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Originally Posted by Hoax /img/forum/go_quote.gif
I Told the importer about how I was not really interested in visiting studios or even travel outside my country to germany (which they offered me) to one of their events at the best german surround studio located in Munich / Germany just to get this piece calibrated.. So I told him maybe it isnt a good idea to invest that much money in something that needs alot of care and effort to sound good. He promised me he would load the unit with many profiles that they collected and made themselves over time and assured me there will be profiles that I would be happy with.
Of course im talking to someone who's trying to sell me a 3000 euro piece of equipment so im a bit skeptical. What do you guys think? Also are there any places (maybe even on this forum) where we can share profiles? The importer told me you can just copy profiles and then import them to the realiser using the SD card reader. Yet I have not seen anyone share their profiles (I do understand people paid money for it and maybe rather not share?) Also in another thread I read the creators of the realiser were planning to share profiles to the public?
Then another question, If I get the HDMI version (which I think is standard now on any new unit) can it be hooked directly into a ps3 or tv or set top box system that's able to decode surround sound or do I need to get a special surround decoder to put between the sources I just mentioned and the realiser? Also if not needed do you guys still recommend it for a better sound?
Just to clarify... the "calibration" is not "care and feeding" because the unit is not set up correctly when you get it. The "calibration" is the procedure for "capturing" the sound of any listening environment you care to "capture". The result of this "measurement" is a digital file named a PRIR, that corresponds to how THAT LISTENING ENVIRONMENT sounded to YOUR PARTICULAR EARS. It is not meant for someone else, just as somebody else's prescription eyeglasses are meant for use by you. The process of "measurement' and creation of a PRIR is a "sonic photograph", and if the room sounds crummy then the PRIR will duplicate that crummy sound when you use it to play any content through it using headphones. If it sounded fantastic, then the PRIR will also duplicate that fantastic sound when listening through headphones.
The "capture" process thus is used to allow you to build up a whole "library collection" of listening rooms you've visited and come away with a PRIR for that room. You can then use any of them at playback time on the Realiser, to listen through your headphones as if you were once again actually in that listening environment playing the source program content through its real loudspeakers. Except you're listening through your headphones, making use of a specific PRIR corresponding to that listening environment.
So-called "loading many profiles" (which I take to mean somebody else's PRIR collection) is really rather pointless. Would you collect five other people's prescription eyeglasses and try them out as if you should expect terrific results, or would you go to the optician and get the truly precise prescription appropriate for your eyes? Which do you think would give you the best results? That's the same thing as borrowing somebody else's PRIR. It's really meaningless to use somebody else's (other than the fact that you'll hear sound), because their ears, brain, skull shape, body, etc. are completely different from your own. You don't HEAR things exactly the same way anybody else does, and that's why a PRIR is produced by microphones inserted in YOUR EARS, not somebody else's.
And that's why you don't read about anybody "sharing profiles (i.e. PRIR's)", because it's not really how the Realiser is intended to be used. The PRIR is a custom-created digital file for you and you alone, providing a "sonic photograph" based on how YOUR OWN EARS perceived the sound of that listening environment.
As far as how the HDMI-INPUT connection to the Realiser is used, you must provide already-decoded discrete multi-channel digital LPCM sound via HDMI. Alternatively you can provide already-decoded discrete multi-channel analog sound via the 8 RCA inputs to the Realiser, fed from the preamp outputs of an AVR or decoder or BluRay player or whatever.
However you get it decoded upstream from the Realiser, that's where it must be decoded. And it can then be delivered either digitally via HDMI (LPCM discrete multi-channel) or analog via RCA (discrete multi-channel).
So any digital source that can produce decoded discrete multi-channel digital LPCM data via HDMI, that's a device that can be used to feed the Realiser via HDMI.
And although I don't have an HDMI Realiser, based on my own personal recent onsite comparison with an HDMI Realiser at Smyth, I would say that all other factors in the whole input/output system being equal that there IS a small but observable improvement using the HDMI input method. Not huge, and not mind-blowing. But it's there (unless there's a placebo effect), and if you have the option available then you should definitely use it. However the analog RCA approach also produces wonderful results (I've been using this method for 3 years and have no complaints).
If you can do it, adding an external high-quality DAC at the headphone-output end of the process and using XLR connections from the DAC to your headphone amp... now that's where you're probably going to observe a very noticeable improvement over using the built-in DAC in the Realiser and its RCA outputs. But that's because using an external DAC and XLR connections would probably improve ANY source sound fed to the headphone amp.
I love the Mk1's btw, sold my Mk2's and switched to Mk1's. Also, if you have the HDMI version, definitely try all digital in/out
