[Germs]

Alternatively you can play all you musics through the Realiser set in the listening room of your choice, record from one of the output of the Realiser, put them on your portable media player and voilà! Well, it is easy to says. In practice it is going to be more complicated.
I am also my two eyes on  the JH-3A + JH-16 Pro combo, they will be my next equipment. After some delays they are going to ship the first batch by the end of this week. I will pass my order in a few weeks of month, just to ensure they don't have any problems.

 

[dsperber]

 
Quote:

But couldn't you just use that perfect emulation as your everyday work space?  I'm not really an audio professional but wouldn't that work fine if the Realiser is really as good as its supposed to be?

In fact, Gary Reber did exactly that in his review of  "Star Wars: The Clone Wars, The Complete Season One" which appeared in Issue #143 (October 2009) of Widescreen Review.  Incidentally, this was the same issue that included his 16-page article (and interview with Steven Smyth) on the future of headphones and technology like SVS and the Realiser.  Gary Reber was also the author of the original WSR article (and first interview with Smyth) back in 2004 which I first saw and which started my "long wait" for the Realiser to become available for purchase.
 
In fact, half of the review was spent with his effusing about the fact that this was his FIRST review of a BluRay that was based on listening through headphones and a Realiser, rather than in a listening room at WSR or at Skywalker Studios.
 
I'm honestly not trying to say that I wouldn't really love to have a million dollar home theater and sound system with real electronics and real speakers.  But the Realiser provides a darn good substitute, and allows me to listen to multi-channel content (both HDTV and BluRay) through my AIX PRIR and Stax Omega-1/SRM-T1S that I simply cannot hear in any other way... since I DO NOT OWN a real living-and-breathing multi-channel sound system with real speakers (much less the B&W ones at AIX).
 
I had used Dolby Headphone (via both a Pioneer DIR-SE1000C as well as a Philips 1500U) for several years as my "surround sound" implementation.  Did not realize how truly poor an implementation this was until the Realiser finally became available to me in April 2009 (after five years of waiting).  The concept is really very different, and the listening results are really very different.

 

[jk6661]

Just picked up a lightly used Realiser from a home theater installer without the Stax cans (which I don't need) for $1700. I'm pretty stoked.
 
Anyway, here's my question, which I haven't found the answer to in this thread: How good is the Realiser without a headphone amp--that is, if you just plug your headphones directly into it? The guy at Smyth Research swore to me that an amp would make little if any difference, and he even seemed a little offended that I would ask the question. ("It is a $3000 piece of equipment," he said. I felt like saying that really isn't relevant, but I didn't.) Thoughts?
 
BTW, he said you can get a Realiser new by itself--they just subtract the retail price of the Staxs.

 

[Germs]

For $1700, you are a lucky one!
 
About the headphones amp, I guess it depends on the headphone power requirement.
I guess that most headphones will be ok.
SillySally has a Hifiman HE-6, which is particularly hard to drive and he uses an amp. I don't know if he tried without the amp, though.

 

[jk6661]

I'm planning to use the Audeze LCD-2, which I understand is pretty easy to drive.

 

[travis-bickle]

 
Quote:

How good is the Realiser without a headphone amp--that is, if you just plug your headphones directly into it? 

I use a beyerdynamic dt-911 directly with the realiser. for me the performance is not on a level of full satisfaction. of course my headphones are far away from the lcd-2, but i dont know if thats the only factor of deceleration. and of course if you want to use it for home cinema in my opinion there is no way without a very good tactile transducer. not only because of big explosions or stuff like that but all the room information which usually is set in that frequency range.

 

[Germs]

@sillysally
 
A few weeks ago you said you were going to try a Audio-GD DAC19 on the Realiser digital output. Did you have time to do some test yet?
 
Is the digital output format is 16/44 ?

 

[sillysally]

 
Quote:

@sillysally
 
A few weeks ago you said you were going to try a Audio-GD DAC19 on the Realiser digital output. Did you have time to do some test yet?
 
Is the digital output format is 16/44 ?

Yes I have been testing, the ADG is a interesting DAC because of its DSP1v5/pcm1704uk dac's and the many different jumper settings that can be used.
The output from the ADG is analog via interconnects, 24 bit @ 96Hz is the up-sampling. .
Now that I have settled on a Black Sands Z1 power cord, fiber Optical glass cable and have it hooked up to my PS Audio - Premier Power Conditioner.
My main source player went bad on me and now I am using my back-up Oppo BD-83SE/NE for up to 7.1 analog, until my BD-09 gets fixed and sent back to me by Pioneer.
 
For now my comparisons have been put on hold. There is no question that adding the DAC19 DSP1v5 is better with the Oppo as the source player manly because of how it lowers the sound floor there by how the low bass comes out, very nice.
That said, the Realiser is also very good and if by adding a external DAC there is a big enough bang for the buck over not adding a DAC when using a very good source player.
So I guess what I am saying at this point is it all depends on your source player/DAC and source material. If you are streaming MC from your computer (I don't use a computer for audio tracks) then the ADG ($640 + shipping) is a good bang for the buck with the Realiser.
 
