[ivanrocks321]

I own a recently updated Kickstarter unit that was initially shipped out to me in January 2020 and reshipped to me this month after I paid for the upgrades. They've got a long way to go to be done with shipping Kickstarter units before next getting to the pre-orders. There are 330 Kickstarter backers but the Kickstarter numbers go into the 370's(375?) due to order cancellations inflating the numbers(e.g., if you cancelled Kickstarter order #330 then the next KS backer could be #331, with the ultimate number of backers still being 330). I believe that they are shipped up to KS backer 204, if that gives you an idea of where they're at. They also have to upgrade all of the current stock before resuming Kickstarter shipping and who knows how long that will take. I have no idea as to how many pre-orders there were, nor, obviously, do I know where you sit in the queue.

They have Dolby Atmos certification done but not Auro 3D or DTS, and they have put both of the latter on the back burner. Word is that the Realiser Exchange is coming soon but "soon" takes on a different meaning in the Smyth Research universe. Still, I expect/guess that the probability is overwhelmingly high that the Exchange with the Canjam PRIR's will be up and running long before any pre-orders are shipped out.

The Smyths have been generally pretty good about doing firmware upgrades and the A16 is an awesome piece of kit of you have your own PRIR. There's honestly nothing on the market that can do what it can but the decision of whether to continue waiting or to bail is up to you. I'd have to say that, based on SR's track record thus far, I don't realistically see any pre-orders shipping in 2020. If you have deep pockets and are willing, you can spend $4K to get an A16 shipped out to you pretty quickly but that is obviously also a personal issue, plus money is tight for most of us anyway in the pandemic. HTH.

thank you for this summary of what’s been happening.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I own a recently updated Kickstarter unit that was initially shipped out to me in January 2020 and reshipped to me this month after I paid for the upgrades. They've got a long way to go to be done with shipping Kickstarter units before next getting to the pre-orders. There are 330 Kickstarter backers but the Kickstarter numbers go into the 370's(375?) due to order cancellations inflating the numbers(e.g., if you cancelled Kickstarter order #330 then the next KS backer could be #331, with the ultimate number of backers still being 330). I believe that they are shipped up to KS backer 204, if that gives you an idea of where they're at. They also have to upgrade all of the current stock before resuming Kickstarter shipping and who knows how long that will take. I have no idea as to how many pre-orders there were, nor, obviously, do I know where you sit in the queue.

They have Dolby Atmos certification done but not Auro 3D or DTS, and they have put both of the latter on the back burner. Word is that the Realiser Exchange is coming soon but "soon" takes on a different meaning in the Smyth Research universe. Still, I expect/guess that the probability is overwhelmingly high that the Exchange with the Canjam PRIR's will be up and running long before any pre-orders are shipped out.

The Smyths have been generally pretty good about doing firmware upgrades and the A16 is an awesome piece of kit of you have your own PRIR. There's honestly nothing on the market that can do what it can but the decision of whether to continue waiting or to bail is up to you. I'd have to say that, based on SR's track record thus far, I don't realistically see any pre-orders shipping in 2020. If you have deep pockets and are willing, you can spend $4K to get an A16 shipped out to you pretty quickly but that is obviously also a personal issue, plus money is tight for most of us anyway in the pandemic. HTH.

I also wonder about all the other things like when and if there will be a USB out of processed PRIR audio, when we'll get some kind of way of doing PRIR measurements Asynchronously with a digital recording, and when there will be a method of improving BRIRs to make them sound closer to PRIRs, as well as a useful web interface. Al this stuff is very important for my enjoyment of the product, and I'd really like to see some progress on these areas this year.

 

[sander99]

@ivanrocks321

I have no idea as to how many pre-orders there were

James Smyth mentioned in a mail to one of us that there are 280 pre-orders.

 

[Fox1977]

A couple of weeks ago, I saw on the KS comments that backer #64 was saying that he still hadn’t received his unit (!!)
I suggested him to contact James because it’s completely abnormal, backers in the 60s range received their A16 over half a year ago. He must have simply be skipped somehow in the process...
As @esimms86 mentioned, so far they shipped till #204 but I’m #203 and still waiting, possibly some other backers in the late 190s or early 200s are also waiting.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Just paid import duties of $38.79, but I still have no idea where the unit is or when it will be delivered.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Just paid import duties of $38.79, but I still have no idea where the unit is or when it will be delivered.

In my two previous experiences of importingmy A16 they don’t ask for import fees until it has actually scanned into a UPS facility in the US so it has to have at least made the trek across the Atlantic at this point.

 

[dsperber]

I also wonder about all the other things like when and if there will be a USB out of processed PRIR audio

What would you do with this? There's already the optical digital output of SVS-processed 2-channel stereo sound intended for your headphones, to feed your external DAC/amp instead of the internal built-in DAC/amp. So if that's what you wanted with USB output it's there now.

