[Takeanidea]

Just a case of moving your speakers around and adding them one by one . It'll take a while but won't need doing again so would be worth the time . There'll be other rooms you can swap with other members too. Whether we will have to subscribe to do that or can email each other the rooms is another matter. The security stuff to stop people from setting up virtual speaker companies may well be the main reason why this project is taking so long

 

[raband]

The security stuff to stop people from setting up virtual speaker companies may well be the main reason why this project is taking so long

Am tipping it's not the reason why we haven't got the product we signed for up for yet.

It's one of the selling points.

Might want to look into "objective reviews" - subjective one's aren't your strong suit :S

 

[audiohobbit]

So they totally failed to show the full potential of the Realiser in Shanghai by NOT doing personalized HRTFs...
That is very unfortunate.

 

[raband]

So they totally failed to show the full potential of the Realiser in Shanghai by NOT doing personalized HRTFs...

Wasn't the boss showing the product?

 

[sander99]

The Smyth brothers said some time ago that they will let their partners handle the demonstrations so they could keep on working on finishing the product. Apparently they are now doing so (not always, they did the demo at the BBC, but I guess that was close to home so less time consuming).

 

[462429]

So they totally failed to show the full potential of the Realiser in Shanghai by NOT doing personalized HRTFs...
That is very unfortunate.

Yes, but at the same time they showed us, backers and preorderers, something very positive - that they have confidence in Smyth Research and their SVS/A16 and that Heavenly Sound's support will not stop in the near future, before A16 is finished.

...
The security stuff to stop people from setting up virtual speaker companies may well be the main reason why this project is taking so long

Yes, speakers manufacturers have very good reason to be concerned and to make a pressure on Dolby to create obstacles.

 

[Sanctuary]

Yes, speakers manufacturers have very good reason to be concerned and to make a pressure on Dolby to create obstacles.

I don't see how the two are competing more than headphones and speakers already are. The A16 isn't meant to be a replacement for speakers in general, it's for people that for whatever reason can't use speakers in their current location at that time. People going out and getting high quality PRIRs from really expensive speaker setups are going to be miniscule. I'm assuming most, but maybe not all of the people buying the A16 already have speakers anyway, or have at one time.

 

[Dixter]

If I was a speaker company I think I would investigate the possibility of creating virtual setups using my speakers as a bases and then offering the files for sale.... There are many people who live in homes/condo/apartments where you can't put a full Atomos setup... those would be the target for the A16 and the custom virtual speaker files...

A couple of weeks ago I visited a friend in Houston that has a condo that over looks the Houston shipping channel..
His Condo is pretty high in the building and has a unobstructed view of 45 miles from his patio... We put on the Audeze Mobius 3D headphones and it was amazing looking out over the water with head tracking... we used the bluetooth wireless option with head tracking/3D.... it was as if the speakers where filling the entire sky and head tracking... amazing it was... Can't wait to get the A16 and try that out with full Atmos ...

There is still the option to record the output of the A16 as you input audio and it gets converted by the A16 into the 2 channel output... so as an example you could just take a A16 converted file and put it on your iphone and take it anywhere you want and just plug in a set of headphones.. you won't have head tracking but you get the rest of what the A16 puts out...

How would you like to be on a plane or bus and you have your headphones on and your playing back a virtual Magnaplanar Speaker Setup from your iphone...

I also was looking at a project the other day where a company is working on a 8K VR headset... its a ways off... but that too would be great watching a movie/concert with a virtual speaker setup via the A16 output files...

 

[Got the Shakes]

I don't see how the two are competing more than headphones and speakers already are. The A16 isn't meant to be a replacement for speakers in general, it's for people that for whatever reason can't use speakers in their current location at that time. People going out and getting high quality PRIRs from really expensive speaker setups are going to be miniscule. I'm assuming most, but maybe not all of the people buying the A16 already have speakers anyway, or have at one time.

