[audiohobbit]

The Realiser is nothing for five years olds. You should still use your own brain a little bit... Compare to mass produced AVRs, they are also very complicated, a five year old will never understand this, even grown ups don't always understand what's going on.

The Smyths have more important things to attend to, namely the issues!

Yesterday my Realiser went totally silent. The input audio meters showed that there was audio input, but the output meters for the headphones didn't show any audio output. I had absolutely no idea what was the cause.
The day before I configured 10 presets, maybe it got confused or what.
I made the "Restore Factory Setup" (erases presets, user names, system settings and so on but leaves files in the internal storage) and that helped. Had to rebuild the presets though. Not all 10 of them, just 5.

I wanted to make the following presets (for Atmos and PCM): 9.1.6, 7.1, Fake 6.1 in a 7.1 "container", 5.1 and 4.0. Every preset with and without the upmixer. I nearly went crazy, seems that the upmixer doesn't always show in the speaker map display and when pressing the up button, and/or it got confused. If you have an Atmos stream the upmixer doesn't show, even if it's set up in the preset (because Atmos doesn't upmix, it automatically maps to the number of speakers you have).

What I also didn't understand: When changing a preset it shows the red reload writing in the top line, if you press enter it should reload, and then disappear, but it was still there after reloading and tells me to reload.

By the way the correct 6.1 setup with back center (Cr) only works with PCM, since you can set PCM rooms as you want, for Atmos and DTS X you have to stick to the default layouts in the Realiser and there's no 6.1 layout with a back center. If you take a 7.1 and change the Lb to Cr it ignored it and the Lb will be missing in the Listening room.

My Pana 424 seems to upmix 5.1 DTS already to 7.1 when it converts it to PCM for the Realiser. Have to dive into the menu to see if there's a setting for this.

 

[Richter Di]

Looking at all the posts over the last two weeks, it occurs to me that there is something Smyth or an especially accomplished user to the A16 could put out there.

To wit, a completely detailed instruction set on how to take a PRIR with: A single Speaker using body shifting; a single speaker moving the speaker to the proper locations; a pair of stereo speakers moving just head and body; multiple speaker set ups esp 5.1 and 7.1.

This instruction should include ALL the measurements needed to capture Full PRIRs for Stereo, 5.1 and 71 legacy surround, 3D Auro, DTS-X, and ATMOS, as well as capturing a room like Blackbird if an opportunity is ever offered at a comparable venue.

For the single speaker method (with head and body movement), for example, it would include every angle needed for all six of the configurations (including how to label each speaker to make them usable by each format), the most ergonomic way to plow through the measurements, how to sort the measurements into specific rooms, how to do the HPEQ so that it's usable for all the formats. And most importantly: EXPLAIN IT TO EVERYONE LIKE THEY ARE FIVE YEARS OLD, so that anyone with any level of experience with the product can come away with an optimal measurement for all the formats. And, of course it would be helpful to do this as instructional video, though a thoroughly well document with illustrations pdf file would suffice.

Fully agree that it would be so helpful if one of the Smyth Realizer owners could do a good video tutorial for the different measurements.

 

[kh36267]

so it appears UPS finally found my package in the lost and found.....apparently the label had detached from the package at some point in the transit....

unfortunately that means they return the package back to the sender for a new label......now I have to wait for it to head all the way to the UK and back to the US all over again

Luckily the saga finally came to an end on Friday. The package was listed as 'Return to Sender'....but they ended up listing me as the sender.....so it was 'returned' to it's original desination. Seems like the label could have been a bit more straightforward. You could tell the package had been opened so that they could presumably confirm the contents based on what James had listed in the claim.

The one issue I had when I first started using the Realiser was that the unit would sometimes just power on to a blank LCD screen....it never made it to the initial splash screen. I also had problems getting back to the speaker map screen using the remote. I finally ended up doing a Factory Reset and haven't had any issues since then.

 

[Juy777]

Luckily the saga finally came to an end on Friday. The package was listed as 'Return to Sender'....but they ended up listing me as the sender.....so it was 'returned' to it's original desination. Seems like the label could have been a bit more straightforward. You could tell the package had been opened so that they could presumably confirm the contents based on what James had listed in the claim.

The one issue I had when I first started using the Realiser was that the unit would sometimes just power on to a blank LCD screen....it never made it to the initial splash screen. I also had problems getting back to the speaker map screen using the remote. I finally ended up doing a Factory Reset and haven't had any issues since then.

Be aware of "THE BUZZ". sometimes the unit would start outputting a buzz which could impair your hearing or damage the headphones depending on the volume setting. I also had this happen once or twice, it is really bad.
I also recommend to pull out the headphone plug when leaving the unit unattended and switched on.

 

[GeorgeA]

Is the buzz a bug of the software? Shouldn't it be added on the list of issues?

