[AppleheadMay]

Any news on shipping? Are Kickstarters done and did pre-orders begin shipping after 4 years?

 

[GeorgeA]

I’m kickstarter backer #267 and on 28 August 2020 James Smyth sent me a message writing that my A16 would be ready for shipping within the next 2 weeks. In addition, one can see the shipping status at kickstarter site, updates section.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I’m kickstarter backer #267 and on 28 August 2020 James Smyth sent me a message writing that my A16 would be ready for shipping within the next 2 weeks. In addition, one can see the shipping status at kickstarter site, updates section.

Thanks!
I see next week is 267-278 from 330. If they keep going like the last two weeks with only a bit of delay they should be done with kickstarters by the end of October.
Then hopefully pre-orders soon. I seem to remember I'm one of the earlier pre-orders, not sure how early though, my order is from October 31 2016.

No updates to HDMI 2.1 yet?

 

[audiohobbit]

Do you mean for standby or just in general because there is currently audio pass through enabled on the A16, you just have to go into the settings and toggle it on.

Seems you're right and I forgot about this. I never tested this. So if the bypass is on, sound (no matter if PCM or bitstream) from an HDMI input is directed to the HDMI output?
What about the other inputs (optical etc.)?

However in standby it doesn't work?

And I conclude from the notes in the FW update I quoted that this will work only with the new HW in a future FW update.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Seems you're right and I forgot about this. I never tested this. So if the bypass is on, sound (no matter if PCM or bitstream) from an HDMI input is directed to the HDMI output?
What about the other inputs (optical etc.)?

However in standby it doesn't work?

And I conclude from the notes in the FW update I quoted that this will work only with the new HW in a future FW update.

I have only tested it for HDMI, but it seems to pass any audio from a given HDMI in to the HDMI out on the A16. The toggles for pass through are per HDMI in instead of a universal setting. It does only work in a full powered on state, but would certainly be useful if they got it working in standby.

 

[sander99]

So if the bypass is on, sound (no matter if PCM or bitstream) from an HDMI input is directed to the HDMI output?

With the borrowed A16 a while back I even tried the following setup succesfully:
A16 HDMI output to HDMI input on my Yamaha RX-V771 AV Receiver. Multi channel pre-outs from the same Yamaha back into 8 of the 16 analog inputs of the A16.
I don't remember the exact menu, but somewhere in the A16 you can select for each audio input, which video (HDMI) input should be passed through whith that audio.
For the 16 channel analog inputs I selected HDMI 1, my media player. (Of course you can always change this to another input).
When I played a movie with Dolby I selected input HDMI 1 on the A16 and the A16 did the decoding.
When I played a movie with DTS I selected the analog 16 channel input. The HDMI input 1 signal was passed through including the original DTS bitstream audio. The Yamaha decoded the DTS and sent it back via analog to the A16. Worked perfect. Meanwhile video always passed through the A16 and the Yamaha to my (non-4k) TV. Worked perfect.
[Edit: of course I did not have loudspeakers connected to the Yamaha RX-V771. Because then they can not be switched off, and the volume knob controls the pre-outs as well as the loudspeakers.]

 

[Eich1eeF]

That is good news. I hope they also add HDMI-CEC support. Almost all my TV viewing is done thru an Apple TV. One thing I really like about it is that with one button press on the remote both the Apple TV and my TV set turn on. When I choose the Sleep option, the TV is turned off. With the A-16, this no longer works, so I once again have the inconvenience of turning on multiple devices. Not a big deal of course, but it would be nice to have.

I'm not entirely sure how you want to link your devices, but I think that if you intend to use CEC to power on the ATV, you'll have to use eARC to route the audio to the A16. The datasheet for the MDS HDMI board doesn't mention CEC passthrough, just handling of CEC in the device itself, e.g. to turn the A16 on and off.

You may have to get a universal remote control e.g. a Harmony.

 

[GU1DO]

Hi -----,

Sorry about the late reply.

We're currently shipping out KickStarter units and will hopefully have them complete in the next 2 months.
Once they're complete we will start shipping out pre-orders. I see you're pre-order number #107.
I estimate you will receive your unit late 2020.

You can pay the retail difference and receive your unit next week.

Let me know.

Thanks for your continued patience and support.

Regards
James
=========
this was today morning

 

[pervysage]

Is there any way to just send a unprocessed stereo signal (let's say if you just wanted to listen to some regular ole music without any of the surround processing?) to your headphones?

 

[sander99]

Is there any way to just send a unprocessed stereo signal (let's say if you just wanted to listen to some regular ole music without any of the surround processing?) to your headphones?

I assume what you mean is that you want to listen to unprocessed normal headphone stereo, so no speaker virtualisation?
Yes that is possible using the stereo mixdown feature. (Actually also multichannel soures can be mixed down to stereo and listened to as plain headphone stereo without virtual loudspeakers.)
It is a bit complicated to enable this feature:
In the listening room (don't forget to unlock it, change the red key to grey) that you will be using go into the "Manage Bass/Reverb/Tactile" menu.
At the bottom of the screen switch "Stereo" on (checked).
Press enter to go into the stereo mixdown sub menu.
Channels should be turned on, levels something like you see in Figure 10-27 of the manual.
In the preset: AV should be off (unchecked).
Now if you are in the speaker map screen (of user A or B) you can switch between virtual loudspeakers and normal headphone stereo (stereo mixdown) by pushing the headphone and loudspeaker button on the remote control.
(I hope I didn't forget anything.)

