[audiohobbit]

It's now 4 weeks since the last update. Looks like KS backers in the 30s to 40s will get their units soon, so they seem to go by backer no. and ship roughly 10 units per week.
No weekly updates though. Why am I not surprised...?
I wonder what they do with the pre-orders? Starting shipping after KS backers? Would be logical but a bit unfair since they paid more.
I'm also wondering how many pre-orders there are and do they have enough units? And what about spare parts?

In my worst nightmares they go belly up after delivering all the units they have.


(not entirely true since my worst nigthtmares are about really important things)

 

[Sordel]

Darryl,
We are not interested in your proposal, at this time.
Thanks,-Rolff

Your approach may have been too professional. I've been surprised at the amount of money that you and others seem to be willing to invest in getting this impulse response and I wonder if the studio didn't think ... “if people are willing to pay this much to get the IR it must have some commercial value that we're missing”.

 

[bcwang]

Finally had a chance to sit down and enjoy listening to my calibrated results. When listening to Dolby digital content from Netflix and amazon video, I find the volume too low. I maxed out the volume but it’s just barely enough. If I want to play it louder especially for some quieter movies I’m stuck. With pcm stuff like music from streaming, it’s loud enough but I’m still near the top of the volume range.

I have a feeling the measurement part affects overall volume as I have a few profiles and they are markedly different volume. But I’m not sure if part of that was having the headphone at different volumes during the headphone measurement. There isn’t any guidance about headphone volume levels during measurement.

I’m almost wondering if I should use an external
Headphone amp or Dac/amp at this point.

 

[Juy777]

Finally had a chance to sit down and enjoy listening to my calibrated results. When listening to Dolby digital content from Netflix and amazon video, I find the volume too low. I maxed out the volume but it’s just barely enough. If I want to play it louder especially for some quieter movies I’m stuck. With pcm stuff like music from streaming, it’s loud enough but I’m still near the top of the volume range.

I have a feeling the measurement part affects overall volume as I have a few profiles and they are markedly different volume. But I’m not sure if part of that was having the headphone at different volumes during the headphone measurement. There isn’t any guidance about headphone volume levels during measurement.

I’m almost wondering if I should use an external
Headphone amp or Dac/amp at this point.

I ran into the same issue until i realized (no pun intended) that there is a headphone gain boost switch right next to the volume knob. It has low/mid/high boost settings and was set to low by default. After i switched that to mid
i was able to get the phones reasonably loud. Make sure you take off the HP when switching since there is a loud crack

 

[bcwang]

I ran into the same issue until i realized (no pun intended) that there is a headphone gain boost switch right next to the volume knob. It has low/mid/high boost settings and was set to low by default. After i switched that to mid
i was able to get the phones reasonably loud.

Face palm, doh...I saw those switches at the very beginning. I totally forgot about them once I got involved with everything else. The lack of sleep the past few days of playing with the a16 doesn’t help. Thank you so much!

 

[Got the Shakes]

Face palm, doh...I saw those switches at the very beginning. I totally forgot about them once I got involved with everything else. The lack of sleep the past few days of playing with the a16 doesn’t help. Thank you so much!

I’m using the HD800 with my A16 and with gain set to high I find that setting the volume between 50-60 is plenty loud.

 

[Juy777]

I’m using the HD800 with my A16 and with gain set to high I find that setting the volume between 50-60 is plenty loud.

heh, i would imagine HD800 set to high will be as loud as watching Dunkirk in IMAX. Maybe set it to MID just to avoid destroying the phones playing audio accidentally not wearing the cups.

 

[pokerlife]

Hi guys!
Just a fan here. Ive been following the A16 since the kickstarter ended and did not get one in time. Im a huge audio/headphone fan and love watching movies and playing games at night why the house sleeps. I got the Creative SXFI amp last year and really like it. To me it is a little better than the Out Of Your Head demo i tried.
Anyways my question is this. How is the A16? Are you guys blown away and are your expectations met ? I am really considering purchasing one since i use headphone every night of the week. Has anyone tried both, the SXFI and the A16?

 

[Got the Shakes]

heh, i would imagine HD800 set to high will be as loud as watching Dunkirk in IMAX. Maybe set it to MID just to avoid destroying the phones playing audio accidentally not wearing the cups.

I just set it to mid as that is a good idea on your part. Thanks!