One thing to remember is if you do get a external DAC make sure it is neutral and faithful to its DAC's and what is being imputed to it by your Realiser because of how the Realiser mixes the MC sound tracks.
 
On a side note, using the DAC19 DSP1v5 you can raise the gain/volume level of the Realiser without any distortion. So with headphones like the HE6 that is a very nice plus.

 

[Germs]

Thanks sillysally.
 
Once I will be back with my PRIRs from AIX and Mi Casa, I will want to register some tracks from the Realiser digital output.
Does this kind of cheap USB soun card with  SPDIF input can do the job?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/229059

 

[sillysally]

 
Quote:

Thanks sillysally.
 
Once I will be back with my PRIRs from AIX and Mi Casa, I will want to register some tracks from the Realiser digital output.
Does this kind of cheap USB soun card with  SPDIF input can do the job?
http://www.ebuyer.com/product/229059

If you are running the Realiser via optical cable from your Realiser to this USB sound card then I would say forget it.
 
I now have more hours of burn-in on my ADG DAC19 DSPv5 and I can say for sure that it is a good addition to the Realiser for MC/2Ch playback.
 
imo; the DAC19DSP1 is a very good match for the Realiser as long as you have the right cables and cords along with a good PPP.
The DAC19 uses a pair of PCM 1704UK DAC's, the Realiser uses the PCM 1794 DAC. These are from the same family of Burr Brown DAC's.
The nice thing about the DAC19 is that it will up sample to 24bit@96KHz, plus it seems to lower the noise floor but still keeps the magic of the Realiser in-tacked.
Also because the Realiser in this type of application keeps the signal in digital form you can raise the gain of the Realiser without any distortion, matter of fact it cleans up some of the small imperfections of the Realiser's AQ when you have the DSP1v5 turned on.
 
That said imo were the Rialiser really shines is with MC audio, but that is not to say that 2Ch is not good also.
 
You can get a idea of what to look for in a DAC like this one here, http://www.audio-gd.com/Pro/dac/DAC19/DAC19EN.htm

 

[bobski32]

 Hey sillysally. So, what do you think about the crowson system with music? I'm using my Realiser only for music. I have a PPP just like you, and I'm using a musical fidelity A5 as my source(I plan on getting wyred4sound dac2). The whole thing sounds fantastic, but I'm looking to create that missing kick from a good pair of speakers. Have you used the crowson much for music? Thanks

 

[sillysally]

The latest stereo Crowsen system is a very nice addition to the Realiser.
 
Yes I use it for music, but understand that with 2Ch audio there is no LFE Ch so the LFE bass is not really there so I crank up the volume on the Crowsen amp. With 5.1 music that's a different story and yes it sounds almost like you have to sub's in stereo. Also what I have found is that open headphones seem to pick up on the LFE bass from the Crowsen but to a much lesser degree than the TES100SS put out, in some ways it sounds like there is a sub in your headphones. That extra sub bass in your headphones can be a bit to much so with the Crowsen you simply use the Crowsen amp remote and turn down the volume of the Crowsen amp, however that headphone bass effect will very depending on the headphone you are using.
 
If you do ever get a Crowsen make sure you ask for the Head-Fi discount.

 

[DaveN]

Quote:

If you do ever get a Crowsen make sure you ask for the Head-Fi discount.

I just got a Crowson system recently. Pray tell, what is the Head-Fi discount?

 

[sillysally]

 
Quote:

Quote:

If you do ever get a Crowsen make sure you ask for the Head-Fi discount.

I just got a Crowson system recently. Pray tell, what is the Head-Fi discount?

Its 10% off at check out, at-least when I got my Crowsen system.
 
I use the menu->tac buttons to set the mix block for right and left Ch for the tactile outputs (page 69). Set all in-use Ch at .3 and the sub at 1, set the volume at -3 in the same menu different sub menu. But you probably would want to play with those settings to hear what works best for you.
 
Sorry I didn't know you had already gotten the Crowsen. I really enjoyed dealing with Mr Crowsen, seems to be a very nice and up front guy.

 

[DaveN]

Quote:

 
I use the menu->tac buttons to set the mix block for right and left Ch for the tactile outputs (page 69). Set all in-use Ch at .3 and the sub at 1, set the volume at -3 in the same menu different sub menu. But you probably would want to play with those settings to hear what works best for you.
 
Sorry I didn't know you had already gotten the Crowsen. I really enjoyed dealing with Mr Crowsen, seems to be a very nice and up front guy.

Initially I was underwhelmed by the Crowson. I am running it with a Crown K-2 amp. I called tech support and they were extremely nice and helpful. Instead of trying to sell me more of their equipment they suggested that I run the signal through a preamp that I already own. Got that installed last night and the gain boost made all the difference. Before I could barely detect and movement in my sofa now I had to reduce the level to keep it realistic. I will try your mix block settings. I have them all set at 1 since I had previously been trying to get max output. I am crossed over at 80Hz.
 
The Crowson is a nice addition. I'm still using my subwoofer with it. I miss having my room pressurized by 5 full range speakers when using the Realiser but the benefits of a 7.1 virtual system mapping my front L/R far outweigh losing some of the bass pressure.