[fritsch]

Stereo FLAC for Kodi up to 32-bit, 192kHz.

^^ I just told you that kodi does 32 bit internally, right?

So now - post your Debug Log. If the device supports FLOAT then everything the entire Android OS is capable to do is available to you. And what nvidia tells there is, that kodi can playback 32 bit flac with 192 khz. That's again perfectly fine and correct. We can even play DSD Audio with 384 khz.

You need to understand something:
There is a big difference between decoding stage and output stage. Your problem is not the decoding stage, but afterwards UNDER Android's Audiotrack the output stage where userspace, e.g. every application has no influence.

So - if you see in the Debug Log that kodi opens 192 khz 2 channel FLOAT then everything userspace can achieve for you is done. There is nothing left to do for us.

[euser464]

Alright. I'll make some tests at home and gather the appropriate logs during the weekend and post them here.

Just want to understand how everything works and if there are any improvements that can be made. I have seen plenty of threads from Kodi/ SPMC users having problems playing high resolutions audio. I'm not in any way implying flaws in Kodi / SPMC, but I would like to understand if there are any improvements that can be made and at the same time make things easier for other users with the same problems. 

Kodi / SPMC is probably doing everything fine as you say. I would like to expose what is happening underneath in that case.

[fritsch]

If you find something that we can do, please tell me. I will implement it as long as it is no private hack only working for exactly one device.

[euser464]

@fritsch 

Did some tests with a 24bit/192Khz music file using Kodi. The file is opened and music is played through the speakers. So far so good. The question I have is at what bitrate this was done. I can see in the Kodi logfile (line 8354) that file "test192-24bit_Linn_Records-sample.fla" is opened and initialized correctly, but then there are a big number of "invalid sample size code (7)"  and "sample/frame number mismatch in adjacent frames" messages right after. So I'm not sure what really happens with the stream.

I'm also surprised the that Kodi indicates at the beginning:

m_deviceType      : AE_DEVTYPE_HDMI

I'm using a USB device, why does it state HDMI?

Moving forward to the Shield log (line 4808) I can see the following:

01-07 23:19:35.273   261  4066 I NvAudioPolicyManager: getOutputForAttr() device 0x4000, samplingRate 192000, format 5, channelMask 3, flags 0 strategy 0x0
01-07 23:19:35.275  4821  4864 D AudioTrack: Client defaulted notificationFrames to 5125 for frameCount 15376

That should indicate the FLAC file was opened successfully at 192Khz?

Kodi log:
https://paste.ubuntu.com/26346969/

nVidia log:
https://paste.ubuntu.com/26346977/

[fritsch]

138234881104 DEBUG: CActiveAESink::OpenSink - AUDIOTRACK Initialized:
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Output Device : android
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Sample Rate : 192000
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Sample Format : AE_FMT_FLOAT
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Channel Count : 2
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Channel Layout: FL,FR
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Frames : 7688
23:19:35.276 T:138234881104 DEBUG: Frame Size : 8

Looks good.

[euser464]

Great, then I'm just curious why the Shield reports 16 bit PCM audio om the about screen. Is that some kind of error ?

[wesk05]

Great, then I'm just curious why the Shield reports 16 bit PCM audio om the about screen. Is that some kind of error ?

You are looking at the HDMI status screen. I don't think Shield reports on USB audio.

[fritsch]

As said before. We do 32bit/192... the box does what it wants.

What do your ears say?

[euser464]

Great, then I'm just curious why the Shield reports 16 bit PCM audio om the about screen. Is that some kind of error ?

You are looking at the HDMI status screen. I don't think Shield reports on USB audio.

Ok, that would make sense.

[euser464]

My ears tell me everything sounds fine. After listening to a couple of FLAC albums I can't say that anything is strange.

@wesk05 is probably right, the information screen regarding HDMI / Audio is not reporting the USB capabilities of my DAC, something that got me a little confused.

[vn800art]

Hello! Sorry for jumping in, but last posts here are suggesting that to get hi res audio from Shield one could use the Usb connections ( and, in my case, the otg one could be used, as I have other devices in the regular Usb ones?) ? I could link directly an Usb AA cable to the front Usb input to my Marantz Sr7011?
And, as we are in a Kodi forum and you are always up to date, is there in the official repositories an addon for Tidal?
Have a look here, as I have been trying to have a reply somewhere else, and I must say I may haven't got the right attention!
https://forums.geforce.com/default/topic...0/#5284490
Thanks for Your work!
Regards
Alessandro
Edit:
I have seen now @wesk05 is posting there, so I believe the Nvidia admins will follow deeply this subject.
Must add: 1)I had the last Tidal app installed from mid January and nothing has changed after the 6.3 Shield upgrade. 2) Tried getting sound from usb out to the Sr7011 front usb, no joy. 3) found the Kodi addons for Tidal (and Spotify, btw), but the outcome is the same!?. I get Atmos out of Netflix app loaded on the Shield, so no hardware problems whatsoever. Mystery continue.
Alessandro

[trent666]

Guys,sorry to jumping in here but would very much appreciate your opinion.. I would like to purchase new NVidia Shield 2019 pro version and  want to connect it via USB to Arcam rDAC (should allow 96Khz/24bit). 
I understand that previous Shield had ability to switch between standart 48Khz and kind of "hifi" mode = 192Khz. 
Arcam rDAC USB limitation is 96Khz (192khz only via coaxial input).
My question is - would this be a problem? Or Kodi will downsample to 96Khz..
New shield with coax would be perfect player for me, unfortunately no digital outs
Thanks, Pavol.

[fritsch]

Yes, kodi can downsample to any samplerate available - if it needs to.

Edit: This does not mean at all that Android under the hood behaves as it should.

[trent666]

Thanks fritsch, I found some article about android 10 shoul support up to 192/24 natively w/o downsampling..but not sure if this is not only a speculation..libreelec and its variatios are more suitable iro audio quality, but on the other hand not offering Dolby Vision etc..looks like man needs to pick one or the other