[phoenixdogfan]

Here's another question. When capturing a PRIR is the best practice to do it in the near field, so as to minimize room effects, or is the distance dependent on how the speakers' drivers are configured--with point sources best captured in the near field, towers in mid field, and large planars at a respectable distance?

 

[raband]

Now, i have my favourite headphones ready for when the A16 arrives, and that makes the wait easier. Made In Romania.

Are you planning on running the headphones through an amp or direct from the A16?

 

[musicday]

Are you planning on running the headphones through an amp or direct from the A16?

At the moment yes, but I plan to buy TT2 or Dave in the future.

 

[Erik Garci]

Here's another question. When capturing a PRIR is the best practice to do it in the near field, so as to minimize room effects, or is the distance dependent on how the speakers' drivers are configured--with point sources best captured in the near field, towers in mid field, and large planars at a respectable distance?

I think you should sit at the distance where that speaker sounds best in that room. I usually capture near-field speakers and thus sit at a near-field distance which happens to minimize room effects. If you sit farther away, the Realiser offers a way to reduce the room effects digitally after capturing, by letting you shorten the "window" (reverberation time).

 

[Chillzone21]

This evening I have been trying out a Subpac S2 (with normal headphone listening, using HD650 and HD58X). Initially I was very, very disappointed with it. I could not get it to integrate well, even after splitting the signal paths of the headphones and the Subpac to enable more precise balancing, and using a graphic equalizer to limit the range of the Subpac to below 60 Hz or so. I have the feeling the Subpac is distorting, creating harmonics that are not present in the music. It reminds me of big cheap speakers with flimsy cabinat panels resonating with the bass notes. Also I think there was a timing/phase problem, like the Subpac was running behind.
Now I managed to get some improvement but with a lot of effort! I connected the front-pre-outs of my Yamaha RX-V771 receiver to the main-in of my Yamaha AX-592 (and connected the headphones to the latter, my front speakers are also connected to the AX-592 so I can switch them off while using the headphones). I connected the sub out 1 and 2 of the RX-V771 via the graphic equalizer to an input of one of my 2 Yamaha RX-V750 receivers and connected the subpac to it's headphone output.
Now on the RX-V771 I can change the subwoofer crossover frequency to control the range of the Subpac (low end goes to both front and sub), and delay the main fronts (and hence the headphones) compared to the Subpac (by increasing the distance of the sub). (I don't use the graphic equalizer now, but I can if I want to try more adjustments.)
Although better now, for my taste it still is a strange experience to use it. Somehow the contribution from the Subpac still feels disconnected from the sound over headphones to me. Of course I tried to follow the often heard advice to turn down the Subpac to the point that it is barely conciously noticable. But as soon as it is noticible it feels disconnected, and as soon as it is not noticable I can not feel any difference with not using it. One of the things that makes it feel unnatural to me is that it works so localised on one part of the body, the back.
So I think I am going to return it.

I had the Crowson Amplifier and transducer a few years back, don't have it anymore, just running a subwoofer with the A8. The Crowson is the only product I have felt 5-10hz range, no actual subwoofer could dig that low. And that was the old model.

 

[jgazal]

...

 

[Richter Di]

Oh yes. But ... actually it is easier for me when this thread does not show up in my subscribed thread list, because then there are days where I do not think for one moment about the A16.
The moment I see a new post here I hope someone has some news.

 

[Eich1eeF]

The moment I see a new post here I hope someone has some news.

But there's news. Alas, nothing about the shipping date, but the last two of Gilles' mails weren't explicitly linked here.
http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/...transcription-fr-en-post-1-t30075654-675.html

 

[ajax1]

If you can't wait anymore for a Smyth Realiser, there is Realiser A8 for up for auction on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132881409626

 

[Sanctuary]

If you can't wait anymore for a Smyth Realiser, there is Realiser A8 for up for auction on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132881409626

Wow, what a deal. For an unknown.

