[sahmen]

Who is this a response to? I actually brought it up accidentally in a post that I was going to make (that I edited in less than a minute), that I had not deleted yet before replying about the September release date, but that was almost a half an hour before you replied.

Normally biweekly does mean twice a week, and the US is no exception. But I saw the definition too and decided not to post based on a technicality. I just looked up biannually as well, and the second definition is not one I've ever seen used.

Well, I received an email notification of your post, because you quoted my text, but when I came here to respond, I noticed that you had already deleted the part of your post that referenced mine. Still, I decided to post the clarification anyway since the word "bi-weekly" is genuinely ambiguous in use, and can lead to confusion if the context does not make things clear.

So if you like, I came here to respond to your post, but when I found out that it was no longer necessary, I posted the clarification just the same to prevent someone else from misunderstanding what I have said.

It's all good, if you ask me... No animals were harmed or disrespected in this entire process

 

[Sanctuary]

Well, I received an email notification of your post,

I actually assumed that might be the case, but didn't realize the forum sent the notifications that quickly.

 

[sahmen]

Now I shall say this just once, and not revisit it again, so hear me out : anyone who still thinks that myself and others on this thread are giving Smyth Research too much of a hard time by demanding better communication standards, should take a peek in the Audeze Mobius thread and witness a great example of how truly classy customer relations should be done...

Like every kickstarter project, the Mobius' journey from conception to completion has not been perfect... the project has seen its fair share of road bumps, but by their intermittent presence on the forum, Audeze's reps, @Audeze and @KMann have often had a salutary effect on the conversation by providing answers to questions and calming things down when tensions and heated disagreements occur, which happens quite often...

I am particularly impressed by the way in which they are deftly handling the problem of a hiss, which became an issue as soon as shipping began and a few early backers got their hands on the first shipments... The aggressive and speedy manner in which Audeze have confronted and resolved the issue is nothing short of a marvel. It's like witnessing a real masterclass demonstration of how to handle customer relations in such crowdfunded projects, and it's simply a thing of beauty...

Before becoming a Mobius backer, I only saw Audeze as one boutique headphone maker among several others in a relatively crowded market, although I own an LCD-X. Now their stature has grown exponentially in my eyes, although the Mobius itself does not place very high in their stable of cans, as wonderful and versatile a toy as it appears to be... Now I can easily see an LCD-4 flagship somewhere in my future... Knock on wood...

At any rate, I would give Audeze a 12 out of 10, if that were possible, for their handling of this hiss issue... Customer service of that quality should be hard to beat in any hobby, but especially, in any high end audio crowdfunded project like ours.

By all indications, the A-16 itself appears to be in a much higher league when compared to the Mobius and deservedly so, at least when the technical properties and attributes of the two products are compared,... However, at the moment, it is, ironically and by far, the Mobius which is generating a lot of excitement in my mind... I really wish my mood could be similarly upbeat about the A-16 too, but how can I work up any enthusiasm about it under the present conditions of uncertainty and anxiety...?

 

[Richter Di]

I understand the frustration, i myself feel frustrated by the lack of communication from Smyth Research. Some say "if there is nothing new to say, no need to send an update until there is some significant progress". I respect that point of view but i am rather for a regular short update, even if it says "not much happened in the past two weeks, we are still working on this or that problem that is more difficult to solve than expected". Why ? Because at least it is a reminder that they think about their customers and that they care about not leaving us in the dark. Many of us have been waiting for two years and the wait and repeated missed deadlines are frustrating (in december, we were told that the A16 would go to certification in january or february for example).

I can say for my part that I feel not only frustrated by the lack of communication but also because I feel mislead. When I finanzed this project in September 2016 and went to the Hifi show in October 2016 to hear the prototype and get my measurements done, they assured me that it will be delivered in May 2017. I just checked and in May 2017 they showed us as an updated the silkscreens of the Realizer A16. How could they have thought to have the A16 ready in May 2017?

Now I shall say this just once, and not revisit it again, so hear me out : anyone who still thinks that myself and others on this thread are giving Smyth Research too much of a hard time by demanding better communication standards, should take a peek in the Audeze Mobius thread and witness a great example of how truly classy customer relations should be done...

Like every kickstarter project, the Mobius' journey from conception to completion has not been perfect... the project has seen its fair share of road bumps, but by their intermittent presence on the forum, Audeze's reps, @Audeze and @KMann have often had a salutary effect on the conversation by providing answers to questions and calming things down when tensions and heated disagreements occur, which happens quite often...

