Smyth Research Realiser A16 - Issues, Questions, Feature Requests, Tips and Tricks

Most important missing features (you have three votes)


  • Total voters
    17
  • Poll closed .
Nov 20, 2019 at 2:22 PM Post #16 of 74
Features added (from missing feature or feature request list)

FW 1.75 (and before):
- HDMI Audio pass-through (Bypass to be exact, anything else isn't possible according to Stephen Smyth)
- Lip Sync /Audio Delay) setting (different setting for every preset); only for HDMI and SPDIF inputs
- Preset selecting by pressing number keys in User A or User B speaker map display
- Input source can now be stored in Presets and selected automatically when changing presets

See https://smyth-research.com/wp-conte...-rev-1.75-Oct-15-2019-update-instructions.pdf for details


Additional features added

FW 1.75:
- Group speaker assignment for OH keys
- Bass and Treble shelving filters (APM89 Bass and APM 89 Treb; adjustable shelf frequency and gain); only for HDMI and SPIF inputs

See https://smyth-research.com/wp-conte...-rev-1.75-Oct-15-2019-update-instructions.pdf for details
 
Nov 20, 2019 at 2:32 PM Post #17 of 74
Questions and answers
(
Answers from Stephen Smyth, either directly quoted or summarized.)


Q:
What happens in case of a No-Deal Brexit regarding shipments into the EU after the Brexit?
(EU customers already paid VAT via Kickstarter, but maybe charged again by customs after a No-Deal Brexit and with no invoice presentable customs might judge the value according to the current price of 4000$ which could end up in about 800€ VAT + duties!
How will you ensure that this won't happen (Kickstarter backers need evidence regarding the paid price and that VAT already has been paid, including your VATIN, kickstarter confirmation will surely not be sufficient.)
A:
Regarding VAT and Brexit. First I would point out that all non EU kickstarter shipments require a customs invoice and we use the price paid by the kickstarter as the value. So even if VAT was to be charged again, it would only be on that value. Second, VAT was paid by us to the UK authorities shortly after the kickstarter closed, as is required when a sale has been made and money paid. VAT is not triggered by shipping product, but rather the sale. So I would be surprised if there is a problem since many companies will be in the same situation, ie sale and shipping straddling the Brexit date. Third, if after collecting VAT, a sale is subsequently cancelled, VAT can be reclaimed. So possibly we could reclaim VAT and give it back to EU kickstarters if it was to be charged again, but I don't know for certain. Forth, we are in Northern Ireland and the rules that govern our VAT may not change even after Brexit.
However you should be clear that getting VAT refunds and paying this back to kickstarters are just my thoughts and it may not be possible to get refunds from the UK authorities. Anyway, I honestly don't think EU customers will be charged VAT again.




Q:
What exact azimuth and elevation angles does the decoder in the Realiser assume for the loudspeakers that will be measured? Does it follow the guidelines in the Dolby Whiteaper (https://www.dolby.com/us/en/technol...tmos-home-theater-installation-guidelines.pdf), although these are also not exact. There have to be exact values that the decoder assumes I think. In Appendix B there are default angles mentioned, but they deviate from the Dolby recommendations. So if I can choose where exactly should I place my loudspeaker for creating a perfect PRIR? As far as I understand, the angles you enter in the PRIR sound room are just for info, the decoder does not remap the output to those angles, or does it?
A:
The exact position of speakers has never been part of any standard. AES and ITU just give a range.
However it is good to put the correct positions into the A16 before making PRIRs so that you have this information for later use ( ie merging them with another measurement works best if the speaker positions are similar for both).
Atmos does not require speaker positions. Hence there is no way of telling the system where they are.
So all you can do is take the mid position of Dolby's range for each speaker as optimal.




Q:

Can HDMI-audio be simultaneously decoded by the Realiser and passed through to the HDMI output?
A:
One needs to understand how HDMI works. Downstream sink devices are interrogated by upstream sources to find out their audio playback capability. If two sinks were connected to a single source and both sources had different capability, then the question for the player is which audio stream should it send. So this is why the A16 is muted during bypass, it lets the downstream device set the audio mode in the player.




