Now all I need is a Realiser 
. Vacation is over for the Smyths, I wonder how production has been going...
. Vacation is over for the Smyths, I wonder how production has been going...Smyth Research Realiser A16
Maybe vacation is over for the Smyths, but so is the patience of a backer from the kickstarter campaign who hasn’t received his Realiser A16 unit yet. However, I think that the posts written there must remain within the limits of decency.
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...16-real-3d-audio-headphone-processor/comments
https://www.kickstarter.com/project...16-real-3d-audio-headphone-processor/comments
Ouch. And not necessarily just that post either, the one about 7 down is the most disturbing to me.
Seems confusing as far as which backers received their units and which have not. It's obviously not going based on order #.
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sander99
Headphoneus Supremus
They did roughly follow the order #, but skipped a few for whatever reason.
mrmac
Head-Fier
I’m forever greatfull that I received my A16. I’ve had mine since august 2019 and I’m using it almost daily for reference level movie watching when the house is asleep. For anyone passionate about hearing a soundtrack as intended, but not able to have a dedicated media room, the A16 is a godsend. I’m also lucky that so far my unit is not showing to many issues…. 
I could very well have been one of these countless customers still waiting and I share their frustration. I think it’s terrible that they keep this silly radio silence going.
Anyway, it’s been an awful long time with very little firmware updates. Why no official async files? Anyone of you in the know, are they still working on improving the units out in the world?
I could very well have been one of these countless customers still waiting and I share their frustration. I think it’s terrible that they keep this silly radio silence going.
Anyway, it’s been an awful long time with very little firmware updates. Why no official async files? Anyone of you in the know, are they still working on improving the units out in the world?
esimms86
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Geez, you're backer #3! And I consider myself seriously lucky (and, indeed I am) to have received my unit in january 2020 as backer #174. I would be very interested to know what the last backer# order was that they fulfilled before ceasing to ship kickstarter units. Are there any kickstarter backers on this forum above #289(albeit out of sequence or not) who can confirm that they've received their A16s?
esimms86
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What problem(s) are they looking to fix? I know, for example, that though my unit works great, I always have to start with one of the first 4 presets being loaded before I can then go ahead and load others. It always works for me but I would like to be able to start with whichever preset that I was last enjoying when I turned the unit off. Admittedly, it's a very minor annoyance in the big picture.
I'd rather not open that can of worms... But I'd be willing to say that if you are not looking for problems... You most likely won't find them 
Sanctuary
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I’m forever greatfull that I received my A16. I’ve had mine since august 2019 and I’m using it almost daily for reference level movie watching when the house is asleep. For anyone passionate about hearing a soundtrack as intended, but not able to have a dedicated media room, the A16 is a godsend. I’m also lucky that so far my unit is not showing to many issues….
I could very well have been one of these countless customers still waiting and I share their frustration. I think it’s terrible that they keep this silly radio silence going.
Anyway, it’s been an awful long time with very little firmware updates. Why no official async files? Anyone of you in the know, are they still working on improving the units out in the world?
Must be nice. Mine has relatively few hours on it and is only a year old, and now I can't even reliably get anything other than PCM audio through HDMI. eARC simply refuses to work after I updated the firmware, and getting the A16 to actually decode something is like the Wild West. Before updating I had some issues with eARC, but mostly figured out how to get it to work every time, and from day one I never had a single issue with HDMI. Even reverting back to my previous firmware doesn't fix these problems either.
They are apparently looking into the most recent firmware again for issues, because other users have now reported having a similar problem with certain listening room combinations not correctly playing the speakers like they should, but I doubt simply fixing that is going to fix mine. It seems like a board issue. Or, the firmware update did something irreversible somehow. Either that, or it's just a gigantic coincidence and somehow my TV, Blu-ray player and all of the HDMI inputs of the A16 just simultaneously went bad.
Sounds like what I had to do prior to doing a restore last year when going to the studio. Initially I had customized the first two slots, and always had to load a default preset also (which wasn't one of the first four, but preset sixteen). After the restore, and leaving the first two slots alone, I never actually had to do that again. When my unit was actually working, I could just resume using whatever preset had been active before turning it off.
Maybe it's not the same thing, and you've already customized one of the first four slots and still have to select them. Funny how there seems to be so many inconsistencies between various units.
