[Got the Shakes]

I am not saying that this is not a very nice and very capable of surround sound through headphones device, but i wonder how many will sell at the new announced price?

Yeah it was a pretty niche product to start with and I have to imagine at $4000 that the price will be a barrier to entry for a lot of people. It certainly still has its place for people who live somewhere where they can’t have a surround system with speakers, but I do think that a lot of people who would consider such a device will see the price and move on. I thought at the time last year that my $1790 preorder was a lot to put into the A16, but at ~40% of the new retail price that seems like a steal. For those of you who got the Kickstarter price you’re getting a crazy deal.

 

[VandyMan]

I am pretty disappointed in Smyth. Yes, I still think they will deliver a great product. But really, if you tell Innerfidelity on camera that you are shipping in 4-6 weeks and at the same time know that you are not done with the software and have not sent the product for certification (which takes 4 weeks or more), you come across as someone playing rather loose with the facts (to put it politely). Smyth needs to hire some professional management. Obviously, they are great engineers, but they appear to be terrible managers.

 

[sander99]

In Europe with 20% VAT you are looking at 4800 dollars!

 

[musicday]

In Europe with 20% VAT you are looking at 4800 dollars!

Yeah not cheap, but who can afford it will definitely buy it.
Take for example the price for a high end high end headphones.
In UK Abyss Phi, cost £5850 and in USD that translates as today's currency exchange $ 7895.80 !!!
So, many will buy it, but in order to do that there is a massive need for genuine reviews and lots of advertising, places where people can try it before buying it.

 

[Erik Garci]

https://www.heavenly-sound.com/

 

[Thenewguy007]

We have been proud to offer the exceptionally low advance sales price for the A16 until now and will honor that price for all current orders from Kickstarter backers and other pre-sales to date. However we now need to market the Realiser A16 within a pricing structure that accommodates distributors and dealers.

Oh goody! Dealership markups & no direct sales anymore!

 

[sander99]

By the way, again I did not receive the update via e-mail. Let me guess: only the kickstarter backers got the mail, and not the pre-sales orderers?

 

[castleofargh]

I am pretty disappointed in Smyth. Yes, I still think they will deliver a great product. But really, if you tell Innerfidelity on camera that you are shipping in 4-6 weeks and at the same time know that you are not done with the software and have not sent the product for certification (which takes 4 weeks or more), you come across as someone playing rather loose with the facts (to put it politely). Smyth needs to hire some professional management. Obviously, they are great engineers, but they appear to be terrible managers.

maybe the guy is just one of those optimists who never learn from their mistakes? like maybe he always imagines the best results and time after time when what can go wrong inevitably does, he's even more surprised than we are?
half a year ago I was expecting something around the end of august 2018. any announcement of something coming sooner seemed unrealistic to me after reading the state of things from Smyth.

By the way, again I did not receive the update via e-mail. Let me guess: only the kickstarter backers got the mail, and not the pre-sales orderers?

yup. the mails come from no-reply@kickstarter.com

 

[VandyMan]

maybe the guy is just one of those optimists who never learn from their mistakes? like maybe he always imagines the best results and time after time when what can go wrong inevitably does, he's even more surprised than we are.

Like I said, a terrible (project) manager. If that is the kind of person you are and you know your project is a year+ late, let someone else speak to the press!

 

[sander99]

if you tell Innerfidelity on camera that you are shipping in 4-6 weeks

Although I basically agree with you, one little nuance: he did not say "we are shipping in 4-6 weeks", he said "we are hoping in the next 4 to 6 weeks that it will be launched". It may still be misleading, but it is not a straight lie.

 

[esimms86]

Well, I read the deal with Heavenly Sound as a good thing. For one, they are shoring up their financial support beyond Kickstarter. Secondly, they have partners to assist with ongoing software development and support. At the same time, the HS deal says nothing about when the A16 will finally ship. It's a bit of a mixed bag as now they really don't want to release a half-baked product(not that they ever did...), knowing that they are looking the sell the A16 for almost $4K. Face it, they now need us to rave about how good the A16 is as part of their future sales push. I do hope that, given the announced $4K price tag, that they will be that much more diligent regarding setting up arrangements for buyers to get their PRIRs done at multiple locations across the globe.

 

[VandyMan]

Although I basically agree with you, one little nuance: he did not say "we are shipping in 4-6 weeks", he said "we are hoping in the next 4 to 6 weeks that it will be launched". It may still be misleading, but it is not a straight lie.

I was careful not to use the word "lie" because I don't know why they got such basic information wrong. I'm willing to believe that they are just disorganized. They should not expect us to act like lawyers in interpreting what they say. If they say 4-6 weeks, it really should be 4-6 weeks. Regardless, I'm here for the long haul and I got a great deal, so I'm not too upset.

 

[pervysage]

Holy. That's over $5000 Canadian dollars now. Secured mine back in 2016 for $1500 on Kickstarter.

It's been too long of a wait but I suppose that's something to be happy about.

 

[StillaStillsFan]

Holy. That's over $5000 Canadian dollars now. Secured mine back in 2016 for $1500 on Kickstarter.

It's been too long of a wait but I suppose that's something to be happy about.

Definitely out of the picture for me at that price but there were other issues as well for us 2-channel audiophiles anyhow.

 

[raband]

Hopefully the partnership means a decent cash injection that'll help them finalise the product and get it across the line.

I'd dare say that the partnership agreement would also have included projections and an expected retail timeframe - hopefully a real deadline is finally in place for the product to go live.

The new partner does seem to be a legit presence in the pro audio, music and recording industries - a very good choice to team up with to get the A16 into studios etc.
https://www.seelectronics.com/


To me the UI/Menus/Firmware sounds like it's what's holding up the whole process - with that needing to be finalised before they can even apply for certification (something they were expecting to have finished the end of last year)