effects closer and farther, from left and right side of my head. Never heard anything behind my head, but maybe this was matter of soundtrack played.

I paid around 110 USD tax and duties.

Now need to update and configure this yarra for my needs.

Any propositions how to mount this to a wall? I can see some holes to mounting brackets, but there is no dedicated ones in the package. I think will need to shape some by myself.

There are small issues with subwoofer, it disconnected permanently after several minutes of playing. I had to reconnect chinch cable to see green light again on subwoofer.
Maybe updates can resolve this issue.

When I changed source from movie player to SAT decoder, sound had very low volume. Speaker was still connected to TV via optical cable, but decoder was pushing signal to TV via HDMI. so there is some issue I believe in the TV itself, we it is not able to read HDMI input and push it through Optiical out.

New Control Panel update available, version 1.0.22.0. There’s no information about the changes in this update.

For any confused about (lack of) surround effect / cues:

Multichannel PCM and non-Dolby Surround formats

The *Multichannel* PCM promised (in the final email update to backers when they announced they would shortly be ready to ship) clearly doesn’t work properly (if at all), neither by USB nor HDMI. Have tried a variety of sources and I get no proper surround channels at all. I haven’t seen a single commenter on any of the forums thus far say that PCM surround works.

The system does not support DTS or other surround formats.


Dolby Digital Surround

The only way to get proper surround on the Yarra is from content encoded in Dolby surround formats bitstreamed to the Yarra from your source device as Dolby Digital 5.1. If there’s no Dolby Digital 5.1 in the audio stream you’re feeding the Yarra then you won’t get Surround.

If your source content is *not* Dolby encoded, the only way you will get surround on the Yarra from that content is if your Media player, games console, PC, TV ARC etc. can convert PCM multichannel surround into Dolby digital 5.1 or transcode other non-Dolby Surround formats such as DTS into DD5.1.

(Warning for those using ARC without previous experience: On some usually older TVs, ARC does not support 5.1 DD passthrough (some do, some don’t, most recent models do), in which case you will only be feeding 2.0 stereo to the Yarra).

The Xbox 360/One/One X and the Playstation 3 / 4/ Pro consoles can definitely do this (convert to DD5.1) for games and DVD/Bluray DTS content, you just need to select bitstream in the audio output settings and choose Dolby Digital 5.1. Some DVD/Bluray players and PC soundcard / motherboard audio chip drivers are capable to differing degrees of transcoding some non-Dolby formats and Multichannel PCM into Dolby 5.1 too.

(*In the case of Xbox One consoles specifically (not sure about PlayStation), for DTS encoded DVD and Bluray content, you need to ensure that that the System’s Bluray Player app setting of “let my receiver decode” is un-ticked, otherwise you would just be passing the DTS through to the Yarra which won’t result in surround.)


Testing DD5.1 surround cues

DD5.1 Surround testing via films and TV shows can be hard if you don’t already have strong familiarity with how the surround effect should sound on a properly setup true 5.1 speaker system, or at the very least how it sounds when converted into virtual surround format with decent headphones. Pause/rewind/play of film and TV scenes, rinse and repeat can get pretty tedious.

For this reason it may be easier to conduct at least some of your testing via a surround test function on a DVD or Bluray (THX branded ones often have such tests), a speaker/channel test on a PC that supports DD5.1 (using windows in-built sound manager etc.) or via a video game. The latter two options are particularly useful in in that they offer more control over the testing of directional cues for the various channels as you please.
If the video game supports surround sound and has free control of the camera view then just find a consistently emitting sound source in gameplay, say a fire or waterfall etc., and just rotate the camera around your character to test different angles of origin and also to test perceived depth (of the cues) try moving your character to test different positions and distances.

Testing on PC

Provided your motherboard audio chip or sound card supports multichannel audio and Dolby Digital 5.1 encoding, then all you need to do is set your PC to 5.1 speaker config in the sound manager and, in the case of games, set audio to “surround” in the in-game audio options, should there be any.

If you are not a gamer, don’t own a console and don’t want to spend money on games, there are games which are free to play or trial on PC and some of these use surround sound.

Be mindful that game surround tracks tend to be mixed a bit differently from movie and TV surround. Rear cues tend to be much louder and feel much closer than front cues, even if the ‘virtual’ distance in-game from the source cue is the same.