Word of advice to everyone: unless a new firmware actually fixes an issue you're having, or adds a new feature you've been waiting for, don't bother. This is how I'd been treating my A16 since I got it, and had been on 2.1.11 until a bit over a week ago. The only reason I bothered to update was because nothing else was working for my particular problem. Had I known I was going to have so many problems afterward, I would have simply not bothered to update like I had intended all along.
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audiohobbit
500+ Head-Fier
I can't disagree more!
I use IEMs for a long time now. With my own PRIR and HPEQ completely done via ManLOUD they give me an absolute realistic out-of-my-head rendering of the speakers recorded with the PRIR!
Plus: When the IEMs have a good fit I completely forget that I wear headphones. It gives me the illusion of just sitting there and listen to speakers. With over-ear-headphones I always know that I'm wearing headphones, with IEMs I forget this!
Plusplus: With the IEMs I don't have any problems with deep loud bass, that I even have with the Audeze LCD2..
NO headphone ever had any sort of sound stage (i.e. the illusion of musicians placed in front of me OUTSIDE my head). With natural listening to a headphone, no matter which one I tried, the sound is always inside my head!
The sound stage is only a result of implementing my HRTF, in case of the Realiser by using the PRIR, and the HPEQ.
So I can absolutely not follow your explanations here.
Lots of explanation points. 
I'm very sorry to hear that... All three of my headphones (Raal SR1a, 1266 TC, and HD800s) give me an out of your head experience when listening to music outside of the A16. Even more so with traditional binaural recordings. Is this the same sound stage I get from listening to my two channel speaker setup? Absolutely not. No headphone can... But the HD800 is among the widest sound staging headphone available...
Just for kicks Great.. I googled "What headphone has the best sound stage?"
The results were pretty unanimous.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/most-open-wide-large-soundstage-headphone.872563
Personally, I think the Raal SR1a can go a bit wider... But it's just not a good match for the A16.
I use my Theiaudio Monarch IEMs 10 to 12 hours a day... I absolutely love their sounds signature. They even do a pretty decent job of a near field out of your head experience with binaural recordings. .. But to compare them with the HD800 for soundstage would be laughable.
For the same reasons you explained... I would prefer to use my IEMs with the A16. This is mainly because... As comfortable as the HD800s is... I can still feel it on my head.
After REPEATED manLOUD corrections with my IEMs... I was able to achieve an out of your head experience... But it is always at a near(ish) field position... Nothing like the same experience I receive with the same PRIR and the HD800s.
Would you mind sharing with us which IEMs you are using?
I'm very sorry to hear that... All three of my headphones (Raal SR1a, 1266 TC, and HD800s) give me an out of your head experience when listening to music outside of the A16. Even more so with traditional binaural recordings. Is this the same sound stage I get from listening to my two channel speaker setup? Absolutely not. No headphone can... But the HD800 is among the widest sound staging headphone available...
Just for kicks Great.. I googled "What headphone has the best sound stage?"
The results were pretty unanimous.
https://www.head-fi.org/threads/most-open-wide-large-soundstage-headphone.872563
Personally, I think the Raal SR1a can go a bit wider... But it's just not a good match for the A16.
I use my Theiaudio Monarch IEMs 10 to 12 hours a day... I absolutely love their sounds signature. They even do a pretty decent job of a near field out of your head experience with binaural recordings. .. But to compare them with the HD800 for soundstage would be laughable.
For the same reasons you explained... I would prefer to use my IEMs with the A16. This is mainly because... As comfortable as the HD800s is... I can still feel it on my head.
After REPEATED manLOUD corrections with my IEMs... I was able to achieve an out of your head experience... But it is always at a near(ish) field position... Nothing like the same experience I receive with the same PRIR and the HD800s.
Would you mind sharing with us which IEMs you are using?
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castleofargh
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I agree with both! ^_^
Technically, at least, there is no reason for an IEM not to do as well as a headphone. In terms of time delay, having the driver at a headphone or almost in the canal shouldn't matter (only really high freqs might show something worth caring about from reflections on the ears, and not much energy would bounce from the ear at those freqs, actual small placement differences from session to session or throughout a session would probably be more of a concern in practice). So it comes down to frequency response and interaural delays for subjective placement on both setups. ITD (interaural time difference) shouldn't come from the transducers, so long as they're fairly well-matched, and FR can be handled with ManLoud or whatever trick you find to work best for you.
