Smyth Research Realiser A16

[frank2908]

My source is fiio m5 and mojo, and my diy hd800, this is my finding so far, all 2 channel
Fiio m5>3.5 to rca >stereo in>a16
First listening, the simulation is very smooth, without lagging, but lack bass and trebble
Then same setup, i did a hpeq with my headphones, and sounds much better, more detail and bass and treble sparkle
Fiio m5>a16>coax out>mojo sound muddy, the effect of surround is not clear, worst sound
Fiio m5>coax>mojo>3.5 to rca> steteo in a16
Best sound, music has both detail and weight, compare to my normal setup without a16, music has the same level of detail, plus the virtualization
Im Listening to the default room since i dont have any speaker. To my ear the virtual speaker behaviour when turning head is stunning, very natural. But the depth is not that special yet, i have to spend more time playing. Walking from 3 m away from the set top tracker to very close to it changes sound very little, any idea why? I feel like the virtual speaker is too close to me and want to change this

 

[audiohobbit]

The "virtual" or perceived distance of a "virtual" speaker doesn't change when you move closer to the set top of the head tracker!
head tracking is only there to compensate head rotation.
The distance the speakers are recorded within the PRIR is fixed, you can't change it afterwards.

If you only use the factory PRIRs (BBC or Surrey) then you have to do a manLOUD HPEQ for this room, it doesn't work with an auto HPEQ for your headphones, because the room is not personalised to your ears.
See the advanced video part 1 for the procedure:
And do a little search few pages back here I explained some more things about the procedure.


If a room is not personalised to you then not only the timbre of the speakers could be horribly wrong for your ears but also localisation, angular and distance-wise. It happens often with not personalised BRIRs that speakers sound too close to your head then they have been measured.
In the thread linked in my signature I posted some infos on both rooms of the factory PRIRs, I think the BBC room has speaker distance of 2.1 m and Surrey not given but I'd say a little more, about 2.5 m perhaps.

 

[You Gene]

Hello everyone,

I am compiling a list of all existing and known owners of the Realiser A16 compiled on the basis of : avs forum, Hifi forum, open-end-music, Kickstarter, head-fi and HCFR. Owners who have already gotten their machine of course.

Already done but for the HCFR forum. If anyone is interested when I am through with the HCFR forum, just let me know because I do not want to pollute the forum with unwanted information, I mean a long list.

It looks as follows based upon kickstarter numbers when available and with also 2 kickbackers who paid in full and already received their machine that I know of :

no. 1 “dsperber” : 4th September

no. ??? “Got the shakes” : Monday 19th August 2019

no. 3 “mrmac” : end August 2019

no. 7 “jgazal” : end August 2019

and so no, and on,...you get the point don't you?

You Gene

PS : it is per se not really useful, but it might be the basis of something more. Always take the long view!

 

[Got the Shakes]

Hello everyone,

I am compiling a list of all existing and known owners of the Realiser A16 compiled on the basis of : avs forum, Hifi forum, open-end-music, Kickstarter, head-fi and HCFR. Owners who have already gotten their machine of course.

Already done but for the HCFR forum. If anyone is interested when I am through with the HCFR forum, just let me know because I do not want to pollute the forum with unwanted information, I mean a long list.

It looks as follows based upon kickstarter numbers when available and with also 2 kickbackers who paid in full and already received their machine that I know of :

no. 1 “dsperber” : 4th September

no. ??? “Got the shakes” : Monday 19th August 2019

no. 3 “mrmac” : end August 2019

no. 7 “jgazal” : end August 2019

and so no, and on,...you get the point don't you?

You Gene

PS : it is per se not really useful, but it might be the basis of something more. Always take the long view!

I was a preorder customer (if I had to guess I would have been somewhere in the 400s) but I decided to pay the difference between my preorder price and retail to expedite things.

 

[dsperber]

It looks as follows based upon kickstarter numbers when available and with also 2 kickbackers who paid in full and already received their machine that I know of :

no. 1 “dsperber” : 4th September

Just for the sake of accuracy, I wasn't actually a kickstarter entry. Early on I wasn't sure I was going to buy one of these, although I was interested in following the development. After a while I decided I would use this as the opportunity to get an HDMI-enabled unit to replace my original analog-only A8 which was unable to be upgraded to have HDMI. But I was too late for the kickstarter opportunity.

So I came in during the early pre-order period, paying my deposit in January 2017. That meant I had now missed the very original pre-order offer price which ran until the end of 2016, but squeezed into the second somewhat increased pre-order price offer when I paid my initial deposit. And then I paid the remaining balance of the purchase price before March 31, 2017.

In otherwords, I think that Smyth shipped my #0001 A16 in September 2019 as a gesture of goodwill and their promise to me back at CanJam SoCal 2018, and because of my longtime customer relationship with them going back to 2004. I certainly wasn't trying to "jump the line" and definitely was not at the front of the pre-order list. And so technically I probably shouldn't have received my unit when I did, but I can't complain.

Those are my notes.

