[zdjh22]

Why should a HD600 not work? With the measurement and calibration process the impact of the used headphone should be relative small?

On a new A16 that has to run the 2.15 firmware the HPEQ measurement is broken (usable but poor). But someone with pre-2.15 compatible hardware and HD600 could supply a good HPEQ.

 

[sander99]

I use HD85X and HD650 and both give me a full out-of-head experience with pin point realistic placement of the virtual loudspeakers (using my own personal made PRIRs of my own loudspeakers, and my own personal made HPEQs, with or without manloud changes). They do have one problem for me though: with very loud and deep bass they have audible distortion and then the out-of-head experience is compromised. My theory about that is that the distortion harmonics (that partly are in the localizable frequency range unlike the bass fundamentals themselves) are of course not processed with my PRIR and HPEQ and my brain hence recognises that (at least a part of) the sound originates from the headphones. So I assume that a headphone with less distortion would be better.
I assume it also simply can differ per person whether a specific headphone works or not. I would not advice to just assume any specific expensive headphone will work with the A16 for you without trying it. Better 'Try before you buy' (or try before the return-to-shop option expires).

 

[esimms86]

Why should a HD600 not work? With the measurement and calibration process the impact of the used headphone should be relative small?

Technically speaking, it did “work,” but the 800 series had world’s better soundstage that really made the “out of the head” experience far more enjoyable.

 

[Litlgi74]

Technically speaking, it did “work,” but the 800 series had world’s better soundstage that really made the “out of the head” experience far more enjoyable.

Same here.

After spending a ton of money on flagship headphones... I was hoping more budget friendly headphones such as the HD600 and HD6xx would work just as well as the big boys... They did not.

 

[GeorgeA]

I used a pair of Sennheiser HD 660 S headphones in conjunction with my Realiser A16 unit. For me, those headphones weren’t comfortable in the long run (too much clamping force), although the virtualised loudspeakers sounded good enough.

 

[Des511]

On a new A16 that has to run the 2.15 firmware the HPEQ measurement is broken (usable but poor). But someone with pre-2.15 compatible hardware and HD600 could supply a good HPEQ.

That’s not good news. Is this other people’s experience as well?

 

[Got the Shakes]

I’ve had the same experience as just about everyone else. My HD 800 with the SDR mod are great with the A16, but any mid-tier ~$300 headphone I’ve not worked well for me.

 

[dsperber]

Stunning indeed. Bosendorfer have an equivalent player piano that was used to redigitise Rachmaninov’s own playing from early piano rolls. Issued as a CD on Telarc in 1998 (A Window in Time) https://concord.com/concord-albums/a-window-in-time-rachmaninoff-performs-his-solo-piano-works/

Well, OT again.

I managed to find BOTH of these Telarc CDs from 1998-1999, where Rachmaninoff was magically "put in charge" of that Bosendorfer 290SE Reproducing Piano, as "realized" by that magician Wayne Stahnke.

I have to say... I am breathless! It is absolutely unbelievable. It is as if he is alive, ten feet from me, playing the piano... like a real human, right here, right now!! It is unbelievable. I haven't yet listened to it on my A16 (as first pure 2.0, and then also upmixed with Auro into 3D) through Stax SR-009. For now I'm just listening through my really wonderful 2.0 system with Thiel CS3.6 speakers. And HE IS RIGHT HERE IN THE ROOM WITH ME, PLAYING A REAL PIANO WITH HIS FINGERS!

In fact, if anything, it is so "noiseless" as to be eerie and scary. I really want to hear the audience coughing, because it seems so alive and in-person. It's too quiet, actually. I expect it to sound like it was recorded in 1919.

This really is astonishing. I haven't listened to the second disc yet, where he plays music composed by others. But this one where "he plays" his own stuff, actually materialized by a digitally controlled PLAYER PIANO... it is possessed!!! Just unbelievable.

Absolutely recommended to everyone. Must be heard to be believed. Genuinely breathtaking.

/OT off.

 

[gimlet]

Well, OT again.

I managed to find BOTH of these Telarc CDs from 1998-1999, where Rachmaninoff was magically "put in charge" of that Bosendorfer 290SE Reproducing Piano, as "realized" by that magician Wayne Stahnke.

I have to say... I am breathless! It is absolutely unbelievable. It is as if he is alive, ten feet from me, playing the piano... like a real human, right here, right now!! It is unbelievable. I haven't yet listened to it on my A16 (as first pure 2.0, and then also upmixed with Auro into 3D) through Stax SR-009. For now I'm just listening through my really wonderful 2.0 system with Thiel CS3.6 speakers. And HE IS RIGHT HERE IN THE ROOM WITH ME, PLAYING A REAL PIANO WITH HIS FINGERS!

