Long awaited Smyth SVS Realiser NOW AVAILABLE FOR PURCHASE - Page 82

Jose, you have got to tell us whether or not your system sounds like Glenn Pour's Audio at home! A thorough review is in order. 

Woops, I forgot to mention, yet again, we need the Smyth Realiser in the JH-3A.

Hi guys,

Yesterday I had a very long session with the Realiser at home. Honestly, I had to drag myself to bed against my will. The realiser is that good.

I replicated my Definitive Technology based Home Theater in order to compare to the stuff they have at Glenn Poor’ store which I measured, so I could find out how significant is the SQ difference among them.

Wow, I mean, WOW, I am still in disbelief!

If I didn’t go to the store, I’d have been extremely happy with the results replicating my home theater. Actually, I did some improvements by temporarily re-arranging the location of the front speakers, in order to get better sound spread and imaging.

In normal use I have much less than 30 °  of separation on the front L and R speakers, so I moved them to get the recommended angles.

As my home theater is installed in a rectangular living room, the room acoustics are on the “live” side, with a long front-to-back acoustic signature.

And the dynamics I get with my Home Theater is nothing to write home about, that’s my  feeling after today’s session with the Realiser.

Now the fun comes. I loaded the files obtained at the store, which are the 7.1 set up at their home theater room, which is very quiet and have much better acoustics than my room. I don’t know how it compares to AIX room in L.A., but I am sure I won’t ever get that acoustic treatment at home.

Then I have 3.7 Maggies, in a 2.0 configuration, the Wilson Sashas, also in 2.0, and again the Sashas in a 5.0 set up.

Right now I can tell you the money and time spent going Champaign to get the measurements is utterly worth it and then some!.

Beginning with the 7.1 replication, I watched X-men First class movie, and was blown away with the huge, coherent and enveloping wall of sound. It has very powerful bass and great, great dynamics. It feels like going to a small theater, with huge ambiance. Certainly much bigger than my room. It feels like my room got bigger.  

It was so good I ended watching the whole movie, I was totally immersed in it, accompanied with great video from my JCV RS-40 front projector.

Later I played some parts of this movie for the Sashas 5.0 system. Oh boy, unbelievable dynamics, transparency, imaging and details. Sound is incredibly huge, and totally effortless. You want to cramp the volume up to be devoured by this big big sound.

I decided to try some video concerts, starting with a Porcupine Tree concert.

Now my jaw dropped to the floor… from there on I just kept having goose bumps.

Music was so powerful, majestic, but still extraordinarily detailed. That was a 360 ° experience, with sounds coming far from the left, right, center, and the sides, and all the clapping behind me. I felt there at the concert.

And again, it amazes me how effortless it goes, no matter how high you go on the volume. Scary stuff.

To end the session I played some CDs for the Sashas 2.0 configuration.

Oh my goodness… again goose bumps galore.

It was funny having such a beautiful sound in front of me, looking at the Def Tech speakers.

Right now, I feel like using the 7.1 system for movies, and the Sashas 5.0 for video concerts.

I didn’t have time to try the 3.7 Maggies. Good to save something for later.

 In the end, this has been an unforgettable evening, so eye opening (ear?).

I am still at awe with what I had yesterday night. This is a turning point for me, regarding Home theater sound. Best I have ever had sound wise.

Now, I ‘d kill to have a replication of a 5.1 of Wilson Sashas speakers.

My admiration and gratitude to Smyth Research for coming out with this incredible product.

And to you guys for letting me know about it.

regards

Jose

Hi,

Yesterday I spent a little time comparing the Maggies 3.7 with the Sashas in 2.0 mode.

It is quite amazing being able to switch from one to the other instantly!!

I will spent some more time listening before posting my comments.

So far, after listening some jazz and rock on both systems, I have the feeling the Stax somehow lacks in bass reproduction.

What other headphones have you guys tried with the Realizer with superior performance?

regards,

Jose

I also did a 2.0 measurement (Wilson something) and have the same issue with the bass, so I never listen to that.  I use Senn HD600, but have tried with other phones too.  I wonder if something needs to be changed with the bass settings for 2.0?  I've been meaning to ask Lorr but have not done it.

I'm sorry if this has been answered, but does the Realizer replace an electrostat amp, or .... where is it in the chain?  Does it take inputs from a PC/Mac or a DAC or what?

Sorry if this has been covered.

