Smyth Research Realiser A16

[illram]

They've said all along that some BRIRs might incur a charge, as that is up to the BRIR owner. But what is unclear is what exactly is entailed in the "back end" process of Smyth customizing any BRIR you downloaded or bought using your own PRIR. (And whether that's going to cost anything, since that is separate from the transaction where you buy the BRIR, I think). The full Realiser experience requires the PRIR.

 

[raband]

Yeah, am hoping they don't try to nickle and dime us, given that the cost of entry isn't exactly cheap to start with.

 

[illram]

I heard back from James at Smyth. The merging of BRIR and PRIR will be done on their website "in a few minutes," but it will be for a fee.

When merging two measurements it will all be done on the website where the process will take a few minutes at most. There will be options for you to set to suit your needs but the whole process will be straightforward.
There will be a fee for merging, but the price has not been decided of yet.

Regards
James

 

[Fox1977]

That's a bit disappointing. If they have to do something themselves, i can understand, but if it's an automated process...
I just saw that they sent via Kickstarter a mail informing us that they will be attending th Home Hifi Show and proposing a signup sheet... They took some time to whip this mail up but they don't take 5 minutes to give us a production update... not cool...

 

[illram]

I just hope it's not a hefty fee. If it's like $5-$10, OK whatever. They cover their server side expenses and recoup some profit on the IP they developed for this process. I'll just be more discriminating in what BRIR's I try out. If it's a lot more though that will be sad as I was looking forward to playing around with different simulations.

 

[esimms86]

That's a bit disappointing. If they have to do something themselves, i can understand, but if it's an automated process...
I just saw that they sent via Kickstarter a mail informing us that they will be attending th Home Hifi Show and proposing a signup sheet... They took some time to whip this mail up but they don't take 5 minutes to give us a production update... not cool...

I understand your disappointment but, to me, it depends on the size of the fee. The Realiser gives us something that we can't get anywhere else and it's cheap at the price. I'm delighted to have a free PRIR coming from my visit to CanJam NY so anything else for me (and other CanJam visitors around the world) is essentially gravy.

I agree that production update should be provided, especially given the recent news of yet another delay.

 

[castleofargh]

I'm guessing he's afraid it would turn into something like OOYH prices but without even the opportunity to try before purchase.
I can't imagine something asking for more than pocket money without demo options which might be pretty complicated to control. so I'm not too worried about prices. but I could be wrong, it happened before in a distant past, like this morning.

 

[Fox1977]

I also got a PRIR made last October in Paris, so it's not such big a deal but if the conversion is expensive, it will put a big limitation to the interest of the Smyth Exchange site.
With OOYH, it's also possible to convert a PRIR to use it with the software but Darin Fong asks 150$ for it... Way too expensive!

 

[illram]

Yeah if it's $150 or even close to that the Exchange becomes sort of useless to me. Might as well book some time somewhere for that price, or buy a plane ticket to the next hifi show!

 

[sander99]

Although I already guessed there would be a fee, I hoped there would not be so it is a disappointment for me too. Not so much for my own use, I did a measurement in Münich and I will find a way to get more and better measurements for myself and I don't mind paying something for that. But when friends or family come visit me it would be nice if I could demonstrate the device to them and watch a movie together. I could do a quick measurement on my guest(s) with my cheap "mid-fi" speaker-amp setup and use the PRIR to personalise a high quality BRIR. But since that personalised BRIR would only be used once or a few times, and for every new guest I would have to do it again, then even 5 or 10 dollars is a lot.

Btw: before you buy a plane ticket illram: those demo-measurements are a nice start, but it is not a high end system in a perfectly treated room that is being measured...

 

[esimms86]

Although I already guessed there would be a fee, I hoped there would not be so it is a disappointment for me to. Not so much for my own use, I did a measurement in Münich and I will find a way to get more and better measurements for myself and I don't mind paying something for that. But when friends or family come visit me it would be nice if I could demonstrate the device to them and watch a movie together. I could do a quick measurement on my guest(s) with my cheap "mid-fi" speaker-amp setup and use the PRIR to personalise a high quality BRIR. But since that personalised BRIR would only be used once or a few times, and for every new guest I would have to do it again, then even 5 or 10 dollars is a lot.

I hadn't even considered the possibility of doing a PRIR/BRIR for a guest. I was more thinking about having one made for other people who also live with you(i.e., spouse, teenage video gamer, etc.). In such cases, 5 or 10 dollars would not be too much to spend(at least for me). Also consider that the Smyths may stand to make more money if they provide cheaper PRIR/BRIRs and end up supplying a larger user base. There is, of course, a limit to how many people will utilize this service as the installed base of A16 owners will itself be relatively small in number.

 

[illram]

those demo-measurements are a nice start, but it is not a high end system in a perfectly treated room that is being measured...

It will be interesting to figure out what is better, simulation-wise: your own PRIR mixed with a high-fi BRIR from a "perfectly measured" room, or your own PRIR, no mixing required, from a "good enough" demo setup that is measured in sub-optimal surroundings (e.g. a hotel conference room)? For example if a hifi BRIR+PRIR's sound great, but a clean PRIR from lower tier speakers that you don't need to mix with anything else has a more convincing surround sound, what would you choose? If there was a noticeable difference I'd probably go for the more convincing surround illusion myself. We'll have to wait and see if there is a real distinction there I guess.

 

[sander99]

It will be interesting to figure out what is better, simulation-wise: your own PRIR mixed with a high-fi BRIR from a "perfectly measured" room, or your own PRIR, no mixing required, from a "good enough" demo setup that is measured in sub-optimal surroundings (e.g. a hotel conference room)? For example if a hifi BRIR+PRIR's sound great, but a clean PRIR from lower tier speakers that you don't need to mix with anything else has a more convincing surround sound, what would you choose? If there was a noticeable difference I'd probably go for the more convincing surround illusion myself. We'll have to wait and see if there is a real distinction there I guess.

Oh I agree with you on that, I just wanted to make sure you realise that it is not the ultimate PRIR you will be getting with those demo-measurements. So better try first to find a high quality system-room-combination for a personal measurement, if that is possible for the price of a plane ticket.

 

[esimms86]

Oh I agree with you on that, I just wanted to make sure you realise that it is not the ultimate PRIR you will be getting with those demo-measurements. So better try first to find a high quality system-room-combination for a personal measurement, if that is possible for the price of a plane ticket.

Keep in mind that the Smyths are planning to eventually put together a list together of various brick and mortar studios and Audio shops that are on board with being locations available for making PRIRs for a fee. There was a small list of such places in the US for owners of the A8. Hopefully, this can be expanded to serve more people in different parts of the world.

Do note, however, that the charge to make a single PRIR back then was somewhere in the 250 to 300 USD range. If you wanted both 2.1 and 7.1 PRIRs made you were looking at 500 to 600 dollars(plus the price of travel if the locations were not nearby). The gold standard then was to travel to Los Angeles and meet up with someone like Lorr Kramer from Smyth Research who could accompany you from one location to another. The LA PRIR scene, BTW, has sadly gotten a little smaller with AIX shutting down their recording operation and moving to another city.

 

[bmoura]

The gold standard then was to travel to Los Angeles and meet up with someone like Lorr Kramer from Smyth Research who could accompany you from one location to another. The LA PRIR scene, BTW, has sadly gotten a little smaller with AIX shutting down their recording operation and moving to another city.

Hadn't heard that. Where did AIX move their recording studio? Still in California?