What could be a problem for the brain:
- well, obviously if the IEM or headphone cannot be tuned to what we need, it's a problem (maybe because of some cancellation at some frequency, or mechanical limitation causing way more distortion and only a portion of the FR boost asked for with EQ). That's pretty product dependent.
- strong sensation of wearing IEM or headphone (weight, clamp, pressure in the ear canal, amount of isolation from the outside world...). Some IEM are well vented, some have terrific high freq extension, some have very low distortion (and almost all that is usually found in IEMs as a "big" dynamic driver). Some headphones are very comfy and lightweight. So IMO it really comes down to the listener's own brain and what it will obsess about that might interfere with the subjective foolery of sound coming from way over there.
Personally, I never get frontal distance (not any) with non DSP solution. Mono will either be inside my head or somewhere on my forehead, depending on the FR. The HD800 does push things further to the sides than just about anything I tried, but for me, EQ is a big part of it. I lose a lot of that with an EQ I like, and gain some side distance with other headphones if I try to come close to the HD800's FR. Still crap no matter what when it comes to sounds in my field of view. Even bad crossfeed does better than the "best" headphones in that respect. And that is confirmed with IEMs. Overall, I do have a harder time getting as much distance with IEM and the A16. I don't have a way to measure anything clearly with the IEMs, so I can only make a wild guess. I have noticed that isolation from outside negatively affects me. And as all but one IEM I own are highly isolating ones, I'm not sure that I should draw conclusions from a sample of one fairly vented 150$ IEM. I'm also not sure that other people are as affected as I am by the amount of isolation from outside. I'm not sure about a lot of things, so I agree with both of you.
Technically, at least, there is no reason for an IEM not to do as well as a headphone. In terms of time delay, having the driver at a headphone or almost in the canal shouldn't matter (only really high freqs might show something worth caring about from reflections on the ears, and not much energy would bounce from the ear at those freqs, actual small placement differences from session to session or throughout a session would probably be more of a concern in practice). So it comes down to frequency response and interaural delays for subjective placement on both setups. ITD (interaural time difference) shouldn't come from the transducers, so long as they're fairly well-matched, and FR can be handled with ManLoud or whatever trick you find to work best for you.
What could be a problem for the brain:
- well, obviously if the IEM or headphone cannot be tuned to what we need, it's a problem (maybe because of some cancellation at some frequency, or mechanical limitation causing way more distortion and only a portion of the FR boost asked for with EQ). That's pretty product dependent.
- strong sensation of wearing IEM or headphone (weight, clamp, pressure in the ear canal, amount of isolation from the outside world...). Some IEM are well vented, some have terrific high freq extension, some have very low distortion (and almost all that is usually found in IEMs as a "big" dynamic driver). Some headphones are very comfy and lightweight. So IMO it really comes down to the listener's own brain and what it will obsess about that might interfere with the subjective foolery of sound coming from way over there.
Personally, I never get frontal distance (not any) with non DSP solution. Mono will either be inside my head or somewhere on my forehead, depending on the FR. The HD800 does push things further to the sides than just about anything I tried, but for me, EQ is a big part of it. I lose a lot of that with an EQ I like, and gain some side distance with other headphones if I try to come close to the HD800's FR. Still crap no matter what when it comes to sounds in my field of view. Even bad crossfeed does better than the "best" headphones in that respect. And that is confirmed with IEMs. Overall, I do have a harder time getting as much distance with IEM and the A16. I don't have a way to measure anything clearly with the IEMs, so I can only make a wild guess. I have noticed that isolation from outside negatively affects me. And as all but one IEM I own are highly isolating ones, I'm not sure that I should draw conclusions from a sample of one fairly vented 150$ IEM. I'm also not sure that other people are as affected as I am by the amount of isolation from outside. I'm not sure about a lot of things, so I agree with both of you.