 

[You Gene]

Just for the sake of accuracy, I wasn't actually a kickstarter entry. Early on I wasn't sure I was going to buy one of these, although I was interested in following the development. After a while I decided I would use this as the opportunity to get an HDMI-enabled unit to replace my original analog-only A8 which was unable to be upgraded to have HDMI. But I was too late for the kickstarter opportunity.

So I came in during the early pre-order period, paying my deposit in January 2017. That meant I had now missed the very original pre-order offer price which ran until the end of 2016, but squeezed into the second somewhat increased pre-order price offer when I paid my initial deposit. And then I paid the remaining balance of the purchase price before March 31, 2017.

In otherwords, I think that Smyth shipped my #0001 A16 in September 2019 as a gesture of goodwill and their promise to me back at CanJam SoCal 2018, and because of my longtime customer relationship with them going back to 2004. I certainly wasn't trying to "jump the line" and definitely was not at the front of the pre-order list. And so technically I probably shouldn't have received my unit when I did, but I can't complain.

Those are my notes.

Come on boys & girls, get on with it, I am updating the list as you go. As well as "pilfering" through the HCFR forum. Think about it, we could :
start a trilingual newsletter (we would need email addresses)
see how many are not on forums ; which means we (the ones on forums) must not be very bright to be so far behind them...or they (the ones not on forums) might use the Realiser A16 as a headphone stand !

I am joking of course, but this is a marketing tool. I should apply to Smyth as a new Sales Manager ; what do you think?

I forgot : thank you all !

 

[audiohobbit]

I could imagine that not all users want to land on such a list even if they post on a forum and seem to have an A16.
just thinking.

 

[Sordel]

I should apply to Smyth as a new Sales Manager ; what do you think?

I would think that a list of Smyth customers would be literally of more use to any other audio manufacturer than it would be to Smyth.

 

[You Gene]

I could imagine that not all users want to land on such a list even if they post on a forum and seem to have an A16.
just thinking.

You are making a very good point. On the other hand, all information that I have gathered was taken from forums that disclose information freely.

No addresses, email addresses or even existing pictures of homes were taken ; some real addresses were even available when picturing labels of shipping address and to top it all some pictures of the screen of the Realiser A16 were mentioning the real name of avatars. Moreover professionals are already prowling on your forums ; they are called "sponsors" and already have this information at their fingertips. And you need them of course. And you are on their list.

Another point : if you don't like being on a list, why are some of you on Facebook, Twitter and tutti quanti.


But I understand and respect the need for privacy of course.

IF YOU ALL THINK IT IS GOING WAY BEYOND WHAT IS RESPECTABLE, I won't post it, that's for sure.

I will forget about this and sorry if sort of pushed you all into this. But I am glad we talked about it. What we do is always about the exchange of ideas.

PS : the idea of asking Stephen Smyth to be their Sales Manager was of course a joke

 

[audiohobbit]

This would only work if the users themselves add their names to such a list (do you call this "opt-in"?)
But I don't see the benefit of such a list of aliasses.

I'd be more happy if other A16 users check some possible bugs even if they don't use the specific function.
Several times I posted about distortions with the SVS Bass function and asked others to confirm which no one did. (It is confirmed now by another user with whom I had private contact and I reported it to Stephen. He didn't confirm but has an idea what it could be).

I asked some posts before what people think about vertical head tracking and the idea of Stephen with a fixed vertical offset.-> no answer.

Now I have some possible new bugs for you to check:

1. There seems to be something wrong with the LFE+10 dB setting. Another A16 user encountered this, but he has only the old firmware because his sd card slot doesn't work. He tolde me that with Dolby (Atmos) signals the LFE+10 dB (LFE-Boost) doesn't work.
I (with FW 1.75) checked this and found that it seems to work fine wiht Atmos but not with PCM.
In the links in my other thread (signature) I posted links to test tracks and there are also some Atmos test tracks with (white or pink) noise per channel. With this it's easy to check.
With PCM on the other hand I got different results: With DTS converted to PCM by the player it seems that LFE+10dB does nothing. With or without the option I got the same volume in the LFE.
With the atmos test track converted to PCM by the player (the Dolby core then only) it seemed that LFE+10dB was really LFE MINUS 10 (it was 10 dB quieter than without the LF-boost).
So I get totally mixed results here and the other guy gets opposit results, but maybe thats a firmware thing?
One can check this via listening to solo'ed LFE channel and by checking the audio meters. Best with test tracks with noise on the LFE channels (in my links there are also DTS-test tracks with noise on all the channels).
What also can be done is measuring the output if someone can.
I can, but haven't enough time or are too lazy.

I measured the output of the SVS Bass function. It does what it should (increase or decrease the signal level below 40 Hz by max +12 dB or -12 dB). I couldn't see the distortions though, not in the recorded wave forms with bass sine waves nor in the frequency response. That's odd and I do not understand. But I think Stephen knows what the problem is.

