[AppleheadMay]

As far as the colour choice goes audiohobbit is correct: only silver headstands and black 2Us. I can't find the announcement, however it was before 14 November 2017 because that was the date when I sent Smyth Research a Kickstarter PM requesting a change to the 2U version having asked for the no longer available black headstand version in the survey, Mike Smyth responded that my preference would be changed.

Thanks. I switched from 2U to headstand model since my desk setup changed quite a bit in the past 4 years.

And I'm done with black, my whole stereo setup changed to silver a year ago and my next AV setup will be silver as well. Things looked so much prettier in the 70's and 80's before all that black started.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Trying to get my head around using the A16 without much fuss.

* How can one easily do a simple setup the A16 to produce 7.6.1 or 7.4.1 or 7.1 sound?
- load a factory "Preset" (and later replace it with one from the exchange)? No need to worry about "PRIR" and "listening rooms" if you have a "Preset"?
- take a measurement of your ears with a pair of phones to make a HPEQ profile for said phones and load it.

* And will the A16 produce that multichannel 7.7.6.1/7.4.1 sound from not only an Atmos track but also a 7.1/5.1 or stereo track for example? So will it create virtual channels if they were not in the source material?

* For connecting to a computer, what's the difference between using HDMI and USB?

 

[audiohobbit]

Did you RT(F)M?
Watched the videos?
Manual p. 12 ff.

Video 4: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0yePwI_x1q8oACTVHpYxkw/videos
and 3 for auto HPEQ, but this is only useful for PRIRs made with your own ears.
For the generic PRIRs on board the A16 (BBC, Surrey) create a manLOUD HPEQ, advanced video 1. -> my recommendation (and deviation) from the video here is that you start with a flat HPEQ instead of an auto HPEQ. A flat HPEQ is made with one click. See the manual.

A PRIR contains multiple ( 1 to 32, i think) measured speakers at specific positions (L, R, C, Ls, Rs and so on).
A listening room is built out of one or several PRIRs. 5.1, 7.1, 7.1.4 and so on.
A preset is built from a listening room ( to be exact 3 listening rooms, one for Dolby(Atmos) one for DTS-X(does not work yet, but a listening room has to be created) and one for PCM signals) plus a HPEQ.


The A16 at the moment only has the Dolby Suroround upmixer, that can upmix everything to max. 7.1.6 (the front wides are not used by the DSU unfortunately). When DTS-X is finally licensed it will also have the DTS Neural X upmixer.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Did you RT(F)M?
Watched the videos?
Manual p. 12 ff.

Video 4: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC0yePwI_x1q8oACTVHpYxkw/videos
and 3 for auto HPEQ, but this is only useful for PRIRs made with your own ears.
For the generic PRIRs on board the A16 (BBC, Surrey) create a manLOUD HPEQ, advanced video 1. -> my recommendation (and deviation) from the video here is that you start with a flat HPEQ instead of an auto HPEQ. A flat HPEQ is made with one click. See the manual.

A PRIR contains multiple ( 1 to 32, i think) measured speakers at specific positions (L, R, C, Ls, Rs and so on).
A listening room is built out of one or several PRIRs. 5.1, 7.1, 7.1.4 and so on.
A preset is built from a listening room ( to be exact 3 listening rooms, one for Dolby(Atmos) one for DTS-X(does not work yet, but a listening room has to be created) and one for PCM signals) plus a HPEQ.


The A16 at the moment only has the Dolby Suroround upmixer, that can upmix everything to max. 7.1.6 (the front wides are not used by the DSU unfortunately). When DTS-X is finally licensed it will also have the DTS Neural X upmixer.

Thanks for the info and the links!

I read up to page 34 of the FM (pardon my French but it is indeed an FM, way too much crap that I don't need for basic operation or using an exchange preset) and then read some parts while skimming through. I also read both FAQs on the website. Those made me think the A16 came with presets as opposed to PRIRs.

I know about the PRIRs -> listening rooms -> presets.
I didn't know that a HPEQ was part of a preset though and that it didn't need to be made for your own ears with every headphone you plan to use if the PRIR wasn't made using your own ears. Wouldn't it be of any use doing that?

I thought the A16 came with "Presets", not "PRIRs". So it's PRIRs after all and I need to make the Presets?

In any case, I'll check out the videos you mentioned and some of the other videos they have that don't involve having to measure PRIRs myself, that should get me further, thanks!

 

[sander99]

I thought the A16 came with "Presets", not "PRIRs". So it's PRIRs after all and I need to make the Presets?

Out of the box there are existing presets that use existing listening rooms that use existing factory PRIRs.
In fact there are 8 x 16 presets (8 users, 16 presets per user) that all are using existing listening rooms.
There are 3 x 32 listening rooms (32 Atmos, 32 DTS:X, and 32 PCM) that initially are all filled with speakers from the BBC PRIR.
(So initially - until you change things - you effectively always end up with the BBC PRIR regardless of which preset from which user you select.)
If you want to use another PRIR you take one of the existing listening rooms and modify it. And take one of the existing presets and change the listening room(s) to the one(s) you modified.
(Out of the box there also is the Surrey PRIR, but it is not yet used in any of the rooms, if you want to use it you should modify a listening room and choose that listening room in one of the presets: nice exercise for newbees).
From the exchange you wouldn't get a preset but a PRIR: again, if you want to use it you first modify a listening room and a preset to use that PRIR.
The same for PRIRs that you measure yourself.
What I did until now with my borrowed A16 with every new PRIR: I modified 3 listening rooms each using the new PRIR: one Atmos, one DTS:X, and one PCM listening room. And then modify one preset in which I select those three listening rooms respectively as the Atmos, DTS:X and PCM room.
The type of input signal automatically determines which of the 3 rooms in the choosen preset are used. (With DTS signals currently being ignored.)