Q:
When will vertical headtracking be available?
A:
Vertical tracking will take some time to complete since it requires the use of both processors to render a single listener.
Does this mean that vertical headtracking works only for one user?
Yes I would assume vertical tracking will require both processors and therefore User B will be disabled.




Q:
Will the optical stabilisation work for both users one day?
A:
Optical head tracking only works for User A. This is temporary and we will release new HT firmware to allow both User A and B operation at some point.
We could of course add a vertical offset feature, ie if the PRIR has vertical measurements then create a new intermediate PRIR that compensates for your listening angle. So if you are seated at a plus 15 degree vertical angle then create a PRIR at minus 15 degrees. I mention this only because this would not take any extra processing power but would solve your 'elevated sound stage' problem when seated.




Q:
People "complain" that you can only enter 4 headphone names, because there are guys with more than 4 headphones out there...
As I understand it, this is only for convenience in naming the files, the A16 isn't limited to only 4 headphones, right? You can enter a name, create a HPEQ and then delete that headphone name or overwrite it with a different name and still can use the HPEQ afterwards, right?
Same with user names, and PRIR-room names, as far as I understand?
A:
Yes to increase the number of headphones/users/rooms just keep editing the list as you describe.









Questions yet unanswered

- When and how do the users that attended the different shows and had PRIRs measured get those PRIRs. It has been promised back then that those PRIRs will be pre-loaded onto the specific units, which is not the case. Some users travelled a long way just to attend a show and get a PRIR measurment done! (Maybe you just send them via E-Mail, would be the easiest I think)

- As a kickstarter backer we don't get an invoice. How do we claim warranty, if necessary?
 
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Dec 9, 2019 at 1:23 PM Post #21 of 74
Workarounds

This is an official workaround from Smyth Research when you have problems with the head top of the head tracker:
Known Head tracking Issue Some head trackers appear to lose their thermal calibration data after a period of use, causing the azimuth angle to drift uncontrollably. The LED atop the head tracker remains off in this state. We are aware of this issue and are working on new firmware for the head tracker. In the mean time we can only suggest re-calibrating the head tracker to get it working again. The process is described below.


Calibrating Head Tracker Temperature Steps

1) Unplug the head tracker and place in a refrigerator for 45 minutes. This ensures the starting temperature of the head tracker is below 8 degrees Celsius.

2) Step 2) Have the A16 powered up and situated in a room at normal room temperature (18-35 degrees Celsius) and have both user A and user B presets running.

3) Step 3) Remove the head tracker from the refrigerator and immediately connect the head tracker to the HT jack input of User A and place the head tracker on a solid surface and ensure it does not move or suffer vibration during the calibration period. Ten seconds following power up, the LED atop the HT will turn red.

4) Step 4) The head tracker will now slowly warm up, taking temperature readings every second (blinking LED). Once the head tracker has reached room temperature the LED will turn green indicating that the calibration is complete. The entire process may take up to 25 minutes. The head tracker is now ready for use
 
Jan 31, 2020 at 5:04 PM Post #23 of 74
After 2.5 year delay, I finally have my Realiser A16.

First off, the UI is the absolute worst I have encountered in decades. It's the unfortunate problem with a product developed with purely engineering and zero design or marketing. The guys at Smyth Research are absolutely brilliant, but this UI is an absolute abomination. Hopefully they can develop a computer GUI interface with its USB connection in the future to bypass the horrid remote controller interface.

Here's my big problem. I can't get my old A8 PRIR's to show up at all. When I goto "Files" and the "Card" and "Copy to A16" It doesn't look like it's converting successfully, as they don't show up anywhere else, when I try to select another PRIR when goto "Listening Rooms".

Also, is there a way to disable HPEQ? I often use Inner Ear Monitors and run my A8 without an HPEQ loaded.
 
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Jan 31, 2020 at 6:02 PM Post #24 of 74
After 2.5 year delay, I finally have my Realiser A16.

First off, the UI is the absolute worst I have encountered in decades. It's the unfortunate problem with a product developed with purely engineering and zero design or marketing. The guys at Smyth Research are absolutely brilliant, but this UI is an absolute abomination. Hopefully they can develop a computer GUI interface with its USB connection in the future to bypass the horrid remote controller interface.

Here's my big problem. I can't get my old A8 PRIR's to show up at all. When I goto "Files" and the "Card" and "Copy to A16" It doesn't look like it's converting successfully, as they don't show up anywhere else, when I try to select another PRIR when goto "Listening Rooms".

