Manufacture introduction

Trinnov is a long-standing manufacture in room correction hardware. Their product is unique on the market. The company was founded more than 20 years ago and builds its own products targeting the top end of the (professional) market. They are based in France.

The Nova is a completely new product. Up till now Trinnov used Intel computer hardware for the processing power but with the Nova they developed their own all-in-one board. Also, the market proposition is different. By minimizing the amount of internal optimalization licenses into one stereo pair of speakers they want to enter the market with a slightly lower price tag. Flirting with new customer groups and markets in mind.Besides a new license policy Trinnov also introduced the Nova as a multi-functional unit. You can use it as Soundcard, Monitor controller, Audio router and Room Optimizer. “Ideal for the producer on the road” is one of Trinnov statements. Let’s dive into the Nova and see what I came up with.

Setting up the Trinnov Nova

The Nova has 6 analog inputs and outputs. Beside this you have in the digital domain a 16×16 Dante card available, S/PDIF and ADAT inputs and AES/EBU output. The Trinnov has no control features on the front panel. It connects to your wired network via RJ45 ethernet and has an etherCON input for the 3D microphone on the front.

When you powerup the Nova for the first time you will hear no audio getting through. You must configure it first. To do so you need to install a Trinnov APP on your computer. There is no option to connect a monitor/keyboard/mouse directly into the Nova, like it is with all the other Trinnov products. I tested the Nova with the APP version 4.1.2Beta on a Mac-OS.

A printed Nova manual or quick start guide is not part of the delivery package. So I assumed that Trinnov made it all so easy that you don’t need one. Quite a statement for one of the most complex tools in the audio world. 

The whole Nova experience after unboxing lies within the APP on your computer. There is nothing you can play around with on the unit itself, besides wiring it up. So, you need to look around a bit in the software to get going. At first, I had a hard time finding the main screen again after looking around. It turned out that this screen does not have a standard menu entry, but you must click on the logo/Nova name.

The inputs

The first thing you define are the audio sources. So that’s where the Nova gets the music from. The Nova has in total 32 inputs divided in 6 analog, 16 Dante, 8ADAT and 2 S/PDIF.  Be aware that using different digital inputs will introduce a clocking question (see later in this review). 

After defining the sources, you define the outputs. There are two types, “Speakers” and “Direct outputs”. Speakers can work with the optimalization part, direct outputs are part of the audio routing hub function and don’t have the optimizer functions.

Once you have configured your inputs and outputs music starts to flow through the Nova. Until you reboot the Nova. Then it returns to factory default… All your work is gone. What did I do wrong here? Well, you must save all the routing and monitoring settings by hand in a preset, Garro! A little warning would be appreciated. Other manufactures that rely on software configuration, like Cisco for instance, do show a red alert reminding you to save the configuration.

Trinnov Nova as Monitor Controller

One of the major features of the Nova is its role as monitor controller. There are 3 ways to approach this, using your computer, using the iPad APP or buying their “La Remote” unit. I tested the Nova with the computer APP and sometimes the iPad APP. 

If you want to set the volume you have to click with your mouse in 1 dB steps. So, 20 times if you go from -45 to -25 dB, no other mouse movements or keyboard entries are supported. There is one reference button on the screen where you can store a volume level. 

On the iPad you can “swipe” a bit around the volume setting, but it is not a precise control. 

The actual volume level control hardware wise is performed in the digital domain only. There is no analogue volume control like using a switched resistor relay configuration.

The monitor controller has features like Mute, Solo and Dim on the screen. You can select the defined sources and Speaker outputs. The sources can be summed together as well. Then with an additional menu you can find what they called “down mixes” options, swapped stereo, Diff Mono and Mono on L/R. Not all were working in this version (see our bug report at the end of this review).

Metering

The Nova shows an input and output meter within the software. No hold values on this one. Actually, I don’t really know what it measures. No Smart Metering option available on the Nova like on the MC or ST2pro. Let’s hope Trinnov will add this in the future.

The Nova has one headphone output on the front. You can assign any source to the headphone output or let it follow the main speaker output. There is no headphone volume knob directly on the unit. To avoid high volumes on the headphone you should first adjust the level on the computer and then connect the headphone jack. Completely opposite to what most people are used to.

If you don’t buy the additional “La Remote” control the monitor controller is fully managed by your computer. This means that for every change you must grab your mouse or go to the iPad and change it.