Quote:

Originally Posted by disastermouse 

I'm sorry if this has been answered, but does the Realizer replace an electrostat amp, or .... where is it in the chain?  Does it take inputs from a PC/Mac or a DAC or what?

 

Sorry if this has been covered.

The Realiser is more of a DSP/DAC. Takes S/PDIF or digital (maybe analog RCA and XLR too), converts to analog, applies binaural processing, outputs analog to amp. It's not an amp at all, much less an electrostatic amp.

Besides, you wouldn't want to replace the Realiser if you just plunked down for a KGSS or BHSE, would you?

Quote:

Originally Posted by NamelessPFG 

 

The Realiser is more of a DSP/DAC. Takes S/PDIF or digital (maybe analog RCA and XLR too), converts to analog, applies binaural processing, outputs analog to amp. It's not an amp at all, much less an electrostatic amp.

 

Besides, you wouldn't want to replace the Realiser if you just plunked down for a KGSS or BHSE, would you?

You can also bypass the DAC and use the optical out to feed an external DAC/AMP, this is what I do.
 

Quote:

Originally Posted by m0gwai 

You can also bypass the DAC and use the optical out to feed an external DAC/AMP, this is what I do.

That's a neat extra. So it just acts as a DSP in that case, then, allowing owners to move to a better DAC if desired?

For that matter, how well does the Realiser's built-in DAC fare against one of the dedicated ones? It's already quite an expensive piece of kit, so I'd hope they wouldn't skimp there.

I can't comment about the performance with the supplied stax headphones but the DAC and AMP on the realiser are nothing to write home about, I consider it to be a fantastic digital sound processor but with high end cans it can't substitute a quality amp+dac, just my opinion of course.

If you got a high end set like the 007 or 009 and used the amp supplied, could that work as a less-than-ideal-but-still-pretty-good solution until you could afford a better electrostatic amp?

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsperber 

Not accurate.

 

It accepts either (a) discrete decoded analog multi-channel up to 7.1 via RCA, or (b) discrete decoded PCM digital multi-channel up to 7.1 via HDMI.

 

If input is analog, it's first converted from analog to digital not for "binaural processing" but rather for the specific "Smyth Virtual Surround" (SVS) digital processing that defines what this product is all about.  If input is digital then it proceeds to the SVS digital processing directly with no analog-to-digital conversion needed.

 

Output is SVS-processed 2-channel L/R stereo intended for headphone amp, either (a) converted from digital to 2-channel L/R analog stereo by built-in DAC and output to L/R RCA headphone output of the Realiser, or (b) left in digital form and output to optical output of the Realiser for feeding external DAC and then headphone amp.

 

The Realiser does not have XLR inputs or outputs, nor does it accept discrete digital PCM multi-channel input by optical or S/PDIF.

I meant "binaural" in the sense that "it uses personalized HRTFs to simulate being in a theater with just headphones". Does the whole "speaker emulation" step go against the definition of binaural?

Also can't believe I overlooked the analog inputs. Those might come in handy for a computer as source.

I could've sworn something in the chain had XLR, but maybe it's unnecessary. If running digital, then the Realiser acts as DSP, outputs processed stereo S/PDIF to a DAC, then the DAC provides the XLR output for those who need it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by dsperber 

I guess this is probably a reasonable description of what's going on.
Certainly, the measurements taken to produce the PRIR (which represents the "sound" of the entire listening environment to the ears of the measured user) involve two calibration microphones, one placed in each ear. This surely is how binaural recordings are made, so the measurement and personalization side of what is involved with SVS processing could probably be described as such.
And yes, that is really the whole goal of the product... to simulate through L/R stereo headphones what was detected by the binaural calibration microphones in your ears at PRIR measurement time, which theoretically describes how the complete "sound" of the measured listening environment appears to the listener via specific sweep frequency test signals. The results are captured in the PRIR file which can then be used "in reverse" to play anything new through the Realiser and theoretically duplicate how that new source content would have sounded to the listener, had the content been played by the exact same speaker/electronics environment in that very same room listening environment.
What is crucial to the whole concept is that the Realiser is not meant to "optimize" anything. It is meant to "duplicate" the measured listening environment, whatever went into it and however it sounded to your ears at that measurement time, so that any new real content played through the system and headphones will theoretically sound through headphones exactly as that same content would have sounded if played and listened to in the original true listening environment and heard in true 3D-space using your real ears.

The thing about this is that it's basically the Holy Grail for our niche.....and nobody else cares.  :(