A virtual artificial head (VAH) can be used to imprint a listener’s head-related transfer functions (HRTFs) onto a recording using a filter-and-sum beamforming approach. The previous version of the so-called Vikk, consisting of 24 microphones, was able to recreate HRTFs with low interaural errors, including temporal and spectral distortions up to \SI{5}{kHz}. A simulation of a revised topology demonstrated an increased frequency range up to \SI{8}{kHz}, motivating us to examine whether the range could be extended further, ideally beyond the audible range. We simulated two microphone topologies with different arrangement strategies based on either a Golomb ruler or Vogel’s spiral. In addition, scaling and weighting were applied to create a denser microphone placement in the centre of the array. Vogel’s spiral achieved results comparable to the Golomb ruler with 24 microphones and is easier to rescale with a larger number of microphones and parametric weighting. For this reason, we selected a weighted Vogel’s spiral to investigate how the number of microphones affects temporal and spectral distortions. Increasing the number of microphones to 32 reduced temporal and spectral distortions, although spectral distortions on the contralateral ear remained above \SI{10}{kHz}. Further increasing the number to 64 microphones reduced spectral distortions and extended the usable frequency range up to \SI{16}{kHz}. These results demonstrate the suitability of the Vikk64 for high-quality reproduction of binaural auralisations in the horizontal plane. Additionally, we outline how combining the Vikk64 with a VR180 camera enables the recording of audiovisual scenes that can be reproduced in virtual reality.