2. In the same sessions I did a quick measurement of the 2 new shelving filters added with FW 1.75(APM89-bass and -treble) and it seems that the bass shelving filter results only in half the attenuation or gain than set. I set it to -12 dB but measured only -6 dB. The high shelving filter seems fine though.

So if someone can measure, please try to confirm. Thanks.

 

[audiohobbit]

it is absolutely true that the "explosive discharge crack" sound occurs whenever you select a preset using 1-9 keys. Doesn't matter whether you're changing from one preset to another, or just re-pressing the key for the same preset already active

I can't remember that this happened in my setup. (so it's not "absolutely true"...)
Will check this if I find time.
Can somebody else check this?

You're using SPDIF out, don't you?
Just for the sake of it could you check if you hear this also when using the internal HP amps of the A16?

 

[audiohobbit]

BY the way, I don't find time at the moment to update my bugs etc. list.

I even think at the moment that it's more fruitful If I just send shorter mails with few questions at a time once or twice a week to Stephen as I do now with the vertical headtracking for example.
But I don't want to stress him too much. His last answer was sunday night 3 am in the morning (german time so maybe 2 am british time) for example...

 

[sander99]

I asked some posts before what people think about vertical head tracking and the idea of Stephen with a fixed vertical offset.-> no answer.

3 thoughts about the fixed vertical offset:
1. I have no user experience except for the short demo I had. So question to the long time A8 users: did you ever feel the need for this, did you ever lay your head backward a bit on the couch and experienced the virtual speakers "lifting up" and did this downgrade the whole listening experience for you?
2. It is also possible to simply measure an extra PRIR while holding your head in this position (for the people who still have to make their PRIRs or have the opportunity to re-do their PRIRs without too much hassle, besides: also in Stephens proposed scenario you need new measurements with vertical lookangles anyway).
3. If this is not very time consuming for the Smyths to implement then please, go ahead. But if this would considerably slow down all the other things on their to-do list (including the complete normal vertical head tracking) then skip it.
So actually I fully agree with this:

I don't know how much work this will be to implement, I think it's not that important at the moment, but the vertical measuring signals are.

 

[J.Villain]

I would think that a list of Smyth customers would be literally of more use to any other audio manufacturer than it would be to Smyth.

I wish I could like this more than once.

 

[dsperber]

I can't remember that this happened in my setup. (so it's not "absolutely true"...)
Will check this if I find time.
Can somebody else check this?

You're using SPDIF out, don't you?
Just for the sake of it could you check if you hear this also when using the internal HP amps of the A16?

Yes, I use optical output from the A16 to my external DAC, which then feeds XLR to my Stax amp. And, like you, I am suspicious that the cause of crack is the result of how my DAC reacts to the instantaneous disappearance/reappearance of optical digital data being fed to it. I don't know if there is a more graceful way the A16 can deal with this.

Just for reference, I will connect the RCA analog headphone outputs to my Stax amp (which supports both RCA and XLR inputs via INPUT switch) and test this out. I will also run a similar set of tests on my A8.

NOTE: turns out there are actually SIX different situations in which anomalous cracks (of either 1-syllable or 2-syllable) or pops of different fixed volumes (unrelated to the variable Volume setting of the A16) are occurring, which I will name Crack1, Crack2, etc to avoid ambiguity in future discussions:

(1) power-on, after the Smyth logo screen disappears and the Home Menu screen appears and begins to populate. The first thing that happens is that "wait" appears in the UserA preset line, at which time 1-syllable Crack1 occurs.

(2) power-on, while UserA preset is being loaded and "loading" is displayed, there is silence. But when preset loading completes and "activated" is presented a 1-syllable Crack2 occurs.

(3) power-on, after the UserA preset process completes the UserB preset process is now perfomed. Again, the state goes from "wait" to "loading" and then "activated" at which time a 1-syllable Crack3 occurs.

(4) power-off, at which time a short 1-syllable Crack4 (really a "pop") occurs

(5) numeric keypad DISABLED, so that new 1.75 functionality supporting direct-select of presets using 1-9 keys is facilitated. When Speaker Map is displayed and 1-9 keys are used to directly select a preset, there is a large "WAIT" displayed on the screen, at which time the loud 2-syllable Crack5 occurs. Doesn't matter if the same preset is selected as is already currently loaded or if a different preset is selected, when the "WAIT" appears the Crack5 sound occurs.

(6) numeric keypad DISABLED or ENABLED (doesn't matter), standard sequential preset browsing/selection functionality always is available using the +/- ADJ keys when the Speaker Map is displayed. Whenever the +/- ADJ keys are pressed and "WAIT" is displayed, the loud 2-syllable Crack6 occurs (same as Crack5 from direct-select of preset).


It is certainly possible that these unexpected cracks/pops are due to how my external Audio-GD NFB9 DAC is responding to whatever optical data is being fed to it by the A16. There may or may not be the same results using a different brand of external DAC, or when using the A16 built-in DAC/amp. I am limited in what I can test, which is why I was asking for supporting comments from others, to complete and flesh out the total set of test data points and so that Smyth can address all the situations with relevant firmware fixes.