This auction is for a SMYTH REALISER A8. These are really hard to get these days. I did a lot of research. These retailed at $2600 and recently sold for $1600. I have no history and i have no idea on how it works. This is why I listed it for parts. I just plugged it in but i didn't used the proper 9 volt 2 amp 18w plug. I used a 9 volt .5amp plug. So I'm not sure if it works properly because of the plug i have. The unit turns on and no further testing was done. THIS IS BEING SOLD AS-IS NO RETURNS. I took pictures of the boot sequence. Please look at them. Thanks and Good Luck

Sounds super legit for some reason, unless the original owner passed away.

 

[musicday]

If you can't wait anymore for a Smyth Realiser, there is Realiser A8 for up for auction on ebay.

https://www.ebay.com/itm/132881409626

Looks legit to me, not the best feedback ,but he is okay I think.

 

[illram]

But there's news. Alas, nothing about the shipping date, but the last two of Gilles' mails weren't explicitly linked here.
http://www.homecinema-fr.com/forum/...transcription-fr-en-post-1-t30075654-675.html

Thanks for this. Disappointing that game mode won't be functional at first, that's the main purpose for me. 30ms lag is untenable in my setup since my TV already has >20ms.

I'm also confused, they say low lag mode will only allow PCM virtualizing due to the computational time to decode, but the next email mentions game mode at 4 or 5 ms decoding Atmos...that seems like a negligible increase. So what's up with 30 ms for normal mode?

 

[Eich1eeF]

Thanks for this. Disappointing that game mode won't be functional at first, that's the main purpose for me. 30ms lag is untenable in my setup since my TV already has >20ms.

I'm also confused, they say low lag mode will only allow PCM virtualizing due to the computational time to decode, but the next email mentions game mode at 4 or 5 ms decoding Atmos...that seems like a negligible increase. So what's up with 30 ms for normal mode?

With your TV having >20ms latency, you'll not really notice the sound being 10ms late - that's not even 2/3 of a frame at 60Hz. The latencies occur in parallel, not sequentially. i.e. the HDMI stream is not buffered for 30ms in the A16, it is passed immediately, while the audio processing takes place in parallel.

It's not clear from Gilles' mail that the 4-5ms delay is for ATMOS as well - I would doubt that. Maybe ask him, his english should be good enough.

 

[sander99]

One more thing: with real speakers the sound needs several milliseconds to travel the distance to your ears. (Speed of sound is 340 m/s, so for example 1.7 meters takes 5 ms.) In a way you could say with headphones you gain that lost time back. Of course you don't really gain that time back, but it makes the difference between using real speakers or Realiser with headphones smaller. (Interesting: when the Realiser's audio lag is reduced to 5 ms, it is "faster" than speakers at 2 meters!).
Edit: I now read the last Gilles' mail and he says that you should add the sound travel time (from the virtual speakers to the ear) to the 30ms lag time. I think that is very strange. As if they take the time and trouble to simulate the quiet time before the sound reaches the ears? Only a very small part of that would be necessary to simulate (related to ITD and to have some reserve for adapting to an ear getting a few cm closer to certain speakers when turning the head). It would not even be necessary to do something for differences in distances to different speakers. With real speakers the closer speakers would be delayed compared to the speaker furtherst away. If in the simulation all virtual speakers have the same - very short - delay time you would get the same net result. Maybe a misunderstanding on Gilles part? Simulating the complete "silent" sound travel time would just be a waste of buffer memory and processing time in my opinion.

 

[raband]

Just sent the following off to James. I reckon an updated table would tell us more of what to expect than the dribs and drabs we currently get and shouldn't be too big a request:

G'day James,

Hopefully all going well at your end

Am getting a few update on the progress of the A16 through the French distributor, along with many other English speaking backers, but I think we're losing a bit in translation.
I wonder if it'd be possible to get an updated "Modes of operation" table from the initial KS one:
https://i.imgur.com/FEQn2QO.jpg

I'd imagine the above table being updated to show what modes and specs we can expect on release, which via update, cancelled/not possible modes and also new modes/performance (eg balanced, HDMI 2 ) etc would be greatly appreciated (either in the December update or as a separate one) would be of great value to those of us looking forward in great anticipation to the progress on the units.

Wishing you and yours all the best over Christmas and the New Year