I pre-ordered I think around Summer 2017. I am basically crossing my fingers I get this sometime in late 2020. I am trying to look on the bright side that by then the features will all more or less be activated and all the other kinks will be worked out.
At this point I just hope they don't go bankrupt before they finish shipping all units, whenever that may be.
The fact that they could go belly up at any moment is why I'm putting off a purchase. If they fold up next week or next month, support for problems may become very difficult or even impossible, and no support for any more formats will be forthcoming. This is the risk we take when buying products from a startup company. Once Smyth is making a consistent profit, units are rolling down the assembly line, all intended formats are supported, bugs and defects are minimal and quickly resolved...that's when I'll buy one.
The fact that they could go belly up at any moment is why I'm putting off a purchase. If they fold up next week or next month, support for problems may become very difficult or even impossible, and no support for any more formats will be forthcoming. This is the risk we take when buying products from a startup company. Once Smyth is making a consistent profit, units are rolling down the assembly line, all intended formats are supported, bugs and defects are minimal and quickly resolved...that's when I'll buy one.
Yes we know they can go belly up anytime soon or never at all. Please also bear in mind :
source : scoriff.co.uk
...quote " DEBTS AND LATE PAYMENTS
No late payments have been reported to Scoriff by creditors of SMYTH RESEARCH LIMITED. Furthermore, we have not monitored any suspicious activity affecting trade credit risk of SMYTH RESEARCH LIMITED or related companies. However, if SMYTH RESEARCH LIMITED is late with payments, report it here and we trigger alerts to notify affected creditors.
SMYTH RESEARCH LIMITED (company number NI063740) is an active private limited company from 17 GRAYS HILL. This is a mature company, which was founded in 2007 and competes with tens of thousands of other businesses in the field of manufacture of consumer electronics. The company has low credit risk, which is below industrial average"...unquote
The company was created in 2007. They have also successfully launched the Realiser A8 both technically and financially.
But you are right, it can go wrong. And the price may also double in 6 months time. And so on...
I admit that my buying the Realiser A16 was an impulsive buy with no thought beyond "I must have that machine", as many of us must have done. Whatever happens (fortunately I received the A16) there might not be a realiser exchange, no firmware updates and I will have to live with it...For most of us, it is too late, yet we remain optimistic...
When I use the A16 for several hours and turn it off(A16 working like a charm up to this point), it goes OFF for good. No red led, no turning back ON with the remote or pushing the volume knob. It's dead as a dodo. I have to unplug and replug the power cord at the back to instantly get the red led back and the expected OFF behavior that is responsive to turn ON request. Anybody else gets that?
No indication of trouble at any time(as far as I can tell) and short use of the A16 will turn off as it should, showing the red led and tuning back ON on request.
Fw1.81 and I'm using HDMI if that's relevant.
I also have a dramatic non issue that bothers me because I'm a maniac, I'd like to be able to get rid of listener B entirely. I'm probably never going to have any use for that B dude. And it somehow annoys me to see it load for no purpose every day.
When I use the A16 for several hours and turn it off(A16 working like a charm up to this point), it goes OFF for good. No red led, no turning back ON with the remote or pushing the volume knob. It's dead as a dodo. I have to unplug and replug the power cord at the back to instantly get the red led back and the expected OFF behavior that is responsive to turn ON request. Anybody else gets that?
No indication of trouble at any time(as far as I can tell) and short use of the A16 will turn off as it should, showing the red led and tuning back ON on request.
Fw1.81 and I'm using HDMI if that's relevant.
I also have a dramatic non issue that bothers me because I'm a maniac, I'd like to be able to get rid of listener B entirely. I'm probably never going to have any use for that B dude. And it somehow annoys me to see it load for no purpose every day.
Right now mine is on the way back b/c of a similar issue--it freezes and becomes unresponsive to the remote. Your's sounds like some kind of thermal related issue. Gotta wonder if mine is hardware related as well. I never received a written warrnty from them. If anyone know the terms and conditions of the warranty and where to find them, please share.
