[jk6661]

This thing blew my mind. I was skeptical given all the hype, but I swear that properly set up, the Realiser makes headphones sound about 95 percent like speakers. It kind of freaked me out at first. I literally can point to all the instruments imaging in a decently wide sound stage about 15 feet in front of me. More than once, I've taken off my LCD-2s to convince myself that I'm listening to headphones and that no one else can hear the music coming from those (non-existent) speakers RIGHT THERE. I'm sure it helps sound quality-wise that I got the Realiser calibrated on a $300K+ system at a high-end dealer, but that isn't necessary for good imaging. 7.1 surround sound seems to work just as well, although I've only tried that on the dealer's system thus far. As a bonus, the Realiser closely mimics the sound of the dealer's state-of-the-art system. In particular, it helps with reproduction of high frequencies, which everyone knows isn't the LCD-2's strongest suit.
 
Anyway, if you're like me and really enjoy the sound of speakers but don't have them due to space, cost, thin walls, the WAF, or whatever, forget swapping out this or that power cord or interconnect, or even buying a new amp; the Realiser is by *far* the greatest improvement you can make to your system, IMO.
 
 

 

[MrProggie]

 Sounds like an interesting product, but the price is a turn off.

 

[jk6661]

Yeah, it's expensive. You can get it for less without the Stax cans, if that helps. For me, because I don't have the space or money for a 7.1 system (and won't for the foreseeable future) it was worth it.

 

[Edwood]

I've spent considerably more money on a speaker based home theater, which I can no longer enjoy due to now living in a condo with paperthin walls. 
 
My Smyth Research Realiser is considerably higher end sounding than my moderate speaker based home theater rig, especially since I have both 5.1 and 7.1 AIX Records PRIR's.  Although I sort of miss the guilty pleasure of getting complaints of how loud my subwoofer is.  I miss using the servo goodness.
 
But now that I have the Crowson Tactile transducers, It's all gravy. 
 
Smyth Research should look into having the LCD-2's as an option for the Realiser A8 bundle.  Orthodynamics like the LCD-2 are far better performance than the Stax 202's.  And much more flexible amping options.

 

[LFF]

How much does the bundle run?
 
I found the SRR to be very convincing when I demo'd the unit.

 

[melomaniac]

Quote:

How much does the bundle run?
 
I found the SRR to be very convincing when I demo'd the unit.

well, I didn't. to me it seemed one step too far in audio trickery. I felt fooled rather than pleased by it. then again, I'm pretty set in my ways: when I want headphones, I listen to headphones. when I want speakers, I listen to speakers... I think convergence is not the end-all and be-all of gadget love. I want alternatives that point in different directions.
 
I guess I'm in a perverse enough mood to suggest using the Smyth Realizer to tune your speaker set-up to mimick what you get out of your nice high-end tubed headphone amp setup

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Quote:

well, I didn't. to me it seemed one step too far in audio trickery. I felt fooled rather than pleased by it. then again, I'm pretty set in my ways: when I want headphones, I listen to headphones. when I want speakers, I listen to speakers... I think convergence is not the end-all and be-all of gadget love. I want alternatives that point in different directions.
 
I guess I'm in a perverse enough mood to suggest using the Smyth Realizer to tune your speaker set-up to mimick what you get out of your nice high-end tubed headphone amp setup  

Funny. I would do it.

 
All the effects I have heard so far fail miserably. Binaural is really good but there are  drawbacks such as a slight artificiality to the sound and the fact that most music is not available in binaural. I will have to hear the Realiser somewhere.
 
BTW, how much does it cost? 
 

 

[TruBrew]

$3,360 according to their site. That does include the Stax 202's, which are worth around $350. So if they sell it without the headphones, you are looking at around $3000.

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Quote:

$3,360 according to their site. That does include the Stax 202's, which are worth around $350. So if they sell it without the headphones, you are looking at around $3000.

O. MY. GOSH.

 
Well, the Isone Pro at $27 is back at the top of my list of to try products. Still, I do want to hear the Realiser. If it can really sound like speakers, then it is worth it (not that I can afford it.) 

 

[TruBrew]

I am using the Victor SU-DH1 right now for movies. It does an alright job, but I still plan on buying the Realiser in the future. I know peoples heads are shaped slightly different, but how necessary is it to be calibrated, and how much did you pay to have it done. I live in New Orleans and have no idea where I am supposed to find a system that nice to set it up with. I don't know if I will be able to scrape together the money for this before I start school in the fall and have to quit my job. If I do I don't think I will have enough for that plus a plane ticket and studio fees on top of everything else.

 

[moonboy403]

Quote:

O. MY. GOSH.

 
Well, the Isone Pro at $27 is back at the top of my list of to try products. Still, I do want to hear the Realiser. If it can really sound like speakers, then it is worth it (not that I can afford it.) 

The Isone Pro is absolutely trash in contrast to the Realiser which I demoed back in CanJam 2009. I couldn't distinguish between whether I was listening to their speakers or the headphone. Yea, it's THAT convincing.
 

 

[GeorgeGoodman]

Quote:

The Isone Pro is absolutely trash in contrast to the Realiser which I demoed back in CanJam 2009. I couldn't distinguish between whether I was listening to their speakers or the headphone. Yea, it's THAT convincing.
 

I will definitely have to hear the Realiser then. Sounds awesome. Unfortunately, I do not have the $3K for it. Hey, I have decent speakers, and life is good.

 
 

 

[wsilvio]

Are you guys just watching/listening to movies/multi channel audio, or are you also using this for stereo recordings?  also, anyone tried running surround movie audio through the realizer then recording it and then replacing the audio soundtrack on video so that you can enjoy the surround emulation while watching a movie on your iphone etc..?

 

[Erik Garci]

For listening to stereo recordings, I prefer using the Realiser over straight headphone listening.
 
As for recording the output, I have recorded it for music but not for movies.  To record it for movies, I suppose you could use a device that records both audio and video.  Otherwise, if you record just the audio, it will probably not be in sync with the video when you combine them later.
 

 

[wsilvio]

It seems like it should be possible to separate the audio and video in imovie or something like that and synch a new sound track to it.  It would make watching movies on a plane a real trip.  I was also thinking how cool that might work using some video glasses!