Smyth Research Realiser A16
Apr 9, 2020 at 12:20 PM Post #8,521 of 15,951
But then if they waited to complete all scheduled KS/Preorders shipping before bothering with the upgrades, wouldn't that create another logistical nightmare, namely, the prospect of having every single and already shipped A-16 re-shipped back to Bangor for the upgrade?
I don't understand what you are saying. All A16's that will be shipped from now on will already be upgraded of course. So it doesn't change the number of A16's that have to be shipped back.
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 12:44 PM Post #8,522 of 15,951
I just hope it is only a hand full of people who do this upgrade now. Imagine all people that already got their A16 do it now. The rest of us will be waiting yet another 6 months longer. (Or does anyone of you believe they will upgrade 200 A16's quicker, even if Smyth would claim "We are hoping you will have it back in 4-6 weeks'', ha ha.) And as i said before, probably in a few years there will be another even nicer upgrade. Might as well wait for that.
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 12:54 PM Post #8,523 of 15,951
I just hope it is only a hand full of people who do this upgrade now. Imagine all people that already got their A16 do it now. The rest of us will be waiting yet another 6 months longer. (Or does anyone of you believe they will upgrade 200 A16's quicker, even if Smyth would claim "We are hoping you will have it back in 4-6 weeks'', ha ha.) And as i said before, probably in a few years there will be another even nicer upgrade. Might as well wait for that.

While they are obviously pretty bad at predicting ship dates and that sort of thing, I imagine that based on email interest James received a few weeks back when announcing a possible upgrade program that they are planning on a small number of people shipping their units back.

I would wait until a possible HDMI 2.1 update, but I realized that with new consoles and Nvidia graphics cards coming in the future, that I'll basically need something with eARC support to take advantage of the video features that HDMI 2.1 will offer. An HDMI 2.1 board would be the most ideal, but I can make things work perfectly fine with eARC. Without eARC support though the A16 would be the weak link in my setup come this fall (or more likely next spring because of COVID-19) once the new consoles launch.
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 1:04 PM Post #8,525 of 15,951
I imagine that based on email interest James received a few weeks back when announcing a possible upgrade program that they are planning on a small number of people shipping their units back.
That is exactly what I am hoping for (and expecting a little bit).
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 1:22 PM Post #8,526 of 15,951
I don't understand what you are saying. All A16's that will be shipped from now on will already be upgraded of course. So it doesn't change the number of A16's that have to be shipped back.

I know, but I was responding to @snejk 's question as to why the Smyths won't "wait with the upgrades until all the previous commitments are fulfilled?" He was wondering, in other words, whether the Smyths should not complete all the shipping first, before bothering with any upgrades at all, and in that scenario, none of the current A-16s would be upgraded when they're received.

You can see that post here:

https://www.head-fi.org/threads/smyth-research-realiser-a16.807459/page-567#post-15549575
 
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Apr 9, 2020 at 3:46 PM Post #8,528 of 15,951
My quote was $267? I'm really confused as to what you are doing to get the $68 number?

I've inserted an image to show that this is really happening and I'll try and explain how I got there.

Go to UPS.com and start a quote. Enter in your home details and then the destination details. Click Update. Enter in the customs amount (I put $4,000). Then on the left hand side where it says "enter details to show cost" change the shipment type to "UPS Returns" (I'm assuming this is what we are supposed to choose since James said we needed to say we're shipping it back for return for service/repair). Then it's going to switch everything over to metric so you'll need to convert your package size from inches to centimeters on you own and I used 4.5 kg as the weight which is about 10 lbs. I used a declared value of 3,300 Pounds which is about $4,000 U.S. By the looks of it that insures the package for that amount. Then hit update again and it should give you a bunch of shipping options. The cheapest on will get it there in 4 days and costs 53.99 GBP which is about $68 U.S. I picked arbitrary dates in this photo, but when I selected April 20th last time it said it would arrive to Smyth Research on April 24th.

UPS.png
 
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Apr 9, 2020 at 5:04 PM Post #8,529 of 15,951
I just hope it is only a hand full of people who do this upgrade now. Imagine all people that already got their A16 do it now. The rest of us will be waiting yet another 6 months longer. (Or does anyone of you believe they will upgrade 200 A16's quicker, even if Smyth would claim "We are hoping you will have it back in 4-6 weeks'', ha ha.) And as i said before, probably in a few years there will be another even nicer upgrade. Might as well wait for that.
It's a lot of money(at least compared to the KS price)
It means having to let go of the unit for 4-6weeks in Smyth's time. Based on previous experiences, we've established that the gravitational pull directly around their warehouse must be super massive. I can't talk for others, but I've had enough insecure waiting to get that toy for a lifetime.