Be aware that if you change something to the speaker setup, for instance you want to add a pair of speakers for a short test, it will kill your optimizer measurement information. So, the optimizer will not work any longer on your main speakers. Press “restore” in the preset menu to get the optimizer back, but then the added speaker set in this example has also been gone.

What happens when you disconnect the laptop from your network? Will audio keep playing? The first test was just closing the Nova computer app and reopen it. No problem. Then I tried a scenario where I disconnected the laptop from the wired network. When reconnecting I could not link to the Nova again. A reboot of the Nova was necessary to get it working again together. After the reboot the “Down Mix settings” were gone.

Speaker switching

The optimizer part works only on one stereo output and will not follow to the second output when you switch to the next pair of speakers. If you want this scenario, you must change presets within the Nova. A preset switch comes with a short loading time and thus a breakdown of the audio signal. In the future it will be possible to switch-off the (complete?) monitor section of the Nova. During the configuration of the Nova it is one of the first questions you have to answer. I don’t know what functionality will remain in the Nova when you decide to not use the monitor functions because this is not specified anywhere.

The Nova Audio Matrix

Beside the monitor controller features that focus on playback on your speakers and headphone, the Nova also got a powerful audio matrix under the hood, it’s called “Direct routing”.

Direct routing means that you can set connections between input and outputs that will stay in operation “under water” while you are listening on your speakers/monitor controller to something else. So, for instance you can route your analog input 3&4 into the Dante network while at the same time you are listening to input 1&2 on your speakers. You can connect everything with everything in this matrix.

There is also an ADAT input. This would give 8 more inputs on 48KHz. Does it work? Yes, it does. Tested with a RME ADI on input 1&2 and 7&8. But some caveat regarding the clocking I discuss later.

Originally the Nova was planned to have an 8×8 Dante card installed. But due to some changes on the Audinate side the Nova ended up with a 16×16 matrix installed. For the direct output routing however, you can still only select Dante channel number 1-8. Channel 9-16 are seen on the Dante network (you can even assign streams to them) but are not shown in the Nova. This must be a bug.

How to connect your DAW directly to the Nova?

For the fully ITB workers the Nova might have an interesting feature. It can operate as a soundcard for your DAW.

The Nova has no USB or Thunderbolt connection so how do you get your audio into the Nova? Well, there are a few ways. 

First using an external USB-Dante interface. Most of my tests have been performed by using a Muxlab USB-Dante interface connected to my laptop. The Muxlab is a small box that you can power from the ethernet connection. You select the Muxlab as your soundcard on your computer and there you go, streaming into the Dante network. Of course, there are many other interfaces available on the market like RME, Focusrite and Audinate. 

Within the Dante network you must assign your laptop output to the Nova input and job done! In this scenario the delay on the Dante network is less then 600 microseconds and the connection runs stable (I assume you have configured a proper Dante network).  

The second way to connect your computer to the Nova is by using a virtual Dante interface. This option is promoted by Trinnov. Audinate, the developer of Dante, offers on their website a virtual soundcard option called DVS. A license costs around 60 euro. I performed this test on an Intel MacBook-pro i9 running Mac OS 13.6.1. 

Installing the trail version of the DVS is straight forward. The installer gave a warning that the software is made for M1 Macs. Canceling the installation resulted in continuing the installation anyway. 

DVS

After the software installation you see the new soundcard on your computer. The DVS software only works on a Dante network that runs 48KHz sampling rate. Since my Dante network works on 96KHz I had to downgrade first.

After downgrading the Dante network, I expected to add the DVS into my Dante network routing table. Well, no. The DVS is not able to sync with the Dante network. So, it is not possible to route the laptop to the Nova. Test failed. Avoiding that we would start digging into the DVS product too much at this time I decided that this is not a – plug and play – end user solution in combination with a Mac. Maybe some other time I will continue the DVS research by changing more router settings. For now, back to the Muxlab USB interface.

Dante I/O Support

The Trinnov Nova has two Dante ethernet connections with a 1GB speed. A 16×16 Dante card has been installed but as mentioned before you can (now) only select 16 inputs and 8 outputs. 

The Dante interface is, like any other Dante hardware, an OEM product from the Dante manufacture Audinate. Trinnov uses the Audinate “Broadway” board. This is the midrange module in the Audinate product line. 

