Thanks for watching my video - one thing I didnt fully explain in my conclusion and I meant to was that what Dirac offers is totally different to room treatments and vise versa. One can manage the systems sound not the rooms, the other manages the rooms sound not the systems - hence my conclusion having both is having your cake and eating it. The reason this is important is room acoustics are never perfect and audio systems are never perfect in rooms because rooms are never perfect and audio systems are never perfect so we can always make them sound better if we have the tools and knowhow, For my Review Comparison between the NAD M10 v2 and the Arcam SA30 see here ua-cam.com/video/UKGQKmRtHOg/v-deo.html For my talk about the acoustics and the excess energy in the room John at @Darko Audio made a great video recently talking about this in more detail here is a link to it ua-cam.com/video/dp_OdILUEkA/v-deo.html
thanks for your videos on Dirac, i got a mini DSP flex and i cannot believe the difference it has made. No DAC,amplifier, preamplifier, cartridge, acoustic panels etc. have made such a noticeable difference...unbelievable
It’s because your dealing directly with fundamental acoustical issues with Dirac and it’s very powerful and effective with it does. Hence the reason I am so onboard with it :)
Great discussion,. I've not forgotten about our emails for your service to my calibration. I've decided to hold on because I'm about to move into a new home. Once I land, I'm calling ya!
Great video Terry. Your non-condescending approach and acknowledgement that room treatment just isn't feasible for most of us is welcome. I'd love to have a perfect listening room but I can't. Dirac sounds like a great option to get more out of my system and I'll be exploring my options. Cheers mate.
I'm in the camp of 'half-cakes' I suppose 😄 No roomtreatment unfortunately, but a MiniDSP Flex, REW and Dirac plugin. First fiddling around and experimenting with REW and manual PEQ for a while, which is/was a steep learning curve, but getting better at it. However, Dirac instantly improved the bass response, at least made some (bass) nasty's much less obvious and everything so much 'there'. The thing that suprised me most when using REW measurements, is that even a minor difference in positioning the speakers (say 2"), can have a huge impact. Anyway, don't be shy to post (lots) more of this and thanks for your masterclass 😄
all this is good advice :) my system and room sounds a lot better now, i have both acoustic absorbers and room correction. and you asked if i had to choose, it would be room treatment because it affects the room and just talking or noise will sound better in that room, plus that absorbing frequencies is some of the best sound quality improvements. i do not use dirac, but other dsp application i have to do myself manually.
Thanks Terry. Because of your video I have just invested in a MiniDSP Flex to get the benefits of Dirac Live. I was at the stage of needing to go down the route of bass treatment but since my room is relatively small I was worried that it would not be effective in the space available. Dirac live has vastly improved the low end response so it was money well spent. Your review is a very balanced one and suited my situation having already invested in the practical elements of room acoustic treatments to a sensible degree 👍
Big fan , always look forward to your videos, nice job explaining the differences, as a long time Dirac user as well, the one caveat in my particular system in relation to your comment verifies what you had stated as far as what the limits of Dirac can do to the sound of your system. I truly enjoy what my surround processor can do after Dirac calibration, and the DACs in the processor are very good however nowhere near what my outboard DAC can do running the balanced connection into the processor for 2- channel listening into my Paradigm Founder120 H 's and my REL T9i connected to a JC5 Parasound amp through high level connection. I truly wish I could calibrate through Dirac into my 2-channel listening setup when not watching movies to see what if any improvements would be derived, I think Dirac would truly enhance the sound. BTW I do from time to time listen to audio in Atmos however very limited as I think the concept hasn't caught up with enough music or engineered properly enough with all music to be worth using frequently. Hence why room treatment is also important but as a regular person in a normal listening environment I rely on Dirac or Audessy in my other rooms for the majority of making the best sound .
Very good topic! I am looking into getting M10 V2 because it ticks all the boxes and I am putting a lot of hope on DIRAC to counter-act my room acoustics. So the question is: if proper room treatment is 100% cure, what % of that can be achieved using DIRAC alone?
Wao, Terry. What a way to clear up the difference between the Acoustic Treatment and DiracLive option. I have a modest audio system, and at this very moment I was considering buying the Naim Unity Atom or the Nad M10 V2. It seems that de Nad could be a better option considering the DiracLIve feature. Also understand the benefits of a good room treatment. So, will it be better to spend the money first with the room treatment, and then buy the Nad on a later occasion? Thanks for your input. Gilberto
I used to have a leather sofa or cinema chairs really and I made a cushion for behind my head made out of an acoustic wool, I had to layer it a few times. Kilowool or something like that is was called. Catch 22 leather sofas are comfy and cool
Hi Terry. A very informative video on this subject and has opened my eyes a bit more on what is a difficult subject for me to understand. I think room correction software is the way to go for me as my wife wouldn't agree to panels everywhere in our living room and to be honest I wouldn't like them either. I've been watching John Darko talking about you helping him set up Dirac live with a couple of his setups and I believe it was done remotely. When funds permit and I get my ideal hifi set up I would probably give you a call to help me set it up. I've been looking at the likes of Dynaudio focus 50's and KEF ls60's systems that have this software built in. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work 😊
@@PursuitPerfectSystem that's brilliant Terry and I'll look forward to that review. Another active speaker I am interested in is the ATC scm40a's, but they don't have Dyrac or streaming capabilities, but sound amazing by all accounts. They also have class ab amplification instead of class d, which might just swing it for me. Either way I feel like many that the all in one active set up is the future of hi-fi in terms of less clutter. I'm looking to rip my large CD collection onto a server, which I want to try and build myself for no more than £800. All this is for the benefit of reducing clutter in our living room.
