[Richter Di]

When the Smyths informed us back in April about a three-month delay (they were at that time expecting to start shipping in August), they were mentioning "we almost certainly will be able to include the new MDS HDMI 2.0a (4k HDR) board in each unit" but on the progress report from July, 30th they wrote "The HDMI 2.0b hardware is also in manufacture and due for delivery to us early September". So clearly, they managed to upgrade in the meantime from the HDMI 2.0a board (that was already an improvement from the one they had planned in the first place) to the 2.0b board (likely this 5th generation board you are mentioning). So i guess despite our frustration, it's worth the wait... (still, i hope the wait to close to the end !)

I guess you are right, thanks for the reminder. But still I get now a little impatient.

 

[MichaelJames99]

Setup question.. So the source equipment will all go straight into the A16..in my case all HDMI. But how are you switching between the A16 and times you want to run audio to your Home Theater Preamp Processor for when you have 3-5 friends over..no headphones? In my case I have a Marantz AV7702.

Also are people still planning to use an integral-4k60-444-600mhz (or something like it) to pull out the audio streams of some source equipment and have the A16 detect it? (I dont have a 4k TV.. I have Panasonics last year of Plasma TVs.. VT60 65" 2013) https://www.hdfury.com/product/integral-4k60-444-600mhz/

 

[teacher1000]

Setup question.. So the source equipment will all go straight into the A16..in my case all HDMI. But how are you switching between the A16 and times you want to run audio to your Home Theater Preamp Processor for when you have 3-5 friends over..no headphones? In my case I have a Marantz AV7702./

I was told that the A16 will have a theatre pass-through function. In fact, I intend to use it as my preamp and just use the power-amp on my old Arcam.

 

[illram]

I remember reading the same. One of the PDFs I think. I hope that's true, otherwise my setup is going to be pretty complicated...

 

[Richter Di]

I remember reading the same. One of the PDFs I think. I hope that's true, otherwise my setup is going to be pretty complicated...

It for sure is. Just have a look at the back.

 

[MichaelJames99]

It for sure is. Just have a look at the back.

OK, so I want to make sure I am following here. Are you referring to the HDMI Out on the back? So my Home Theater is a 7.1 system, LCR, SR SL, RR RL + sub. I don't have any Dolby Atmos speakers.
So the A16 would decode the stream and send the separate channels thru the HDMI and then my Preamp processor (Marantz 7702) then sends that channel information to my speakers.

Is there going to be a setting in the A16 where you tell it what the home theater config is? Case in point, you would not want to send 11.2 channels to a 7.1 downstream home theater system unless its upconverting channels

 

[Fox1977]

According to the french distributor of the A8 and A16, due to production delays we should not be expecting the A16 before December

 

[Got the Shakes]

According to the french distributor of the A8 and A16, due to production delays we should not be expecting the A16 before December

Wow. That’s worse than I thought. Would love to hear something official from the Smyth brothers so we know exactly what’s going on.

 

[Richter Di]

According to the french distributor of the A8 and A16, due to production delays we should not be expecting the A16 before December

Ouch!

 

[Richter Di]

OK, so I want to make sure I am following here. Are you referring to the HDMI Out on the back? So my Home Theater is a 7.1 system, LCR, SR SL, RR RL + sub. I don't have any Dolby Atmos speakers.
So the A16 would decode the stream and send the separate channels thru the HDMI and then my Preamp processor (Marantz 7702) then sends that channel information to my speakers.

Is there going to be a setting in the A16 where you tell it what the home theater config is? Case in point, you would not want to send 11.2 channels to a 7.1 downstream home theater system unless its upconverting channels

I am sorry, what?
I do not think what will happen. But maybe I am wrong.
I thought it would simply pass through the entire signal. Period.

 

[Sanctuary]

Ouch!

Back in May:

Keeping up with their announcements, I have no idea how they expect to start shipping in August. It also seems like every few months they push the date back another month or two too. If they were wanting to start shipping in August (even the last week), then why are they still demoing "prototype" models even in July, and why are they now just showcasing "samples for metalwork"? They haven't even begun production on them yet.

If they actually release these this year, I don't actually see them shipping before November at this rate.

 

[dsperber]

I am sorry, what?
I do not think what will happen. But maybe I am wrong.
I thought it would simply pass through the entire signal. Period.