The Dante Latency is like other Dante mid-range products and holds around 300 – 600 microseconds.

Within the Dante Network Controller you can set a Sample rate from 44.1 till 192KHz and maximum 32 bits. These settings do matter in the sound color.

In the Nova it is not possible to switch the Dante mode off manually. If it sees a Dante network it will link to it and switch over to the Dante clocking. 

When you want to use the Dante Virtual Soundcard (DVS) as suggested by Trinnov for a direct link between your computer and the Nova, be aware that the maximum sample rate is limited to 48KHz on the Dante network between both.

Clocking options within de Nova

We all know the vital role of clocking in digital audio especially when different devices are involved. Well, the Nova with its audio matrix is a kind of digital hub. So, some testing on this part is relevant. 

Previous Trinnov Pro models all have a Word Clock input and output. The Nova does not have an external clock input or output. I could not find any specifications regarding the clock jitter of the Nova either.

The Nova has 3 clocking sync modes, internal, coaxial S/PDIF and optical ADAT. The Internal mode is currently limited to 96KHz but 192KHz is promised in a future update. 

But what is the internal clock? Well, you have two “Internal” clocks. For this report I will call them the “Nova-Internal’ and the “Dante-Internal” Clock. If the Nova is connected to a Dante network, the Nova follows the Dante network clock setting and uses the clock that is on the Broadway Dante module. So, the internal clock is actually a “Dante-internal” clock. 

Sample rates

It is not possible to set the Nova on a different sample rate than the Dante network. This means that if you want to insert the Nova by its ADDA converters in the monitor speaker feed you cannot put this connection on a sample rate of 96KHz while the connected Dante network is running on 48KHz.

How do you get the Nova-internal clock activated? One way is switching to the ADAT sync option without having an ADAT connected and then to the S/PDIF option. The Nova will stop audio playback. Then it goes into fallback mode on 96KHz internal sampling and audio playback recovers. How it sounds I will discuss later.

When you force the Nova on the Nova-internal clock it disconnects from the Dante network. If that’s not desired, then there is one option left, select the Nova as the Dante clock master within the Dante Network Controller. This will affect the complete Dante network system because all hardware will use the Nova as clock master. In general, a digital clock will have impact on the sound color of digital hardware. 

The other way to get the Nova-internal clock activated is to simply not link the Nova to a Dante network at all. 

ADAT input

As mentioned earlier there is also a SPDIF/ADAT optical input. I connected an ADAT converter to it (RME TDIF1) and the Nova did sync to the 48KHz that the ADAT was sending. Unfortunately (but logically by design) the Dante network disconnected due to the clock mismatch as my Dante network clock was set to 96KHz. 

Then I tried the other way around. So, I clocked the Nova on the Dante-Internal 96KHz clock and checked if the 48KHz ADAT inputs remained working, and they do. In this scenario it looks like the Nova does a sample rate conversion. I can’t say for sure because it is not specified by Trinnov in their manual.

Conclusion: when the Nova is in a Dante network it will always sync to the Dante network and uses the Dante Network clock setting. It is not possible to have the Nova internal AD-DA working on the future promised 192KHz sampling rate in parallel to a 48KHz or 96KHz Dante clocking. I hope that Trinnov will change this in the future.

The Room Optimizer – where all the magic happens.

The main reason buying a Trinnov is not the monitor controller or soundcard function but of course the room optimizer. A lot has been said about this in different reviews online. I tested it and the Nova does the job as expected. You get the “wow” factor. After installing many Trinnovs I would say you get the “Trinnov sound”.

But! After a hardware power down/up cycle all the optimizer information has been gone and you must go through the process again. Doing so gave not always the desired results. Sometimes the audio would not playback after a successful procedure. Sometimes there are no measurement results at all in the graphics or only partly.

The optimizer user interface is completely restyled and simplified. Most functions I recognized from the MC software. I did not do a one-to-one comparison with the MC model (yet).  

As mentioned by the manufacturer the Nova comes with only two licenses for the optimizer. So, one stereo pair. If you need more speakers at the same time, then maximum four additional licenses can be purchased at ~800 euro each. So, the Nova should be able of processing 6 optimizer algorithms at the same time. I don’t know if this generates additional latency.

