[wink]

Let's not worry about others. The big question is: are we getting our A16 before Christmas 2028 or not?

FTFY.....

 

[462429]

The Wall is definitely one of the many discs I plan to see again when I get the A16, but to answer your question, I think the audience is simply cheering along to the artist on stage, doing whatever he asks. It's typical concert behavior, even if it is ironic that in this case they are like the army that Waters despises so much.

I have a theory in response to your question, even though, I am not sure whether you will find it satisfactory or not but here goes :

Rock concerts, are to an important extent, like video games, the cinema , and theater, in that they provide "make believe" worlds, in which artists, their audiences and spectators are allowed--or allowed to take--the license to enact, re-enact, enjoy fantasy scenarios, nightmare scenarios, horror scenarios, apocalyptic scenarios, etc. etc.in the name of entertainment and recreation, and yes, sometimes in the name of social satire and political commentary. Note that such scenarios include many that most of the participants do not expect to encounter, experience, and/or cannot even tolerate in their so-called "real lives--", and yet they can be enriching and even therapeutic and educational in several ways, as long as they can be experienced in a vicarious, and relatively "harmless" way, as entertainment, and/or social satire.

We all know how "art" and fiction can make the most horrendous and ugly things attractive and easily consumable in the theater or in video games...As "entertainment," this process works well most of the time, as long as the participants who are mentally competent, know and accept the line that separates that world of "make-believe" which makes them possible, from what they consider to be the "real world," and they always respect, and honor that line.

However, as in all things human, not everyone is always willing or able to respect that line, so sometimes, it unfortunately gets crossed, and some nightmare and horror scenarios have often ways of crossing over to the hither side of the barrier,--to cite just one unpleasant and tragic example, the Aurora Dark knight Movie Theater shootings--and that is why there is always some cause for caution and concern entailed in such activities

In the example you cite involving "The Wall," I can surmise that it worked as "entertainment" because, no matter how crazy and chaotic things got at the concert, both Waters and his audience knew and tacitly agreed it was all in "good theatrical fun," and that Waters was never really going to shoot, kill, or abuse anybody in real life (even while trying to make important political statements), and that he might actually have a real life revulsion for the Nazis he was imitating. One cannot, unfortunately, say the same for the self-proclaimed Joker, James Holmes, who had apparently lost his sanity on his travels, and left a horrendous massacre in his wake in a movie theater.

Which is why the role of the police, while often problematic enough on its own (precisely because the police too are as "human," and "frail" as the people they're policing), is necessary and inevitable in any civilized society...

Thank you, colleagues, for your precise and elaborated explanations. They are completely revealing, but not relieving at all...

For those that would like to know about my experience with the Realiser and headphones, I post this from my other comments.

Just pulled the trigger on the Hifiman Ananda.

Currently have the HE400i, I previously had them hooked up to a speaker amp at 250wpc, and it was awesome. MF A308CR pre/power combo.
Looking to do the same with the Ananda, although the awesome MF is now gone, probably looking at ICEpower class D/250-500wpc into 8 ohm.

I know this seems weird and absurdly dangerous for the cans, but the HE400i's/MF A308CR against all recommendations from the Headfi community absolutely blew away my old Stax SR-007/007t combo. I say this for movie reproduction using an A8 Realiser, so not the ordinary comparison. The problem with the SR007 is the amplification power, just not enough unless you spend $6k on the BHSE at 200w. I tried a class A 60wpc speaker amp with the HE400i, and it was unsatisfactory, largely due to the fact that, the volume control could not be turned up loud enough to fill the dynamic range without introducing horrible hiss. The hiss is due to the ohm mismatch between speaker amps and higher impedance headphones.

The 60wpc amp was at about 1 o'clock, and the 250wpc amp was at about 10 o'clock.

When I brought my A8 Realiser to a Hifi store to try different headphones, the SR009 and the HE1000 were the best. At that time the HEX was not present for audition, not sure it was even in production. The HE1000 has a holographic presentation and openness that just works with the Realiser perfectly, likely due to the thin diaphragm. It enhances the Realiser's ability to recreate speakers in headphones, and brings up a whole new level.

Funds always held me back from stepping up to the HE1000, but now I hope the Ananda will fill that void and deliver the same effects for the Realiser that the HE1000 does at a considerable discount. When I auditioned the HE1000 vs the HEX some time back, I noticed the same holographic imaging present in both cans, probably due to the thinness of the diaphragm.

Currently using an old iFi iCan, damn good amplifier for what it is, but not the liquid ultra high fidelity I remember from MF gear, that headroom really brings it up another level.

Finally I have moved on from the HE400i after years of waiting for a HEX or HE1000 in my price range, I have only ever seen 1 or 2 HEX even come up on the used market here in Australia and the HE1000 always sold way above what I could afford at the time.