Also, is there a way to disable HPEQ? I often use Inner Ear Monitors and run my A8 without an HPEQ loaded.

Having had the Realiser for three weeks now, and having shipped it back to Bangor b/c it locks up and becomes unresponsive to remote commands, I certainly understand where you are coming from on this issue. I think the A16 has the worst interface on a piece of processing equipment since the Behringer 2496 Ultracurve which also employed a teeny, tiny LCD screen on its front as the control system.
The Behringer retailed for $198 USD and sold in 2005 while the A16 retails for $3995 and sells in 2020. I don't need Apple level control here, but if the LDD screen could be mirrored to a monitor through a USB or HDMI connection, that would at least make it usable from a distance greater than 18" (or 46 cm for you rest of the worlders),and that would be an incredible help.

As it stands right now, the text on the A16s screen is written in the same sized text as Facebook's Privacy Policy. :=P
 
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Jan 31, 2020 at 7:13 PM Post #26 of 74
Anyone successful in converting old A8 PRIR files to A16? I can't get mine to show up on my A16.
Early A8 PRIR's (e.g. PRIR0xxx, from analog-only A8's) are not usable directly on the A16. Only the new format PRIR's (e.g. PRIR2xxx, from HDMI-enabled A8's) are usable directly.

If you're using an old form PRIR on an HDMI A8 (which is 100% supported on the A8), you can write them out to SD card and they will be converted to the new PRIR2xxx 8.3 name format. And then you can import them to the A16, using the PRIR2xxx version. Actually, I think even old analog-only A8's running latest firmware will output PRIR's to the SD card in new PRIR2xxx format.

Same story on HPEQ.

If you don't have an HDMI A8 PM me your old PRIR's and HPEQ's and I will do the conversions for you using my HDMI A8, and send you back the converted new format files. But you might first see if the analog A8 with latest firmware will also successfully create new PRIR2xxx and HPEQxxx if your write them out to SD card, as I think will happen.

As far as migrating them from A8 to the A16 you need to format a microSD as FAT32, and create a "parent" folder (root of the card) on it named Realiser. Then you create two sub-folders under Realiser: PRIRS and HPEQS. then you place your A8 PRIR's (PRIR2xxx) into \Realiser\PRIRS and your A8 HPEQ's (HPEQ2xxx) into \Realiser\HPEQS.

Discussion of this subject is in the "main thread". See my post (with pictures) in that thread describing how to do this.
 
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Jan 31, 2020 at 10:05 PM Post #27 of 74
Early A8 PRIR's (e.g. PRIR0xxx, from analog-only A8's) are not usable directly on the A16. Only the new format PRIR's (e.g. PRIR2xxx, from HDMI-enabled A8's) are usable directly.

If you're using an old form PRIR on an HDMI A8 (which is 100% supported on the A8), you can write them out to SD card and they will be converted to the new PRIR2xxx 8.3 name format. And then you can import them to the A16, using the PRIR2xxx version. Actually, I think even old analog-only A8's running latest firmware will output PRIR's to the SD card in new PRIR2xxx format.

Same story on HPEQ.

If you don't have an HDMI A8 PM me your old PRIR's and HPEQ's and I will do the conversions for you using my HDMI A8, and send you back the converted new format files. But you might first see if the analog A8 with latest firmware will also successfully create new PRIR2xxx and HPEQxxx if your write them out to SD card, as I think will happen.

As far as migrating them from A8 to the A16 you need to format a microSD as FAT32, and create a "parent" folder (root of the card) on it named Realiser. Then you create two sub-folders under Realiser: PRIRS and HPEQS. then you place your A8 PRIR's (PRIR2xxx) into \Realiser\PRIRS and your A8 HPEQ's (HPEQ2xxx) into \Realiser\HPEQS.

Discussion of this subject is in the "main thread". See my post (with pictures) in that thread describing how to do this.

I updated the firmware of my old Analog non-HDMI Realiser A8 and it was able to convert my old PRIR00xx files and then save them back to SD card as PRIR20xx files.

Lorr walked through it quickly on the phone. The HDMI A8 just has an added daughter board, the firmware is identical for all models.
 

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