3D mic

With the Nova comes a new generation of the 3D microphone. The old one is not compatible with the Nova. This new mic solves a few issues compared to the old one. First you don’t have to use batteries (the new mic is phantom powered) and it uses a EUCON ethernet cable with its own input on the front of the Nova. The most important one is that there is no need to manually install a calibration file in the unit. The Nova gets the file from the microphone.

As mentioned before, it is not possible within the same preset to switch between 2 or 3 speaker pairs and let the optimizer licenses follow the speaker selection (and still using two licenses at the same time). The only way to do this is switching from preset and that gives a short breakdown of the sound. 

If you do have 4 speakers connected to the Nova, it will perform a measurement on all speakers. This measurement is used to set the volume level of the second speaker pair, avoiding volume jumps when switching between both speaker pairs.

Other things I noticed:

• If there is no optimizer measure performed and you switch between optimizer on/off on the right top of the interface there is a sound color difference between on and off.
• After the optimizer measurement using the 3D microphone the configured “ref” volume setting turns back to factory default.
• With 2 licenses active in the Nova the CPU usage is between 35-40%. I wonder where we would end up with 6 licenses activated. 

Latency

With an “all-digital device” in a mixing and mastering environment latency is around the corner. The Nova does not have a hardware by-pass (relay) like in the previous ST2-pro model or current MC models. This means that the audio will always go AD/DA through the Nova.

Knowing now that the Nova is much more than an optimizer you start to understand the complexity of a hardware by-pass. For instance, what happens with the “Direct mode” connections when you would press the hardware by-pass switch? And what would be bypassed? The analog inputs? Dante inputs? Adat?

Anyway, at the moment there is no option for a full by-pass. But Trinnov promises on their website a low (even zero) latency option in 2024. 

The current latency in my system is according to the user interface read out with the Optimizer active 32ms. Or when I change the optimizer settings it can easily go to more than 100ms. But I do not fully trust this counter on the screen because I noticed also a bug related to it (see bugs/incident chapter). I do notice the latency for sure when you punch in/out the Nova.

How does it sound?

How it sounds is of course a personal thing. Let’s first check the headphone output. I tested it with an Audeze LCD-X, HEDDphone and Audio-Technica m50x.

The output level is sufficient for all three headphone models. Of course, for the HEDDphone you must crank it up to almost max. With the Audeze LCD-X the right channel level sounded lower than the left channel. With the Audio-Technica and HEDDphone this was not the case. I double checked if it was the LCD-X itself, but no. 

For me the built-in headphone amp sounds in your face and not very “wide”. The “s” sibilance in tracks were a bit harsh and louder. I do get tired quickly from listening to the Nova headphone output especially when you use the Dante-Internal clocking. So, it would not let me sell me my current headphone amp. It is of course all a matter of taste and therefore the possibility of having the headphone output in the Nova software flexible assigned to an external output of choice, would be appreciated. 

Now the main AD/DA stage of the Nova. I tested this having the Nova on an insert of my master chain. In this way I was able to take the Nova completely in/out of the chain by the press of a button. With the optimizer in off state, you can test if the AD/DA stage colours the sound and how it handles transients. The sample rate was set on 96KHz (currently the maximum) using the Dante-Internal clocking and forced Nova-internal clocking.

Coloring

From my point of view the coloring is very small and acceptable. Playing a high transient kick drum from my drum computers went okay through AD/DA.  In general, the first impression of the converter sound does not make me want to change the AD/DA converters to external ones immediately, like with the AD/DA converters of the Trinnov MC version.

What I do notice on full mixes is that the Nova sounds better when it is using the Nova-internal clock and not the Dante-Internal clock. The difference is more depth and clarity. There is no user option to select the Nova internal clock when linked to the Dante network. But I found a trick to do this anyway (see chapter Clocking). 

When listening to a Dante network source in general the sound color is also depending on the settings of the Dante network. Changing the settings within the Dante network controller (for instance a bit depth, sample rate or selecting a different Dante master clock) does affect the sound color of the complete Dante network and can change the color of the sound of the Nova as well. 

Some sound optimalization can be done by excluding one DA/AD stage in the chain from your computer to the speakers. You can do this by having a Dante connection on your computer and selecting a Dante input on the Nova. From the Nova you go either analogue or digital to your speakers. 

After some evenings of tweaking, I was able to create a great sounding monitoring setup in my room. Unfortunately, with a compromise on functionality. I had to disconnect the Nova from the Dante network.