 

[Juy777]

I also assume its a firmware bug, just like the unit freezing with a white splashscreen and a couple other issues. Since we all just start slowly using the unit taking babysteps at a time
the buzzing only started to get reported a couple days ago.
Having experienced this buzz first hand i took the liberty to send out an email to James reporting this, as it is critical since the hearing might get damaged. I am sure audiohobbit will put it
in the list next days. I am gonna buy a cheap 10€ headphone with volume protection tomorrow,
those exist for kids, they have some sort of resistor soldered in which might prevent the worst.

And remember: when the buzz occurs switch the power of the unit off using the remote or pull the power cord, in my case the volume control did not work. Sadly the volume control does not always work,
depending where you are in the A16 menu structure.
But we all wanted the unit to be shipped before Brexit, now we have to take it

 

[sander99]

3. HDMI inputs 3 and 4 appear only to operate as HDMI 1.4 rather than HDMI 2.0b (FW 1.02. 1.05?)

From the FAQ : https://smyth-research.com/frequentlyaskedquestions/

HDMI input 1 is HDMI 2.0 compliant and supports HDCP 2.2 authentication, all mandatory 3D formats, and 4k up to @50/60Hz. Inputs 2,3 and 4 are HDMI 1.4a compliant and support HDCP 1.4 authentication, all mandatory 3D formats, and up to 4k @24/30Hz.

(I respond here because the idea is to keep the other thread clean.)
The FAQ is not up to date, amongst other things the FAQ still assumes the previous choosen HDMI board is still used.

 

[audiohobbit]

I am sure audiohobbit will put it
in the list next days

Will do.
Since it's now the third report on this unfortunately seems to be a major bug.
You have any idea what you did that could have started the buzz?
Did James answer?

 

[Juy777]

Will do.
Since it's now the third report on this unfortunately seems to be a major bug.
You have any idea what you did that could have started the buzz?
Did James answer?

I only sent the email to James a couple hours ago on a sunday. I will post an update when i got a reply.

Sorry for getting ahead of our list, but since there are multiple reports of this i felt it was urgent enough to let them immediately know. Staxes could get blown here.

As far as i remember one time it started randomly without me actually doing something at that moment or seconds before. It came out of nowhere.
I think it occured one time when i plugged the headphone in the user B output to compare something.It started buzzing right away when plugging the HP into user B HP out.
It might have been buzzing there since minutes because i exclusively used user A HP out before.
So with 2 headphones connected to user A and user B one HP connected to B just lying around could get blown out without immediatly noticing it if you wear closed phones on user A.
(in other words, i assume that it can buzz on one HP out, but the other output would still deliver a normal signal.)

It kinda sounds like when you try to hook up a turntable in a club with the volume cranked to 11 and you hear that grounding loop buzz while fiddling with the RCA connector cable at 124 decibels

 

[audiohobbit]

Ok, thanks for the description. Your FW is 1.02?

 

[Juy777]

Ok, thanks for the description. Your FW is 1.02?

firmware 1.05

 

[dsperber]

Staxes could get blown here.

It's even more concerning, as I am sending optical out of the A16 to my external DAC, which then sends on its XLR output to my Stax amp/headphone. So there are THREE volume levels to set for normal level in my ears: A16 volume, DAC volume, and Stax amp volume. I'm therefore also concerned possibly doing damage to my DAC, as it too is being fed from the A16's digital output which is providing the "buzz".

Long ago I decided the "proper" volume for my Stax amp was 2 o'clock, assuming proper "line level" for its source input. And that was my DAC, which I have set at almost its max output (i.e. 46 out of 47) which is essentially "line level" on its XLR out, into the Stax amp. And to get these two volumes to be correct, I had always had my A8 digital volume set to -10DB as its preset stored power-on volume level. I would then use the A8 remote (and its up/down arrow digital volume control) for any final fine tuning or tweaking of volume up or down at actual listening time, depending on an unusual out-of-the-ordinary source volume, either unexpectedly low or unexpectedly high. With the A16 I discovered that the delivered max 79 (which I've changed to now be 89) is just a bit lower in effect than -10DB on the A8. So it's typically just a bit too low to start and without increasing the max limit I'm not provided with any "head room" which might be needed for any unusually low source input lvel.

So this "buzz" symptom which has only hit me twice so far as I reported (both times only when feeding BITSTREAM for Dolby Atmos from "Toy Story 2" 4K UHD BluRay disc via Oppo 203 HDMI2-out to A16 HDMI2-in, not when feeding decoded LPCM for Dolby/DTS from Oppo 103 HDMI2-out to A16 HDMI1-in) is alarming, given that I'm running three devices with their own volume levels set quite high.