I am particularly impressed by the way in which they are deftly handling the problem of a hiss, which became an issue as soon as shipping began and a few early backers got their hands on the first shipments... The aggressive and speedy manner in which Audeze have confronted and resolved the issue is nothing short a marvel. It's like real masterclass demonstration of how to handle customer relations in such crowdfunded projects, and simply a thing of beauty...

Before becoming a Mobius backer, I only saw Audeze as one boutique headphone maker among several others in a relatively crowded market, although I own an LCD-X. Now their stature has grown exponentially in my eyes, although the Mobius itself does not place very high in their stable of cans, as wonderful and versatile a toy as it appears to be... Now I can easily see and LCD-4 flagship somewhere in my future... Knock on wood...

At any rate, I would give Audeze a 12 out of 10, if that were possible, for their handling of this hiss issue... Customer service of that quality should be hard to beat in any hobby,

By all indications, the A-16 appears to be in a much higher league as compared to the Mobius and deservedly so, at least technically speaking,... However, at the moment, it is ironically, the Mobius which is generating a lot of excitement in my mind... I really wish I could say the same about the A-16, but how can I work up any enthusiasm about it under the present circumstances of uncertainty...?

I am also a backer of the Mobius and I fully agree with you. The communication and responsiveness of Audeze has been a masterpiece. I think this is one of the reasons why Audeze will survive the big shake-out which is happening in the headphone industry right now with giants like AKG closing their Vienna office, Sennheiser letting people go and many more giving up entirely.

 

[musicday]

I understand that everyone is frustrated ( very frustrated ) because of the lack of communication from Smyth Research about the Realiser A16 status. They better do something to regain the clients trust and hopefully do it soon. Everyone have invested hard earned money to pre-order something that didn't arrive yet, still after nearly 2 years of waiting in some cases.
If it was just a matter of putting down only your details and pay before shipping whould have been different, but this is not the case at all.
For example when i sell something on eBay i always communicate with my buyer, have the fastest dispatch time and shipping possible, tracking number etc. Only doing so you can maintain 100% positive feedback, and that says all about you.
We are hoping for a genuine update where we are told exactly what's going on. I was thinking to see more action from them since they have new business partner, but sadly was not the case.
I know, we all come here to read about new things related to the A16, write down about out frustrations etc.
There is only one question that needs an answer : When are we going to receive our A16? Only Smyth Research knows and i ask them kindly to share it with us, the ones that supported financially this product.

 

[Richter Di]

If it was just a matter of putting down only your details and pay before shipping whould have been different, but this is not the case at all.

Here is an example how to do it: @Jan Meier : https://www.head-fi.org/threads/meier-audio-corda-soul-totl-dac-amp-dsp.863876/page-5#post-14403062

 

[Evshrug]

I think it’s interesting how many people bought the Smyth A16 also bought a Mobius. Are you guys (and gals?) all surround addicts like me? Or is the A16 one of your first surround DSP products?

 

[krismusic]

I think it’s interesting how many people bought the Smyth A16 also bought a Mobius. Are you guys (and gals?) all surround addicts like me? Or is the A16 one of your first surround DSP products?

First for me.

 

[musicday]

I think it’s interesting how many people bought the Smyth A16 also bought a Mobius. Are you guys (and gals?) all surround addicts like me? Or is the A16 one of your first surround DSP products?

Never had surround sound before apart from very cheap 5.1 speaker system. I will be using the Mobius and A16 mainly with movies. It will be an amazing experience to watch again the movies i like with realistic surround sound in headphones.

 

[Sanctuary]

I think it’s interesting how many people bought the Smyth A16 also bought a Mobius. Are you guys (and gals?) all surround addicts like me? Or is the A16 one of your first surround DSP products?

I didn't buy the Mobius, but depending on the feedback, I might in the future at some point. My first experience with virtualization was with the Tritton 720+, which ironically I took back to the store like a fool to replace it with the god awful Tritton AX "Pro", not realizing that I had the option to use my own headphones with it, nor how it had a more convincing surround reproduction. This was in 2010. Ended up ditching that for the Pioneer SE-DIR800C about a year later (which was relatively amazing, but got uncomfortable for long periods of time due to the clamping force causing the cushions to compress too much).