Or do you mean you want to hear a stereo source over one stereo pair of virtual loudspeakers, just no upmixing to mutichannel?
That is also possible of course (turn off all upmixing in the preset).

 

[pervysage]

I assume what you mean is that you want to listen to unprocessed normal headphone stereo, so no speaker virtualisation?
Yes that is possible using the stereo mixdown feature. (Actually also multichannel soures can be mixed down to stereo and listened to as plain headphone stereo without virtual loudspeakers.)
It is a bit complicated to enable this feature:
In the listening room (don't forget to unlock it, change the red key to grey) that you will be using go into the "Manage Bass/Reverb/Tactile" menu.
At the bottom of the screen switch "Stereo" on (checked).
Press enter to go into the stereo mixdown sub menu.
Channels should be turned on, levels something like you see in Figure 10-27 of the manual.
In the preset: AV should be off (unchecked).
Now if you are in the speaker map screen (of user A or B) you can switch between virtual loudspeakers and normal headphone stereo (stereo mixdown) by pushing the headphone and loudspeaker button on the remote control.
(I hope I didn't forget anything.)

Or do you mean you want to hear a stereo source over one stereo pair of virtual loudspeakers, just no upmixing to mutichannel?
That is also possible of course (turn off all upmixing in the preset).

Thanks so much for the detailed response!

The first one is what I was looking for! And you are right... that's quite a complicated process for wanting to do something so simple! haha, but I did manage to get it working with your detailed instructions! Thanks again.

It's outputting volume a lot louder than my usual stereo setup so I just gotta get the volume levels right but the stereo mix down works great.

 

[AppleheadMay]

Well, having an LG OLED CX48 and GX65 already and seen the RTX 3090, Xbox Series X and PS5 will all be available in 3 months, all of those supporting HDMI 2.1 with VRR and 4K 120Hz at 10 bits color 4:4:4 the Realiser better be upgraded with a HDMI 2.1 board soon or it'll be a paperweight by the time I get it.

 

[GeorgeA]

I don't think Smyth Research will make another hardware change regarding HDMI 2.1 for Realiser A16. The most recent change in March 2020 targeted the HSR41T HDMI repeater (HDMI 1.4 & 2.0b mandatory formats). Maybe a new iteration of the Realiser will be provided with HDMI 2.1 board.

For the current version of the Realiser A16, a workaround might be conveying the video signal directly to the TV/projector and only the audio signal to be processed by the A16. For several years there have been blu- and media players that have two HDMI outputs, one for the video signal and the other one only for audio signal.

 

[AppleheadMay]

I don't think Smyth Research will make another hardware change regarding HDMI 2.1 for Realiser A16. The most recent change in March 2020 targeted the HSR41T HDMI repeater (HDMI 1.4 & 2.0b mandatory formats). Maybe a new iteration of the Realiser will be provided with HDMI 2.1 board.

For the current version of the Realiser A16, a workaround might be conveying the video signal directly to the TV/projector and only the audio signal to be processed by the A16. For several years there have been blu- and media players that have two HDMI outputs, one for the video signal and the other one only for audio signal.

For the PC that will be no problem since I have 3 HDMI outputs, I can use one for the Realiser and the other two for the two connected OLEDs.
For the Xbox and PS however, I'd need to find a HDMI 2.1 splitter but those aren't available yet.

There was talk here on the forum about upgrading the HDMI board yourself, with a link to the manufacturer Smyth uses for their A16 HDMI boards.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Well, having an LG OLED CX48 and GX65 already and seen the RTX 3090, Xbox Series X and PS5 will all be available in 3 months, all of those supporting HDMI 2.1 with VRR and 4K 120Hz at 10 bits color 4:4:4 the Realiser better be upgraded with a HDMI 2.1 board soon or it'll be a paperweight by the time I get it.

Once eARC is enabled on the A16 (assuming you have the updated hardware) you’ll be fine. Run your PC and consoles to your CX, use eARC to get sound from the CX to the A16.

This is the reason that I sent my A16 back for the upgraded HDMI board. I have a 55” CX that I got in April. I’ll be upgrading my PC to a 3090 and will buy both new consoles. The way my setup is wired is HDMI 1 is my PS4 to be replaced by a PS5, HDMI 2 (the eARC port) my A16. HDMI 3 my PC where I’ll be upgrading my 2080 Ti to a 3090, and HDMI 4 is my Xbox One X to be upgraded to a Series X. Then connected directly to the A16 HDMI ports is an Oppo UHD player, Nintendo Switch, Nvidia Shield Pro, and Apple TV 4K. Once they enable eARC on the A16 I will be able to send uncompressed audio from the gaming devices to the A16 while still being able to take advantage of HDMI 2.1.