For that matter, AFIK, there are no published stats on things like the distortion and S/N of the variety of DACS, AMPS, and mics that are part of the package. The lack of documentation is kind of ridiculous, really.
I pledged to the Realiser A16 campaign immediately when I saw it. I finally received my Kickstarter A16 (2U Version) this week. The UI and remote are horrific even by 1990's standards. Studying, and I mean thoroughly reading the PDF manual is a requirement. Fortunately Lorr Kramer at Smyth Research was also very response to my questions.
I have only gotten the USB input to work with my set up. So far it works as expected. Sound quality is probably even better than the A8 even though I'm using my old A8 PRIR profile (converted to A16.) The headphone amp and usage is far superior to the A8 as well. One major area of improvement is the ability to use LFE +10 boost or not, and even better the ability to dial in more bass to your personal tastes to compensate for "bass lite" headphones.
There are a lot of bugs that need to be ironed out. The Realiser A16 is not an retail ready product that you can just "Plug N Play" out of the package. It will only appeal to the most hardcore professional and hobbyist alike. Your patience will be awarded with audio bliss. But it requires a LOT of patience. For fellow early adopters out there. Please be patient, but make thorough notes of issues, bugs, and especially a "wish" list of features or improvements you want, and send emails to Mike and Steven at Smyth Research.
Was it worth the nearly 2.5 Year delay? Of course it was. The Realiser A16 has no peer when if comes to HRTF "virtual" surround headphone sound. Which is to be expected since nothing has beaten it's predecessor, the Realiser A8.
I pledged to the Realiser A16 campaign immediately when I saw it. I finally received my Kickstarter A16 (2U Version) this week. The UI and remote are horrific even by 1990's standards. Studying, and I mean thoroughly reading the PDF manual is a requirement. Fortunately Lorr Kramer at Smyth Research was also very response to my questions.
I have only gotten the USB input to work with my set up. So far it works as expected. Sound quality is probably even better than the A8 even though I'm using my old A8 PRIR profile (converted to A16.) The headphone amp and usage is far superior to the A8 as well. One major area of improvement is the ability to use LFE +10 boost or not, and even better the ability to dial in more bass to your personal tastes to compensate for "bass lite" headphones.
There are a lot of bugs that need to be ironed out. The Realiser A16 is not an retail ready product that you can just "Plug N Play" out of the package. It will only appeal to the most hardcore professional and hobbyist alike. Your patience will be awarded with audio bliss. But it requires a LOT of patience. For fellow early adopters out there. Please be patient, but make thorough notes of issues, bugs, and especially a "wish" list of features or improvements you want, and send emails to Mike and Steven at Smyth Research.
Was it worth the nearly 2.5 Year delay? Of course it was. The Realiser A16 has no peer when if comes to HRTF "virtual" surround headphone sound. Which is to be expected since nothing has beaten it's predecessor, the Realiser A8.
While I don’t disagree with you, I can’t see how a product whose ultimate promise lies in a PRIR could ever be plug and play. I suppose that the Smyths probably look at the day when all of the Kickstarter units have finally shipped as the day that the A16 makes its commercial launch. I expect that no units will be sent to the press for review until Smyth deems the A16 to be ready for prime time.
In effect, we are currently all beta testers. Nonetheless, DTS-X and Auro 3D, in addition to asynchronous measurements and the Realiser Exchange, should all have been available with the shipment of the first A16. The big winners in this endeavor thus far are people like yourself who already have A8 PRIRs. While the BBC and Surrey presets are enjoyable, they are not PRIRs. To be completely honest, I have to say that I’m more than a little ticked that the Smyths reneged on their promise to ship PRIRs obtained at various show demonstrations with their respective units.
In the meantime, I will continue to tinker with my A16(received just 3 days ago - and yes, I know that I am one of the lucky ones) as I become more accustomed to and knowledgeable about this unicorn of the AV world.
Having a personalized PRIR in a top notch studio is a night and day difference. My current favorite is a local studio in Los Angeles, California (where I live). AIX Records. I have a 5.1 and 7.1 PRIR I recorded there a long time ago. They're my favorite profiles. I really hope they upgrade their studio soon to a Dolby Atmos set up.
