[krismusic]

Thanks for the above. Much appreciated. If I use the Realiser for two channel music only, am I wasting its potential? Do people use it for this purpose alone? Does it become a bit of a gimmick on extended listening or does it seriously add to the enjoyment of your music?

 

[dsperber]

Thanks for the above. Much appreciated. If I use the Realiser for two channel music only, am I wasting its potential? Do people use it for this purpose alone? Does it become a bit of a gimmick on extended listening or does it seriously add to the enjoyment of your music?

Listening to 2-channel music audio through the Realiser (i.e. through a PRIR created in a specific listening environment) is distinctly different from listening to the same audio through headphones in a normal standard way.  With normal headphones the sound is typically inside your head, or at least adjacent to your two ears.  With the Realiser the sound appears "in front of you", same as it would be if you had been listening to this music audio in the original listening environment room you created the PRIR in.
 
That's what this technology is for... to duplicate to your ears the sound of a measured listening environment with real multiple speakers (as captured in a PRIR file), while listening through stereo headphones.
 
It is perfect for people (like me) who have no home theater system or actual multi-speaker sound setup, but who've been lucky enough to get a PRIR measurement made in some wonderful listening environment or studio (like AIX in LA) and now get to bring that PRIR home. I can now listen to anything (movies with 5.1/7.1 audio, HDTV with 5.1/2.0 audio, 2-channel music audio, etc.) played back through that PRIR with my Stax SR-009/SRM-007tII and truly enjoy all sound as if I were in the AIX mixing room listening through their wonderful B&W speakers. 
 
THAT is my home theater audio system... because I don't have a real one.  I put my headphones on, and I'm at AIX listening to whatever I'm playing through the Realiser. Been enjoying listening this way since 2009 when I bought #0001 Realiser A8 and got to create a PRIR at AIX.  It's no gimmick.  With the SR-009 it's really remarkable, no matter how many hours straight you listen.

 

[krismusic]

Listening to 2-channel music audio through the Realiser (i.e. through a PRIR created in a specific listening environment) is distinctly different from listening to the same audio through headphones in a normal standard way.  With normal headphones the sound is typically inside your head, or at least adjacent to your two ears.  With the Realiser the sound appears "in front of you", same as it would be if you had been listening to this music audio in the original listening environment room you created the PRIR in.

That's what this technology is for... to duplicate to your ears the sound of a measured listening environment with real multiple speakers (as captured in a PRIR file), while listening through stereo headphones.

It is perfect for people (like me) who have no home theater system or actual multi-speaker sound setup, but who've been lucky enough to get a PRIR measurement made in some wonderful listening environment or studio (like AIX in LA) and now get to bring that PRIR home. I can now listen to anything (movies with 5.1/7.1 audio, HDTV with 5.1/2.0 audio, 2-channel music audio, etc.) played back through that PRIR with my Stax SR-009/SRM-007tII and truly enjoy all sound as if I were in the AIX mixing room listening through their wonderful B&W speakers. 

THAT is my home theater audio system... because I don't have a real one.  I put my headphones on, and I'm at AIX listening to whatever I'm playing through the Realiser. Been enjoying listening this way since 2009 when I bought #0001 Realiser A8 and got to create a PRIR at AIX.  It's no gimmick.  With the SR-009 it's really remarkable, no matter how many hours straight you listen.

Sorry. I forgot to reply to this. Thanks for the excellent input. I am really looking forward to the release of the A16. If I can get it working as well as the demo I had it will be fantastic.

 

[audiohobbit]

Hi @all.

Is this the current "official" thread for the A8? I found none that is newer so I put my question here:
I read in the A16 thread that some of you A8 owners managed to use it with In-Ear-Headphones.
How did you do the equalisation (HPEQ)? Since you can't put the headphones and the in-ear-mics into your ears at the same time.

 

[jackhamm]

I would erase preset and then not add an HPEQ. The only way I know of to do an EQ is manually. I would use a woman’s Barrett head band to mount the headtracker on my head. Hope that helps.

 

[Erik Garci]

How did you do the equalisation (HPEQ)? Since you can't put the headphones and the in-ear-mics into your ears at the same time.

I think you can measure an HPEQ with the mics next to the earbuds outside of your ears, then afterwards you can manually tweak the HPEQ by keeping an earbud in one ear and listening to the speaker with the other ear.

 

[audiohobbit]

I would use a woman’s Barrett head band to mount the headtracker on my head

That's exactly what I already did... Fortunately I found a black one and not pink... But the headtracker is the smallest problem. I also could live without it.

Starting with no HPEQ at all is a good idea. I was not fully aware that this is possible.

@erik: When the earbuds are in your ears they form a closed volume between them and your eardrum, that's a "pressure chamber" and afaik heavily affects the sound. So I tried to form a closed volume between the mic and the earbud to simulate this pressure chamber, but so far the results sounded extremely dull.
You mean to just put the mic very close to the driver (without foam tips?) in "free air"? Yes I could try this.

manually tweak the HPEQ by keeping an earbud in one ear and listening to the speaker with the other ear.