I remember back in the very old days, I had (in fact still do HAVE) a Carver Sonic Hologram unit (actually, I have TWO different models although I use neither any longer). This was his terrific attempt at trying to produce the sensation of "surround sound field" from stereo speakers. You would sit in your chair in precisely the right place in your sound environment, and your 2-channel stereo speakers would be fed audio processed through the Sonic Hologram processor (100% analog), which was really probably injecting a bit of cross-channel feed from L-to-R and R-to-L with a small delay imposed. The effect (if you got it just right) was to produce the sensation of a "wide 3D-like sound stage in front of you".

It actually worked to some degree, very much dependent on the listening environment and where the speakers and walls were, and where you were placed.

The Carver Sonic Hologram processor was inserted into the "tape loop" of my audio system, along with my DBX 14/10 EQ to provide "tone control". What I did was to analog-record the "processed Sonic Hologram 2-channel stereo analog output, tone-managed by the DBX EQ" through my Nakamichi CR-7A tape deck onto cassette tapes which I then played back IN MY CAR, using its after-market Nakamichi TD1200 tape system and playing through the 14-speaker tri-amplified custom all-analog sound system I'd had installed in my car (a wonderful 1983 Mercedes 380SEC) by a well known high-end after-market celebrity custom audio installer here in LA (named Howard Becker's Electronic Entertainment, back when that kind of thing was all the rage, before the car manufacturers decided to get into the business for themselves and after-market custom audio died).

Remarkably, the recorded processed sound from that Carver Sonic Hologram processor really did make the "virtual 3D-like sound stage" appear in front of me, above the dashboard and right where the windshield was. It was probably the up-firing ribbon tweeters and other dash-mounted speakers which were located in the center and either side of the dashboard that made this possible. It was also undeniable (at least it seemed so to my ears) that I could kind of "locate" where voices and instruments were located within that sound field, left to right. This illusion was absolutely different than simply listening to the original 2-channel stereo audio without the Carver Sonic Hologram processing inserted.

That was the beginning of my love for "high-end sound in my car", headphones, and other alternative substitutes for an actual home theater-like listening environment which I could never really put together. Listening to the Carver Sonic Hologram in the crummy 2-speaker setup of my room with its space and walls was never very effective or satisfying. But listening to a tape recording of the 2-channel analog output through my car's much more contained and closed-in environment, well now it really did "work". The virtual 3D-like sound stage illusion and the seeming ability to "place" instruments and voices in the left-to-right sound field, well it worked great in my car.

Ahh... those were the days.

NOTE: I've toyed with the idea of recording the optical digital output from the A16 (or A8), through the optical input of my PC's Creative Zx soundcard. But it's really intended for "playback" through my Stax SR-009 headphones as represented by the HPEQ in order to facilitate duplicating the original sound of the original listening environment captured by the PRIR, not played back through my car's speakers.

I've not tried this, but because the concept is so different I can't imagine getting the SVS-produced virtual multi-channel 3D-like effect listening to a 2-channel recording of the 2-channel stereo output of the Realiser through the 2-channel sound system of my car (even with its multiple speakers). I would think it depends on the headphones characterized in the HPEQ you use to actually listen, and the whole notion of your ears and headphones... rather than something in the processed sound itself played back through any generic 2-channel stereo audio output system, like your car has.

Nevertheless, an interesting idea to experiment with. Just for grins.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

" What would you do with this? There's already the optical digital output of SVS-processed 2-channel stereo sound intended for your headphones, to feed your external DAC/amp instead of the internal built-in DAC/amp. So if that's what you wanted with USB output it's there now. "

How far do you think you can run an optical digital toslink or a spidf? Not nearly as far as you can run USB to an asynchronous USB dac without degrading the signal, which is why USB is preferable for feeding an external dac, especially over anything but extremely short distances.

 

[audiohobbit]

and after-market custom audio died

Did it? (in the US?)
A good custom installed stereo is always better than even the best OEM systems.
I think at least the good installers here in Germany survived.
The problem today is the interface to the OEM-radios.They sometimes don't even have analog outs, only a bus system anymore.

When I read "vintage" car stereo and Ribbon Tweeters, Infinity comes to mind. That correct?


Back to the Realiser:
Some pages earlier we had a discussion about copying/duplicate HPEQ-files.
What I discovered: You can copy an HPEQ-file from internal memory to SD-card and from there you can copy it back as often as you want and you seem to get the exact same file as often as you want. It will have the same "metadata" though: Headphone/user name, Date and Time. Seems that internally the A16 gives it a different file name every time you copy it back from SD card.
As one can rename the files (well the user and the headphone to be exact) I think you can copy a HPEQ file from SD multiple times back and rename them individually and add different manLOUD or manSPKR HPEQS to them. But I haven't tried this so far.

