Realiser A16: real 3D audio headphone processor

Original news from Here.

The only 3D headphone system that works. You simply cannot tell the difference between the real and the virtual loudspeakers. This means that the Realiser can precisely emulate what you would hear sitting in the sweet-spot of a $100,000 home theatre, with it’s expensive sound treatment, powerful amplifiers and loudspeakers, over just regular stereo headphones. In fact the A16’s core 3D sound technology is so accurate, professional film studios and broadcasters, around the world, use Realisers every day for their editing, post production, screening and QA operations.

The A16 is the culmination of years of research and development spent refining the Smyth Virtual Surround (SVS) 3D sound processing technology that drives the Realiser A16. Our first product, the Realiser A8, was launched in 2009 and quickly became the professional reference for 3D sound virtualisation – it remains the gold standard to this day. Now, with the development of the Realiser A16, we aim to bring this exciting technology to your home.

There are other 3D headphone systems in the market today but none come close to what the Realiser A16 delivers. Built right into the Realiser system is the ability for you, the listener, to personalise a sound room to your ears and to your headphones. You can measure your own, or a neighbour’s, loudspeaker system and then recreate this over headphones. Or you can go to a high quality studio and measure that sound room, take the data home and precisely recreate that studio over your headphones. Or you can connect to our Realiser Exchange website and download a range of high quality sound rooms to use in your Realiser. Even downloadable sound rooms can be personalised using a technology just recently developed by Smyth Research.

These powerful personalisation features, which are not found in any other 3D headphone product, explain why the Realiser works and why it will deliver, for you, the same fantastic performance professionals have been enjoying for years.

The Realiser A16 brings immersive movie sound to your home, in spectacular fashion, by recreating the virtual acoustics and loudspeakers of cinemas and studios over your headphones. Experience your movies in the best seat in the movie house, and at the intended sound level, without disturbing your neighbours. With dual listener modes, independent head tracking, and decoding for the latest immersive Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro-3D cinematic formats built in, the Realiser A16 brings watching movies in the home to a new level. Other features of the A16, ideal for avid movie watchers, include the tactile output to drive a shaker for sub-sonic reinforcement, and a Direct Bass function that allows the listener to route the LFE channel direct to their ears for extra impact.

  • Advanced, highly accurate acoustic virtualisation
  • Listen to 16 virtual loudspeakers
  • Dolby Atmos, DTS:X and Auro-3D
  • Connects to DVD, Blu-ray, Ultra HD Blu-ray, PS4, XBOX, PC/Mac, Set-top, TV
  • Designed for two listeners

Immersive 5.1ch, 7.1ch, 7.1.4ch sound for PS4, XBOX ONE and PC video games, the Realiser A16 is the essential gamer gear. Frighteningly realistic game sound, superb spatialisation, precise head tracking and very low latency all combine to make the A16 an ideal companion in those tricky situations. Supporting both HDMI, USB and optical, the Realiser A16 connects directly to video game consoles and PCs, and has dedicated support for on-line game chat and microphone signals.

  • Ultra low-latency (3ms)
  • Inputs game audio over HDMI, USB, Optical and multichannel analog
  • Decodes Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D and all legacy formats
  • Connects directly to PS4, XBOX ONE and PCs
  • Advanced low-latency head tracking
  • Supports console on-line chat

The Realiser A16’s low latency and long reverberation make it ideal for interactive simulation in real auditoriums, arenas and stadia. Put on headphones and practice on a virtual stage in a real concert hall. Connect A16s together and have your entire band on the same stage. A revolution for those singers and musicians who wish to hear themselves, or their bands, practice, in a real auditorium but in the comfort of their own home. The A16 even incorporates in-ear monitoring modes to allow performers to hear both IEM feeds and the concert PA, just like a real gig.

  • Ultra low-latency (3ms)
  • Measurements made in real concert halls
  • Hall reverberation time up to 2.75s
  • Dedicated guitar and microphone inputs
  • 16 auxiliary inputs and outputs
  • Second headphone output for zero delay in-ear monitoring
  • Connect multiple A16s together for band collaboration

With its precise emulation of studios, auditoriums and dubbing stages, the Realiser A16 is an ideal monitoring tool when creating new immersive audio sound tracks for movies, games or music.

