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Can I Stream Surround Sound Music?

Al Griffin  |  Oct 22, 2015  |  First Published: Oct 21, 2015

Q I own a Roku streamer plus a Blu-ray player and TV with streaming apps. I'm also aware of websites for downloading "High-res" audio to computers and portable players. Here’s my question: Which of these sources support surround sound music?

If you put together the thousands of SACD releases, plus releases on the DVD-Audio and Blu-Ray Audio formats, you’d think somebody should be offering streaming surround by now. I sent a question to Roku support and the answer I got was that basically "all" Roku apps support surround sound. But that sounds like a“technical capability” answer; I haven't found any content yet. —Wayne Erfling

A Services that stream multichannel surround sound music aren’t on the radar yet. Back in 2014, Aupeo , a streaming service that originated in Germany (and now owned by Panasonic) announced plans to make 5.1 music available to stream by year’s end. But here we are in late 2015 and there’s no 5.1 content to be found on Aupeo’s website.

As for sites that sell Hi-Res audio downloads, a few have a limited amount of surround sound content available. One, iTrax , sells 5.1 versions of numerous titles in Dolby Digital/DTS, WMA Lossless, FLAC, or WAV format. Another, Channel Classics, a Hi-Res download site that specializes in Classical music releases, sells multichannel DSD versions of select titles. And speaker company B&W’s Society of Sound download site has at least one title available in multichannel High-res FLAC: 70s nugget Tubular Bells by Mike Oldfield.

Interestingly, HD Radio enables surround-encoded music via DTS Neural Surround, which allows for 5.1 audio to be broadcast over a stereo infrastructure. All you need to hear it is a receiver with a DTS Neural Surround decoder (available from most manufacturers). A number of radio stations broadcast jazz and classical music in DTS Neural Surround, including Minnesota Public Radio.

As for that answer you got from Roku’s support, it’s technically correct since a range of services on that platform provide 5.1 Dolby Digital or Dolby Digital Plus sound, including Amazon Instant Video, Netflix, Vudu, and M-GO. Last I checked, there are no sources of surround music to be found among Roku’s huge number of channels, however.

COMMENTS
mtymous1's picture
Submitted by mtymous1 on October 22, 2015 - 5:47am

If you're a DIY'er, you don't have to wait for a service to stock its library, nor wait for hardware- and device-selling companies to catch up. By taking a software approach, you can build your own surround sound library from your existing media. I've been using a program called "DVD Audio Extractor" to get multi-channel tracks for a couple of years now.

It all started with my quest to extract the hi-rez tracks from the blu-rays within the Immersion Box Sets of "Dark Side of the Moon" and "Wish You Were Here." Since then, I've extracted nearly all of my 5.1 content (including Queen in Montreal, Foo Fighters at Wembley, Eagles, Stone Temple Pilots on DVD-A, and a very long list of distinguished others).

Simply extract the tracks to multi-channel FLAC files, and then use VLC or Kodi (both free) to play them back over an HDMI connection between your comp and AVR.

Here are some how-to details you can use for guidance:
http://www.computeraudiophile.com/content/419-guide-ripping-dvd-and-blu-...

Happy ripping and multi-channel-listening!

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