[dolifant]

Imagine a system able to truly recreate the aural impression of loudspeakers, be there 2 (stereo) or 8, in a surround mode. Inputs for movies, SACD analog inputs, 2-ch analog inputs. Imagine it individually calibrated to youe ears. All playable through your current headphones and high end amps.

Is this the real thing?

He had an article in Widescreen Review, Sept 2004. Souns like he is serious. I have contacted him and asked him to join us here for a discussion.

Smyth Virtual Surround

 

[philodox]

my last name is Smyth... wonder if I'm related to this guy?

 

[cosmopragma]

I knew that this will happen, but I didn't expect something like that to be released during the next five years.
All I can hope is that this won't be another great technology (like binaural recordings) that proves to be dead on arrival.
I'm a bit worried about the required personalization.This will be costly and unconvenient.I'm sure many head-fiers would gladly go through the personalization process and pay a few hundreds for it, but I have doubts regarding the mass market.

 

[sfxjames]

edit

 

[von kessels]

Quote:

Originally Posted by cosmopragma I knew that this will happen, but I didn't expect something like that to be released during the next five years. All I can hope is that this won't be another great technology (like binaural recordings) that proves to be dead on arrival. I'm a bit worried about the required personalization.This will be costly and unconvenient.I'm sure many head-fiers would gladly go through the personalization process and pay a few hundreds for it, but I have doubts regarding the mass market.

I can assure you that this technology will not be DOA! I have heard it and it is mindblowing.

The personalization is one of the least costly parts of the technology and only has to be done once when you get the box. It takes all of 4 minutes...
about the time it takes to try on a new pair of shoes.

 

[MikeW]

this thread is like 1.2 years old btw

 

[dura]

It could work; the ears distinghuis directions by comparing loudness, fase (in low frequency) and the specific distortions the earshelf gives. It should be possible to code that into 2 channels so that it gaves a spatial illusion.

 

[banjo]

There will be a demonstration of the smyth virtual surround system (SVS) at CES over the next couple of days, and I'm hoping some of us head-fiers might go for a listen. Supposedly it should be possible to buy a system from the company itself, although it aims for bigger names in the electronics buissness to incorporate the technology in the future.

Many people have had positive comments about this technology, and I think it ought to attract a lot of attention from head-fiers. It promises a great future for the use of headphones
for watching movies.

 

[cosmopragma]

Well, and competition doesn't hurt.
The german Fraunhofer institute (kind of german MIT, they've invented e.g. MP3 compression) is in the market for licensing their approach.
http://www.iis.fraunhofer.de/amm/tec...ido/index.html