Impressions of Yarra 3DX surround capabilities:

TLDR:

• Multichannel PCM doesn’t work at all for surround whether via usb or HDMI.

• At near field distances, the far field surround mode is more noticable and convincing and for me closer to the experience of a true setup.

• In terms of surround effect (rear cues in particular), although good, it still feels and to some extent sounds more like processed virtual surround than it does a true setup.

• Pre-binauralised content fed to the Yarra in 2.0 stereo requires the Yarra’s surround mode to be in effect (i.e. double HRTF) in order to be convincingly enveloping and positional cues to be accurate. Unfortunately doing this also destroys the sound quality / fidelity.

Elaboration:

Dolby Digital 5.1

When DD5.1 works on the Yarra, the Surround Effect can be very good but produces a similar effect to headphone VSS and as such will be limited by the mixing of the source content and the limitations of VSS. Rear channel sounds will be appreciable but feel somewhat artificial/processed, particularly in videogames where rear cues are often boosted in comparison to front cues. In terms of rear and side cues, it is not noticably better than the best headphone / virtual surround combos. The advantage it does have over headphones however is its installation position as physical source of the sound either beneath or close to the TV / monitor screen, thereby avoiding the perceived “in your head” disconnect you can get with headphones clamped to your ears in comparison to the physical distance between you and the speakers and the Tv or monitor. So I guess in that sense cues from the front/center tend to feel like they have more depth and distance (but then again that would likely be the case with any physical speaker setup).

Near field vs Far field Surround modes

While I am not familiar with the exact mechanics behind Yarra’s surround field processing and output, I was under the impression that the bundle of sound beams would be output in a wider, more diffuse pattern in near field mode in order to create an enveloping surround effect for the close range user while the far field bundle of beams would be narrower and more focused at point of origin in order to preserve equivalent separation and surround effect at farther distances where the effect created by the near field mode would have otherwise dissipated due to being much wider and more diffuse to begin with.

Regardless, in practice (at least to my ears and no matter what ambient preset or HRTF model I use), at near field range the surround effect is much more apparent, enveloping and convincing if using the far field mode instead. . .!?
I have yet to try in a different room which would allow me to test both near and far field modes at a far field listening distance. Will update if I get a chance.


Binaural Content and Pre-binauralised surround mixes using pre-existing virtual Virtual Surround sound solutions.

In the few instances I have seen this previously discussed by commenters on forums, the big concern appeared to be ensuring that Yarra’s surround mode could be turned off to avoid double HRTF or the re-binauralisation of already binauralised content.

Well, in my testing of specifically binaural tracks like “virtual barbershop” and also discrete multichannel content binauralised into headphone virtual surround (via Dolby Atmos for Headphone, DTS Virtual X and Creative SBX surround) then fed to the Yarra, the Yarra’s surround effect needs to be set to “ON”, presumably to detect and exploit the various cues in the pre-binauralised 2.0 stereo. While the mechanics behind it may well be different, in terms of results, it reminds me of using Dolby Pro Logic or DTS Neo on surround content that has been downsampled into 2.0 stereo, I.e. you won’t get much in the way of surround effect from it unless you use something (in this case, the Yarra’s surround binauralisation) to intelligently upmix back into some semblance of the original surround.

In every instance and sample content I tried, setting the Yarra to stereo just meant the cues and depth were all over the place, with rear and sides totally off, whether in near or far field modes. Setting the Yarra to surround on the other hand, positioned the cues exactly where they were supposed to be.

If you want to try this out, just go to the “virtual barber shop” binaural demo on YouTube. Listen to it a couple of times using the best pair of headphones you have, familiarising yourself with the positional cues. Now try that same content with the Yarra. In stereo mode, the bits where the barber is behind you and cutting the hair around your ears sounded markedly in front of me with no illusion of rear placement, rather than cutting my hair, it sounded like he was cutting somebody else’s hair a foot or two in front of me. Setting the Yarra to surround mode fixed this and the cues were back to where they should be. Unfortunately however, doing this also wrecks the sound quality. So at present, the choice for such binaural content is either inaccurate directional positioning of cues with OK sound quality or good positioning but with terrible sound quality.