advertisement


Room correction software

I measure the response with REW and then export tweaked P-EQ filters (I correct only high-amplitude room-induced peaks below 300Hz only) to use with HQPlayer.
 
Good question @Allaboutmusic, I use REW and interpret the results to correct low frequency peaks in the room response at my listening position using the DSP parametric EQ filters incorporated into my RME ADI-2 DAC.

I would like to try Dirac, but am reluctant to buy something like the NAD M10 or M33 to try it, I have been wondering if there is a more generic hardware solution available that I could use to try Dirac?
 
Last edited:
Had a look at the miniDSP website and some interesting products, good combination of options.

What you would need would depend on your use case and whether you want to use your own preamp or dac.

with my current system where I use my own streamer, dac and integrated, something like the new Flex, which has different options for output would work. I could use the digital out only version which would mean I could plug my streamer into it and then plug the flex into my dac which would introduce Dirac and as it has a analogue in a phono stage could be connected.

longer term though, I would probably want to move to actives so sometime like the SHD could effectively do everything. It has balanced outputs so could plug directly into something like the ATC range, it has analogue in to connect a phono stage and has onboard streamer and Dirac.

Reason I’m interested in Dirac is two reasons, 1 seeing what difference it would make generally, and 2 with the atc range one of the criticisms I read frequently is that they sound a bit dull at lower volume possibly due to the flat response, so as I understand it you could use Dirac to essentially introduce a loudness function for lower volume listening.

is anyone using miniDSP or compared to competitors products?
 
What I tried was similar to others above. To test if I wanted to spend more on a fancier solution:
  • I used REW to measure the frequency response of each loudspeaker independently.
  • I got REW's EQ tool to generate a small number (1 - 3) of parametric correction filters for each channel below about 500 Hz to just flatten peaks.
  • I manually adjusted the filter parameters with REW's EQ tool to work on and improve both channels simultaneously (really they should be independent but the implementation below is not per channel).
  • I wrote a custom-convert.conf file for my LMS server to insert the required SoX parametric filters into the digital path (but note that this puts the same filters in both channels).
It made a difference. I raised the volume control a bit (as you might expect from flattening response peaks). However, the ultimate test was in removing the correction after a few weeks and asking myself if I enjoyed the music any less. I didn't. I think my room is not bad after adjusting loudspeaker positions so the answer might have been different in a different room. The filters are no longer in place.
 
Last edited:
Allaboutmusic said:
Had a look at the miniDSP website and some interesting products, good combination of options.

What you would need would depend on your use case and whether you want to use your own preamp or dac.

with my current system where I use my own streamer, dac and integrated, something like the new Flex, which has different options for output would work. I could use the digital out only version which would mean I could plug my streamer into it and then plug the flex into my dac which would introduce Dirac and as it has a analogue in a phono stage could be connected.

longer term though, I would probably want to move to actives so sometime like the SHD could effectively do everything. It has balanced outputs so could plug directly into something like the ATC range, it has analogue in to connect a phono stage and has onboard streamer and Dirac.

Reason I’m interested in Dirac is two reasons, 1 seeing what difference it would make generally, and 2 with the atc range one of the criticisms I read frequently is that they sound a bit dull at lower volume possibly due to the flat response, so as I understand it you could use Dirac to essentially introduce a loudness function for lower volume listening.

is anyone using miniDSP or compared to competitors products?
Click to expand...
I use a MiniDSP-SHD. It’s a very versatile product and, since it contains a volumio streamer which has (with a bit of effort) a squeezelite plugin, I use it as dac, pre-amp and streamer client as well as DRC box into active ATCs. Dirac live is pretty much a turnkey solution. I mainly use it to tone down the bass gain caused by having the ATCs against the wall.
I think it works well, but I could not swear to whether it works better than DSPeaker, audio lens or REW. If it is fine control you want then the latter gives the most settings to play with.
 
Last edited:
Using a miniDSP SHD studio to feed my dac for Dirac and Roon and it's great. Used it as a crossover feeding two dac's in the past and that also worked great.
 