What I also noticed:
It seems now that when you added a manLOUD curve to a HPEQ, and you reload this HPEQ file in the manLOUD procedure, you get the manLOUD curve you created earlier, and you can edit this now.
But I don't know if this behaviour is consistent now with the new FW.
During my first attempts to manLOUD I expected this, that when you reload the HPEQ with the manLOUD you just created into the manLOUD procedure again that you will see the curve you created, and I remember I got this once, or sometimes, but some other time I didn't get it and the curve (all the bars for the frequency ranges) were flat (at 0 dB) again.

This is why I came up with the idea to store a picture vor every bar onto SD card. So when I finished raising or lowering the bars in the frequency ranges I start again at the first bar, press # to create a pic, then go one left to the next bar, press # and so on, so I got 30 pictures, one for every bar, so you can read the specific dB setting for every frequency range and can recreate it again if needed. Then I put the SD card into the PC, create a directory for the HPEQ, coyp the HPEQ and the 30 pictures to this directory, so I still know later what my manLOUD settings were for this HPEQ.

To write pictrues to SD card the Generate BMP setting has to be activated, it can now be found in System/Settings/Misc.

 

[Om ma Ni]

Did it? (in the US?)
A good custom installed stereo is always better than even the best OEM systems.
I think at least the good installers here in Germany survived.
The problem today is the interface to the OEM-radios.They sometimes don't even have analog outs, only a bus system anymore.

When I read "vintage" car stereo and Ribbon Tweeters, Infinity comes to mind. That correct?


Back to the Realiser:
Some pages earlier we had a discussion about copying/duplicate HPEQ-files.
What I discovered: You can copy an HPEQ-file from internal memory to SD-card and from there you can copy it back as often as you want and you seem to get the exact same file as often as you want. It will have the same "metadata" though: Headphone/user name, Date and Time. Seems that internally the A16 gives it a different file name every time you copy it back from SD card.
As one can rename the files (well the user and the headphone to be exact) I think you can copy a HPEQ file from SD multiple times back and rename them individually and add different manLOUD or manSPKR HPEQS to them. But I haven't tried this so far.

What I also noticed:
It seems now that when you added a manLOUD curve to a HPEQ, and you reload this HPEQ file in the manLOUD procedure, you get the manLOUD curve you created earlier, and you can edit this now.
But I don't know if this behaviour is consistent now with the new FW.
During my first attempts to manLOUD I expected this, that when you reload the HPEQ with the manLOUD you just created into the manLOUD procedure again that you will see the curve you created, and I remember I got this once, or sometimes, but some other time I didn't get it and the curve (all the bars for the frequency ranges) were flat (at 0 dB) again.

This is why I came up with the idea to store a picture vor every bar onto SD card. So when I finished raising or lowering the bars in the frequency ranges I start again at the first bar, press # to create a pic, then go one left to the next bar, press # and so on, so I got 30 pictures, one for every bar, so you can read the specific dB setting for every frequency range and can recreate it again if needed. Then I put the SD card into the PC, create a directory for the HPEQ, coyp the HPEQ and the 30 pictures to this directory, so I still know later what my manLOUD settings were for this HPEQ.

To write pictrues to SD card the Generate BMP setting has to be activated, it can now be found in System/Settings/Misc.

Clever ..clever..thank you so much for sharing all these useful tips mate!
Yes I also noticed the latest ManloudHPEQ which can stay in the system once we create it..and it can be useful if we didn t capture all the different freq numbers etc..
I have been trying as much as i could to get a good ManloudEQ with the BBC room in 15.1.8 but still not happy of how it sounds atm...the localisation of the different virtualspkrs is not too bad but the sound isn t what i expect so far even it s a BRIR ... All bc of the complexity and difficulty to get a nice ManloudEQ curve..at least with my ears...
Was thinking at something: might try create a 3.1 (L,C,R + SW) room from the BBC and play a song or soundtrack that i am familiar with..from that i will be able to adjust indirectly my ManloudEQ curve to get the best out of the 3.1...than use this same ManLoudHPEQ curve for the complete 15.1.8 BRIR from same BBC .. and hopefully it will work better?

 

[audiohobbit]

thank you so much for sharing all these useful tips mate!

You're welcome. I already wrote the tip with the pictures earlier in this thread. My problem is that I'm too "lazy" to write it all down once and post it on the Tips and Tricks Thread I created ... would save me a lot typing work in the end...

the latest ManloudHPEQ

Now that you say it: It could be that it's jsut the latest curve you created that's always shown. I thought I checked this with other manLOUDs I created but I forgot. Have to recheck it.

