I captured a new 5.1 PRIR tonight using the async files that
@Thomasphoenix98 sent (thanks again!) and wanted to share how things went since I think I might be the first one to try it (correct me if I'm wrong on that). Anyways, here goes:
What a pain free process compared to how I had to capture the same system last year when I got my A16. Since I don't have a receiver that has 5.1 analog inputs, I had to plug and unplug RCA cables as well as connect speakers to different terminals with some combination of doing a 180 degree turn to try capturing the fronts as rears. All things considered using the synchronous method, I thought I had a faithful representation of that listening environment. I was really happy with it, that was until I recaptured it using the async files tonight.
As I mentioned above, the system I captured is a 5.1 setup. I used the files from sound room 8 with have fixed look angles of 0, 15, 30, and 60 degrees. It really was as simple as following the instructions from the 1.80 and 1.90 firmware update manual. I connected my laptop to a Denon receiver via HDMI and played the .wav async files through VLC media player. Of course I also made sure to set the sound output on my laptop to 5.1. I didn't run into a single issue, the A16 picked up the tones that it gets from each sound file and did what it needed to do. All in all I'd say it took maybe 20 minutes to go through the process and the best part is that I was able to do so without ever needing to move from the sweet spot at all. The result is a PRIR that sounds like essentially a 100% faithful recreation of the room that I captured. What an absolute delight.
tl;dr Async capturing of a PRIR is so much easier and for me the resulting PRIR is so much better than what I had to cobble together using the old method last year. I thought that the A16 was one of the most impressive pieces of tech I ever owned before tonight, and after recapturing my 5.1 PRIR I am so much more impressed than I was.