This is me. I had a surround speaker setup, then I moved my media viewing area to a different part of the house where speakers weren’t a great option. I can capture my setup though with the A16 and have a few other friends with 7.1 setups that I can capture. I’ll probably try out the ones that the A16 is supposed to shop with as well. I can’t really see myself spending a lot of money or time trying to find somewhere where I can capture a super high end PRIR though.

 

[462429]

...
The A16 isn't meant to be a replacement for speakers in general, it's for people that for whatever reason can't use speakers in their current location at that time
...

Each A16 is meant to be a replacement for up to 16 speakers. And that is a lot of speakers not needed any more.

 

[Fox1977]

Each A16 is meant to be a replacement for up to 16 speakers. And that is a lot of speakers not needed any more.

I don't think that speakers manufacturers are really seeing the A16 as a real competitor.
Some people (like me) will buy the A16 because they can't have real speakers for whatever reasons (noise could wake up kids or bother neighbours, not enough space, etc.). For these people, speakers manufacturers don't lose any money because they wouldn't buy speakers anyway.
Others do own speakers but want the A16 to duplicate their own setup and enjoy at night or in a different room/house. And for these people manufacturers don't lose money either because they still own speakers and may replace them later as they still enjoy listen to their actual setup (and they may want to be able to listen with more than two people at a time)
There may be some poeple who will duplicate their system and then resell their speakers, but i don't think many will match this case.

 

[Fredstales]

One of the things I don't understand is the distance. If I watch a movie at home and we have around 4 meters between the sofa and the projector screen, doesn't it feel strange if the capture from another room has a further distance then what we have? Say that I would go to a movie theater and capture the sound there and bring that home to our living room. Would't it be interpreted by my ears as if it was fake and that the sound was coming from behind the wall in a space that doesn't exist? How does this then apply to the different setups we later will be able to buy from the shop?

I tried out OOYH this weekend but unfortunately I couldn't get the app to work on either of my macs. I tried the online demos instead with both Sennheiser HD 800 and my Sony in ear headphones. The sound was pretty convincing for me when it was behind me and more so with my left ear. But sound from the front didn't work very well at all for me. It just sounded like it was further out on the sides of my ears, not infront. Also when listening to the movie clips, I got the feeling of listening to a very muffled room, where it felt like I really heard the room rather than experience the movie vivid surround sound. This is also a concern of mine that the sound will feel fake from not being open enough to feel real, but rather muffled and closed and that you instead hear the room rather than the movie. What is your thoughts and experience around these things?

 

[HairyHook]

One of the things I don't understand is the distance. If I watch a movie at home and we have around 4 meters between the sofa and the projector screen, doesn't it feel strange if the capture from another room has a further distance then what we have? Say that I would go to a movie theater and capture the sound there and bring that home to our living room. Would't it be interpreted by my ears as if it was fake and that the sound was coming from behind the wall in a space that doesn't exist? How does this then apply to the different setups we later will be able to buy from the shop?

I tried out OOYH this weekend but unfortunately I couldn't get the app to work on either of my macs. I tried the online demos instead with both Sennheiser HD 800 and my Sony in ear headphones. The sound was pretty convincing for me when it was behind me and more so with my left ear. But sound from the front didn't work very well at all for me. It just sounded like it was further out on the sides of my ears, not infront. Also when listening to the movie clips, I got the feeling of listening to a very muffled room, where it felt like I really heard the room rather than experience the movie vivid surround sound. This is also a concern of mine that the sound will feel fake from not being open enough to feel real, but rather muffled and closed and that you instead hear the room rather than the movie. What is your thoughts and experience around these things?

One of the reasons why the custom demo worked so well is because we were able to see the speakers when audio through headphones was playing. It helps to trick our brain. Distance plus not having physical speakers at home could make the sound less "realistic" to our ears but I'm sure we'll get used to it in no time.

 

[krismusic]

I didn't realise (no pun) that would even be possible. That would be amazing. How do I do that? If you CBA to explain to a tech know nothing.

 

[krismusic]

Yes. I am concerned how much the physical presence of speakers contributes to psycho acoustics.