Recommend that you move the gain switch before turning on your A16 - otherwise you may get unpleasant noise in your headphones.

My understanding is that high gain relates to the analog stage of the Smyth headphone amp, so less risk of digital clipping. I use medium gain for my HD800s - they go loud without clipping.

This puzzled me too - according to my A16 menu, it has 32 listening rooms for each of Atmos, DTSX and PCM, plus 12 for Auro-3D. Of course, each listening room can have multiple speaker layouts - so perhaps the statement is referring to listening room and speaker layout combinations? Maybe...

I appreciate the points you are making - they were front of mind for me also. Responding to your points above: 1. Warranty - The Smyths had the misfortune of launching a high-end product far below cost (in the kickstarter) and were then hit by a major supplier problem together with Covid. A...

The best advice I have seen is to use a standalone headphone amp with a digital feed from the Smyth. That way you aren't constrained by the volume limits or potential clipping caused by the built-in headphone amplifier in the A16. There are a lot of options in the market - some are mentioned...

For me, Omega 65 for music and Omega 96 for movies. Outstanding. Genelecs and D&D also very good.

Auro 3D is now my default preference for both music and movies. It’s the first time that I have found surround upmixing to be so effective, giving a sense of space without losing depth, bass or clarity. Far better than my old Meridian speaker system or indeed anything speaker-based, because of...

I had a similar problem and solved it by using Roon as the source, streaming Qobuz and Tidal. This allows Roon to downsample before music streams reach an endpoint (and many streamers can be configured as Roon endpoints. Alternatively, if your streamer works with Airplay (like Roon does), you...

I hadn’t realised the current price was so expensive. A Qobuz subscription may be rather better value for money, at least for those people using Roon with classical music. If you search for “Edition 5.1” there are almost 40 classical albums available with 5.1 channels, including leading artists...

I recently managed to get hold of this SACD but hadn't made time to listen before - thanks for the reminder. Great playing and really impressive sound, especially for 1974.

You are much more expert in this area than me - I hadn't realised that there were so many quad album types. I just checked, and my few ripped classical albums were originally SQ (4.0), and sound fairly good, at least to my ageing ears. But to be honest, for classical music, I find that well...

That's an interesting question. Virtually all my music is stereo, although I have already decoded and saved my old quad albums (which were previously reissued in DTS) as FLAC 4.0 - and Auro 3D up-mixes these reasonably well - better than the unprocessed quad originals, anyway. Most of my...

Correction - the Surround Master is digital, not analog. However, it isn’t clear from the website on how it generates the sound - seems to be a digital matrix decoder.

I have never used a Surround Master but it looks like a classic analog stereo matrix decoder which extends from stereo to quad and up to 5.1. Given that it now costs $695, you might get better value from the Auro 3D upmixer which provides a fully digital surround mix with dedicated processing...

In my experience, the secret of getting James to respond quickly to emails is to make the subject line very clear - something like “Auro license purchase”. Smyth are a tiny family operation but ultimately they need to make money. And to be fair, I found him highly responsive both for licenses...

Have you installed the DTS-X and Auro firmware upgrades from Smyth? If so, the buttons should be functional.

Maximum channels from my Mac using HDMI is 7.1. I get 5.1 from Netflix etc. Not sure if you can get more using USB. I upmix everything using Auro 3D - works well for music, TV and movies. My main use case is streaming stereo rock, jazz and classical music - the quality of sound using Auro...

On the contrary, the Centro app has several screens, including levels playing (across each channel), speaker layout, headtracker angles (useful for setup), presets and which room/speaker combination is used, Volume level etc. So it absolutely does include feedback and data from the A16. It's...

I use an old Ipad Mini 4 - about 8 years old. Still works fine with the Centro app (and with most current apps). For setup, I recommend you refer to the document available from the Smyth website. The Centro app comes preloaded with the basic remote "play" commands which allow you to change...

I have the same old APM89L hardware as you. Also have the upgrades for DTS-X and Auro. Until quite recently I had a similar issue with Centro Control not working for several months, but it has recently started to work normally. I am not exactly sure why, unfortunately, although I also have a...

On the positive side, Smyth have honoured their warranty to a number of users on this site (in my case after more than two years from purchase). Also, Smyth is based in Northern Ireland, and all sales are covered by the UK Sale of Goods Act which gives you legal rights and warranty protection...

One more point - if you are prepared to pay over £4000, I would consider going directly to Smyth and ordering new. You should get the benefit of a warranty and can also use the UK’s distance selling and credit card laws which give you additional protection.

It depends on your use case. I live in an apartment, and my wife’s tolerance for hi fi, not to mention movies and music, is very limited! I first saw the Smyth A8 in use at Dolby studios in San Francisco which convinced me to buy an A16. So I justify the cost (I didn’t pay the current price)...

You will need to check the Smyth website - I think I paid $199. You also need to have the DTS-X upgrade installed first.

I mainly use Auro3D as an upmixer. It has, in my opinion, far better flexibility than Dolby or DTS, and creates realistic surround for both movies and music. I particularly like the fact that it even works on older mono movies and music recordings. The firmware upgrade is available direct from...