Hm, I don't think this will work with a speaker as a reference because of the HRTF.
But my idea was another headphone as a reference (my Audeze LCD2 in this case):
1. Put an earbud in one ear and the normal headphone over the other ear.
2. Play band limited pink noise (1/3 octave bands) to the earbud and the headphone (only one side, where the earbud is not)
3. If headphone (on the right ear for example) and earbud on the left ear are equally loud then you should perceive the sound in the middle of your head. If one side is loude then you should locate the sound more to that side and have to lower the volume of this band (with an EQ) so that the sound locates in the middle of the head.
4. Do this for all 1/3 octave bands and you get an EQ-curve RELATIVE to the reference headphone.
5. Use the HPEQ of the reference headphone and dial in the relative curve (via manual HPEQ or external EQ)

I don't know if this will work but that's an idea I had.

 

[Erik Garci]

You mean to just put the mic very close to the driver (without foam tips?) in "free air"? Yes I could try this.

Yes, that's what I mean.

Hm, I don't think this will work with a speaker as a reference because of the HRTF.

The Realiser's "Manual EQ Routine" is designed to be used with a speaker. The Realiser applies your PRIR and HPEQ to the signal that goes to the headphones, but the Realiser does not apply anything to the signal that goes to the speaker. You use the Realiser to manually adjust each band of the HPEQ in order to make the headphones sound as close as possible to the speaker.

 

[audiohobbit]

The Realiser's "Manual EQ Routine" is designed to be used with a speaker. The Realiser applies your PRIR and HPEQ to the signal that goes to the headphones, but the Realiser does not apply anything to the signal that goes to the speaker. You use the Realiser to manually adjust each band of the HPEQ in order to make the headphones sound as close as possible to the speaker.

Yes I know this, but I think this will only work with the headphone over both ears, then listen to the HP, then put it down and listen to the speaker(s) and compare. Because even with only one speaker the sound gets to both ears, therefore I think the sound you hear from one speaker needs to be transported to your ears (via PRIR) also to BOTH ears simultaneously.
I don't think that listen to one earbud in one ear and one loudspeaker only with the other ear for comparison won't work very well.

Apart from that: Just listening to music and doing EQ-settings based only on what you hear is at least for me extremely difficult. When for example voices sound colored there are often relatively narrow peaks and dips in the frequency response in that area. I think it's impossible to EQ this just by hearing.

 

[Erik Garci]

I don't think that listen to one earbud in one ear and one loudspeaker only with the other ear for comparison won't work very well.

My thinking is that keeping one earbud in one ear would provide enough attenuation of the high-frequency sounds from the speaker. If it's enough, this method would be more convenient than inserting and removing both earbuds over and over.

Apart from that: Just listening to music and doing EQ-settings based only on what you hear is at least for me extremely difficult. When for example voices sound colored there are often relatively narrow peaks and dips in the frequency response in that area. I think it's impossible to EQ this just by hearing.

When I compare each narrow band of noise, I raise the level until I start noticing a difference, and lower the level until I start noticing a difference, and split the difference in levels.

 

[henriks]

"In a tightly controlled room, Sony representatives first played some audio samples over a system of speakers positioned around the space. Those tracks already included the spatial component, delivering music in what was basically a 13-channel surround sound system. Then we moved on to headphones. For the sake of the demo, the hearing analysis was done with very sensitive wire microphones inserted in my ears before I put on a pair of audiophile-grade MDR-Z7M2 headphones. The same audio samples were played again, and to be completely honest, I had a hard time telling the difference between the two. It's worth noting there's no head tracking at work here, but the 3D sound is big, booming and noticeably more immersive than what I'm used to from Spotify and other sources."
https://www.engadget.com/2019/01/08/sony-360-reality-audio-hands-on/

 

[audiohobbit]

My A8 starts always with Preset P1. But I'm using P2 now also sometimes, so I always have to switch manually to P2 after startup and when I forget to do so I wonder why it sounds so weird...

Does anyone know if I can tell the A8 to start up with a different preset than P1?

Thx

 

[Erik Garci]

Does anyone know if I can tell the A8 to start up with a different preset than P1?

I don't think you can. I wish it would start up with the same preset that was last selected. If there is ever another firmware update, I hope it adds this feature.

As a work-around, you can swap the presets by transferring them to/from the SD card. Specifically, transfer P1 and P2 to the SD card first, then transfer the saved P2 file from the SD card to P1, and transfer the saved P1 file from the SD card to P2. You might want to transfer each file to P3 or P4 as a test to confirm that they were transferred properly, before you transfer them to P1 or P2.

 

[audiohobbit]

I wish it would start up with the same preset that was last selected.

Yes this would be also good or even better.
I thought also about swapping the presets (but by using P3 and P4 for copying. I wasn't aware that you can save presets on the SD Card, I thought only PRIR and HPEQ-files were possible).
At first I have to see which preset I do use more often and then make this P1.

I don't think that there will be any more firmware updates at all for the A8...

Thanks

 

[travis-bickle]

is it possible to connect a power amp to the rca outputs so the volume only gets controlled by the realiser?
or does it have to be an integrated amp?