I must admit that I am not quite comfortable with using headphones. Especially not at high volumes. I bought my HD600 because of the Realiser A16 and I take it for granted that they will simply 'disappear' and acoustically improved room with high end speakers will emerge.

 

[JohnEW]

Hi All, See that Smyth Research have a new website up. It looks very impressive
https://smythresearch.company/
I don't know if anything works on it but it does have a working slideshow of how the exchange site will work
AboutUs: is certainly not the Smyth Research team (Fake Fill-in's while developing the site)

Liked this bit: While the A16 comes pre-installed with virtual movie theatres and studios, new virtual sound rooms can be downloaded and personalised from our Realiser Exchange website.

 

[ajax1]

In conjunction with the Heavenly Sound partnership, another Realiser website.

This has an introductory video I had not seen before.

The branding is interesting.

It begins with the narration
"Smyth SVS The virtualization sound technology from Heavenly Sound."

and ends with the narration
"Real three dimensional sound over headphones that works for everyone on all content can be enjoyed with any Heavenly Sound SVS product.
We are Heavenly Sound.
We are the Next Generation Sound Technology Company"

https://heavenly-surround.com/

10/10/2018 - Public access to this website is no longer available.

 

[Fox1977]

At least there is some movement around the A16, if Heavenly Sound start advertising it, it may announce an imminent release (though "imminent" is still a matter of weeks i guess, i'd say something like 5 to 10).
Yet, since we are still cruelly missing an update, Smyth Research is again leaving us in the dark unfortunately. It's been almost 8 weeks since the last one. I don't doubt the A16 will be released, but i deeply regret that SR still demonstrates such poor communication skills two whole years after the Kickstarter campaign was completed (and in this case, "poor" is a strong euphemism).
We got some new information from Gilles Gérin, the french dealer. Regarding audio decoding and upmixing, looks like the Illusonic upmixing process will be implemented later via software update. Besides, upmixing using Illusonic algorythm will use the ressources dedicated to the second headphone output. Therefore, only one person can use the A16 when upmixing a soundtrack via Illusonic.
Regarding Auro 3D, native decoding was supposed to be implemented in the A16 (even though soundtracks using that format are quite rare) but the founder of the decoding chip refuses the unlock this feature because they're in conflict with Auro 3D. If no solution is found to cease this conflict, a B-plan is considered, via software decoding (also later implemented via software update) but like Illusonic, since it's not native, it would also require the ressources of the second headphone output.
Officially the A16 will not get the Hi-Res label. First it would require a license (not free) and also the A16 is not matching the requirements for this label. While the A16 is making all the calculations in 32 bits float for an optimal rendering in 24 bits, it is currently working on a 48 KHz sample rate.
Yet, the 96 KHz will be shortly implemented via software update (that is one of the main priorities for forthcoming updates). However, adequate room captures will be required and since it will need twice more calculations, either the second headphone output will be in use for the extra calculations on 16 channels, or the other variant will be to choose a PRIR over only 8 channels to be able to use two headphones at the same time.

 

[sahmen]

At least there is some movement around the A16, if Heavenly Sound start advertising it, it may announce an imminent release (though "imminent" is still a matter of weeks i guess, i'd say something like 5 to 10).
Yet, since we are still cruelly missing an update, Smyth Research is again leaving us in the dark unfortunately. It's been almost 8 weeks since the last one. I don't doubt the A16 will be released, but i deeply regret that SR still demonstrates such poor communication skills two whole years after the Kickstarter campaign was completed (and in this case, "poor" is a strong euphemism).
We got some new information from Gilles Gérin, the french dealer. Regarding audio decoding and upmixing, looks like the Illusonic upmixing process will be implemented later via software update. Besides, upmixing using Illusonic algorythm will use the ressources dedicated to the second headphone output. Therefore, only one person can use the A16 when upmixing a soundtrack via Illusonic.
Regarding Auro 3D, native decoding was supposed to be implemented in the A16 (even though soundtracks using that format are quite rare) but the founder of the decoding chip refuses the unlock this feature because they're in conflict with Auro 3D. If no solution is found to cease this conflict, a B-plan is considered, via software decoding (also later implemented via software update) but like Illusonic, since it's not native, it would also require the ressources of the second headphone output.
Officially the A16 will not get the Hi-Res label. First it would require a license (not free) and also the A16 is not matching the requirements for this label. While the A16 is making all the calculations in 32 bits float for an optimal rendering in 24 bits, it is currently working on a 48 KHz sample rate.
Yet, the 96 KHz will be shortly implemented via software update (that is one of the main priorities for forthcoming updates). However, adequate room captures will be required and since it will need twice more calculations, either the second headphone output will be in use for the extra calculations on 16 channels, or the other variant will be to choose a PRIR over only 8 channels to be able to use two headphones at the same time.