 

[Juy777]

Hi guys!
Just a fan here. Ive been following the A16 since the kickstarter ended and did not get one in time. Im a huge audio/headphone fan and love watching movies and playing games at night why the house sleeps. I got the Creative SXFI amp last year and really like it. To me it is a little better than the Out Of Your Head demo i tried.
Anyways my question is this. How is the A16? Are you guys blown away and are your expectations met ? I am really considering purchasing one since i use headphone every night of the week. Has anyone tried both, the SXFI and the A16?

Hi Pokerlife. I didnt try SXFI yet so i wouldnt be able to compare. All i can tell you is that i use the Realiser A8 since years which is comparable to the A16.

There is Darin Fong, Dolby Headphone, Beyerdynamic Headzone, a couple VST plugins which all try to emulate virtual loudspeakers, a multitude of options.
But there is one thing setting the Smyth Realiser apart from all those solutions, you actually measure the whole audio chain from the loudspeakers, the room you are taking the measurements in, and your head/body with tiny microphones which you put in your ear canals.
That assures that you get a personal "HRTF" rendered in the audio when listening to the A8/A16 with headphones. The difference is HUGE.
I would strongly suggest to try and make a demo measurement with someone who already owns a A8 / A16 and hear for yourself. You will never go back to any other solution, i can promise you that.
I use the A8 for watching multichannel audio movies and gaming, and there are the first games popping up utilizing Dolby Atmos. Thats where the A16 will shine in future. At the moment there is a distinct lack of Dolby Atmos material though.
If 7.1 audio is enough you could as well get a used A8.(only get the A8 with HDMI input) The A16 will sell for around 4K dollars, so thats some hefty investment.
But playing Elite Dangerous with a VR headset and a Smyth Realiser is absolutely priceless!

regards, Julian

 

[hadron70]

Has anyone tried both, the SXFI and the A16?

I did. For me, SXFI did not work at all. On top of the insufficient spatial speaker placement, it distorts the sound. Juy777 has said the rest. The A8 and A16 seem to be the only acceptable solutions at the moment.

 

[audiohobbit]

I agree. Haven't tried the SXFI though but beyerdynamic headzone and Audeze (whats its name?). This is in absolutely no way comparable to the Realiser. Even with the factory preset(s) it's already better than anything else. You just have to do the HPEQ right, and the A16 makes this easy with the equal loudness procedure.
That is the first thing I'll try when I hopefully get my A16 tomorrow. (Though I have to rearrange my shelves first)

Edit: I forgot to mention: If you're lucky and physically more compatible to the dummy head those solutions are based on then it maybe better for you than for me.

And I also forgot: The SXFI is based on photos of your ears right? Maybe this will be better, I can't tell at the moment.

 

[Dixter]

when switching from low gain towards high gain its best to unplug the headphones prior to the gain switch being slid to the next power setting.... lower the volume prior to switching also will safeguard our headphones from spikes...

 

[Dixter]

Hi guys!
Just a fan here. Ive been following the A16 since the kickstarter ended and did not get one in time. Im a huge audio/headphone fan and love watching movies and playing games at night why the house sleeps. I got the Creative SXFI amp last year and really like it. To me it is a little better than the Out Of Your Head demo i tried.
Anyways my question is this. How is the A16? Are you guys blown away and are your expectations met ? I am really considering purchasing one since i use headphone every night of the week. Has anyone tried both, the SXFI and the A16?

Well, for me I have the SXFI and the Mobius and the Realiser... The quality of the sound is ranked like this... the SXFI is the lowest of the three, its more for portable phone use... it sorta works, the Mobius I very much like as it sounds good and has a pretty good handle on head tracking and it can be either a mobile or home solution... then comes the Realisers... If you have ever visited a high end audio shop and gone into one of the sound rooms and sat there and was blown away how it all sounded and wished you had that same room located in your home, then that should be your que for the Realiser... with the realiser you get to create that room, but even better, because you get to choose the speakers and the layout in that virtual room.... does it blow you away... I think that would be an understatement... if you have a realiser and its been tuned to your ears and you have headphones that really shine while connected to the Realiser you will be blown away... no doubt about it... the biggest down fall for me concerning the Realiser is that when I sit down to listen to it I can't turn it off..... its that good...

 

[CaptainFunk]

I got my A16 today and planned to upgrade the firmware to 1.02 but in the settings it says 1.05 is installed. Did I somehow get a newer firmware than everyone else?