Active atc is not future fi, its meat and potatoes hifi, by that I mean they are a good solid meal that require trimmings such as a pre and source to function and probably subwoofers to really shine too. I calibration a week or two ago on active scm 40s - l love the ATC mid range
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I agree on the added bonus of two quality subs to perfect the low frequencies and yes a quality pre will be needed to complete perfection for me. I will look forward to your review on the 50's
Room acoustics really make more than 50% of the sound. What do you think about the effect of the directionality of the speakers on the sound? Nowadays, there seem to be a lot of speakers equipped with a large waveguide. What about dipole construction or open baffle speakers? Do they work well in removing room reflections?
Thanks Terry...an interesting and topical audiophile subject. It's been a while since we corresponded but I'm still planning and looking forward to you doing my Dirac set-up in my small music room in the near future. I will be in touch! P.S. Enjoyed seeing you on John Darko's NAD/Dirac related videos too.
Hi Terry. Thank you for this information. I am interested in becoming more informed on the nuances of tuning s dirac live calibration. I have the minidsp shd studio and it utilizes dirac live. I use it with s three way active two channel speakers that plays down to 23htz. I love the results. I am working on treatments and how to tackle this with a limited budget. I will be employing diy for my bass traps and modified bookshelves for large diffusers to couple with the dirac live calibration. Can you recommend a source or material to expand on the basic tuning procedure for dirac ? Thanks again, kind regards, Howard
Great video/subject Terry! 👍 I’m definitely in the camp of having tried Dirac and after 5 sets of measurement and roughly 10 target curves, I gave up as it robbed my system of its magic, making it sound lifeless and wall of sound (from 3d holographic imaging to a reduced flat sound stage, bound to the plane of the speakers and all space between instruments gone). I appreciate there might have been something in my circumstances or approach, but I think it’s problematic that Dirac only provides this very simplified workflow, with little to no additional info. Where is the guide for those that don’t get the advertised result? Or who want to take things to the next level? I should note that I spent the first part of my career in music, including a fair bit of recording and mixing, so basic prerequisites should be there. In the end I turned everything off (time alignment etc) and used a curtain below 500hz (which was all in all a bit better that without Dirac) and then my trial ran out 😃 I’m moving into a new room and will be treating it. I aim to try Dirac again, if they will give me another trial.
Yeah that defo sounds like something was wrong or being done wrong because Dirac 100% doesn't do that. But its easy to understand how this can happen. If you use it right you dont need to measure multiple times and if you understand it then 10 target curves could be a normal days work - but thats 10 levels of more and more fine tuning to getting the sound really exactly how you want it. When I do calibrations for people ghat have tried Dirac and cant get the result some have commented that what I do is totally different to what they were doing and then its easy to see why I am getting a different result to them. Experience as with everything
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Cheers Terry 😊 I did do the trial twice and had similar results both times. The 10 curves were attempts at a general curve (flat vs. Harmon vs. boosted bass) plus following the natural room/speaker response more/less. Measurement were wide vs. mid vs. narrow seating, all done with umik1 on a mic stand. A few of these were with my Rel T/7i, but as it happened Dirac could not handle the sub being connected directly to just one speaker (which was my setup at the time) as it boosted the other channels general level massively, so left it out. I super appreciate you providing your service and I’m sure you are able to get great results 👍 I just think Dirac needs to ship a copy of you in every box 🤣 ..or do a much better job educating people. Btw. yours have become one of my favorite audio channels ❤️
In the subwoofer instance all you needed to do was separate the left and right channel correction and sub problem is solved. Or use Dirac to tell you that you had your high level not connected to both amps channels as it should be / is advised to be for a balanced soun Dirac can handle anything you throw at it, trust me I have thrown all sorts at it, no-ones systems is any different to any other. I would have found that system by now with the number I have worked on. Its all in how you use Dirac that matters and people assume they know what they are doing, but if you end up with a negative result you have used it wrong. I know that sounds like an insult or criticism I really dont mean it like that.
