[jgazal]

 
Realiser A16 Main Features
 
Any listening impressions at the Munich High End Show?

 

[nassq8]

A8 is one of the best audio gear I've put my hand on. I'm still immensely enjoying it . Now, this one is really interesting with nice features, such as decoding capability. Cool! 

 

 

[jgazal]

Well, A8 standard configuration had an horizontal plane with azimuth head tracking. This one has, afaik, height channels and adds elevation tracking.
Codecs supported either have height channels or are object/sound source based.
So this is finally real 3D.
A completely new beast, imho.

 

[hekeli]

Features look stunning for the price. I guess I sold my A8 at the right time since it's pretty obsolete after this. 

 

[PAM005]

Looking forward receiving more info about the Realiser A16 productlaunch. It's said to be availlable starting Q1 2017. I registered interest for Kickstarter campain already !
 
Click or email: realiser-a16@smyth-research.com

 

[arnaud]

Also registered, I resisted the A8 but this one is calling my name loud and clear

edit: some links to posts I found useful
- creating surround PRIR set from stereo pair of speakers (pdf in French from Gilles Gerin, the local distributor):
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/smyth-research-realiser-a16.807459/post-15668604
- corrected/revised version by @sander99 :
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/smyth-research-realiser-a16.807459/page-529#post-15433317

 

[dsperber]

It still comes down to being able to arrange for a PRIR calibration in some fantastic home theater or studio which is set up for Dolby Atmos or other 3D-audio.
 
Yes, the reduced price and the inclusion of built-in onboard codecs (presumably firmware upgradeable if necessary) makes it much more convenient and appealing to the masses.  You don't need to have an Oppo BluRay player as your only reasonable way to deliver already-decoded discrete multi-channel LPCM to the Realiser's HDMI input.  You can now just feed still-encoded digital audio via HDMI.  Big improvement, clearly.
 
And of course the design with two listeners in mind, each with independent easy-to-access volume, and each with headtracker, this is a very appealing "toy for a couple".  This is a home user's dream, assuming you got a PRIR made somewhere terrific.

 

[jgazal]

It still comes down to being able to arrange for a PRIR calibration in some fantastic home theater or studio which is set up for Dolby Atmos or other 3D-audio.

Is it that worse to calibrate channels at 0 degree elevation and let the algorithm calculate the height channels with an elevation degree set by user?
Are there negative elevation degrees in these new codecs?

 

[arnaud]

In regards to prirs for ceiling channels, I have something in mind.

While I don't own a realiser a present time (I used OOYH at times), I did spend some money to get PRIRs at AIX studios and a couple of showrooms in socal (through Darin Fong).

What I realized is that, once back home, the only set I liked was the AIX one, because all the others sounded like weird echo / the reverb was intrusive.

So for me at least, even though the standards are such that you should have some reverb / avoid direct field from the surround channels in regular setup, I actually seem to prefer PRIRs taken in rather dry room (so I need the personalized xfeed but not so much the acoustic imprint of the room).

So to my idea: am wondering if it would make sense to get my own "PRIRs" (more like hrtfs) with the speaker rather close and stuffing the room walls to attenuate reflections as much as possible so that direct field dominates.

I'd prealably calibrate the speakers using the AV amp correction software so that response is reasonably flat at measured location.

Then, I'd "simply" rotate the head to get the various headings, including elevation channels. The angle might not be accurate but, as long as the head is steady during the recording, it would be fine perhaps.

Now, there was no ability to use digital out from the A8 to feed an AV amp during PRIRs acquisition, hence one could not make use of receivers with room/speaker correction dsps (mandatory for my room / midrange at best speakers). Is this perhaps a solved issue with the A16? E.g. The calibration signals can be fed to AV amp through optical out and such?

Cheers,
Arnaud

 

[arnaud]

Is it that worse to calibrate channels at 0 degree elevation and let the algorithm calculate the height channels with an elevation degree set by user?
Are there negative elevation degrees in these new codecs?

As I recall, you get quite different HRTFs with Elevation, the A8 was doing some magic interpolating between 2 angles but still needed a starting PRIR at both ends (e.g. -30/0/+30 horizontal which I supposed are then blended with varying weight in realtime based on actual head position...).

 

[dsperber]

While I don't own a realiser a present time (I used OOYH at times), I did spend some money to get PRIRs at AIX studios and a couple of showrooms in socal (through Darin Fong).

What I realized is that, once back home, the only set I liked was the AIX one, because all the others sounded like weird echo / the reverb was intrusive.
 

You are not alone in this observation.  I think the AIX room is truly unique, in its "deadness".  That's actually what makes listening to anything through its PRIR is such a joy.  It's an intimate pleasure, and all you hear is the source program through the speakers.  There is no reverb.
 
Contrast this with the other three or four PRIR's I've gathered (including from the Egyptian Theater 1st-row balcony, with nobody in the auditorium... talk about echo and reverb!) where that's all you can notice, is the echo/reverb.  And yet when you were in that room measuring for the PRIR it didn't seem at all noticeable.  But get home and listen through that PRIR, and it's unavoidable and distracting and not enjoyable.  Somehow the microphones picked up something my brain had obviously rejected and apparently filtered out.
 
But I'm with you.  I might as well have my A8 be an "AIX machine", since that's all I ever use, no matter what.  Even for 2-channel CD audio music, listening "through the AIX B&W speakers" virtually in front of me is just a pleasure.  I now enjoy that method of listening through headphones, rather than "straight non-SVS", where the 2-channel sound is inside my head (or maybe just outside of my ears because of how the SR-009 sounds).  In contrast, having 2-channel sound come from "two B&W speakers virtually in front of me" (but from the same SR-009!) is very different, and actually more enjoyable.

 

[hekeli]

So to my idea: am wondering if it would make sense to get my own "PRIRs" (more like hrtfs) with the speaker rather close and stuffing the room walls to attenuate reflections as much as possible so that direct field dominates.

I'd prealably calibrate the speakers using the AV amp correction software so that response is reasonably flat at measured location.

Then, I'd "simply" rotate the head to get the various headings, including elevation channels. The angle might not be accurate but, as long as the head is steady during the recording, it would be fine perhaps.

 
You are pretty much describing the infamous "single speaker" rotating measurement method for which A8 never got a working firmware, even though Mike promised it's on the works and even told I could get a beta to test out... I hope they will handle A16 support better. 

 

[Thenewguy007]

 
Yes, the reduced price

 

What's the price?

 

[valleynomad]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9F0OpaR4EdI

 

[dsperber]

It's HUGE!  I thought it was around the size of an Arris modem.  But it's HUGE!  Obviously more user-friendly for interconnects and controls (e.g. volume).
 
And I thought that shape was suspiciously headphone-rack-like.
 
Fascinating.  If only I understood French I'm sure it would have been very interesting.