Some things I noticed

• When the optimizer part has not yet been configured, you can still activate the optimizer in the software. It does change the sound color when you activate the optimizer in this case. The stereo field shifts a bit. Tested with the volume on -34dB and dim on. 

• Switching between the “Dante-Internal” clock and the “Nova-internal” clock (see clocking chapter) does give a noticeable different sound color. 

Sound comparison between Trinnov Nova and Trinnov MC model

As stated before, sound tests are a personal thing. A comparison between the Nova and the previous generation AD/DA converters was on my wish list and also a highly requested test online in different Facebook user groups. 

My test setup: both Trinnov units are installed as an insert on my mastering chain (using the SPL Masterbay). The units are set into “Optimizer” mode but then all the algorithms are switched off. This will give the full AD/DA audio path but without Optimizer modules active.

First I tested with a kick drum sound played from a drum synthesizer, so that you can hear the transient of the converters. I was listening on an Audeze LCD-X headphone via a SPL Phonitor2 amp. The difference between the Nova and the MC was noticeable. It sounded as if the MC takes away the first transient of the kick. The Nova sounded fine. 

Because of the difference I double checked by changing inputs on the MC, swapping the inserts in the mastering chain and changing the clocking on the MC. All these actions gave no improvement on the MC. What did improve the sound was replacing the AD/DA converter of the MC with an external one (RME) by using the AES in/out on the MC. With an external AD/DA the transient of the kick was resolved. 

Some details

During the writing of this report, I created pictures of the kick recording. In the picture below you see the cause of the MC sounding weird. It looks like the MC inverts the input signal. I think I wiped out all external causes, so it looks as it is in the actual machine.

Text continues after the picture.

The optimizer algorithm does de job on both the Nova and the MC. You get a huge improvement of your room acoustic behavior. I listened on ATC SMB50a monitor speakers. I did notice more width and presence in the Nova sound. It was not possible getting the exact same Optimizer settings from both machines because it is not possible to import/export this information from the Nova (like you can do in the MC). I hope they will fix this in the future

I also tested both using a digital input source: the Dante input on the Nova and the Dante-to-AES input on the MC. Also, in this scenario the sound color of both machines differs from each other but less compared to using the analogue inputs. Also, in this scenario I noticed more width and punch on the Nova compared to the MC.

Differences between the Nova and the MC/ST2pro

So let us compare new Nova with the old ST2pro.

• The user interface of the Nova is completely redesigned and looks more modern than the user interface of the MC/ST2. 
• On the Nova there is only an input and output meter. No loudness or other useful information. The metering section on the MC/ST2pro can be extended with “Smart metering” to a full range metering. 
• The Nova can be controlled by an App on an external computer. The MC/ST2pro have their own monitor output and keyboard/mouse input. 
• The Nova has no world clock in/output like on the MC/ST2pro.
• On the Nova you get standard 2 Optimizer licenses, on the ST2pro you get 4 licenses. The Nova can be upgraded to a maximum of 6 licenses. But a license is expensive (around €800).
• The Nova needs 1HE in your rack the ST2pro eats 2HE in your rack.
• The Nova has no cooling fans onboard, the ST2pro does have (quiet) cooling fans.
• The Nova is a single board hardware unit. The ST2pro has different components and an Intel computer board at its heart.
• The Nova has 1 ADAT and 1 S/PDIF digital input. The ST2pro has 2 AES inputs.
• The Nova has 1 AES output, the ST2pro has 2 AES outputs. This gives you the option of having two pairs of speakers digitally connected to the ST2pro.
• The Nova has 6 analogue inputs. When you add an ADAT converter you can extent this to a total of 14 at 48KHz. The ST2pro has 4 analogue inputs.
• The Nova has 6 analogue outputs. The ST2pro has 4 analogue outputs.
• The Nova has built-in 16×16 Dante support. If you want to add Dante to the ST2pro you need to use a third-party Dante-AES adapter. 
• Switching between speaker outputs on the Nova is instant. On the MC changing a profile is not instant. On the ST2pro you have to switch preset which is also not instant. 
• The Nova has no hardware input to output bypass relay. The ST2pro does have a bypass relay. 
• The latency at the Nova is at least 32ms (or 100ms depending on your configuration). The latency at the ST2pro can vary depending on the configuration.
• The Nova currently runs on maximum 96Khz sampling rate but 192KHz in/out is promised for the future. The ST2pro can handle up to 192KHz on the output and 96KHz on the input.
• The Nova has no Dynamic Range Control feature. The ST2pro does have DRC.
• The Nova has a master delay for all channels. De ST2pro has a delay setting per channel.
• There is no way of setting a sample buffer size within the Nova. The ST2pro does have a buffer size setting between 128 and 1024 samples.
• The Nova does not (yet) have active X-over features. This is scheduled for 2024. The ST2pro does have active X-over features.
• The Nova has no GPIO options. The ST2pro can be extended with an GPIO module.
• The Optimizer configuration and measurement files in the Nova cannot be exported to another Nova. The ST2pro supports full file export functions.
• The Nova has a separate 3D microphone input on the front. When connecting the 3D microphone to the ST2pro you have to use the 4 analogue inputs on the back.
• The Nova comes with a new 3D microphone that is not backwards compatible with the ST2pro microphone.
• The Nova does not come with a printed manual in the box. The ST2pro provides you with a printed manual.