  • Personalisation results in precise replication of dubbing stages and control rooms
  • Creates up to 16 loudspeakers
  • Any speaker format, e.g. Dolby Atmos, DTS:X, Auro-3D, Ambisonics and legacy
  • 16 digital PCM audio inputs (24-bit 96kHz) via USB
  • ASIO drivers for OSX and Windows
  • 16 single-ended analog audio inputs
  • 8 digital PCM audio inputs (24-bit 192kHz) via HDMI

The most powerful feature of the A16 processor. No other 3D audio processor offers this. Personalisation allows the virtual sound room to sound identical to the real room.

  • Professional grade accuracy
  • Built in measurement routines and hardware
  • Measure any loudspeaker format
  • Low-latency high-speed head tracking
  • Personalised headphone equalisation

The SVS technology that drives the Realiser A16 3D sound processing was developed specifically to allow owners to conveniently capture personalised sound room measurements. These measurements are undertaken by inserting the supplied binaural microphones in each ear canal, and then sitting in the sound room sweet spot while test sweeps are played from each of the loudspeakers. The entire process takes only a few minutes and the resulting measurement data is used to create, what we call, a personalised room impulse response (PRIR) file. This PRIR file exactly describes how each loudspeaker sounds to you when sitting in the sweet-spot and, when it is loaded into the SVS processor, it allows the A16 to reproduce the very same loudspeaker sound using only your headphones. We describe loudspeakers generated over headphones as virtual loudspeakers since they are not real but just an illusion, albeit a highly accurate one. Throughout our discussion of the A16 we refer to PRIR files as virtual sound rooms since PRIR files are really just a collection of virtual loudspeakers playing in a virtual room.

Your HRTF allows you to hear sounds correctly

Your ability to locate (or localise) the direction and distance of sound sources, such as loudspeakers, is highly dependent on the shape of your head and ears. This shape is unique to you, like your fingerprints, and is referred to in research as the head related transfer function (HRTF). Your shape is very important because if you were to listen to sounds using someone else’s head or ear shape you would almost definitely experience some difficulty in localising sounds. Certain positions would be wrong, and also the whole tonality of the sound. The reason is that the hearing perception within your brain is conditioned to expect sound to be filtered using your unique ear and head shape (HRTF), not someone else’s.

PRIRs contain your HRTF data

To create a highly realistic illusion of loudspeakers using just headphones, it is therefore necessary that the loudspeaker sound have already been filtered by your HRTF, before being sent to the headphones. Since your PRIR files are measured at your ear canals, your HRTF data is inherently contained within the PRIR loudspeaker measurement data, ie they have been personalised to you. This is why the loudspeakers generated using the Realiser A16 are so convincing – they were filtered by your HRTF. No other 3D headphone system allows you to insert your own PRIR data into their filtering engine. When you are forced to listen to 3D sound generated by statistically averaged HRTF data, it cannot sound correct over headphones.

Dramatically expands the capability of the Realiser A16 processor. While the A16 comes pre-installed with virtual movie theatres and studios, new virtual sound rooms can be downloaded and personalised from our Realiser Exchange website.

  • On-line storage of your own virtual sound room library
  • Purchase virtual sound rooms of commercial studios and mixing rooms
  • Exchange (or sell) your own measured sound rooms with other members
  • On-line DSP tools to personalise and customise virtual sound rooms

Central to the new Realiser Exchange is the members account with sufficient storage to hold 200 PRIR/BRIR files. Members will be able to upload files from their Realiser for backup, for enhancement processing, or for selling on the store, and also download files from this account whether these files be their own, from the library, or purchased. More information on the Realiser Exchange is available here.

The A16 can be operated in three different ways.

1) Using the front panel controls the listener can alter the volume, select one of four virtual room presets, and sequentially solo the virtual loudspeakers in that preset. These are the only controls really needed for day-to-day usage.