On your proposition to create manLOUD by listening to known music: Could work, but not less difficult: You have to know the frequency ranges of the instruments and voices etc. and for this you have to have LOTs of listening (and measuring) experience. What you'd need is a (parametric) EQ at the headphone pre-out, between A16 and a headphone amp, with which you can manipulate the freqency response while listening.
And some sort of spectrum analyzer would also be helpful to see which frequencies are playing at the moment.
With an instrument or voice you'll have a fundamental tone plus the harmonics. You need a lot of knowledge to know which ones are to be manipulated to get your desired results, I presume.

 

[Om ma Ni]

You're welcome. I already wrote the tip with the pictures earlier in this thread. My problem is that I'm too "lazy" to write it all down once and post it on the Tips and Tricks Thread I created ... would save me a lot typing work in the end...

Now that you say it: It could be that it's jsut the latest curve you created that's always shown. I thought I checked this with other manLOUDs I created but I forgot. Have to recheck it.

On your proposition to create manLOUD by listening to known music: Could work, but not less difficult: You have to know the frequency ranges of the instruments and voices etc. and for this you have to have LOTs of listening (and measuring) experience. What you'd need is a (parametric) EQ at the headphone pre-out, between A16 and a headphone amp, with which you can manipulate the freqency response while listening.
And some sort of spectrum analyzer would also be helpful to see which frequencies are playing at the moment.
With an instrument or voice you'll have a fundamental tone plus the harmonics. You need a lot of knowledge to know which ones are to be manipulated to get your desired results, I presume.

Yes you are totally right..your info sounds very pro...i was just trying to refer to my own ears listening experience..I also dont know if the Manloud curve has an effect on the localization of the virtualspkrs too? Or just the L,C,R EQ?

 

[audiohobbit]

I mean you can always try. I don't want to discourage you though...

The frequency response at your eardrum is part of the HRTF, and also affects localization, especially in the median plane, where the run-time to both ears is the same. For sounds coming from the side the interaural time delay(ITD) plays a bigger role for localisation I assume, but for the center speaker, when looking straight ahead, there is no ITD, so localisation here depends only on the frequency response at your ear drums, so by the HPEQ in our case here.
I noticed this when I made different manLOUDs for the Surrey room, that I perceived the center at different heights.
However since the manLOUD is always a compromise you have to find one where the timbre of the main speakers LCR sounds best to your ears, if you perceive them a little bit higher or lower is not so important in that case I would say. But everyone has to match his own preferences best.
That's also the reason I think why you can choose to play the noise in the manLOUD procedure through the different main speakers (L+R, C or L+C+R) to find the best compromise for all of them.

 

[VandyMan]

" What would you do with this? There's already the optical digital output of SVS-processed 2-channel stereo sound intended for your headphones, to feed your external DAC/amp instead of the internal built-in DAC/amp. So if that's what you wanted with USB output it's there now. "

How far do you think you can run an optical digital toslink or a spidf? Not nearly as far as you can run USB to an asynchronous USB dac without degrading the signal, which is why USB is preferable for feeding an external dac, especially over anything but extremely short distances.

If you prefer USB, no issue. But technically, they are all have the similar max distance recommendations. coaxial is actually best of the three for long runs. I used to have issues (dropouts) with a 5 meter USB cable and switched to a glass Toslink cable with good results. Plus, it provides electrical issolation.

USB 2.0 = 5 meters
Coaxial = 10 meters
Toslink = 5 meter

Edit: I'm guessing you are mainly concerned about jitter. My DACs (Benchmark and Auralic) have both been measured to have pretty much the same jitter level with all digital inputs, butI agree it might be a concern with some DACs.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

If you prefer USB, no issue. But technically, they are all have the similar max distance recommendations. coaxial is actually best of the three for long runs. I used to have issues (dropouts) with a 5 meter USB cable and switched to a glass Toslink cable with good results. Plus, it provides electrical issolation.

USB 2.0 = 5 meters
Coaxial = 10 meters
Toslink = 5 meter

Edit: I'm guessing you are mainly concerned about jitter. My DACs (Benchmark and Auralic) have both been measured to have pretty much the same jitter level with all digital inputs, butI agree it might be a concern with some DACs.

Over a distance with Spidf/toslink, jitter is a concern.

And still no tracking update. 24 hrs after paying the import fees I don;t know where my Realiser is or when delivery is to be scheduled. When I try to use UPS customer service I get a bot, that, naturally, can only answer FAQs. I suppose I could try to get someone on the phone and wait an hour to talk to a live person, and hear some BS about Covid affecting everything. Seems like the Covid excuse is being used to permanently degrade the already excrable customer service functions of all these large corporations. Doubt that service will ever return to even the abysmal pre covid levels even if we get a handle on the virus. And I wonder if I'll ever get my Realiser.