The Nova in use, my 2 cents

A Trinnov is one of the most complex audio units that money can buy on the market. It contains an extensive software environment beside the audio tasks. Adding a monitor controller and Dante integration into the machine makes it even more complex. We love a challenge must be the mission of the Trinnov company.

With the Nova, Trinnov tried to create  an easier way to use the software interface with a more modern look and feel. Compared to the old software interface it is less intimidating and more pleasant to work with.

But this does not mean that room correction can be boiled down to a one click check box. There are many configuration parameters involved to get the best results. It is a professional tool where certain knowledge is necessary. I’m surprised that Trinnov did not supply a printed manual with the Nova like they do with the other Pro-units. The Nova does explain things within the APP as a replacement, but you won’t get any knowledge on the more in-depth settings like filters or the way it works in general within the Nova. No signal flow schematics etc. and even the maximum dBu specifications of the analogue input and output is not specified. Maybe all dull stuff but for a studio engineer more than relevant. 

Sound wise

For me sound is the most important thing of the Nova. You want the AD/DA to be as transparent as possible and the Optimizers as excellent as possible. Digital clocking plays a big part in this and therefore I hope that Trinnov will work on optimizing the selection of the Dante clock versus the Nova-internal clock. Not having an external clock input is a miss.

After three days of testing, I was on a point that I wanted to send the Nova back. I lost at that moment for the third time all my Optimizer files and had to start from sketch again. Then I moved to my main studio for the sound quality tests and the comparison with the currently installed 7 years old Trinnov MC. 

I configured the Nova for this studio, did the Optimizer measurements and installed the Trinnov as an insert of my monitor controller. Boom wow, that sounds good. But don’t power down the Nova, don’t add a speaker output. Don’t touch the system, only select the input between analogue and Dante. And hell yes, the clocking.

I have faith that Trinnov will remain the company with the professional engineer in mind where sound quality matters above workflow and fancy consumer marketing talk. That Trinnov will solve the 20+ crucial bugs that I came across (see below) within a reasonable time window without introducing new ones. So, I decided to keep the Trinnov Nova replacing the MC. To show them some love.

But if you are not a geek like me then I would advise you to wait until the promised software improvements of next year (2024), as stated on the Trinnov website, are realized.

Become member and leave a comment at our Facebook Group All4Dante

About Garro Wiersema

Garro is an independent consultant, music producer, mixing and mastering engineer. 

Being responsible for large system integration projects in the past he learned how to analyze and test combinations of hardware and software in vehicles, control rooms or field applications. 

His passion and enthusiasm for music and technology on one hand and room acoustics on the other hand came together in the Trinnov-pro series. Amongst others by supporting studios with their Trinnov installation and configuration. Getting the most out of the Trinnov in your studio is always the goal. 

The possibilities of Dante technology in the broadcast and pro-audio world have recently led to the start of his new adventure: ALL4Dante. An independent platform that will test and report Dante hardware and networks in its own lab. 

Beside his music and technology carrier Garro also has a background in journalism as editorial director of a weekly newspaper as well as news websites.

Bugs & Incidents

Tested with the following software versions:

On the Nova unit: version 5.0.7#+, system 1.0.18. On the computer Version 4.1.2 (1).

• When starting the Nova for the first time there is no sound coming through when the Nova is not on a Dante network. You have to set the clocking rate manually first and then it goes.