FWIW I did a calibration last week for a chap with electrostat speakers and you dont get anymore 3D holographic sound speakers than electrostats really and he loves what I did for him with Dirac. To be fair I thought maybe these would be the speakers that would be the limit for Dirac but it turns out not which is great. Shows to me speaker behaviour in rooms is all pretty much the same in terms of behaviour and the perception of sound
@@PursuitPerfectSystem All good Terry and I'm sorry if this came off as me saying "I know what I'm doing". While I do have a general understanding of audio, in the case of Dirac I am actually saying quite the opposite; that I didn't feel I could find the help/guidance I needed to get to a good result. Granted this is a while ago, so things may have changed. In any case, Dirac should totally pay you handsomely to do a bunch of tutorials and client cases (or suggest adding a session with you at checkout)! 🙂 The sub thing was not really a factor in my overall impression, as I identified it as the thing causing the imbalance problem quickly and just choose to remove it from the equation, since I was limited on time. I did play with channel seperation later and can see how this could have solved it. I agree that you should not connect a single Rel to only one channel high level and I've since moved away from it. While the videos and documentation from Rel do tell you to connect all three wires at the at the back of the Amp, my own dealer did show my to hook it up to the back of a single speaker, as does Rob from Rel apparently (at least according to Tarrun from A British Audiophile who reviewed a single T/7X recently and uses exposure amps with 🍌s). Our local Rel distributor says you should really only connect at the back of the speakers (something with impedance, but then he is also the Naim distributor), but to both of them, which is of course easier if you run stereo subs.. Any permutations not accounted for? 🤦♂️ I will give Dirac another shot in my upcoming listening room, once basic treatments are in place for sure. I did talk to a Nad dealer who recommended being more random with mic positions and keeping more distance to surfaces 👍
THANKS TERRY ..for explaining the difference …for most of us ..let us know when they come out with the WIFE CORRECTION 👩🏻🦰 system … then we can talk about room correction 😁😎💚💚💚
Thanks Terry, great video, I am currently looking to set up an OB system using active crossovers with DSP and possible option of Dirac Live, you have just sold me on it as I was thinking of the Minidsp SHD which has the lot. The only thing that worries me is I have an external DAC that I would prefer to use as the SHD has one internally and I do not know if I can use it !!! Cheers
I dont know. I have both and always the UMIK2 for my calibrations. However I tell my remote calibration customers to get the umik1 as its good enough. I can easily justify the umik2 for the amount i use it
Great video Terry, I also used to use Dirac and have recently switched to “Focus Fidelity”. I think both are great but Dirac is limited to computer based systems. With Focus Fidelity you get to export the filter and use it with any convolution capable player. Anyway, is there a dependency on listening levels? Would you say that at lower listening levels some of the room effect/issues are less of a concern?
Great video Terry. Do like your style and attitude towards music. For that I have a system that I like from Cambridge and don’t want to change the amp to a Dirac integrated amp. Are the miniDSP with Dirac an option? Like the miniDSP DDRC-24 USB DAC Digital Signal Processor? Pro/cons?
interesting Jay love your channel I would say room correction and speaker set up is the way to go my humble opinion .especially if you are using a sub .pain in the neck even the good ones .🙂
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Great video once again Terry, cheers! I am now torn between splashing out on treating the listening room with panels, bass traps etc or adding Dirac to my system. Looking at GIK's website I am impressed with their articles and Free Advice form - do you offer a service for room treatment by any chance? I'll definitely pay for your Dirac service in the future once I've purchased a miniDSK SHD. 🙂
Hi Terry, Do you consider the Minidsp DDRC-24 a viable option if I want to intergrate Dirac Live into my system? I am use a Matrix Audio Element 2 as a streamer/dac/Pre-Amp. I wonder if the Minidsp would degrate the audio for doing another a/d and d/a conversion. Room treatment is already on the way.😊
Hi Edwin, I dont know I havent used one them before. miniDSP are quite quirky to use Dirac with and they have pro and cons but they do the job. A friend uses an analogue unit in a crazy high end system but I think if you can keep the signal digital its probably a better way to go,
Will DSP remedy suboptimal speaker placement? One of my speakers is quite close to a sidewall. The stereo is not placed on the middle of the wall, bacause there is a cupboard on one side.
Do you know you have a Doppelgänger on UA-cam? His name is Kris and he runs a metal detecting channel called “Addicted to Bleeps“. The resemblance is uncanny right down to both of you having the same accent and vocal mannerisms, although he does have a full set of hair! Enjoy your channel by the way. Very informative. Would love to try some room correction on my system. Speakers are a tad bright. Cheers.
Wow there is a guy who works in HiFi is almost my twin which I thought was uncanny and now we have another look alike wow hahaha. I want to check him out but is he has hair I will likely be very jealous
Great video. I see people measure their room and find a 4db peak at 800hz…then they use a PEQ filter to cut 4dB…but isn’t that kind of wrong to do because our brain can in most cases recognize that the 4dB peak is reflected energy and not direct sound?
It depends on what your trying to do. Some people say +/- 3db is an audible threshold but i think depending on the rooms acoustic conditions you can hear differences lower than that. Applying eq is not a good thing in most cases because its not audibly transparent so quite often less is more. Making graphs look pretty doesn sound good. Using graphs as a guide to making your system sound good is what Dirac allows and is why i like it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem yes I think Dirac can tell destructive close in time reflections from harmless ambience reflections. The common wisdom out there is to buy a USB mic, download REW, and find PEQ settings…then like you say show off pretty graphs. I think that works for bass peaks, but I wouldn’t do it for mids or treble because I wouldn’t want to screw with my direct sound with PEQ. For Headphones 🎧 I would imagine PEQ is great.
Freq response and impulse response are interlinked, seeing it on a graph is one thing, solving it in dsp is clever shit - its still not the same as acoustic treatment though but its better than nothing
Does this software make a Schiit Lokius EQ obsolete? Or can I leave it in the chain and insert the Mini DSP Flex (with DIRAC) between the DAC and the EQ?
Hi Terry I've got both now I've spent quite a bit of time and effort getting my room Acoustics right recently with corner bass traps and sound absorption on the walls. I have dirac live in the form of a Mini dsp SHD. Probably need some more help with the digital room correction side of things. Out of interest what microphone would you suggest? I have the microphone that comes with the unit the umik-2. But I agree with you completely having both is a real luxury but for an Audiophile a necessity if your serious about getting things right.
