Was regretting not getting in early on the kickstarter for the A16, but after seeing all the issues, glad to be still using the A8 trouble free for so many years. Everyday it still blows my mind, awesome audio quality.
Conversely, I can’t be too harsh given the deal I got being a backer.
I suddenly thought about the following: I am not sure if the HPEQ is also bypassed in this mode. I expect it will be bypassed but if not you should try to create a neutral HPEQ and use that.
(I guess you could use what is described in '9.1.2 FlatEQ filter generation for IEM-type headphones')
But audiohobbit is right it is not ideal that the A16 should stay on all the time while listening to your stereo speakers.
Nope, I think the convolution engine is bypassed alltogether, no PRIR nor HPEQ filtering going, simple downmixing to stereo.
I still think it should simply redirect the multi-channel stream out of decoder to the digital outs when in speaker mode but I agree with your comment that it’s probably not a wise idea to us the A16 as an AV preamp.
Mine works fine with the usb-c based hdmi converter officially from Apple with my iPad Pro 2018 version. Is yours an official apple converter?
Before you blame the a16, try and route it direct to tv to make sure your converter isn’t just defective, or the hdmi cable you’re using. It’s hdmi, these things should just work.
I checked the official adapter thread on apple store and I don’t think I have ever seen worse feedback for an apple product, and it’s not just from initial release 3 years back or so, it’s ongoing each and every week it appears with the same recurring feedback that it breaks after few weeks of usage. I’ll probably try at the apple store instead.
@arnaud and Fox1977: Could you please report any problems ocurring on the french forum hcfr so I can add them to my list and/or to see what problems ocurred there?
My french is really bad (had french in school, but that's more than 20 years ago...) but I'd love to read what our french speaking friends had to say about the A16. unfortunately online translators are no real solution either
I started to look at the thread but I suspect the french backers mostly ordered through the distributor (gilles gerin I think, forgive my spelling if not quite right) and he’s taking care of them through private mailing list or such and dealing with smyth directly. I’d then argue it’s almost better to keep your and his communication separate for the sake of smyth brothers sanity but still:
- p67, 2 sep., falcon666 (1st backer to receive his unit i think): no batteries for the remote, nasty clips for the tracker cable (i feel the same: you will simply risk breaking the wire when trying to clip it, the channel being either too small or too rigid)
- p68, 4 sep., falcon666: some A8 prirs don’t play on A16 (probably fixed by firmware update since)
- p69, 6 sep., falcon666: some issues with dolby upmixing (option 1 bugs, option 2 only works for atmos). I myself haven’t tried this so not sure what he’s referring too.
- p74, 25 sep., gearnet (maybe 3-4 people received it by now): deafening buzz in the middle of uhd playback of a dts-hd soundtrack (fixed upon reboot, supposedly fixed in FW 1.70)
- p75, 2 oct., gearnet: buzz is back in FW1.7, less loud but very frequent which makes it impossible to watch a movie (same uhd playback between pana ub9000 and lg 55c8). “This A16 is a total pos” is his harsh comment
- p75, 2 oct., gearnet: same buzz using in analog in vs bitstream from the pana player but no issue with a marantz ub400. It turns out the pana was a brand new unit and arrived defective...
- p77, 10 oct., You Gene (also reported a few pages back): display unreadable from a practical distance
- p78, 12 oct., You Gene: he’s reporting very familiar experience. Wait, this is a translation in french of what I wrote in english here lol
- the end
cheers,
Arnaud
For what it