 

[AppleheadMay]

Thank you both, I think I'm getting the picture.
Had to re-read both your posts a couple of times while referring to the manual as it was easy to misunderstand some things.
I also started watching some of the YouTube video's they give a nice step-by-step how to accomplish things.
Out of curiosity I will however go to a friend/dealer and make a PRIR from an expensive set of stereo speakers to see what it does for me.

Any thoughts on using the HDMI in (8-ch LPCM or bitstream) vs. the USB (16ch, I suppose also LPCM?)?

 

[sander99]

Out of curiosity I will however go to a friend/dealer and make a PRIR from an expensive set of stereo speakers to see what it does for me.

Absolutely try a personal measured PRIR if you have the chance! Without it you may possibly never have a really good out of head experience.

Any thoughts on using the HDMI in (8-ch LPCM or bitstream) vs. the USB (16ch, I suppose also LPCM?)?

I didn't manage to get USB working (but haven't spend much time on trying to find out why).
Anyone who did get it working? And 2 channels back to the computer via USB?
You would only really need USB for sending more than 8 channels of LPCM. Would be usefull if there was software to decode DTS:X or Auro3D on the pc and send it to the A16 as multi channel LPCM over USB. But I don't know any such software or even if for example Windows could handle >8 channels LPCM somehow.

 

[esimms86]

Absolutely try a personal measured PRIR if you have the chance! Without it you may possibly never have a really good out of head experience.

I didn't manage to get USB working (but haven't spend much time on trying to find out why).
Anyone who did get it working? And 2 channels back to the computer via USB?
You would only really need USB for sending more than 8 channels of LPCM. Would be usefull if there was software to decode DTS:X or Auro3D on the pc and send it to the A16 as multi channel LPCM over USB. But I don't know any such software or even if for example Windows could handle >8 channels LPCM somehow.

I was able to get USB working for stereo. The signal chain was J River Media Center on my Dell laptop connected via USB to the A16 and with the downloadable Windows USB driver installed. Headphones are the Hifiman HE1000v2. I had used the low gain setting for the HPEQ so the volume was too low. I have since made a new and better HPEQ.

BTW, I highly recommend investing in a cheap handheld mirror so that you can verify proper placement of the in ear microphones and foam when working alone.

Thanks to @audiohobbit I have a 3.5 mm to stereo RCA cable on order from Amazon so that I can finally make stereo and quad PRIRs based on my modest home stereo(a Marantz PM KI Pearl receiver with Gallo Strada speakers, a Gallo subwoofer and a Chord DAVE DAC - yeah, I know, the DAC costs almost twice as much as the other components combined, however, it absolutely rocks for “in your head” stereo listening and doesn’t require a separate headphone amp).

My plan is to make a new HPEQ and PRIR in the same session so that the microphone placement is the same for each(as recommended by Smyth Research).

 

[sander99]

J River Media Center

@phoenixdogfan: you use this as well don't you? Would J River be able to play a movie with DTS (no :X, but up to HD MA 7.1) decode the audio and send it out as multichannel LPCM (via USB or HDMI)? I remember you suggested something like this a long time ago.

 

[esimms86]

I haven't tried this but apparently, J River can import DTS Audio (dts, dtshd) for audio playback.

 

[Edwood]

Absolutely try a personal measured PRIR if you have the chance! Without it you may possibly never have a really good out of head experience.

I didn't manage to get USB working (but haven't spend much time on trying to find out why).
Anyone who did get it working? And 2 channels back to the computer via USB?
You would only really need USB for sending more than 8 channels of LPCM. Would be usefull if there was software to decode DTS:X or Auro3D on the pc and send it to the A16 as multi channel LPCM over USB. But I don't know any such software or even if for example Windows could handle >8 channels LPCM somehow.

I've gotten USB to work with Windows 10. (Control Panel --> Sound --> Click on Realiser --> Hit "Configure" in lower left, then pick 7.1 in audio channels). Problem is that I would really like to know what format it's decoding, but overall you can see which virtual speaker is running on the front display.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Absolutely try a personal measured PRIR if you have the chance! Without it you may possibly never have a really good out of head experience.

I didn't manage to get USB working (but haven't spend much time on trying to find out why).
Anyone who did get it working? And 2 channels back to the computer via USB?
You would only really need USB for sending more than 8 channels of LPCM. Would be usefull if there was software to decode DTS:X or Auro3D on the pc and send it to the A16 as multi channel LPCM over USB. But I don't know any such software or even if for example Windows could handle >8 channels LPCM somehow.

Thanks Sander.
I think HDMI might be the better choice then.
As far as I know even Atmos is wrapped into a 7.1 signal (with extra information for the height channelsP and 7.1 is tha maximum on PC's as well.

 

[ajax1]

A Smyth Realiser A16 is for sale.

Price $2995 includes free shipping.

I believe seller has listed this A16 or another before. So some questions on the
subject would be appropriate.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649592561-smyth-research-realiser-a16/

 

[phoenixdogfan]

A Smyth Realiser A16 is for sale.

Price $2995 includes free shipping.

I believe seller has listed this A16 or another before. So some questions on the
subject would be appropriate.

https://www.usaudiomart.com/details/649592561-smyth-research-realiser-a16/

Thing to remember, Smyth won't honor a warranty if not the original buyer. As one who now has his own Realiser back in Bangor b/c it locked up, I would advise real caution.

 

[You Gene]

Maybe a silly question, but I wonder whether the Realiser A16 has a small battery inside like your standalone PC. And if yes, do we have to replace it...when kaput?

Thanks