I am in love with Dirac for the improvement in sound. I hate Dirac because there is a steep learning curve that's needed to get the best results. I use the trial and error method to alter the sound, hoping to find strategies that I can use going forward. Can be a bit frustrating. The Dirac and other on-line tutorials are lacking in specificity and depth. What's needed is someone experienced with Dirac to write a book going through how to achieve the best results. Maybe someone like Terry Ellis! Just a thought. Looking forward to your reviews of the NAD M10 and the Arcam SA30. I have an M10 and like it, I also recently purchased an Arcam AV41 (because my NAD T778 has been at the repair shop for several months and I can no longer count on it working).
I found Dirac was easy to set up on my SA30 but was a nightmare on the AVR21 because a subwoofer was connected. Like you say, some guidance would really help especially when they sell Dirac to non experts!
@@shemsureshot I recently purchased the Bass Control module and it really helped. If you know what you're doing the same result might be gotten with a bit of futzing around. But for me, the cash outlay was worth it.
Hello Terry, i love your videos thank you for that at first👍🏻 There you are a specialist in Dirac a have a few questions i am still struggeling with with Dirac. So i have Dirac build in in my NAD c 658 combined with the NAD c298. I have also upgrated the Dirac software to the full bandwithfrequenties. Now i experience shrillness in the upper midtones, for instance quite frequent with female voices or some specific instruments like tones of an Fender Rhodes. Also i don’t experience great and full sound on lower volumes, i am thinking then where is the good old loudness knob as i hope what i mean?!? I think i know quitte well how to do a measurement with Dirac, because after measement i experience a more focused sound with the instruments from left and right and the singer or soloartist straight in the centre. I also play around with tweaking in the different frequenties, but i am not totaly satisfied untill now what i am achieving with Dirac. So do you have some tips for me with the questions i have, so in which frequentieareas can i best tweak and how much db without losing dynamics. An other thing i still don’t understand with Dirac, after measurement the correction in frequenties and respons should be perfect for my room, so am i not killing that with tweaking in that measured slot. Thank you in advance for your help, and keep up making your videos, if a can make a suggestion maby a walktrough of a Dirac measurement you do in your own room and explain the results and where you should tweak or not. Regards Danny.
Hi Danny, this is exactly the question that I get asked as to why I setup my Dirac calibration service. I have a calibration process that I developed myself that guarantees the result with Dirac is the best it can be for your system. Each system requires something different because of how Dirac has been integrated into the hardware aka the NAD and their inherent sound and how that plays through your speakers and their sound, both need to be taken into account . My advice is either be patient and try and learn what you can or dont be patient and hire the professional for the best sound straight away. Thanks for watching my videos I appreciate it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thanks for your quick respons Terry, i will try on my own and hope i will find my way. For your picture i live in the Netherlands so i don’t know if there are professionals over here.
I am still the professional in the Netherlands, I have done calibrations for customers in the US Sweden Germany France Portugal and more, I complete remote (online) calibrations for customers outside the UK or too far from me to drive
Tried Dirac through a top arcam avr and processor with my Jbl synthesis speakers ,unfortunately it killed the soundstage, made everything sound closed in and small. I think this was because of jbl using horns, a friend of mine with a had the same problem, although it really helped getting the subwoofers under control
It’s nothing to do with the speakers or the system it’s just how you have used Dirac. I have made over 150 systems all over the world perform to their best, go back to the beginning and think about the calibration process or hire the pro :)
I think the problem with Dirac is that most users try it with the built in settings and are under whelmed by the results. They don't have the knowledge to use Dirac to make the necessary adjustments in order to tune the system to do all the things you describe. Is there any guidance out there for the normal punters that describes in greater depth how to make adjustments without employing someone like yourself which would probably be disproportionate in cost when compared to the equipment involved? Do you have any recommendations for microphones if those supplied aren't good enough?
I dont think there is because not many people really know how to use it well from my experience, every system requires a unique approach to find its sound quality top limit - no curve you can download will do that for you - it takes me on average 4-6 hours to find this for a customer. FWIW on most systems I calibrate my cost is about 1-2% of the total system cost and I make sometimes 100% difference to it - noone has ever complained to me about value for money. Most audiophiles have thousands sometimes 10's thousands and more tied up in the system. Getting the most from that in setup often saves them money in keep buying upgrades to try and fix what they think is not performing.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thanks for the comments. I wasn't meaning to denigrate the art of someone such as yourself or for that matter the value of your consultancy. However the 2 Dirac amps you have on the table are relatively modest as will be the systems they fit into. I'm just making the point that these companies include this sophisticated software but with rudimentary implementation without further explaination/detail on how to get the most out of it. Consequently once you've tried Dirac and it fails to impress the likelyhood is that it's switched off. Which is what I did with my NAD M10. It would be gret to have a consultant to come and sort me out but living in the depths of West Cumbria I'm a very long way from a decent dealer let alone a Dirac Consultant. Keep up the good work Terry, always stimulating.
Hi Andrew, that is true and is really very indicative of lots of markets these days, people buy online have products shipped to them and then are on their own to set them up, relying on YT guides and Google to get things working. A dealer is supposed to bridge this gap but its not always possible. That is why I started completing remote calibrations so I can help people in other countries really. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I have done about 20 now and succeeded every time so my system works and I have got better at it each time, But its time consuming, it takes many hours to nail a Dirac calibration. This is why guides will be fruitless for people because it takes knowing what to do when something sounds a certain way to make it sound more how you want it and that is not easy to create a guide for. The biggest lesson for me is when I started doing calibrations for people I was trying to make their system work to the same calibration profile as my system, and I struggled. I did a good job but I know now I could have done a better job. Several years later I am still learning and just recently I discovered something new to get even better sound out of Arcam AV gear. How do you create a guide for that. Dirac are giving us an amazing tool but its up to use to learn how to use it.