Sanctuary
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I agree with both! ^_^
Technically, at least, there is no reason for an IEM not to do as well as a headphone. In terms of time delay, having the driver at a headphone or almost in the canal shouldn't matter (only really high freqs might show something worth caring about from reflections on the ears, and not much energy would bounce from the ear at those freqs, actual small placement differences from session to session or throughout a session would probably be more of a concern in practice). So it comes down to frequency response and interaural delays for subjective placement on both setups. ITD (interaural time difference) shouldn't come from the transducers, so long as they're fairly well-matched, and FR can be handled with ManLoud or whatever trick you find to work best for you.
What could be a problem for the brain:
- well, obviously if the IEM or headphone cannot be tuned to what we need, it's a problem (maybe because of some cancellation at some frequency, or mechanical limitation causing way more distortion and only a portion of the FR boost asked for with EQ). That's pretty product dependent.
- strong sensation of wearing IEM or headphone (weight, clamp, pressure in the ear canal, amount of isolation from the outside world...). Some IEM are well vented, some have terrific high freq extension, some have very low distortion (and almost all that is usually found in IEMs as a "big" dynamic driver). Some headphones are very comfy and lightweight. So IMO it really comes down to the listener's own brain and what it will obsess about that might interfere with the subjective foolery of sound coming from way over there.
Personally, I never get frontal distance (not any) with non DSP solution. Mono will either be inside my head or somewhere on my forehead, depending on the FR. The HD800 does push things further to the sides than just about anything I tried, but for me, EQ is a big part of it. I lose a lot of that with an EQ I like, and gain some side distance with other headphones if I try to come close to the HD800's FR. Still crap no matter what when it comes to sounds in my field of view. Even bad crossfeed does better than the "best" headphones in that respect. And that is confirmed with IEMs. Overall, I do have a harder time getting as much distance with IEM and the A16. I don't have a way to measure anything clearly with the IEMs, so I can only make a wild guess. I have noticed that isolation from outside negatively affects me. And as all but one IEM I own are highly isolating ones, I'm not sure that I should draw conclusions from a sample of one fairly vented 150$ IEM. I'm also not sure that other people are as affected as I am by the amount of isolation from outside. I'm not sure about a lot of things, so I agree with both of you.
I don't know if it actually counts as a "non DSP solution", but with typical stereo headphone listening, it's always inside my head. When listening in the sweet spot of two speakers however, I've been able to get that phantom center. Noticed this for the first time (in a long time) at the end of 2021, and then I noticed it easily when in the studio.
I've since watched three films with the A16 that only had a stereo track, and with all three of them I was getting a great phantom center. It was pretty surprising.
As far as IEMs go, I might need to invest in some better ones, or my ears just can't tolerate them. I use mine for working out and going on long walks, but I've noticed that my ears get extremely fatigued much easier wearing them than they get with headphones. I think my limit might be three hours before I start getting minor tinnitus, and I'm not really blasting them either. I always keep them at a perceptually similar volume as I do with headphones, but I think there's just more internal pressure with them. With headphones, I can have them on all day without any issues.
Also, wouldn't your isolation issue just be similar to the differences between closed-back and open headphones? The imaging for closed just isn't there for me.
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castleofargh
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I meant for headphone/IEMs. Speakers have always given me a convincing panning and distance, be it 2.0 or more.
I guess I should count binaural recordings as a third option on headphones as it's not DSP but at least in principle could work. In my case, most binaural recordings were disappointing when it comes to distance withing my field of view. But some did get mono out of my head(HRTF stuff, so probably very listener dependent).
About fatigue, it can have various causes, usually loudness is at least part of it. I got some terrible relationships with a few IEMs, some were quite popular, so it might just be some insertion thing or my ear canal length boosting something already a little hot? Hard to say for sure. EQ is usually your friend for that.
I remember reading somewhere that while we exercise, the muscle responsible for the acoustic reflex (lowering sensitivity of the eardrum), tends to not work properly and relaxes for whatever reason (maybe it gets tired of getting triggered for every step or other shock? IDK). Making us potentially listen to music louder than we initially set it subjectively, and that over a long period could be bad for the ears. Or just feeling weariness or even pain from that poor little muscle getting overworked? My memories are what they are, but I think it was something along those lines, and loud stuff+sport=bad.
There is also comfort, not everybody has the right ear for a given IEM. Could be some pressure thing like you said, and maybe you're just never at ease because you couldn't get used to the pretty strong isolation (typically clearly bigger than headphones, even closed back ones)? Who know, brains are weird.
