[VandyMan]

Deleted

 

[Eich1eeF]

Everything above 8 channels will have to be encoded in Atmos and I think this is complicated.

Doesn't seem so complicated to me. Channel based encoding is all they offer, and I think it's exactly what we need:
https://docs.aws.amazon.com/mediaconvert/latest/ug/using-dolby-atmos-encoding.html

Costs about $0.0575/minute, including video, if I read that correctly. If anyone can record 16 channels in one pass (that should be possible with 2 A16 recording via USB), and someone else has an AWS account, I'd chip in a few bucks to encode an hour or two of sweeps. Ideally, we'd turn the voice prompts into text as well, but at that kind of price, we can just do that in a later run.

 

[bpinnell]

On the topic of room correction, I used Dirac to measure and correct my listening room. I use Dirac's VST plugin to apply the correction to all audio output from my main source (JRiver). Works well. I use my A8 and now A16 mainly to create a set of impulse files for loading into a convolution reverb so I can also apply it to all audio output from Jriver. I found when I routed audio through the convolution plugin and then the Dirac plugin, the Dirac plugin sounded as if it were making the same correction that it does if listening to speakers. Just like Dirac makes an important difference in my listening room, it also makes the same difference to the PRIR that I made of that listening room, even though it is not baked into the PRIR. My hope is that soon I will be able to make the PRIR with Dirac applied to the sweeps and therefore built into the PRIR.

 

[Litlgi74]

Deleted

 

[SobiC]

@SobiC: The link to that sweep file of yours doesn't seem to work anymore. Did you remove it?

By the way: How did you make this recording? Can you make recordings of 8 analog inputs also?

The file simply doesn't work anymore. Smyth changed the timing of the recording sequence (about the same time they changed the voice) so I had to make a new one...

I've been doing these "manual-async" measurements for almost one year now (not just for myself but also for clients) and it simply works (even Atmos rooms, my own 5.4.4 room sounds perfect)

 

[SobiC]

[Edit: but still not including the height channels of course...]

You CAN measure your height channels with my method, it's just not that simple.
If you use automatic-sound-destruction-bulls**t like audyssey it might not work, but if you had your setup professionally calibrated you just need to make two PRIRs. One for your 5.1 or 7.1 speakers and a second one for any other speaker in your room. You need to define a second PRIR Sound Room with those speakers, plug your height speakers into the 7.1 outputs of your AVR and copy the EQ and distance settings of your height channels to your 7.1 speakers. Then run a second PRIR measurement.

 

[Fox1977]

Do some of you watch Netflix via the Windows 10 app ? If so, does the A16 show Dolby Atmos when playing an Atmos soundtrack ? For me, it shows only Dolby Audio, but if i activate only the Over Head virtual speakers, i hear sound (and the Dolby Surr. option is off, so i guess it's not because of upmixing).
Yet, on Windows if i play an Atmos soundtrack via Media Player Classic, the A16 does show the Dolby Atmos logo, not Dolby Audio...

 

[pervysage]

Do some of you watch Netflix via the Windows 10 app ? If so, does the A16 show Dolby Atmos when playing an Atmos soundtrack ? For me, it shows only Dolby Audio, but if i activate only the Over Head virtual speakers, i hear sound (and the Dolby Surr. option is off, so i guess it's not because of upmixing).
Yet, on Windows if i play an Atmos soundtrack via Media Player Classic, the A16 does show the Dolby Atmos logo, not Dolby Audio...

Mine will show Dolby Atmos when watching something with a Dolby Atmos track on the Netflix app. I only had issues before when I was running the basic version of Netflix and couldn't find any Atmos content to play until I realized you have to be on their more expensive "Premium" plan to get the Atmos tracks, lol.

 

[badgeratu]

Not sure if anyone here has tried it yet but as a long term A8 owner I’m genuinely impressed with Apple’s Spatial Audio implementation. It’s no match for SVS of course, but as an OOYH experience it’s genuinely impressive especially for dialogue which most other algorithms like Dolby Headphone/Atmos, DTS:X, Audeze Mobius etc I’ve found really struggle with. And the AirPods Pro accelerometer-based head tracking properly works - provided you don’t over tax it by spinning around in a chair As a neutral lover of all technology I’ll be interested to see how Sony’s PS5 algorithm compares. It’s a great time for spatial audio lovers - still can’t wait for my A16 of course!

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

The file simply doesn't work anymore. Smyth changed the timing of the recording sequence (about the same time they changed the voice) so I had to make a new one...