Enjoyed the video. One disagreement. You should not boost bass frequencies, lower the peaks and treat the room with panels or Helmholtz resonators targeting specific frequencies, if you're a hardcore audiophile. Boosting bass will only make the speakers work harder and the driver(s) will be overworked and you could damage the speaker. I listen mainly to vinyl so digital room correction is out for me, would be great if someone would make a good analog parametric EQ for those who listen to records.
If you look at the science of human hearing for bass you will see that it’s not boosting bass it’s setting the system up to create a sound with a bass that’s natural to the ear so the bass is linear. I have made a video about this too. Also parametric eq does not work well as it’s not specific enough to the speakers in the room it’s global and that does not work it’s the same as tone controls
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Parametric targets specific frequency ranges. You can set the Q value to adjust the range of each "band" Wide or narrow. I've used them before and they work well but I haven't found an analog Parametric with enough bands. I don't think you understand how they work. You say they are the same as tone controls, not at all like that.
I used PEQ for years and know what they do and what the limitations are, tone controls raises and lowers the sound with a set q. PEQ does the same thing with a little bit more resolution but doesnt have anywhere near enough resolution and doesnt work in the time domain like Dirac Live which corrects the impulse response, magnitude response and more. I can appreciate why you would want to stay all analogue in an all analogue system but its not the same as modern DSP like Dirac Live which is on another whole over level of quality of solution.
Hi Terry. How would you address the criticism of the very narrow sweet spot afforded by Dirac? I.e. if you move your head even a few inches the sound can collapse, even if you chose the wide setting during calibration. You sort of addressed it broadly, but I don’t think you can compare this to a speaker’s natural sweet spot.
If your experiencing either of these factors with Dirac your doing something really very wrong so its not a real criticism of the solution. I do calibrations with people sitting next to me on a sofa and yes the seat I am in will sound better, but in the seat next to me people still hear the same things as me because we are discussing it as I go. That wouldnt be the case if the sound collapsed by an inch. If someone is telling you this is how things are they are misleading
I see room correction as creating an inverse flaw to address flaws elsewhere in the system. Whilst room treatment - in the broadest sense of the term - is trying to stop certain flaws from happening in the first place. I totally disagree with you about dedicated room treatments vs general furniture - for my home and for quite a few other homes I've been in. For your room with your taste in interior decor GIK type treatments make a lot of sense. My rooms are approx 24' by 18' by 12' with a bay window and fireplace. Multiple 4x4 and 5x5 Ikea Expedits packed ful of vinyl. Carpet, curtains, thick wallpaper, soft comfy furniture to sit or lie in, various items and bric a brac for that lived-in look. All of this adds up to acoustics that I'm happy with. I'm glad that DIRAC Live won't make my speakers sound like £100,000 Wilson Audio speakers, because I don't particularly like the Wilson sound :) I have an open mind on DIRAC. I can see that it would have some advantages. One disadvantage for me would be the addition of all those components in my single path. Especially for analogue sources. Bearing in mind the ultra simple signal path that I enjoy in my systems.
Lindsay you have a great room size but maybe the room and its acoustic behaviour dictates why you like the big old school speakers you do. Aesthetic is not really for me, the room used to be pitch black you cam here when it was pitch black If you think about it there is nothing in normal funiture that will absorb mids and bass frequencies, so nothing to reduce the reflected energy in that region so its gonna ring in rooms that are smaller than 40 feet in each dimension, I think its 40 feet for 30hz. Similar for diffusion - QRD diffusors for mid range are around 7 inchs deep, normal furniture doesn't really give you this, its not designed for that. Especially book shelves and stuff its not the same.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem With bass waves it seems to be more a case of breaking the waves up - for my systems in my rooms. Loads of surfaces of different materials at different places and different angles relative to the speakers. It could also be that my attention isn't drawn to the acoustic shortcomings of my rooms because I've gotten used to them. The main reason that I generally like big old classic yank speakers is that they were cheap and they sound fantastic for the price. If I had medium sized rooms I'd use the same speakers - and put up with them looking out of proportion in the room. Your room is looking nicer than when I visited. My understanding was that the black decor was for the best environment for watching movies via your projector?
Yes it was black for the projector, never intended to go on camera and I think you met my mrs and one son, I have 2 sons now so the house is small as you know and getting smaller all the time so I needed somewhere to work and make videos and be able to make products look half decent so the room had to change. The irony is I didnt have space for the big speakers when you as here before, I could fit them in now, but they would still be massive in here. I do get it though big drivers have a sound,. Cheers Lindsay all the best
Perhaps I missed it but couldnt clearly hear why the two are generically different given some dsps do claim to correct room problems and at least one of them I have heard seems to…
DSP does not correct the rooms problems, it adjusts the sound in the room to make the system sound better but the room is still the room so you will still hear the room basically to some extent. Acoustic treatments help to remove the rooms footprint on the sound so you hear more of what the audio system is doing. But treatments cant change the sound of the audio system so it cant tune the sound more to your liking - that is the major difference and its totally different.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Well I disagree as I purchased the system I used specifically to do both but much more especially to correct room problems which it both said it would do and has delivered so it is very much possible.
DSP does not fix acoustical problems how can it? They are still there but good dsp just makes it so the problems are not as obvious to you as they were before, If you actually fix the problems then you realise what the difference is between fixing it and making it less obvious.