In fact, if anything, it is so "noiseless" as to be eerie and scary. I really want to hear the audience coughing, because it seems so alive and in-person. It's too quiet, actually. I expect it to sound like it was recorded in 1919.

This really is astonishing. I haven't listened to the second disc yet, where he plays music composed by others. But this one where "he plays" his own stuff, actually materialized by a digitally controlled PLAYER PIANO... it is possessed!!! Just unbelievable.

Absolutely recommended to everyone. Must be heard to be believed. Genuinely breathtaking.

/OT off.

Agree - truly a great recording by a great pianist and composer. By the way, if you find it a little too “perfect”, maybe Wayne Stahnke’s previous career at Nasa influenced his focus on quality control!

For an alternative version of the same Ampico piano rolls played on an updated mechanical Ampico (actually a modified Estonia grand), try listening to “Rachmaninov plays Rachmaninov - the Ampico Piano Recordings” on Decca.

Same piano rolls, same performances, except with all the imperfections and extra mechanical noises that people would have heard in 1928! But still wonderful music.

 

[dsperber]

Very interesting.

Not to spend too much time OT, but while I was locating those Telarc CDs my Rachmaninoff shopping research took me to Presto Music, where someone had recommended the Naxos 9-disc collection of actual acoustical and electronic recordings of his made on Edison and Victor between 1919-1942. So naturally I bought that too!

And now you hear "noise" of 100 year old analog recording technology , and the quality associated with 78rpm records. Legendary performances and recordings to be sure, but nothing like what Wayne Stahnke has produced from the rolls.

Nevertheless, brings you back to yesteryear. My brother-in-law is a nut for old "boogie woogie", "ragtime" and "blues" music (mostly piano-centric and singing), also available on vintage analog recordings from 1910-1940. I recently completed a project for him to "digitize" his collection of 51 33rpm vinyl records and 6 cassette tapes into (a) FLAC for his home system, and (b) MP3 for his car media system. The "production" was started on the turntable in my main Nakamichi-separates audio system (that includes a DBX 14/10 EQ to try and compensate still in the analog domain for the differences in each recording engineering), then creating analog-to-digital primary WAV files through Cooledit 2000 on my PC (which I still use, rather than Audacity, because of its much simpler and more intuitive interface and simple method of producing individual files for each of the "tracks").

Again, there is no way to avoid the "noise" that was present in those 100 year old original 78rpm recordings that are simply now available on 33rpm vinyl, which is what we call "character". But the cleanup that can be done with good audio equipment and computer software, really does make a huge difference in the result. Much like I am seeing this week in another digitalization project for my brother-in-law, this time converting his large lifetime collection of 35mm Kodachrome slides into digital form, scanning them using color-calibrated Silverfast 9 Ai software, as "Kodachrome transparencies" on my Epson 4990 Photo scanner at 2400dpi, batch-scanned 8 at a time.

The resulting raw TIF scans are surprisingly good, given the condition and size of the source slide. But when "auto contrast/brightness" is applied to that TIF scan using Photoshop... it's like a totally different result. Post-tweak colors now look vibrant and real and almost 3D instead of dark and muddy and flat, etc. Just that one magic tweak (with NO adjustment to color, just auto contrast/brightness letting Photoshop figure out what best needs to be done) is producing amazing results. Compared to the original scans, the "auto contrast/brightness" finals are wonderful.

Ok. Sorry for going OT again. Ah... the old world of analog.

 

[Ledimies]

Hi,

I'm thinking of selling my Kickstarter-bought Realiser A16 (headphone shaped version). I'm based in Finland and I am thinking the best way to find a buyer. I'm open to sell internationally since I don't think I'm going to find a buyer from Finland easily. Any tips on where to sell?

 

[GeorgeA]

Hi,

I'm thinking of selling my Kickstarter-bought Realiser A16 (headphone shaped version). I'm based in Finland and I am thinking the best way to find a buyer. I'm open to sell internationally since I don't think I'm going to find a buyer from Finland easily. Any tips on where to sell?

I think you might begin by reading at the following link.
https://www.head-fi.org/articles/head-fi-classifieds-faq-and-walkthrough.19757/

 

[Des511]

Is there any difference hardware wise between the first kickstarter units and the current units?

 

[gimlet]

Yes - the hardware architecture for the first Kickstarter units was limited to 16 channels, rather than 24. Everything else works well, at least for me. Smyth have issued separate firmware releases and continue to support both versions.

 

[sander99]

@Des511
Plus difference in HDMI functionality. The newer models support eARC and I think higher frame rates(?).