I don't have a user B, and I don't use the analog HP out of the A16. I use digital optical out. So the buzz on the A16 is clearly coming from somewhere in the digital domain, before its own DAC and analog headphone output circuitry. And again, so far it's only happened when the BITSTREAM-input decoder is operating in the A16, not when the A16 is being fed decoded LPCM which would bypass the A16 decoded. If there is a userA/B component to the problem description, I can't provided any of my own experience here as I only am a user A situation. Also, for the moment, no head tracker connected.

On the "white screen" symptom at power-up, I can sign up for that symptom as well. I've seen it probably three times, although not lately. Coincidentally I also have done one "factory reset" but that was because I was naively just playing around with learning what and how the remote keys worked, and what was delivered pre-installed, and how to ADJ +/-, etc., and I found myself having made changes to factory things that I hadn't really wanted to touch. I decided "factory reset" was a good safe way to start over, since "factory reset" was thoughtfully provided to the user. And now I can't recall if that also stopped the "white screen" symptom, since it's been a while since my last such event. It if occurs again I will report, but for now there's at least a chance that my two "white screen" symptoms were somehow "resolved" by the factory reset I did and thus might not ever occur again.

My delivered pre-installed firmware was 1.05.

It kinda sounds like when you try to hook up a turntable in a club with the volume cranked to 11 and you hear that grounding loop buzz while fiddling with the RCA connector cable at 124 decibels

Good analogy for what this sounds like as well as how you react in panic, trying to do something quickly to prevent blowing out your speakers or amp. And pulling the power cord (i.e. OFF on the remote, which works) is an instant solution.

I'm still convinced it's in the A16 digital world, before the DAC and analog headphone output circuitry, since I don't use the A16's DAC and analog headphone output. I use optical digital output to my own DAC, and have experienced the "buzz" twice.


One more addition to the list of "audible artifact anomalies" coming out of the A16, and this one stems from my 8 hours of listening through Oppo 103 decoded LPCM (for DD5.1 audio via streaming Hulu source) listening and 5.1 room preset. Over that 8 hours I heard maybe five "pop", or "crack" sounds, kind of like a static electric discharge "zap" when you touch your finger to some metal after rubbing your shoes on a new carpet. That fast or faster (i.e. a VERY SHORT "zap/crack", and very much that sound itself. I'm certain it's not coming from my Oppo, but rather from the A16.

Back in 2016 I had an almost identical sounding occasional "zap/crack" symptom from my brand new Lenovo P70 laptop which seemed to occur after long periods of silence (ie. no sound from the laptop speakers), and then all of a sudden there finally was sound needed, and this "zap/crack" would occur right then and only then, before normal sound would then be produced. And this whole story could be repeated subsequently, but again after long periods of no sound and then a "wakeup" of laptop speakers when sound was needed. It would not occur if you had sound produced regularly and continually, without letting a long "idle speakers with no-sound" period develop.

This machine was brand new in the Lenovo line, and I reported it to them right away. Took them about 4 months to eventually be able to duplicate and isolate the symptom in their lab. Turns out it was tied to Realtek audio drivers (where the "solution/fix" was made) and a power-off/on power saving design for the built-in DAC to conserve battery power. Sure enough Realtek provided the OEM driver fix to Lenovo which then distributed it, and the "zap/crack" was gone forever.

This is a very similar "zap/crack" sound out of the A16, even if the cause would seem to be completely non-analog but somehow digitally triggered so that it can be fed to the digital optical output which I then hear. But seemingly random (i.e. right in the middle of otherwise normal sound for hours), and definitely originating in the digital world (since I don't use the A16 DAC or analog headphone amp). And it can clearly occur with LPCM input, so it's not related to the BITSTREAM decoder.

 

[sander99]

I'm therefore also concerned possibly doing damage to my DAC

That is totally impossible. In particular when using the optical out. The DAC can not be damaged by "wrong numbers" being sent to it!

 

[dsperber]

That is totally impossible. In particular when using the optical out. The DAC can not be damaged by "wrong numbers" being sent to it!

Didn't know that, but it's good to learn. Seemed like its analog output stage generating the analog version is just as vulnerable to the nature and volume of the "buzz" as the Stax amp which is receiving it and delivering it to the headphones for audible rendering.

Nevertheless, the "high volume" of the buzz is definitely arriving at the headphones, out of the amp, fed by the DAC, fed by whatever "wrong numbers" are coming out of the A16.

Clearly this must be fixed. Unlike my "zap/crack" audio anomaly which is just a very brief "pop/click" noise for a very short fraction of a second, the "buzz" is ear-damage and amp/phone-equipment-damage loud and seemingly once triggered of indefinite duration, until you pull power on the A16.

 

[sander99]

Nevertheless, the "high volume" of the buzz is definitely arriving at the headphones, out of the amp, fed by the DAC, fed by whatever "wrong numbers" are coming out of the A16.

Oh yes, totally correct. But if you lower the volume of the Stax amp to a very low level, just enough to hear that there is a buzz, and don't let it go on for a long time nothing can go wrong.