Smyth SVS Realiser Virtual Surround Technology for Headphones - Page 14

Should we do impressions here or the other thread? It's getting a bit confusing.

OK, here it is.

Today I put the Realiser briefly into my headphone system keeping my expectations low. I put it between the Audio Note DAC and the ES-2/HE90.

Well, I think this thing has some serious potential in this arena as well. It was just like being back at the Smyth room. Now their room (no offense) is not the greatest so I can't wait to measure some really reference 2.0 systems and take a listen. The vocals were right in the center where they belonged. Steven showed me a trick at CanJam to get your mind ready to listen. You cycle through the individual speakers, 2 in this case, to get the perspective. It really works.

It is unclear how much the headphones and amp influence the room measurement and I will test some more, but I do think they add something to the mix. There was a definite sense of the HE90 refinement there.

Ed, I am itching to get to some places so let's talk. I think there are two others who want to go to AIX at least. Let's get a group of us 4 together soon. How about I pm everyone who expressed interest and we will make plans?

At a surround sound room, like AIX I am fairly certain that there will be just one measurement that could be used for 2 or 5 channel. I had the same question for Lorr yesterday.

You are positioning the speakers in the calibration, not sound. Having listened to both now using the Smyth surround room I am pretty sure he is right.

Now high-end 2 channel rooms will be very different and I want that for sure, but I don't think there will be a difference at AIX. I think it will be one measurement. Basically you measure the room wherever you are.

If you can schedule such an event, I'd like to be included as well.

On another subject, my personalizations for the Smyth room vs. the AIX room are both played back from Realiser through my DBX 14/10 EQ (for subtle tone control) and then on to my Stax SRM-T1S/Omega-1. I had been using a particular "universal" preset on my DBX EQ to listen to everything on my headphones, even from the old days when I was using Dolby Headphone (from my Pioneer DIR-SE1000C).

I had decided that some program content sounded better listening through the Smyth room Realiser preset whereas other content sounded better listening through the AIX room Realiser preset. This probably was also the result of the fact that I only had the Smyth room preset for a few months and just got used to it. They're actually very different, with the AIX room sound MUCH more accurate and "near-in present" and "less boomy".

Anyway, I have now decided that my "complaint" about listening to the AIX room for some content was due to the "universal single EQ curve" I had been sticking with on my DBX EQ. In fact, the very strong and precise low-end bass provided by the AIX room was overwhelming my EQ settings, which had boosted bass to compensate for weakness in this area for most programming content (and the amp characteristics as put out by my Pioneer DIR-SE1000C).

The other day I decided to "tone down" the three lowest bass band settings (31hz by 1db, 45hz by 5db, and 63hz by 1db) in order to reduce the now obviously unnecessary extra bass bias I had been inserting and which was fine with the Smyth room but "harmful" with the AIX room. The result is now, if anything, a little "bass defeat" rather than a "bass emphasis".

Not surprisingly, the sound of the AIX room is now fantastic! I now use it all the time, and never use the Smyth room. The clarity and excellence of the AIX room speakers and acoustics as now provided by the Realiser + DBX EQ, resulting in a perfectly non-echoic non-boomy remarkably accurate, present and satisfying listening experience (no offense, but definitely superior to the Smyth room's sound) is now a genuine treat.

For example, listening to the audio of the judges talking on "So You Think You Can Dance" through the AIX room preset vs. the Smyth room preset is night and day different. The "now wonderful, with the bass EQ reduction" AIX room sounds like you're right there, in front of the judges' table. They are clear and precise, all emanating down low and properly baffled and non-echoic. By comparison the Smyth room makes the same content sound like it's coming from higher up, in a large hollow room. Very different sounds... with the AIX sound being the clear winner.

Same with "Weeds". Listening to this show through the AIX room is glorious. Listening through the Smyth room almost sounds artificial by comparison, although I realize it's just another sound room with very different acoustic characteristics.

So, now that I've "turned down the bass" on my EQ I would have to rate the AIX room FANTASTIC, with unbelievable presence and accuracy! For EVERYTHING!

Very very happy.

Ed, after I had it setup I really don't need the head tracker anymore (it's unplugged now). I don't move my head around that much.

Yeah, I tried this yesterday with my 2.0 system again. I ran the squeezebox duet receiver analog to the Realiser, then optical out to a Monarchy DIP to convert to coax, then into the Audio Note DAC. I will say that I prefer the headphones to this setup, but I think this has to do with the room. It is going to be very interesting figuring out how much effect different amps/headphones have on the room setup.

I wonder if they expect it to have none? I can't see how it wouldn't effect things. Anyway, with a short test I really love the speaker effect, but the Smyth room is nowhere near the level of my reference headphone system. When I have a great 2.0 room to use then that will be a real test.

:drool:
Smyth brothers sure did make an excellent job on getting their technology packed in a box!

Congratulations!

I know you're aware of my ongoing thread in AVS Forum (because you've posted on it), but just to restate some of my "first impressions" and give some direction (because you'll find that the manual is a bit lacking on some crucial details), here's a link to that AVS thread/post.

The one thing that's most important (and not stated in the manual) is that the up/down arrow buttons which are part of the Menu navigation control also double as the VOLUME control when you're not in the Menu.

Furthermore, the initial volume setting is part of the saved preset information. Your out-of-the-box default volume value might be 15 or 20 or something. If you've changed the volume to some other value while doing a calibration (e.g. to correspond to whatever volume you like to have your headphone amp set to) then that volume will be saved along with the rest of your saved preset data. If you don't adjust the volume during the calibration process then the saved preset volume will be the initial default value.

Now I found that the volume which got set when I did my initial calibration at the Smyth room turned out to be too low for my tastes when I got home. Yes, I could compensate by turning up the volume on my Yamaha receiver, or by hitting the up-arrow button on the Smyth remote every time I turned the unit on. But this was obviously annoying and unnecessary, since all I really had to do was increase the Smyth volume and then "save" my new settings (really nothing more than a change in initial volume when the unit powers on or comes out of standby) into the same preset.

In other words, while not changing anything else about the room/headphone settings you can change only the volume and save it... and that will become your new default initial volume setting whenever the box starts up for that preset.


NOTE: I didn't mean to confuse things by starting a bunch of additional Smyth-related threads. But the forum that this one was in didn't seem quite right to me when I launched the other Head-Fi thread (in the headphone forum) to announce the actual true purchase availability of the Realiser. So now we have two here, and my other similar one over in AVS. Oh well.

I actually think we should "abandon" (or close/lock) this thread and redirect further Head-Fi discussion to my other thread (about "now available for purchase"), just to avoid confusion and to have people possibly miss something of real value. I think we really should have just one Head-Fi thread going forward, for actual current owners/users.

dsperber,

What happens to the heapdhone analog outputs when the unit is on stand-by mode?
Does it work as a analog pass-through of the front L/R analog inputs?

My manual mentions it. Maybe I got a newer version of the manual.