[esimms86]

I've had mine since they started shipping in summer 2019 (I think?) and I have loved owning it. The UX/UI is at times awful though. To me dealing with that pain is worth the end result, which is an an amazing surround sound experience through headphones. It does help to have the tight knit community of this thread to ask questions and work through issues with as well.

The A16 is a groundbreaking piece of technology that does not come without its own set of challenges. There is definitely a learning curve for understanding how to use it to optimal effect. However, once you obtain a PRIR that works for you and you have everything properly dialed in, there is nothing in my experience that comes close to it. Now, I haven’t had an opportunity to demo BACCH 3D, so that may be an equally great platform (if you want to have a one listener at a time system that also requires you to sit in its triangular sweet spot). So yes, the A16(and the Smyths TBH) can be a PITA but the results in optimized systems are well worth the growing pains.

BTW @Got the Shakes is one of the good guys who has been instrumental in assisting folks with their quest of getting the best out of the A16.

As an aside, to overstate the obvious, this thread has gotten to be tremendously unwieldy. Looking at things through the retrospectoscope, it would have been great back if back when a HeadFi moderator had proactively broken this down into multiple threads. One unfortunately has to sift through a legion of overwhelming justified rants in order to find things such as, for example, discussions of different firmware versions, tips on the best procedures for having your unit shipped back for repair/upgrade while dealing with UK Customs, suggestions re: how to make a PRIR, individual experiences of users with mating of specific headphone models with their units, how to optimally dial in an HPEQ with precise localization of the center channel, and general advice regarding how an owner could get up to speed with their new A16, etc.

 

[GeorgeA]

Since lately I’ve exclusively used my Realiser A16 unit as Realiser A16 Speaker Edition, I think it would have been better if I had posted the use of the Eversolo DMP-A6 streamer in conjunction the Realiser A16 in the Smyth Research Realiser A16 Speaker Edition thread of the forum.

There I’ve posted the result of checking whether or not an Eversolo DMP-A6 streamer and a Realiser A16 SE unit can be used together to playback immersive audio signals.

 

[Ciggavelli]

Maybe a dumb question, but how do I tell if I have Auro-3D on my A16? I want to try upmixing, and I'm not quite sure how to do that.

I checked in my system settings, and it looks like for "DEC HW" I have Atmos + dts:X (I didn't buy them separately. I think they just came installed with my new A16), but I don't see anything about Auro-3D.

 

[Dixter]

Maybe a dumb question, but how do I tell if I have Auro-3D on my A16? I want to try upmixing, and I'm not quite sure how to do that.

I checked in my system settings, and it looks like for "DEC HW" I have Atmos + dts:X (I didn't buy them separately. I think they just came installed with my new A16), but I don't see anything about Auro-3D.

navigate to SETTINGS>LISTENING ROOMS>AURO ROOMS. If it shows Auro Rooms then you have it.. what firmware are you using

 

[Ciggavelli]

navigate to SETTINGS>LISTENING ROOMS>AURO ROOMS. If it shows Auro Rooms then you have it.. what firmware are you using

Thanks! So, I guess I have it. Does it automatically upmix?

 

[Litlgi74]

navigate to SETTINGS>LISTENING ROOMS>AURO ROOMS. If it shows Auro Rooms then you have it.. what firmware are you using

That's not exactly true... Auro listening rooms are now available by default... And have been for some time.

The only way to truly know is to check Settings>Updates/About and click the down arrow until you see this screen.



If you see Auro... You have the ability to decode Auro-3D and upmix using Auromatic.

 

[Ciggavelli]

That's not exactly true... Auro listening rooms are now available by default... And have been for some time.

The only way to truly know is to check Settings>Updates/About and click the down arrow until you see this screen.



If you see Auro... You have the ability to decode Auro-3D and upmix using Auromatic.

So, I guess I don't have it then. I'll contact Smyth. I guess I need to purchase it separately? It's weird they included Atmos + dts:X in my version but not Auro

 

[Dixter]

If you want to read more on its settings then on page 3 of the release notes should help you out... Auro‐3D decoder and Auromatic up‐mixer
If you need to purchase it Smyth will ask you to be on the latest firmware and once you load that then he will ask for your " log file "
If you are on firmware 2.15 you could use the release notes page 3 to verify once again if you have it or not...

https://smyth-research.com/wp-conte...-rev-2.15-May-19-2023-update-instructions.pdf

Oh... and yes.. its worth the money for the upgrade...

 

[Ciggavelli]

Thanks everybody. My next question is can Auro3D Auromatic even work with Windows? I went to the Auro3D site and it looks like their software is just a plug-in for Pro Tools and only works on a Mac. I've done a ton of searches, and I can't seem to find a standalone Auromatic program.

Edit: Nevermind, I'm reading the firmware updates. It has answered my questions. Thanks!

 

[Dixter]

Thanks everybody. My next question is can Auro3D Auromatic even work with Windows? I went to the Auro3D site and it looks like their software is just a plug-in for Pro Tools and only works on a Mac. I've done a ton of searches, and I can't seem to find a standalone Auromatic program.

Someone else should answer that question as I haven't hooked up the A16 to a computer in quite a while.. so I'm not sure... the Auromatic works on anything thats not a material that has other encoding... like a 2 ch stereo would be upmixed to Auro3D but a 16 ch Atmos wouldn't... and of course if you have Auro3D encoded material that will be decoded and played back as Auro3D.. for me the Auromatic was a surprise that I wasn't expecting and it works very well and a nice addition to the A16 capability

 

[Ciggavelli]

Someone else should answer that question as I haven't hooked up the A16 to a computer in quite a while.. so I'm not sure... the Auromatic works on anything thats not a material that has other encoding... like a 2 ch stereo would be upmixed to Auro3D but a 16 ch Atmos wouldn't... and of course if you have Auro3D encoded material that will be decoded and played back as Auro3D.. for me the Auromatic was a surprise that I wasn't expecting and it works very well and a nice addition to the A16 capability

I just messages James. I definitely want to hear my 2 ch stereo music upmixed. I guess I need to upgrade my 2.14 firmware to 2.15. Fingers crossed it doesn't mess anything up.

 

[Litlgi74]

I just messages James. I definitely want to hear my 2 ch stereo music upmixed. I guess I need to upgrade my 2.14 firmware to 2.15. Fingers crossed it doesn't mess anything up.

You don't need to upgrade. Auro started working with 2.12.

 

[Ciggavelli]

You don't need to upgrade. Auro started working with 2.12.

Oh nice! Thanks

 

[Dixter]

I did ask what firmware was being used because of that....

 

[Ciggavelli]

@Litlgi74 I just tried the th900mk2 off the A16. It works well. Surround mixes sound good, and the bass for the FLE is amazing (the th900mk2 has great bass of course). It's definitely a viable headphone for the A16.