[Fox1977]

The DAW acronym exists as "Digital Audio Workstation". It might apply for the A16, but what would it mean exactly... ?

 

[Dixter]

DAW - Digital/Audio Workstation.... for the Pro's...

 

[esimms86]

Unless I just didn't notice in the past they have added several dealers on their website and are asking for other dealers to sign up... ( another good sign )

http://www.smyth-research.com/dealers.html

Thanks for posting. My brother lives 30 minutes from Gramophone in Timonium, MD so I’ll have to plan a side trip to get a high end audio stereo and/or surround sound PRIR.

 

[mikemav]

Thanks for posting. My brother lives 30 minutes from Gramophone in Timonium, MD so I’ll have to plan a side trip to get a high end audio stereo and/or surround sound PRIR.

Yes was thinking the same thing, they also have a store in Columbia, MD and maybe one or two others if memory serves. I live in Northern VA about an hour away; well worth a trip. Hopefully they will offer PRIR services to capture their best demo systems as a dealer...

 

[musicday]

Some strange impressions from CanJam Shanghai from a guy that tried the A16:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-shanghai-2018-impressions-thread-november-3-4-2018.892503/

Smith Realiser
SO excited to get to try this out but I'm afraid it did not deliver. HOWEVER, the woman who was running the room explained very clearly why it fell short (it was set up for Chinese listeners and the head/face/ear physiognomy is VERY different to westerners. I did get a clear sense of out-of-head sound-stage, but not a reproduction of the speaker set-up they had there. Thanks to Clara (the aforementioned woman) I may get a chance to set up a personal HRTF, which I would be keen to do. I was very impressed with the knowledgeability of the staff here though and did feel that the equipment did not get a decent opportunity to impress me.

 

[cukis350]

Some strange impressions from CanJam Shanghai from a guy that tried the A16:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/canjam-shanghai-2018-impressions-thread-november-3-4-2018.892503/

Smith Realiser
SO excited to get to try this out but I'm afraid it did not deliver. HOWEVER, the woman who was running the room explained very clearly why it fell short (it was set up for Chinese listeners and the head/face/ear physiognomy is VERY different to westerners. I did get a clear sense of out-of-head sound-stage, but not a reproduction of the speaker set-up they had there. Thanks to Clara (the aforementioned woman) I may get a chance to set up a personal HRTF, which I would be keen to do. I was very impressed with the knowledgeability of the staff here though and did feel that the equipment did not get a decent opportunity to impress me.

So does this mean I’m screwed when it finally delivered to me since I’m Asian-American?

 

[Jon Sonne]

So does this mean I’m screwed when it finally delivered to me since I’m Asian-American?

See the part in bold:

Some strange impressions from CanJam Shanghai from a guy that tried the A16:
"it was set up for Chinese listeners and the head/face/ear physiognomy is VERY different to westerners. I did get a clear sense of out-of-head sound-stage, but not a reproduction of the speaker set-up they had there. Thanks to Clara (the aforementioned woman) I may get a chance to set up a personal HRTF, which I would be keen to do.

I believe that they used a generic HRTF and not a personal one. Since the personal HRTF takes maybe more than 5 minutes to set-up, I think they may have used a generic HRTF instead in order to make the demos quicker, which would allow for more people to try the product at the show. It also explains why the person demoing the product experienced that the speaker simulation was not a full replication of the speaker set-up.

 

[SergioPOE]

Strange marketing choice. You go to a show and then you don’t take the time to set up the A16 to give the best listening experience. I think it’s much better to impress the hell out of 50 people than to give a half-hearted demo to 200. I wonder if the Smyths knew that this is how the demos would be done.

 

[Sanctuary]

See the part in bold:
I believe that they used a generic HRTF and not a personal one. Since the personal HRTF takes maybe more than 5 minutes to set-up, I think they may have used a generic HRTF instead in order to make the demos quicker, which would allow for more people to try the product at the show. It also explains why the person demoing the product experienced that the speaker simulation was not a full replication of the speaker set-up.

Even if that's the case, it's still ridiculous to say that it was "set up for Westerners" as though "Western" HRTF are all the same (which absolutely aren't and would almost defeat the entire purpose of the mic requirements if they were). But on top of that, it really is nonsensical trying to display what the A16 is capable of by soley relying on the built in samples, which again are not one size fits all for Westerners either.

 

[mercury79]

Sometimes Smyth has been demoed the realiser in a little stand, it sounds they use that kind of showroom there and not the entire setup in a dedicated room, anyway its the opinion of one guy and his experience on a generic hrtf, i will trust in my ears when the realiser arrives.

 

[innocentblood]

Clara must be a rep from Heavenly Sound I guess. I seriously hope they don't fudge it up for Smyth Research...

 

[m8o]

Smyth Realiser A16 is coming to demonstrate their amazing A16 surround headphone system at the first ever CanJam in China, Shanghai 3-4 November. I think this is the biggest CanJam ever . ...

Please be sure to get a definitive answer of when it will ship. Then come let us know.

I need to sell my house and -really- would like to take measurements of my system before I go. Would be my luck, the height of irony, if the thing arrives days too late.

 

[Fox1977]

As i suspected last week, the Smyths were not in Shanghai, reps from Heavenly Sound made the demo. Since it was a generic HRTF, no wonder that the guy was not amazed. With a generic one, you get a result similar with what you get with a software like Out Of Your Head (still a bit better because with the A16 it can still be a 9.1.6 BRIR while OOYH is limited to 7.1 channels) and for 4000$, it's clearly not mind-blowing, unless you get lucky and find a BRIR with HRTF close to your own head...

 

[raband]

As i suspected

Fluff and zero product or contact.

They've put a few "hey, look at what we can do" twitter, facebook and youtube posts up

Am waiting on a "hey, look what we produced" post

 

[sander99]

@m8o : what about trying to find an A8 owner in your vicinity who is willing to do measurements of your system? You would only have horizontal headtracking of course, but you could measure height and wide channels in seperate PRIRs.