Also, and maybe I'm the anomaly here(wouldn't be the first time), I don't need the A16 to do much more than what it already does. The extra stuff I'd like to have are unrelated to those upgrades. Even if sticking to the old stuff rapidly pushes me out of possible firmware upgrades(which is clearly the biggest risk here IMO), and stops me from getting some of those changes I'd like to get, I'd still believe that it's the coolest audio device I ever owned. I can live with that level of dissatisfaction for a few years.:grin:
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 7:00 PM Post #8,530 of 15,951
I would have waited except for the fact that future firmware updates will be with the upgrade in mind. Smyth Research has said that they will not be writing two versions of firmware code, and they have gone on further to state that some features in the future may not work with the old units.
Not both ways, it looks like it's the equivalent of $68 one way when picking a return shipment, using an 18" x 10" x 6" shipping box, and guessing that it's a 10lb shipment (I'm not sure what the actual weight is). When you choose a return shipment it makes you enter everything in metric instead of imperial and spits out a price in British Pounds instead U.S. Dollars. I declared a value of 3300 British Pounds with is a little more than $4,000 U.S. and that appears to insure it for that value as well best I can tell.
The shipping weight is 5 kg, with a “dimensional weight” of 7 kg. A calculation made from measurements of package length, width and depth gives you a number that UPS uses, in conjunction with the actual weight, to arrive at the shipping charge. Distance shipped obviously is also the other major factor in the amount charged.

For my fellow US residents who do not routinely use the metric system, 2.2 pounds equals 1 kg.
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 7:11 PM Post #8,531 of 15,951
I would have waited except for the fact that future firmware updates will be with the upgrade in mind. Smyth Research has said that they will not be writing two versions of firmware code, and they have gone on further to state that some features in the future may not work with the old units.

The shipping weight is 5 kg, with a “dimensional weight” of 7 kg. A calculation made from measurements of package length, width and depth gives you a number that UPS uses, in conjunction with the actual weight, to arrive at the shipping charge. Distance shipped obviously is also the other major factor in the amount charged.

For my fellow US residents who do not routinely use the metric system, 2.2 pounds equals 1 kg.

Thanks for that. Bumping it up to 7 kg takes the cost up to about $84 US.
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 9:40 PM Post #8,532 of 15,951
Thanks for that. Bumping it up to 7 kg takes the cost up to about $84 US.
I just tried to use the UPS return option and it turned to be cheaper than the normal rate.. Would be good to have confirmation from James regarding this option just in case...
So does it mean that we will need to repeat the same booking process with UPS return option once our unit will be ready to be shipped back from Smyth place?
Do we need to send the unit asap to them now?
 
Apr 9, 2020 at 10:00 PM Post #8,533 of 15,951
I just tried to use the UPS return option and it turned to be cheaper than the normal rate.. Would be good to have confirmation from James regarding this option just in case...
So does it mean that we will need to repeat the same booking process with UPS return option once our unit will be ready to be shipped back from Smyth place?
Do we need to send the unit asap to them now?

I emailed James about it today and sent an email to UPS customer service explaining that I was trying to send a piece of electronics to the UK and asked if the return option would be what I can use. I haven’t received a response for either yet.

As for when to ship it. I guess they never said any explicitly about it, but I assumed that shipping within two days of the invoice due date would be on. I honestly may just ship it sometime in the week before my invoice is due.
 
Apr 10, 2020 at 4:25 AM Post #8,534 of 15,951
I would have waited except for the fact that future firmware updates will be with the upgrade in mind. Smyth Research has said that they will not be writing two versions of firmware code, and they have gone on further to state that some features in the future may not work with the old units.
I think you read the update slightly different than I do.
Despite these hardware changes we intend to maintain a single unified firmware update for both hardware revisions going forward. This will mean that some features introduced in future updates may work differently, or not at all, depending on the HSR/APM hardware in your Realiser.
Of course some features will work differently or not at all: with the old version you won't be able to select 'eARC' as a fifth HDMI input, with the old version you won't be able to select listening mode13.1.10, etc. And maybe they will encounter things that will force them to introduce other differences, but it seems clear to me that their intention is to try to make as much as possible working on the old version as well. I would expect 'a single unified firmware update for both hardware revisions' to be something with a lot of "if ... then ... else ..." constructions (maybe not only in the actual firmware, but in the update process as well, in fact they don't say they won't write two different firmware versions, they are talking about a single firmware update), and that is encouriging because they will want to keep the differences as small as possible.
Also it would be totally berserk if they would simply 'drop' any further development for the old version, they are obliged to try to develop all the promised main features like DTS:X. If they would simply drop all that regarding the old version then all hell will break loose and some people will be visiting Northern Ireland!
 
Apr 10, 2020 at 8:02 AM Post #8,535 of 15,951
I got some additional info regarding shipping the units back to Smyth Research. Still think that my method of using UPS Return shipping is fine, but I'm going to see if I can get a firm answer from UPS. The additional info from James is below:

"1.When organizing your shipment please make sure you insure your unit for the full amount you paid for it.
2. Please state that your unit is being returned for “warranty return for service/repair service”.
3.Also write “warranty return for service/repair service” on the outside of the box you're sending the unit back in.
4.And leave a paper note inside the package describing this is a “warranty return for service/repair service”

You should ask UPS if they can advise any more on this as they deal with these questions daily."

I also asked when they'd like us to ship the units back and this is their response:

"Once everyone has paid we will email all customers with a date to ship your unit.
Again we want to receive all units roughly in the same week.

I'll be in touch on the 20th April."
 

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