I pledged to the Realiser A16 campaign immediately when I saw it. I finally received my Kickstarter A16 (2U Version) this week. The UI and remote are horrific even by 1990's standards. Studying, and I mean thoroughly reading the PDF manual is a requirement. Fortunately Lorr Kramer at Smyth Research was also very response to my questions.
I have only gotten the USB input to work with my set up. So far it works as expected. Sound quality is probably even better than the A8 even though I'm using my old A8 PRIR profile (converted to A16.) The headphone amp and usage is far superior to the A8 as well. One major area of improvement is the ability to use LFE +10 boost or not, and even better the ability to dial in more bass to your personal tastes to compensate for "bass lite" headphones.
There are a lot of bugs that need to be ironed out. The Realiser A16 is not an retail ready product that you can just "Plug N Play" out of the package. It will only appeal to the most hardcore professional and hobbyist alike. Your patience will be awarded with audio bliss. But it requires a LOT of patience. For fellow early adopters out there. Please be patient, but make thorough notes of issues, bugs, and especially a "wish" list of features or improvements you want, and send emails to Mike and Steven at Smyth Research.
Was it worth the nearly 2.5 Year delay? Of course it was. The Realiser A16 has no peer when if comes to HRTF "virtual" surround headphone sound. Which is to be expected since nothing has beaten it's predecessor, the Realiser A8.
If it were even able to mirror the little view window via HDMI or usb to a monitor, that alone would be a huge improvement. Right now the printing on the screen is about the same size as the type in Facebook's Privacy Policy.
Having a personalized PRIR in a top notch studio is a night and day difference. My current favorite is a local studio in Los Angeles, California (where I live). AIX Records. I have a 5.1 and 7.1 PRIR I recorded there a long time ago. They're my favorite profiles. I really hope they upgrade their studio soon to a Dolby Atmos set up.
I would like to see Smyth Research try to find a 16 channel Atmos Studio in the eastern half of the US. My nominee is the Blackbird studio in Nashville. Yes, I know, someone tried to put something together with them a few months back and was rebuffed, but I would like to see Lorr Kramer pay a call and see if he could change their minds. For that matter, there are a number of venues in Nashville (obviously a recording center for the country). Among them are Columbia Studio A on the campus of Belmont University which has a two channel JBL M2 setup. I'm sure there are other studios using quality Genelec, B & W setups also. There are also a number of hifi shops retailing Revel Studio 2s, Revel Perform f228 be's, Dutch & Dutch 8Cs, Kii3s, Kef Blades, and YBA Sonja 1.4s. Nasville is just about in the geographic center of the eastern US which is where 75 percent of the population resides. In short, I'd like Smyth Research to make a effort to make Nashville a PRIR mecca for the eastern US.
Sorry, I didn’t. I actually prefer to do this in private and not. as a group event. Do not like to have any hastiness in the process.
For the German distributor this is obviously also completely new and one of them will also come to my apointment in the Munich studio.
I really have to bring my own A16 since they like to make sure it later works on my A16. One can see how insecure they feel about the process if my own A16 is needed. That makes it really uncomfortable to carry my A16 in the plane.
Sorry, I didn’t. I actually prefer to do this in private and not. as a group event. Do not like to have any hastiness in the process.
For the German distributor this is obviously also completely new and one of them will also come to my apointment in the Munich studio.
I really have to bring my own A16 since they like to make sure it later works on my A16. One can see how insecure they feel about the process if my own A16 is needed. That makes it really uncomfortable to carry my A16 in the plane.
If it were even able to mirror the little view window via HDMI or usb to a monitor, that alone would be a huge improvement. Right now the printing on the screen is about the same size as the type in Facebook's Privacy Policy.
I agree, but that's not their goal, because they are working on a web interface so that the user can operate everything from a web browser on a tablet computer or smartphone etc. Don't know how long this will take to complete though. They are a very small company and don't have much money as you know.
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