2) Using the supplied IR remote the user can control the volume, select presets, and can also control every single internal operation of the A16. This includes making PRIR measurements, reading and writing PRIR files via the micro SD card interface, and general preset configuration.

3) Via a web browser, by connecting the A16 to a home network and accessing the A16 internal web server, using a browser running on your computer, tablet or phone. Like the remote control, a web browser can control every aspect of the A16. In addition it is also possible to upload and download PRIR and firmware files via the network connection.

This screen shot shows an example of the general playback user interface for dual listeners. The normal audio controls are set along the bottom of the frame while menu navigation appears down the left side frame. Sliders are dual function in that the slider track also serves as a volume level meter for that signal. In the pane itself, the virtual loudspeaker layout of the preset is rendered in 3D.

The browser user interface consists of a range of control panels for configuring the system. More information is available here.

The Realiser A16 is designed to operate in 4 distinct listening modes depending on your desired application.

  • Movie modes permit up to two users in 48kHz mode or one user in the higher 96kHz mode
  • Music modes have many of the movie modes but also some long reverberation modes and a 192kHz listening mode.
  • Game modes are single user, low latency and include extra settings to facilitate on-line chat and player microphone routing and processing.
  • Live modes are specific to the needs of musicians and singers supporting guitar and microphone inputs as well as in-ear monitoring.

More details about the mode of operation can be found here.

Where the owner wishes to recreate their own stereo hi-fi or home theatre system (or perhaps that of a friend) over their headphones, then it is necessary to undertake a personalisation, or PRIR, measurement of that sound system. There are a number of methods available to the user.

  • Measure a sound system using the supplied DVD/Blu-ray test disc
  • Measure a sound system using digital test signals output by the A16 over HDMI
  • Measure a sound system using analog test signals output by the A16

Measuring a 7.1ch sound system using the test disc method is illustrated below. Two test discs will be available, a DVD for 7.1ch loudspeaker layouts and below and a Blu-ray for these and the newer Atmos, DTS:X and Auro-3D layouts.

The Realiser supports a number of other PRIR measurement modes, including, for example, the ability to create a PRIR by using just a single loudspeaker and moving it to the different position and repeating the measurement. Details of this and other procedures, as well as the headphone equalisation methodology, can be found here.

There are two designs available, one shaped as a headphone stand (headstand), and one as a traditional 2U box enclosure. The internal electronics and functionality are identical in both designs.The production version of the headstand enclosure comprises an extruded powder-coated aluminium shell with injection moulded front and back panels. The production headstand will use a bigger LCD display than the prototype unit that appears in the photos and its profile is a little lower. Weighing in at just under 3kg the headstand will be a very solid platform for any headphone.

Prototype A16 with various headphones

The 2U box is still in design but will comprise a single 6mm machined, powder-coated and silk-sceened aluminium front panel, attached to a simple folded sheet metal box, made of aluminium or mild steel – weight around 3kg. Optional rack-mount ears are also available.

The Realiser A16 uses an accurate 200Hz low-latency head-tracking unit to de-rotate the virtual loudspeakers in the presence of listener head movement. The A16 head tracker has been significantly improved over the previous A8 generation. First, its core is built around a 3-axis gyroscope and 3-axis accelerometer (known as an Inertial Measurement Unit or IMU) giving it the ability to simultaneously track heading, pitch and roll. Second, it incorporates both a 3-axis magnetic stabilisation circuit as well as a single-axis optical stabilisation circuit for the purpose of cancelling drift inherent in the IMU core. With this new design listeners have the option of using the head tracker in three different modes. More information is available here.

  • IMU only mode gives 360 degree tracking on both axes and can work independently of the set-top unit.
  • IMU+Magnetic mode gives 360 degree tracking on both axes, but benefits from lower drift. It can also work independently of the set-top.
  • IMU+Optical mode gives 360 degree tracking on both axes, but with zero drift and excellent repeatability. This mode requires the use of the set-top.

Realiser A16 Head tracking System

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