[GeorgeA]

I think you have it the wrong way. Auro 3D was first and it is actually Atmos that was restricted in speaker placement by Auro 3D's patents.

To the best of my knowledge, Auro 3D for home is not object based whereas the other two immersive formats are.

 

[Eich1eeF]

I remember something about Dolby being Dolby and trying to block others from upmixing Atmos. Is that still a thing?

Those limitations have been dropped over 2 years ago.

 

[Sanctuary]

Does anyone ever have an issue where it sounds like the balance is slightly off, or a soundtrack is skewed to one side, particularly with the front speakers? Just finished watching The Fellowship of the Ring, and more often than not the score seemed heavily biased towards the right side. It was annoying me so much that I finished watching the last thirty minutes with my right cup raised slightly higher to try to "balance" it out, since there doesn't seem to be an L/R adjustment with the A16 that I can find (aside from manually adjusting each speaker individually, but that wouldn't help the center).

After the film though, I ran the test tones again, left, then right and they sounded pretty equal to my ears, and then I ran them simultaneously and it sounded like perfect stereo imaging, so I'm not sure what's up. Doesn't happen with every film, but it happens quite frequently.

I am so sorry to hear this.
I am very fortunate using only the balanced mode that I never encountered this issue.

Is there a specific place to mention bugs? Because I very much doubt James would be the one to send such information to. Surely it's already been mentioned before by someone else too since I'm not the only one having this issue, but a friendly reminder might be useful...

I'm also not sure balanced mode would have any effect on this problem either, since it's simply not outputting any audio at all from output A, and that includes also sending it out via RCA, Coax and Toslink to another amp.

 

[Litlgi74]

Does anyone ever have an issue where it sounds like the balance is slightly

Switch your HPEQ to flat mode... This will help identify if the problem is in the PRIR or the HPEQ. If the sound is balanced in I'm flat mode... It could be one of two things... Headphone was slightly off center when measurement where done. (Happens often) or prir is slightly off and needs centering with manLOUD...

Or to really mess with your mind... It can be a combination of both... I would bet it's a slightly imbalanced HPEQ. Thankfully, making another is quite simple.

 

[Sanctuary]

Switch your HPEQ to flat mode... This will help identify if the problem is in the PRIR or the HPEQ. If the sound is balanced in I'm flat mode... It could be one of two things... Headphone was slightly off center when measurement where done. (Happens often) or prir is slightly off and needs centering with manLOUD...

Or to really mess with your mind... It can be a combination of both... I would bet it's a slightly imbalanced HPEQ. Thankfully, making another is quite simple.

I could never get manLOUD to work properly. Mainly because as you go up in frequencies, the perceived "loudness" intensifies, which seems counter-productive to making all bands sound like they are a similar volume.

I'll try flat mode and see if that makes it sound any different. It very well could just be the HPEQ, although I have four different ones that I've tried and they all have the same issue.

 

[Litlgi74]

I could never get manLOUD to work properly. Mainly because as you go up in frequencies, the perceived "loudness" intensifies, which seems counter-productive to making all bands sound like they are a similar volume.

Use the balance feature of the manLOUD process only... It has much smaller adjustments than the loudness feature.

I use the the left and right volumes keys on the remote to balance the frequencies. For example let's just say you need to make two clicks of the left volume key to center the frequency... Instead. I go up one click on left and one down on right... Or vice versa. This way the overall frequency is untouched. I usually lower the hotter channel first and alternate back and forth from right to left with single clicks.

 

[phoenixdogfan]

I could never get manLOUD to work properly. Mainly because as you go up in frequencies, the perceived "loudness" intensifies, which seems counter-productive to making all bands sound like they are a similar volume.

I'll try flat mode and see if that makes it sound any different. It very well could just be the HPEQ, although I have four different ones that I've tried and they all have the same issue.

Also a real danger if you are too agressive in lowering volume in the 5-6 k range of losing specificity in your center channel. I find it's better to leave that range just a little brighter than might seem to be equal loudness in order to retain strong center imaging.

 

[Richter Di]

By searching this tread, it follows that @chi2 did an Atmos 9.1.4 measurement at the MSM studios in Munich (Post #10,408). Maybe, you write a personal message to him.

I did. Unfortunately he does not use his A16 and therefore the HRTF and PRIR that much.
BTW If you look at his headfi profile you see the most impressive headphone collection I have seen so far.

I could never get manLOUD to work properly. Mainly because as you go up in frequencies, the perceived "loudness" intensifies, which seems counter-productive to making all bands sound like they are a similar volume.

I'll try flat mode and see if that makes it sound any different. It very well could just be the HPEQ, although I have four different ones that I've tried and they all have the same issue.

