StormAudio to intro AoIP upgrade for MK2 processors

French home cinema specialist StormAudio has announced the extension of its product warranty to five years and previewed proprietary features that will be released over the coming year, including the introducing of Audio over IP (AoIP).

MK2 was a major addition to the StormAudio product line when it was introduced in March 2020. The new DSP-based processor increased computing power to support a higher channel count, and handle new immersive formats such as DTS:X Pro and IMAX Enhanced and other EQ and calibration features.

Now StormAudio says that all MK2 products are now retroactively covered by a 5-years warranty (parts and labor). This move reflects StormAudio’s philosophy of longevity, while its modular architecture makes it possible to add modules as requirements change.

AoIP has mainly been used in the professional audio and video industry, its complexity a challenge to be implemented in custom installation devices. To make the ISP platform universal and compatible with both professional and residential applications of AoIP, StormAudio has an optional module for its products to add full compatibility with the AES67 / Ravenna protocol on 32 inputs and 32 outputs.

This technology will be included in two new models, the ISP.32 Digital AoIP and the AoIP Upgrade module. Both models are currently being tested with various sources and endpoints and will be released at the end of Q2 2021.



The brand is also developing a new HDMI 2.1 card. Through their partnership with Cypress Technologies, StormAudio says the new HDMI card will be fully compatible with the HDMI 2.1 / HDCP 2.3 protocol, and released as an update to all MK1 and MK2 owners late 2021.

There are also developments on the software front. Beyond natively decoding a large number of channels, with the multiple formats available on the market and their different recommended speaker placements, it’s not uncommon to have silent speakers when playing certain content. So StormAudio engineers have been working on a proprietary engine called StormXT that works hand in hand with existing upmix algorithms to extract relevant audio signals from nearby speakers and redirect them to silent speakers. This new feature will be coming to the ISP platform free of charge in 2021.

Also new is Channel Remapping. In many installations, due to physical constraints of a room or because of the differences between different codecs placement recommendations, speakers might not be positioned in their ideal location. StormAudio has been working on a proprietary solution to solve these challenges and will offer it to its customers as a software upgrade on the ISP platform.