I agree.

The purpose of the HDMI input/output is specifically to pass through the still-encoded (or already decoded to LPCM) upstream digital HDMI input source data to the downstream HDMI output and beyond, completely transparently to either source or target. The goal is to provide the exact same responses to both HDMI handshakes as if the A16 was not there in the middle at all, but the source device was speaking to the target device directly.

The A16 is not intended to be used as a "decoder", for other than its own internal purposes in the DSP involved with its headphone technology (assuming you have fed it the still-encoded source data via HDMI). The digital pass-through is for when you do not want to listen through headphones, but prefer to listen through control of the presumed downstream AVR and the speakers it controls, no matter what the input source looks like, and you have inserted the A16 into the HDMI path between source and target AVR as your chosen topology. The A16 wants to appear completely digitally invisible in this case, both to source and target.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I was told that the A16 will have a theatre pass-through function. In fact, I intend to use it as my preamp and just use the power-amp on my old Arcam.

I hadn't thought of this before, but is there any reason the A16 could not be used as the preamp processor on a multi channel (up to 16 channels) full featured home theatre processor. It will decode all the advanced formats, has 16 channels of analog output, volume control. All that would be required is to hook up a multi channel amp(s). Is this possible, or am I missing something here.

 

[pcfi]

I hadn't thought of this before, but is there any reason the A16 could not be used as the preamp processor on a multi channel (up to 16 channels) full featured home theatre processor. It will decode all the advanced formats, has 16 channels of analog output, volume control. All that would be required is to hook up a multi channel amp(s). Is this possible, or am I missing something here.

Not only is this possible it looks as if it will do volume/EQ/delay on analog outs to match a room measurement?? Obviously the Realiser cant remove unwanted reflections and such, but being able to match volume/eq against a studio setup could make a huge difference (especially if you are throwing together whatever amplifiers and speakers you have laying about, using unmatched components, etc)

The only loss is to your audiophile cred for using analog mini-jack outputs in your signal path.

From Stephen Smyth on Kickstarter page:

HDMI in -> decoding -> xx Channels -> volume, delay, PEQ per channel -> xx channel analog out
or
HDMI in -> decoding -> xx Channels -> volume, delay, PEQ per channel -> SVS virtualiser -> two channel virtualised HP out.

Both are correct.

The DTS:X and Dolby Atmos decoding running on the board we buy from MDS is currently limited to 12 channels. Presently no audio DSP company (TI, ADI etc) offers Atmos/DTS:X implementations that exceed 12 speakers at this time so we have no real way of avoiding this limitation. One option is to use the Illusonic up-mixer to convert 7.1.4ch to 9.1.6ch, so perhaps this will provide some motivation for measuring a 9.1.6ch speaker system.
​

Looking at the datasheet, the illusonic upmixer / analog outs can be used in lieu of Headphone B output, so this can run concurrently with the main headphone output.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

Not only is this possible it looks as if it will do volume/EQ/delay on analog outs to match a room measurement?? Obviously the Realiser cant remove unwanted reflections and such, but being able to match volume/eq against a studio setup could make a huge difference (especially if you are throwing together whatever amplifiers and speakers you have laying about, using unmatched components, etc)

The only loss is to your audiophile cred for using analog mini-jack outputs in your signal path.

From Stephen Smyth on Kickstarter page:

HDMI in -> decoding -> xx Channels -> volume, delay, PEQ per channel -> xx channel analog out
or
HDMI in -> decoding -> xx Channels -> volume, delay, PEQ per channel -> SVS virtualiser -> two channel virtualised HP out.

Both are correct.

The DTS:X and Dolby Atmos decoding running on the board we buy from MDS is currently limited to 12 channels. Presently no audio DSP company (TI, ADI etc) offers Atmos/DTS:X implementations that exceed 12 speakers at this time so we have no real way of avoiding this limitation. One option is to use the Illusonic up-mixer to convert 7.1.4ch to 9.1.6ch, so perhaps this will provide some motivation for measuring a 9.1.6ch speaker system.
​

Looking at the datasheet, the illusonic upmixer / analog outs can be used in lieu of Headphone B output, so this can run concurrently with the main headphone output.

Damn, this thing is looking more and more like a Swiss Army knife every day.