Thats interesting.
I thought that equalizing the volume across the different frequencies meant that your personal sensitivity to the different frequencies was taken into account.
This is something that Nura, for example, does with its calibration. And the result is extremely impressive.

Also a real danger if you are too agressive in lowering volume in the 5-6 k range of losing specificity in your center channel. I find it's better to leave that range just a little brighter than might seem to be equal loudness in order to retain strong center imaging.

Never thought of that. If I have a personal measurement with a center speaker I will for sure check. So far I only have a personal 2 loudspeaker measurement.

 

[Litlgi74]

Delete

 

[Lamerhouse]

SVS Firmware (rev. 2.10 Apr 18 2022)
Many of the extended Atmos listening modes (11.x.x, 12.x.x, 13.x.x, etc) had some of their height channels incorrectly routed during the loading process causing these height channels to remain muted over the headphones. The routing tables have been corrected. 2. Basic HDMI CEC signalling has been implemented to improve the eARC function. (All hardware variants) 3. Auro 3D menus, listening rooms and Presets have been added to the A16 system in preparation for the release of Auro 3D decoding.

 

[Sanctuary]

SVS Firmware (rev. 2.10 Apr 18 2022)
Many of the extended Atmos listening modes (11.x.x, 12.x.x, 13.x.x, etc) had some of their height channels incorrectly routed during the loading process causing these height channels to remain muted over the headphones. The routing tables have been corrected. 2. Basic HDMI CEC signalling has been implemented to improve the eARC function. (All hardware variants) 3. Auro 3D menus, listening rooms and Presets have been added to the A16 system in preparation for the release of Auro 3D decoding.

Looks like I asked just a few days too soon. Hopefully this fixes the no audio bug that would force me to reset to factory defaults each time.

 

[esimms86]

SVS Firmware (rev. 2.10 Apr 18 2022)
Many of the extended Atmos listening modes (11.x.x, 12.x.x, 13.x.x, etc) had some of their height channels incorrectly routed during the loading process causing these height channels to remain muted over the headphones. The routing tables have been corrected. 2. Basic HDMI CEC signalling has been implemented to improve the eARC function. (All hardware variants) 3. Auro 3D menus, listening rooms and Presets have been added to the A16 system in preparation for the release of Auro 3D decoding.

Thanks for posting this. I remember when the Smyths used to update their Facebook page with information about new firmware releases.

I don’t have an eARC compatible TV at home, nevertheless, I look forward to hearing about @dsperber and @Got the Shakes experiences with the new firmware.

Additionally, while I look forward to the opportunity to use Auro 3D upmixing, I also have to confess that I use my Windows PC exclusively for interfacing with the A16. I do have an OPPO UDP-103D player but I own neither a Mac computer nor an AVR(Auro-matic 3D pro plugin software is only available within the Mac universe). It, therefore, looks like an Auro 3D capable AVR is in my future. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find one used on Audiogon.

 

[Got the Shakes]

Thanks for posting this. I remember when the Smyths used to update their Facebook page with information about new firmware releases.

I don’t have an eARC compatible TV at home, nevertheless, I look forward to hearing about @dsperber and @Got the Shakes experiences with the new firmware.

Additionally, while I look forward to the opportunity to use Auro 3D upmixing, I also have to confess that I use my Windows PC exclusively for interfacing with the A16. I do have an OPPO UDP-103D player but I own neither a Mac computer nor an AVR(Auro-matic 3D pro plugin software is only available within the Mac universe). It, therefore, looks like an Auro 3D capable AVR is in my future. Perhaps I’ll get lucky and find one used on Audiogon.

I will install and test eARC when I get a chance, but I haven’t really had any eARC problems in quite some time. I am still having the problem of no sound until I do the dance of bouncing to a preset with default speakers and then back to one that I setup myself.

 

[shmau]

SVS Firmware (rev. 2.10 Apr 18 2022)
Many of the extended Atmos listening modes (11.x.x, 12.x.x, 13.x.x, etc) had some of their height channels incorrectly routed during the loading process causing these height channels to remain muted over the headphones. The routing tables have been corrected. 2. Basic HDMI CEC signalling has been implemented to improve the eARC function. (All hardware variants) 3. Auro 3D menus, listening rooms and Presets have been added to the A16 system in preparation for the release of Auro 3D decoding.

Maybe that's why I haven't been able to hear much of an overhead effect...

 

[Richter Di]

Maybe that's why I haven't been able to hear much of an overhead effect...

I am using the A16 for playing Cyberpunk 2077 and the height effect of the street environment and the constant anouncements is wonderful.