• After a change in the speaker settings of the Nova (add an extra non optimized pair) all the optimizer measurement information is gone. The measurement file is still there according to the “weighting” page but can’t be used. That is tricky when you just want to test a speaker with the monitor controller. To restore the optimizer data, you must press Reload in the preset dropdown menu (but then the added speaker is gone). If you would save this setup added speaker setup, the Nova completely loses the optimizer measurement data and the Nova comes in some kind of undefined state.

• After a power reboot the software does not reconnect to the Nova. The software does not see the Nova anymore.

• When you run the Optimizer, you do not always get results. Sometimes there a no graphics available or the graphics only show the before measurement. Sometimes there are no graphics and no audio after a what looked like a successful Optimizer procedure. The audio returns when you click the optimizer off on the right top part of the screen and stops when you switch the Optimizer on again. You need to reboot the Nova to resolve this. The behavior of the Optimizer is not predictable. 

• The test noise generator within the Optimizer procedure does not always generate a noise sound. When this happens the Optimizer procedure also fails.

• The right analog channel output assigned to channel 4 stopped playing while left went on as normal. Do not know what causes it. Got it recovered by clicking on the “ref” button on the app.

• Not all Downmixes features work or show up in the monitor controller home screen (for instance the mono on L/R does not work)

• The clickable field in the downmix buttons is sometimes limited to a little part, for instance the “Diff Mono (L-R) button”. 

• After a reboot of the Nova the Downmix features are reset to factory settings even if you have pressed save on the preset.

• Monitor feature mute left or right speaker only works when the mode “optimizer” is switched on.

• When defining a second speaker set of outputs you can only assign a hardware output to the left channel. When you also select a hardware output to the right channel it will reset both. It will work when you switch of the “use for optimizer flag”. 

• When you want to have 2 monitor speaker sets linked to the Nova and want to switch between them from the monitor controller (within the same preset).  The optimizer licenses are not following to the second selected speaker pair. You can listen to the second pair without an optimizer license. To resolve this, you must switch to a new preset. But switching presets gives a load time, so switching between the speakers is not instant in this way.  

• Un-patch sources from speaker sets does not work. You can only disconnect the left or the right channel but not both.

• When there is no optimizer measure performed yet and you switch between optimizer on/off on the right top of the interface there is a sound color difference between on and off.

• After the optimizer measurement the ref volume setting is reset to factory settings.

• The number of IIR filters can only count up and not down.

• When you add a Master delay in the “latency tab” this results that the total latency count on the monitor screen goes up with the same amount (OK). But if you then lower the Master delay again the counter on the monitor screen does not go down.

• You can’t transfer your optimizer settings and measurements from the Nova to your computer. The preset that you can download is a .JSON file containing things that looks like screen layout and monitor settings. It is not possible to transfer the Optimizer settings to another Nova or a Trinnov MC/ST2pro model.

• When you disconnect the LAN (Dante) cable from the Nova and reconnect it again the computer APP can’t reconnect. It is not that the IP address is changed on the network. It looks more that the Nova does not detect this event and hold its old session active. You must reboot the Nova to resolve this state.

• When rebooting the Nova, it takes a long time before it is visible in the APP and you can connect to it.

• It is not possible by design to select the Nova Internal clock when you are linked to the Dante network. The Nova will use the clock on the Audinate Broadway board. You should have the option of using the external clock mode on de Broadway Dante card. It is possible creating this state via the following route:
  – Click on clock source ADAT first, wait until it goes into fallback Dante. 
  – Then click on clock source Coaxial S/PDIF and the Nova will switch to Internal Fallback. 
  In this state the Nova can be connected again to the Dante network by selecting the Nova “clock master“ on the Dante network.
  The reason that you want to use the Nova internal clock is simple; It sounds better. The clock on the Broadway card is not so good sounding. I would have chosen the better sounding Brooklyn series. It’s worth the extra cost.

• It is not clear how to update the Dante firmware on the Broadway board.

• The Nova is eating its memory. After 3 days of non-stop power-on the unit went from roughly 60% to 80% memory usage. 

Respond from Trinnov

This review and test report has been sent to Trinnov. Trinnov immediately responded and the next day we discussed the issues reported in the bug list. On the phone Trinnov stated that they were happy with the report and will work on the bugs. Within a short while a new software version is to be expected.