@@georgecav If you are talking about RoomPerfect then it doesn't change the sound of the physical room that you're in. Peter Lyngdorf inventer of RoomPerfect has gone on record lots of times saying the room will account to upto 50-60% of the sound quality you will achieve. Ie the better accousticly treated your room is the better the sound quality will be. RoomPerfect can't magically change a bad accousticly room. What it does do is cleverly change the sound (in a way that isn't going to sound bad or unnatural) coming out of the speakers to compensate for the bad room. But in that same bad room say tiled floor and glass coffee table, mirrors on the walls. If you put a underlay and carpet over the tiled floor, removed the glass coffee table and mirrors you would hear a much bigger beneficial audible difference. And that's even before acoustic room treatments absorption and diffusion. Ps. some room correction EQ around 400Hz and less, and acoustic room treatments is the best combination.
hahaha - if you check out my dirac calibration website you will see lots of opinions of the people who now have Dirac calibrations done by me - real world feedback its all people need to read www.diraclivecalibration.com
Go with the Pannels , you are paid to say And you will call Dirac is best. But it messes up the sound. Again, go with room treatments. Every one on U Tube toss around. I'm a Professional. These are professional pannels. I'm a Professional let me tell you Listen to me Mate I'm a Professional
Not sure what you are on about here, I am not paid to say anything. Acoustics treatments fundamentally improve the sound of a room. There is no question to that and therefore you hear more of the truth of the hifi system and it’s setup. Dirac live does what you to tell it to, if it messes up the sound it’s because the user doesn’t know what they are doing. I use it for people’s systems all over the world and they all say the same thing. Sound is much better after that is because I am a professional with using it and therefore get exceptionally good results every time. Please take rants like this elsewhere
Thanks for watching my video - one thing I didnt fully explain in my conclusion and I meant to was that what Dirac offers is totally different to room treatments and vise versa. One can manage the systems sound not the rooms, the other manages the rooms sound not the systems - hence my conclusion having both is having your cake and eating it.
The reason this is important is room acoustics are never perfect and audio systems are never perfect in rooms because rooms are never perfect and audio systems are never perfect so we can always make them sound better if we have the tools and knowhow,
For my Review Comparison between the NAD M10 v2 and the Arcam SA30 see here ua-cam.com/video/UKGQKmRtHOg/v-deo.html
For my talk about the acoustics and the excess energy in the room John at @Darko Audio made a great video recently talking about this in more detail here is a link to it ua-cam.com/video/dp_OdILUEkA/v-deo.html
thanks for your videos on Dirac, i got a mini DSP flex and i cannot believe the difference it has made. No DAC,amplifier, preamplifier, cartridge, acoustic panels etc. have made such a noticeable difference...unbelievable
It’s because your dealing directly with fundamental acoustical issues with Dirac and it’s very powerful and effective with it does. Hence the reason I am so onboard with it :)
Great discussion,.
I've not forgotten about our emails for your service to my calibration. I've decided to hold on because I'm about to move into a new home. Once I land, I'm calling ya!
Great video Terry. Your non-condescending approach and acknowledgement that room treatment just isn't feasible for most of us is welcome. I'd love to have a perfect listening room but I can't. Dirac sounds like a great option to get more out of my system and I'll be exploring my options. Cheers mate.
Darren, noone has a perfect listening room treatment or not so having any helping hand for better sound I think is welcome
I'm in the camp of 'half-cakes' I suppose 😄 No roomtreatment unfortunately, but a MiniDSP Flex, REW and Dirac plugin. First fiddling around and experimenting with REW and manual PEQ for a while, which is/was a steep learning curve, but getting better at it. However, Dirac instantly improved the bass response, at least made some (bass) nasty's much less obvious and everything so much 'there'. The thing that suprised me most when using REW measurements, is that even a minor difference in positioning the speakers (say 2"), can have a huge impact. Anyway, don't be shy to post (lots) more of this and thanks for your masterclass 😄
all this is good advice :)
my system and room sounds a lot better now, i have both acoustic absorbers and room correction.
and you asked if i had to choose, it would be room treatment because it affects the room and just talking or noise will sound better in that room, plus that absorbing frequencies is some of the best sound quality improvements.
i do not use dirac, but other dsp application i have to do myself manually.
Thanks Terry. Because of your video I have just invested in a MiniDSP Flex to get the benefits of Dirac Live.
I was at the stage of needing to go down the route of bass treatment but since my room is relatively small I was worried that it would not be effective in the space available.
Dirac live has vastly improved the low end response so it was money well spent.
Your review is a very balanced one and suited my situation having already invested in the practical elements of room acoustic treatments to a sensible degree 👍
Big fan , always look forward to your videos, nice job explaining the differences, as a long time Dirac user as well, the one caveat in my particular system in relation to your comment verifies what you had stated as far as what the limits of Dirac can do to the sound of your system. I truly enjoy what my surround processor can do after Dirac calibration, and the DACs in the processor are very good however nowhere near what my outboard DAC can do running the balanced connection into the processor for 2- channel listening into my Paradigm Founder120 H 's and my REL T9i connected to a JC5 Parasound amp through high level connection. I truly wish I could calibrate through Dirac into my 2-channel listening setup when not watching movies to see what if any improvements would be derived, I think Dirac would truly enhance the sound. BTW I do from time to time listen to audio in Atmos however very limited as I think the concept hasn't caught up with enough music or engineered properly enough with all music to be worth using frequently. Hence why room treatment is also important but as a regular person in a normal listening environment I rely on Dirac or Audessy in my other rooms for the majority of making the best sound .
