Smyth Research Realiser A16

[Fox1977]

I got my measurement made last year in a parisian hotel room. So obviously it was far from an ideal room with ultra high end speakers, but it was a Dolby Atmos setup and i could really pinpoint every single speaker while i was listening only to the headphones (i thought at first that i was still listening to the real speakers). So, at least at the beginning, i'll do with that one. I'm not living in a huge city (250,000 people) but there is a hi-fi selling shop a couple of minutes by foot from my place, so i may start with there, mentionning the A16 and proposing the owner to try it out. We may get to an arrangement to measure a good quality setup.
I have another place i may try out in a city closeby, a shop where they have auditoriums with treated walls. I went there last year to attend a small hifi showcase. Worth a try at least ! I still have the Paris option, it's only 1h by train, even doable by car round trip during the day...
But yet, being able to inject ourselves our HRTF in BRIR for free would have been a great thing to try out various rooms, or simply to experiment the possibilities of the A16.
When i got my PRIR in Paris, my nephew was with me and got a PRIR of his own. So i wanted to take his PRIR and inject my HRTF in it, so that i could compare in the very same room a PRIR actually made by myself and a customized BRIR and see the difference. I could then easily evaluate the loss of precision between a PRIR, a customized BRIR and the BRIR without any modification...
Already i'll be able to compare my PRIR with my nephew's and hear the difference...

 

[esimms86]

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

I recall reading a statement posted online by Dr. Mark Waldrep but now I have difficulty locating it. He talked about surviving a thyroid cancer scare and, thereafter, deciding to stop recording and also moving his business to a different location in California. I don't remember exactly where and I apologize for that.

 

[raband]

Will be interesting to find out the charges for the processing of the download files.

Am hoping that a purchased BRIR is tied to the unit and can be personalised at will - rather than a fee for every PRIR processed against that file.

Half a dozen different sets of headphones (at least that are "Realiser "worthy")
3 people in the house who'll want personalised settings.

Could add up pretty quick.

HD800S & HD800 will be the usual cans for 2 people listening to the same audio, so will need a combo that allows any 2 of the 3 people to listen at the same time.
Also want the HDR185's for at least myself for wireless listening.
Add in a couple of different BRIR's......

I might end up not telling the others about the downloadable ones - just stick them with the home measured sets.

 

[Sordel]

Not sure what the economics are on the licensing here. There are only just over three hundred backers on Kickstarter, so it seems to me that a 'best guess' would be an install base of a thousand. With that number of owners you'd be crazy to price the room models so high that people pick & choose; it would make far more sense for the models to be cheap enough for, say, 500 people to reliably subscribe to every model. The way I'd hope they would do that is charge, say, $20 but once you license the model you can have as many users/headphones for it as you want.

I'm hoping/assuming that the A16 delivers with enough free models to make buying more a luxury. I would think that it would be essential to have at least a cinema, a music listening room and a live venue from the get-go.

Practically speaking one room model is all you need if it's good; I'm determined not to be one of those people who tinkers with ambiance all the time instrad of sitting still and enjoying the source.

 

[raband]

The way I'd hope they would do that is charge, say, $20 but once you license the model you can have as many users/headphones for it as you want.

Might be onto something there - the diagram on their exchange page shows the BRIR store and library locked in the members section with the processing happening from your own depository,

Hopefully once we purchase a BRIR it is available to our own library to play with as we wish.

Ideally when a visitor comes in a quick PRIR can be done and uploaded to keep on file in the cloud. Anytime they want a play it's simply a matter of a few clicks and they're crying tears of joy

 

[illram]

It would make sense for some BRIR's to be expensive. If you want to pay $300 for some ultra-amazing 16 channel treated room with the finest speakers on the planet, or whatever, that's a cool option to have. But the merge should be affordable as my guess is the majority of users are going to rely on it and thus they don't need to price it as some sort of one-off niche thing. That's my guess/hope anyway...

 

[Fox1977]

Of course if someone pays a big sum to rent a high-end room, it's understandable that he tries to share the fee with people interested in getting his measurement. But it's not supposed to be a place made to earn money.
The A16, once it's released on the market, will cost 2500$. The Realiser Exchange was meant to be a big plus to convince potential buyers, but if it turns out to be a store where you have to pay for everything, it will be much less interesting.
For Raband : if you have several sets of headphones, you will NOT need to pay for each of your headphones because the calibration of the HPEQ for headphones is made at home directly on the A16, not through the Realiser Exchange.

 

[raband]

I think it's also a great way to get studios etc on board - publish their own BRIR's and get something worthwhile from it, while keeping copyright/ownership of their offering rather than have Joe Blow hire the space, take his measurements and then make them public.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Well James Smyth sent out the latest update and it seems like as was posted here a bit ago that shipping in December is the best case scenario.

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/1959366850/realiser-a16-real-3d-audio-headphone-processor

 

[raband]

As per ^^

Update below

Hi,

It's James from Smyth Research.

Here is our most recent update on the progress of the Realiser A16.

Engineering samples of assembled pcbs are due to be shipped to us from China at the end of September. Once these are programmed and tested, and provided no changes are necessary, the main production run will begin, and we would expect assembled boards to be shipped by the end of October.

We are waiting to receive HDMI and audio decoding pcbs from the USA. A slight glitch in the HDMI synch circuitry has been reported, and they’re aiming to resolve this before shipping the boards to us.

All the metal work is currently in production and we hope to receive samples of these (and other plastic components) early in October, with the main production run arriving in November.

We aim to build 25 production samples of the Realiser A16 in October to use for certification during November. Provided each certification proceeds smoothly we aim to begin shipping A16 units in December.

Regards

James

 

[raband]

Hopefully landed in time for xmas

 

[MichaelJames99]

I hope they have time to make a setup video showing a typical "how to" for the people that don't want to do a ton of reading. Wire routing, home theater pass thru, calibrations, using the store vs. various recommended sites to fly into to do calibrations. (step by step in how to contact studios, what to do when you get there, how to do the calibration once you get there, typical expense). This would help the masses to quickly get onboard. I am thinking that probably 90% of the mass user would never go to a studio if the implementation of the online marketplace goes at it seems. But rather spend their time going thru the different marketplace options and find the one that is best for them. Im thinking we each have been trained, over time, to determine home theater sounds that best to each individual personally. I hate to say it, I have yet to hear a theater that blows my socks off. Granted, I have not be to LA. The implementations of Atmos here in Indy and Ohio have been pathetic.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Hopefully landed in time for xmas

This is my hope too. I have a month break starting in mid December and it would be great to get the A16 around then to really have time to play with it.

 

[stevez176]

Hopefully landed in time for xmas

I hope it comes by Christmas, starting to get tired of waiting!!!

 

[Richter Di]

I hope it comes by Christmas, starting to get tired of waiting!!!

Me too!