Paul McDonough said:
Good question @Allaboutmusic, I use REW and interpret the results to correct low frequency peaks using the DSP parametric EQ filters incorporated into my RME ADI-2 DAC.

I would like to try Dirac, but am reluctant to buy something like the NAD M10 or M33 to try it, I have been wondering if there is a more generic hardware solution available that I could use to try Dirac?
Click to expand...
I use DSpeaker Anti-Mode Dual Core.
Older than the miniDSP, so can be cheaper 2nd hand, but works for me.
Automatic so easy to setup.
I'm on my 2nd one, as I ditched the first when I thought I didn't need it.
 
Allaboutmusic said:
How does that work and what is the advantage/ purpose? Thanks
Click to expand...
You should see at as an external DSP/streamer box. So you can pick whatever dac you want and connect to it digitally with this box, it has no analog connections. Just AES, toslink, spdif and usb inputs with AES and coax outputs. And if you connect two dacs you can set a crossover between them and feed drivers/speakers separate with different dacs. It also has volume control so it can work as a preamp, i just keep it on max volume and use an external preamp with some tubes.
 
Tried Dirac Live today for first time. Applied the two default curves after taking measurements (one 300hz up I think, and the other being the whole spectrum).

Only a brief play and don't really know what I'm doing. But tbh, both just sounded like a loudness button had been pressed in the treble, and saw not noticible improvement in the bass. But as above, probably needs a more considered approach.
 
ToTo Man said:
Isn't there a risk of latency mismatches when running two DACs simultaneously?
Click to expand...
Yes but there is fine adjustment through the dsp and placement. And these dacs were quite close together latency wise. I just had the subs on their separate dac.
 
Goat said:
Tried Dirac Live today for first time. Applied the two default curves after taking measurements (one 300hz up I think, and the other being the whole spectrum).

Only a brief play and don't really know what I'm doing. But tbh, both just sounded like a loudness button had been pressed in the treble, and saw not noticible improvement in the bass. But as above, probably needs a more considered approach.
Click to expand...
that is a very curious result indeed. Literally the opposite of what one might reasonably expect.
 
Goat said:
Tried Dirac Live today for first time. Applied the two default curves after taking measurements (one 300hz up I think, and the other being the whole spectrum).

Only a brief play and don't really know what I'm doing. But tbh, both just sounded like a loudness button had been pressed in the treble, and saw not noticible improvement in the bass. But as above, probably needs a more considered approach.
Click to expand...

Your result is strange, but my best guess is your speaker's non-DSP'd in-room response rolls off more in the top end than Dirac believes it ought to. I haven't used Dirac for several years but I found their default curve to be quite bright with just a few dBs downward slope from bass to treble.

PS - Any corrections made by Dirac should be verified in REW as the corrected frequency response is never as smooth as the Dirac graph implies.
 
Last edited:
I think part of the problem may be that my room is heavily furnished, and I sit next to the bed, so there's a lot of soft stuff near the mic, perhaps leading to Dirac elevating the treble response.

Need more time with it really. Do you recommend applying the default correction from a certain frequency only, or over the whole lot? Or manually over certain parts of the frequency range? I'm so confused by it!


adamdea said:
that is a very curious result indeed. Literally the opposite of what one might reasonably expect.
Click to expand...
 
Goat said:
I think part of the problem may be that my room is heavily furnished, and I sit next to the bed, so there's a lot of soft stuff near the mic, perhaps leading to Dirac elevating the treble response.

Need more time with it really. Do you recommend applying the default correction from a certain frequency only, or over the whole lot? Or manually over certain parts of the frequency range? I'm so confused by it!
Click to expand...
It depends. If your room and or furnishing is so asymmetrical that the response from each speaker is very different than running full range can help improve imaging at the listening position. Running full range can take the “life” out of the sound, but this can be corrected by editing the curve to loosely follow the measured response.

I found that it takes a bit of experimentation to achieve a worthwhile improvement, it being easier to make the sound worse than better! If all but bass sounds fine then just correct the lower frequencies up to about 200-300 Hz depending on the room. Having said that I’ve stopped using dirac in favour of tuning a sub out of phase with the mains to ameliorate room modes as heard at the listening position.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.


advertisement


Back
Top