StormAudio ISP Evo – Fully Digital Immersive Audio Processor

Description

Overview

The ISP Evo was the first purely digital immersive audio processor for the home cinema market. Introduced in 2023 and named a CES 2024 Innovation Awards Honoree, it takes the Elite platform and the Core’s slim 3RU chassis and removes the analogue output stage entirely: audio leaves the box either on AES/EBU (a professional digital audio cable standard, two channels per link) or as AoIP — audio sent over a standard network cable rather than individual analogue leads. The figure shown is a “from” price; £15,953.71 inc VAT buys the entry configuration, the 20-channel AES/EBU version.

Design & build

Built in France, the Evo occupies 3RU and measures 40.22 x 44.2 x 13.27cm (depth x width x height) without ears or feet, with removable rack ears adding 4cm across and feet 2cm up. Net weight is 8kg. A 5-inch colour TFT display and infra-red sensor sit on the front panel; power is a universal 100–240V switch-mode supply. Because there are no analogue outputs to run, cabling collapses to a network link or a handful of digital cables, which is the point.

Sound & performance

The Evo decodes and upmixes 20 channels as standard and up to 32 as an option, covering Auro-3D®, Dolby Atmos®, DTS:X Pro, IMAX Enhanced, MPEG-H and Sony 360 Reality Audio. Inputs are supported to 192kHz with post-processing at 48kHz. Keeping the signal digital all the way to a digital loudspeaker or amplifier removes a conversion stage — and with it a noise floor — which is why the format has taken hold in studios and large installations. Active Room Treatment supports an unlimited number of speakers on this model, alongside unlimited subwoofer channels, up to four crossover points per channel from 6 to 48dB per octave, and up to 20 bands of parametric equalisation per channel.

Key features

Four factory configurations, all prices inc VAT:

• 20-channel AES/EBU — £15,953.71
• 20-channel AoIP — £17,097.35
• 32-channel AES/EBU — £17,669.17
• 32-channel AoIP — £19,384.62

The AoIP option is AES67 and Dante compatible and carries up to 32 channels in and out; note that the AoIP and AES/EBU output options are alternatives rather than companions. An optional 16-channel AES/EBU input card is DCI compatible, which lets the Evo interface with digital cinema processors playing DCP content — the same packages used in commercial theatres. Digital loudspeakers and amplifiers from makers including Meridian, Genelec, Meyer Sound, Goldmund, Wisdom Audio and Powersoft are among those StormAudio lists as compatible.

Technology

Dirac Live is included in full — Room Correction, Bass Control and Active Room Treatment — with no extra licences to buy. Active Room Treatment (ART) is the clever one: rather than only filtering the signal, it uses the system’s own speakers to cancel the room’s lingering bass decay, so low notes stop smearing into the next scene. StormAudio shipped it first and still describes itself as the only brand including it. Dirac Live runs high-resolution mixed-phase filters and stores ten profiles per theatre or zone; REW measurement files load directly for manual tuning.

StormXT channel expansion is included: when a soundtrack’s format leaves some speakers silent, it draws the relevant signal from neighbouring channels and feeds them. Expert Bass Management routes bass independently across up to six zones, and StormMonitoring reports the health of connected StormAudio amplifiers through the processor’s web interface. Roon Ready, five-year warranty, official URC drivers.

Specifications

Twenty channels of decoding and upmixing as standard, up to 32 optional. Digital outputs by version: up to 32 channels AES/EBU, or up to 32 channels AES67 and Dante-compatible AoIP, plus a digital optical Toslink Zone 2 stereo downmix. Seven HDMI inputs and two outputs at HDMI 2.1a and HDCP 2.3 with matrix switching, 8K and 4K120, HDR10, HDR10+, HLG and Dolby Vision. 3RU, 8kg. Full detail in the specification table below.

Who it’s for

Rooms built around digital loudspeakers or digital amplification, installations where a single network cable is worth more than a loom of analogue leads, and anyone interfacing a home cinema with digital cinema playback. It is also the sensible choice in a large house where the rack and the room are a long way apart. If your speakers are conventional and need analogue feeds, the ISP Elite MkIII is the right processor instead.

Why buy from Hidden Home Technology

Hidden Home Technology designs, supplies, installs and calibrates StormAudio systems from our base in Bath, Somerset, and demonstrates across the South. Dan Crick has 25 years in the industry, the company has traded since 2004, and we are a CEDIA member (A-356536). A processor of this calibre only performs when the room around it is right, so we treat it as one job — acoustics, speaker layout, amplification, video, control and Dirac Live calibration by our own team. Available through us; arrange a demonstration at our Basingstoke showroom, or read more on our StormAudio brand page.