Smyth Research Realiser A16

[Dixter]

ASIO drivers for OSX and Windows ??

 

[Camano]

What? Can any one explain what this is for? This thing doesn't need to be hooked up to a computer to work does it? .

In addition to the stand-alone use, the a16 can be used as a 16-channel USB sound card for PC's. So no computer is required to use the a16.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

There are even some buyers like me who ordered 3 or even more.... (I ordered my A16s at the end of December 2016), the more the merrier !

If you want to sell one, I'll buy.

 

[Eich1eeF]

What? Can any one explain what this is for? This thing doesn't need to be hooked up to a computer to work does it? I use Linux and I would be seriously pissed if I had to buy a computer to run this thing. My understanding was that accessing the controls would be done via a web interface which shouldn't require a driver. I am very confused.

Your understanding is correct.
Even the USB audio interface should work without a special driver, except of course to use it with low latency on Windows and MacOS. The interface is from Ploytec GmbH, probably something like https://www.usb-audio.com/jct2/ Note that it says "Fully USB Audio Class 2.0 compliant", which means no driver needed, since it's a standard USB audio device.

 

[sahmen]

One small step for man, one giant leap.... oh never mind

For those of us who just can't wait for a single second... the A16 windows/mac drivers are live now on the download page... enjoy https://smyth-research.com/downloads/

Nice! I downloaded the Mac USB driver, although, given my pre-order date (Sept/Oct. 2017), it is probably going to take another 6-12 months before I finally lay my hands on my own unit... So yes, full disclosure: I downloaded the driver not because I needed it today, but because I wanted to have something related to the A-16 on my computer to soothe my impatience, in spite of its redundancy! Pathetic! I know, but who can blame me for my impatience? And why should I have to wait for a-whole-nother year (give or take) before my shipped A-16 can finally make that driver relevant (if it is ever going to be made relevant at all--since I am really not going to need any USB driver for my A-16)?

In short, I see myself trashing that USB driver soon. The user manual is different, becauseI could have used it to learn a few important things about operating the A-16, except that the link is so far inactive, as far as I can tell.

Does anyone know when that user manual would be available.?

I have a feeling... wink wink... that the A16 web site will go live early next week... https://smyth-research.com/

I hope it does, though who can say for certain? Speaking of the A-16 itself, it does look smaller from these photos on Gilles Gérin's facebook page, than I have always imagined it to be : i wonder why...

Enough! I have done enough to soothe my impatience for one day. I'm going back to the long wait for the arrival of my pre-ordered A-16. In the meantime, I look forward to reading the impressions of the lucky early backers.

 

[illram]

James confirmed with me via email that Dolby Vision will work on passthrough (as they originally said).

 

[sander99]

Even the USB audio interface should work without a special driver, except of course to use it with low latency on Windows and MacOS. The interface is from Ploytec GmbH, probably something like https://www.usb-audio.com/jct2/ Note that it says "Fully USB Audio Class 2.0 compliant", which means no driver needed, since it's a standard USB audio device.

I think I read somewhere that without the driver it only supports up to 7.1 channels.

 

[Eich1eeF]

I think I read somewhere that without the driver it only supports up to 7.1 channels.

I believe that's a limit of the Windows audio stack. USB audio class 2.0 devices should handle almost arbitrary numbers of channels: http://thewelltemperedcomputer.com/KB/USB.html

https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/windows-hardware/drivers/audio/usb-2-0-audio-drivers An arbitrary number of channels (greater than eight) are not supported in shared mode due to a limitation of the Windows audio stack.

HDMi of course has a limit of 8 channels LPCM.

 

[Dixter]

The user manual is different, becauseI could have used it to learn a few important things about operating the A-16, except that the link is so far inactive, as far as I can tell.

Does anyone know when that user manual would be available.?

Patience grasshopper... check your stocking hanging on the fireplace when you wake Monday.... might be a surprise waiting for you....

 

[CanMad]

If you want to sell one, I'll buy.

So you want a second one despite your complaining throughout this thread?

I'm KS order #9 So hopefully get mine soon. I got some two month old near new Focal clears last week for $1400 AUD ($950 USD), they retail for $2200 AUD, so bit of a bargain. So this is great news they should play very nicely together.for

I expect DTS-X to come, don't care about Auro 3D.

One of my A8 microphones was DOA. They were very responsive in talking me through the process to test them. Then they sent me a complete new set that they tested themselves and didn't ask me to ship the old ones back. They even shipped the microphones to Perth when I live in Melbourne as I was going to be at my parents when they would arrive.

So for me they have a proven track record for customer service where it really counts. But of course more frequent updates would've been nice. Especially a bit more info to know what was going on after Dolby certification was received.

Shouldn't be long now......

 

[raband]

So you want a second one despite your complaining throughout this thread?

I think he hung back on the kickstarter and pre-order because (in his word) the A16 is nothing but an expensive boat anchor

 

[LajostheHun]

I forgot what was my backer number, it is #259 and that was placed exactly 3 years ago, oh well another 4-5 months is just a walk in the park right?

 

[AppleheadMay]

Scratch that, just out of bed and my CPU wasn’t fully working so calculations were a tad off ...

 

[audiohobbit]

So for me they have a proven track record for customer service where it really counts.

Yes, also for me. I had a problem with the A8 head top and they were very nice and supportive.
That's one reason why I can't understand their massive lack of communication over the last months/years.

@Dixter:
Your comments make me believe that you know more than the rest of us, or is this just guesswork??

 

[Dixter]

not exactly guess work but more cautious at least.... the story goes...
On Aug 1 there was a post at the French site where the poster said he noticed a post on facebook where it indicated the A16 shipment would start between August 9th and 13th. (seems his info was correct)
He also posted the link... even when I went to that link I never did see any dates for the shipment... so I figured maybe it was there and it was taken down ?
So I go and attempt to source the info and came upon a site where I noticed some excerpts from the A16 manual and it was describing three different ways the HPEQ could be obtained via the A16...
I glanced over the instructions and then what caught my eye was a graphic of the web based GUI and so my attention went there because I have never seen any reference to the web based GUI and there
are no indicators even on the A16 web site place holder... what I saw was a computer screen with the channels listed on the left side in rolls and beside the channels in columns was listed the particular data of
a PRIR... and the data is easily changed.. so for example you can change the angle and height of the virtual channel/speaker and other data that can be changed also, for fine tuning....
What I am hoping to be able to do is take a reading from one single speaker and populate a PRIR into the GUI and create a virtual room with a single speaker recording... we already know we have the ability
to create as many HPEQ files from as many headphones that exist...either in our own headphone collections or HPEQ's that we could possibly share from others headphone collections...
and you might wonder...why would you want to have a headphone HPEQ that was recorded with a headphone you don't own or someones head thats obviously not your head... well I think you can take a HPEQ file
and using the GUI you can fine tune that file too... and make a custom virtual HPEQ that would sound great on your own headphones... so in the scheme of this.... it would be great to not only have distinct rooms/studio
but individual speaker recordings too.... so your collection would comprise of the rooms/studios, many different headphones and many different speakers.... with those you could populate a virtual room on the GUI...
fine tune it to perfection and output the file.... the rooms configurations would be limitless.... I don't know for sure if we can do this but I did for just a brief minute see the GUI...

so my reference says early next week we should be able to see the manual at least... sorry I can't post a link because I can't find it this morning...