Nice! Was waiting for such a review
Thank you Terry for this excellent, articulate and passionate video. Very interesting. Greetings to you and yours.
Very good topic! I am looking into getting M10 V2 because it ticks all the boxes and I am putting a lot of hope on DIRAC to counter-act my room acoustics.
So the question is: if proper room treatment is 100% cure, what % of that can be achieved using DIRAC alone?
Wao, Terry. What a way to clear up the difference between the Acoustic Treatment and DiracLive option. I have a modest audio system, and at this very moment I was considering buying the Naim Unity Atom or the Nad M10 V2. It seems that de Nad could be a better option considering the DiracLIve feature. Also understand the benefits of a good room treatment. So, will it be better to spend the money first with the room treatment, and then buy the Nad on a later occasion? Thanks for your input.
Gilberto
Thanks for a good video on a complex topic!
Hi, great videos! I sit on a hard leather sofa and you wouldn’t believe the negative affect it has on my system.
I used to have a leather sofa or cinema chairs really and I made a cushion for behind my head made out of an acoustic wool, I had to layer it a few times. Kilowool or something like that is was called. Catch 22 leather sofas are comfy and cool
Hi Terry. A very informative video on this subject and has opened my eyes a bit more on what is a difficult subject for me to understand. I think room correction software is the way to go for me as my wife wouldn't agree to panels everywhere in our living room and to be honest I wouldn't like them either. I've been watching John Darko talking about you helping him set up Dirac live with a couple of his setups and I believe it was done remotely. When funds permit and I get my ideal hifi set up I would probably give you a call to help me set it up. I've been looking at the likes of Dynaudio focus 50's and KEF ls60's systems that have this software built in. Thanks for sharing and keep up the great work 😊
I have my name down on some Focus 50 to review, looking forward to seeing what they can do
@@PursuitPerfectSystem that's brilliant Terry and I'll look forward to that review. Another active speaker I am interested in is the ATC scm40a's, but they don't have Dyrac or streaming capabilities, but sound amazing by all accounts. They also have class ab amplification instead of class d, which might just swing it for me. Either way I feel like many that the all in one active set up is the future of hi-fi in terms of less clutter. I'm looking to rip my large CD collection onto a server, which I want to try and build myself for no more than £800. All this is for the benefit of reducing clutter in our living room.
Active atc is not future fi, its meat and potatoes hifi, by that I mean they are a good solid meal that require trimmings such as a pre and source to function and probably subwoofers to really shine too. I calibration a week or two ago on active scm 40s - l love the ATC mid range
@@PursuitPerfectSystem I agree on the added bonus of two quality subs to perfect the low frequencies and yes a quality pre will be needed to complete perfection for me. I will look forward to your review on the 50's
Room acoustics really make more than 50% of the sound. What do you think about the effect of the directionality of the speakers on the sound? Nowadays, there seem to be a lot of speakers equipped with a large waveguide. What about dipole construction or open baffle speakers? Do they work well in removing room reflections?
I dont see how any speaker will stop reflections in the room, maybe some reduce it in some ways but its still happening
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Ok. Thank you for your reply.
Thanks Terry...an interesting and topical audiophile subject. It's been a while since we corresponded but I'm still planning and looking forward to you doing my Dirac set-up in my small music room in the near future. I will be in touch! P.S. Enjoyed seeing you on John Darko's NAD/Dirac related videos too.
Hi Terry. Thank you for this information. I am interested in becoming more informed on the nuances of tuning s dirac live calibration. I have the minidsp shd studio and it utilizes dirac live. I use it with s three way active two channel speakers that plays down to 23htz. I love the results. I am working on treatments and how to tackle this with a limited budget. I will be employing diy for my bass traps and modified bookshelves for large diffusers to couple with the dirac live calibration. Can you recommend a source or material to expand on the basic tuning procedure for dirac ?
Thanks again, kind regards,
Howard
Great video/subject Terry! 👍
I’m definitely in the camp of having tried Dirac and after 5 sets of measurement and roughly 10 target curves, I gave up as it robbed my system of its magic, making it sound lifeless and wall of sound (from 3d holographic imaging to a reduced flat sound stage, bound to the plane of the speakers and all space between instruments gone).
I appreciate there might have been something in my circumstances or approach, but I think it’s problematic that Dirac only provides this very simplified workflow, with little to no additional info. Where is the guide for those that don’t get the advertised result? Or who want to take things to the next level?
I should note that I spent the first part of my career in music, including a fair bit of recording and mixing, so basic prerequisites should be there. In the end I turned everything off (time alignment etc) and used a curtain below 500hz (which was all in all a bit better that without Dirac) and then my trial ran out 😃
I’m moving into a new room and will be treating it. I aim to try Dirac again, if they will give me another trial.
Yeah that defo sounds like something was wrong or being done wrong because Dirac 100% doesn't do that. But its easy to understand how this can happen. If you use it right you dont need to measure multiple times and if you understand it then 10 target curves could be a normal days work - but thats 10 levels of more and more fine tuning to getting the sound really exactly how you want it.