I've been doing these "manual-async" measurements for almost one year now (not just for myself but also for clients) and it simply works (even Atmos rooms, my own 5.4.4 room sounds perfect)

If the signals are pretty much the same per speaker, and the timing interval doesn't change, couldn't you construct one in Reaper for any amount of channels you wish to measure?

Or you could set the realizer to measure a 24 channel system, use a few 8 or 16 channel USB I/O interfaces to capture the signal in Reaper and render it out to a series of wav files of varying channel counts up to channels?

 

[Fox1977]

Mine will show Dolby Atmos when watching something with a Dolby Atmos track on the Netflix app. I only had issues before when I was running the basic version of Netflix and couldn't find any Atmos content to play until I realized you have to be on their more expensive "Premium" plan to get the Atmos tracks, lol.

I'm already using the Premium UHD plan. The Atmos logo appears on the Netflix app when it shows the description of the program (which doesn't appear on my Android TV that doesn't support Atmos on Netflix), but yet the A16 detects only Dolby Audio.
And i found out that even though the "Dolby Surr." option was off on my preset, it was still on in the PCM Audio management options and it was still upmixing with Dolby soundtracks, which is surprising as, if i understood fine, the option in PCM Audio management should apply only on PCM signals.
Since i turned it off in PCM Aud. Man. the Over Head speakers are mute when i play an Atmos soundtrack on the Netflix app.

 

[Eich1eeF]

If the signals are pretty much the same per speaker, and the timing interval doesn't change, couldn't you construct one in Reaper for any amount of channels you wish to measure?

That would be possible if we knew the exact starting frequency, the end frequency, the duration, and the function by which the frequency rises. If we knew all that, we could probably just reverse-engineer the "real" async signals, which "introduce themselves" via DTMF tones.

Or you could set the realizer to measure a 24 channel system, use a few 8 or 16 channel USB I/O interfaces to capture the signal in Reaper and render it out to a series of wav files of varying channel counts up to channels?

The A16 is a pretty good USB I/O interface and should work pretty well to capture the signal- but probably not at the same time as playing the measurement signals, so a second one would be needed. Ardour or Audacity should also work as free alternatives to Reaper. Regular A16 can only output 16 channels at a time, so for 24 channels, a measurement would require 2 passes anyway. We still don't know who has the 32 channel AES A16, presumably that person already knows how to measure a suitable room/studio/theater.

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

I don't mean synthesizing the signals; capture one signal, copy it x amount of times for x amount of channels you wish to measure, make sure the channel routing is set up properly.

The A16 can accept USB *input* but it isn't set up to handle USB output right now IIRC. If Smyth updates the firmware to make the front USB port operational, I think it'd only be for two channel (such that people can use their 2 channel USB DACs for the SVS output). Hence the need for separate USB I/os (two 8x8s should do it).

I thought the max a current production A16 can handle is 24 channels of input/processing?

 

[Dr. Strangelove]

Ah did a little research and came away with this info:

• As A16: 16-channel analog version with unbalanced analog inputs / outputs on mini jack sockets.
• As A16PA : 16-channel analog version with symmetrical analog inputs / outputs distributed on 4 x D-Sub connectors in the Tascam pin layout.
• As A16AES : 16-channel digital version in AES format with sample rate conversion distributed on 2 x D-Sub sockets in Tacam pin layout.
• As A1632 : 32-channel digital version in AES format with sample rate conversion distributed on 4 x D-Sub sockets in Tascam pin layout.

I always wondered how the A16 would fit in the pro audio world given that you essentially need 16 channel analog input to even profile a system. This answers that question: a lot easier to to interface with if they are using AES EBU I/O.

https://pro.focusrite.com/category/legacy-products/item/rednet-d16-aes <- Pair that variant of A16 with one of these and you'd have a swiss army knife! Would kill to use the A16 with Dante....

 

[pervysage]

I'm already using the Premium UHD plan. The Atmos logo appears on the Netflix app when it shows the description of the program (which doesn't appear on my Android TV that doesn't support Atmos on Netflix), but yet the A16 detects only Dolby Audio.
And i found out that even though the "Dolby Surr." option was off on my preset, it was still on in the PCM Audio management options and it was still upmixing with Dolby soundtracks, which is surprising as, if i understood fine, the option in PCM Audio management should apply only on PCM signals.
Since i turned it off in PCM Aud. Man. the Over Head speakers are mute when i play an Atmos soundtrack on the Netflix app.

When you go into your sound options and go under the Realiser A16 properties, under the Advanced tab, are both the 'Exclusive Mode' options checked off? I think they should be enabled by default already but just something to check out just in case. I had unchecked them and it caused me issues where the A16 wouldn't automatically switch rooms and audio modes depending on the signal it was getting.