In 2011 I also ended up getting the Essence STX, which has been fantastic for movies and games compared to just using stereo. Still, none of these have ever really been convincing, although the STX does the best of everything I've heard so far with the center sounding center, instead of hovering above or inside my forehead, fronts and sides. It just has issues with the "rears" (although it has produced convincing audio from behind and overhead, so it might just be the mixes). I'm wondering though if this really is just the headphones causing it to sound better than the rest though since I'm not using crappy, prepackaged cans.

Last thing I've purchased was the Sony "7.1" wireless headphones that are absolutely awful with channel separation, but some people swear by them. I mainly just have guests use those, and they at least produce enough bass for action movies, but that's about the only positive I can say about them.

Been wanting a Realiser ever since the A8, but I wasn't going to pay $4,000 for what appeared to be an extremely convoluted setup at the time, and the first version was also extremely limited with its inputs.

edit: I take that back. My first real experience was with my Aureal 3D sound card from '99 with Thief, Thief 2 and Deus Ex later, but this is a bit more of a curated experience, and it didn't really work with the majority of other games I was playing at the time, nor any movies at all.

 

[sahmen]

In practice, I have to live with all kinds of compromises imposed by evolving circumstances of real life, but in an ideal world, I like to see myself as 2 (.1) channel reference stereo "purist" or even fetishist for music (with both Speakers, and headphones), and a 7.x.x surround/3d audio purist or fetishist for HT/Movies audio (with Speakers/.Headphones)...

In between those two, I shall categorize the PC centered Mobius and its versatile capabilities among those "compromised" solutions one has to resort to in certain real life circumstances, which for me would also include all strictly portable and even some transportable audio solutions, and those involving wireless and/or bluetooth transmission of sound... However, even as a "compromised" solution, I think the Mobius does offer one hell of an awesome package.


PS : Oh yeah... I backed the Yarra3d thing as well, but I am not really sure how to imagine its performance and effectivity in practice. On paper, I would normally classify it as "compromised" or somewhat less than perfect surround/3d," but I have no clear idea as to how well it will work or sound in practice. Some end-user reviews would be really great, but I guess I shall find out how it stacks up eventually when it ships.

 

[mikemav]

I think it’s interesting how many people bought the Smyth A16 also bought a Mobius. Are you guys (and gals?) all surround addicts like me? Or is the A16 one of your first surround DSP products?

I have backed both, as well as Yarra 3DX sound bar. This forum is bad for my bank account lol! I always envied the A8 but wanted modern HDMI/HDR connectivity and about half the price or less than original A8 (or for it to be licensed into a pro/pro or HT receiver), so A16 on Kickstarter fit the bill. I have used Dolby Headphone from a Marantz receiver, or Astro MixAmp or Asus sound card in the past. More into TV/movies or gaming than music so headphone surround has always interested me. Looking for 2018 to be a breakthrough year in that realm!

 

[raband]

Went the Mobius and the A16.

Have tried pretty much all (consumer) VSS options that are out there and have found them all falling down to varying degrees at the last hurdles.

GSX1000 has been the best for me so far (frontal cues are where they all fail for me)

Am hoping the headtracking in the Mobius can clear up those for me to a large extent.

A16 "should" be the final answer I need but damn - the wait and lack off communication is starting to wear thing.

 

[Got the Shakes]

I've used various options through the years. Currently I have Out of Your Head installed on my laptop as well as a pair of Sony's newest 7.1 headphones that have DD and DTS decoding built in. The Sony headphones are passable for me, they work well enough to use with movies, but it's not hard to tell that they are faking 7.1 with them. Out of Your Head is actually fairly decent to my ears with my HD 800s. Every gaming solution I have used has been returned within a few weeks of purchase including the Astro Mixamp and the Arctis pro. I backed the A16 because it is going to be my end game surround solution. It will work with my gaming consoles, PC, and Nvidia Shield and with the built in apps on my 4K TV via HDMI ARC.

I actually was an early backer of the Mobius, but then cancelled my order as I had a hard time justifying them since I already have Out of Your Head and the Mobius wouldn't work with console gaming. I am having some regrets over that though and if the impressions are good once people start receiving their units then I could see myself ordering a pair even though it will cost me a $150 premium over the preorder I cancelled. My decision about that will probably depend on what we hear about the A16 in the next month or so though. Fingers crossed we get some good news soon, but I don't have terribly high hopes about that,

 

[jgazal]

I have backed both, as well as Ossic Comhear Yarra 3dx sound bar. (...)