@Fox1977 : Very informative post.. It is a somewhat sad commentary on the present state of affairs that these updates you provide from your indirect French source seem to bring more substantive information about the progress of the A-16 than those we're typically getting nowadays from the horse's own mouth (SR) itself (as rightly indicated by your comments on "poor communication"), but it is what it is, and that's not the reason for my post.

I have a question : I am not sure I completely understand the part of the last highlighted sentence regarding either needing the second headphone output for 16 channels, or choosing a PRIR over only 8 channels, so that one can use two headphones at a time?

Does that mean that in order for one listener to hear all 16 channels, they should use both headphone outputs (i.e listen in balanced mode with one headphone), and that using one headphone output at a time would necessarily limit the listener to hearing only 8 channels?)... If true, this would mean that whenever 2 people are using the A-16 at the same time, each one would only and always have hearing access to only 8 channels, correct?

If the above interpretation is accurate, then my second question is whether it reflects the way the A-16 was originally and purposely designed to work (to impose a choice between listening to 8 or 16 channels at a time), or is the choice being forced upon SR by limitations in software development and licensing.?

Sorry if such questions have been raised before, but there are still finer details I do not completely get about how the A-16 is designed to work exactly.

 

[CanMad]

I believe only if you want to listen to 88.1khz and above. 48khz it will do 16 channels in both headphone outputs.

 

[Fox1977]

@sahmen : this last sentence you mention applies only when playing 24/96 tracks. If you want to play a 16-channel track in 24/96, you'll need the extra power from both headphone outputs. Yet, maybe i'm using wrong words, because it doesn't you will need to plug a cable in both outputs, but just the A16 will need to use both circuits to process the 16 channels. If you want two listeners simultaneously in 24/96, you'll be limited to 8 channels. A balanced cable is not necessary for it (at least, it's not mentionned).

 

[sahmen]

Okay, I now understand the part about the two circuits needing to process the 16 channels for 24/96 listening, and how that will limit two simultaneous listeners to 8 channels each... However, it does leave unclear the question as to what would happen in 24/96 listening mode, when both circuits are processing the 16 channels, and one listener connects his/her headphone to the two ports of the unit, using an adapter such as one of those from custom cans (pictured below), as they would do in balanced listening mode.... Is that one listener going to hear 8 or 16 channels, or is the machine going to refuse working under such circumstances...? That's the part that still remains unclear...

 

[sander99]

The headphone can be connected the normal way to one of the outputs in these cases (let's say I am 99.9999999% sure).
For each user there is a DSP chip to perform the SVS algorithm (that is the simulation of virtual speakers). Doing the simulation in 24/96 requires more processing power and to simulate 16 speakers in 24/96 it needs both chips for one user. It is not about the sampling rate of the source: if needed it can be downsampled to 24/48.
Next to the 2 SVS DSP chips there is a dual dsp module that does the dolby and DTS decoding. And maybe the Auro 3D decoding, but that is unsure at this point. It could be that this task has to be performed by one of the SVS DSPs as well. In that case also the use of Auro 3D is limited to single user mode (so let's hope this will not happen). The Illusonic upmixer was planned all along to run on one of the SVS DSPs and hence to only work in single user mode.

 

[Indisch]

Theoretically the balanced mode should work, as you only need the dac and the amplification stage to use it. I don’t think those will be needed for the processing. That will be done by the svs processors from both channels. But I’m not 100% sure.

 

[sander99]

Just for completeness: I wasn't saying the balanced mode is not possible in those cases, just that it is not mandatory.

 

[Indisch]

Just for completeness: I wasn't saying the balanced mode is not possible in those cases, just that it is not mandatory.

My post was the reply to Sahmen’s post I was writing mine while you posted yours so I only saw it after. Slow writer sometimes ^^

 

[audiohobbit]

Thanks for all the new infos, guys (since there's nothing coming from the Smyths...).
I don't understand why especially Auro causes problems now, they should be glad about every device that can decode Auro.

 

[Dixter]

another nice option is to allow the A16 to output 16 channel material into a DAC recorder.... for music you can then load the file(s) onto say an iPhone or more than one iPhone and the output of the A16 becomes portable... a person could actually process all of their music library to the A16 format and anyone could listen to A16 formatted music as long as they had a set of headphones..... for those that know how to rip a blue ray movie and strip the audio tracks, the audio tracks could also be processed by the A16, recorded on the DAC recorder and the video/audio recombined and sent to an iphone/ipad for portable A16 formated movies... lots of options...