When I do calibrations for people ghat have tried Dirac and cant get the result some have commented that what I do is totally different to what they were doing and then its easy to see why I am getting a different result to them. Experience as with everything
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Cheers Terry 😊 I did do the trial twice and had similar results both times. The 10 curves were attempts at a general curve (flat vs. Harmon vs. boosted bass) plus following the natural room/speaker response more/less. Measurement were wide vs. mid vs. narrow seating, all done with umik1 on a mic stand. A few of these were with my Rel T/7i, but as it happened Dirac could not handle the sub being connected directly to just one speaker (which was my setup at the time) as it boosted the other channels general level massively, so left it out.
I super appreciate you providing your service and I’m sure you are able to get great results 👍 I just think Dirac needs to ship a copy of you in every box 🤣 ..or do a much better job educating people. Btw. yours have become one of my favorite audio channels ❤️
In the subwoofer instance all you needed to do was separate the left and right channel correction and sub problem is solved. Or use Dirac to tell you that you had your high level not connected to both amps channels as it should be / is advised to be for a balanced soun Dirac can handle anything you throw at it, trust me I have thrown all sorts at it, no-ones systems is any different to any other. I would have found that system by now with the number I have worked on. Its all in how you use Dirac that matters and people assume they know what they are doing, but if you end up with a negative result you have used it wrong. I know that sounds like an insult or criticism I really dont mean it like that.
FWIW I did a calibration last week for a chap with electrostat speakers and you dont get anymore 3D holographic sound speakers than electrostats really and he loves what I did for him with Dirac. To be fair I thought maybe these would be the speakers that would be the limit for Dirac but it turns out not which is great. Shows to me speaker behaviour in rooms is all pretty much the same in terms of behaviour and the perception of sound
@@PursuitPerfectSystem All good Terry and I'm sorry if this came off as me saying "I know what I'm doing". While I do have a general understanding of audio, in the case of Dirac I am actually saying quite the opposite; that I didn't feel I could find the help/guidance I needed to get to a good result. Granted this is a while ago, so things may have changed. In any case, Dirac should totally pay you handsomely to do a bunch of tutorials and client cases (or suggest adding a session with you at checkout)! 🙂
The sub thing was not really a factor in my overall impression, as I identified it as the thing causing the imbalance problem quickly and just choose to remove it from the equation, since I was limited on time. I did play with channel seperation later and can see how this could have solved it.
I agree that you should not connect a single Rel to only one channel high level and I've since moved away from it. While the videos and documentation from Rel do tell you to connect all three wires at the at the back of the Amp, my own dealer did show my to hook it up to the back of a single speaker, as does Rob from Rel apparently (at least according to Tarrun from A British Audiophile who reviewed a single T/7X recently and uses exposure amps with 🍌s). Our local Rel distributor says you should really only connect at the back of the speakers (something with impedance, but then he is also the Naim distributor), but to both of them, which is of course easier if you run stereo subs.. Any permutations not accounted for? 🤦♂️
I will give Dirac another shot in my upcoming listening room, once basic treatments are in place for sure. I did talk to a Nad dealer who recommended being more random with mic positions and keeping more distance to surfaces 👍
Did someone say "plants"? 🌿😅
hahaha
I really Like the plant behind the speaker. I have so many plants i dont know where to place them. Now i know
THANKS TERRY ..for explaining the difference …for most of us ..let us know when they come out with the
WIFE CORRECTION 👩🏻🦰 system … then we can talk about room correction 😁😎💚💚💚
That is what I meant by every audiophile can have Dirac not every audiophile can get away with installing treatments aka wife will stomp their balls
Room treatment equals divorce in my case 😂
Hilarious and so true!
"off the shelf" room correction is as effective as off the shelf "wife correction" 🙂
Thanks Terry, great video, I am currently looking to set up an OB system using active crossovers with DSP and possible option of Dirac Live, you have just sold me on it as I was thinking of the Minidsp SHD which has the lot. The only thing that worries me is I have an external DAC that I would prefer to use as the SHD has one internally and I do not know if I can use it !!! Cheers
Very nice and clear video!
would there be any calibration accuracy differences between Umik1, or 2?
I dont know. I have both and always the UMIK2 for my calibrations. However I tell my remote calibration customers to get the umik1 as its good enough. I can easily justify the umik2 for the amount i use it
Really useful. Do you have a microphone, as minimum standard, that you would recommend for setting up Dirac?
Thanks for the tip, appreciate that. miniDSP UMIK1 is where I would start
Great video Terry,
I also used to use Dirac and have recently switched to “Focus Fidelity”. I think both are great but Dirac is limited to computer based systems. With Focus Fidelity you get to export the filter and use it with any convolution capable player.
Anyway, is there a dependency on listening levels? Would you say that at lower listening levels some of the room effect/issues are less of a concern?
Great video Terry. Do like your style and attitude towards music. For that I have a system that I like from Cambridge and don’t want to change the amp to a Dirac integrated amp. Are the miniDSP with Dirac an option? Like the miniDSP DDRC-24 USB DAC Digital Signal Processor? Pro/cons?
interesting Jay love your channel I would say room correction and speaker set up is the way to go my humble opinion .especially if you are using a sub .pain in the neck even the good ones .🙂
Yeah you can do a lot with correction and subs, its still not the same as treatments though, it cant be but its amazing what it can do.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Great video once again Terry, cheers! I am now torn between splashing out on treating the listening room with panels, bass traps etc or adding Dirac to my system.
Looking at GIK's website I am impressed with their articles and Free Advice form - do you offer a service for room treatment by any chance?
I'll definitely pay for your Dirac service in the future once I've purchased a miniDSK SHD. 🙂
Hi Terry,
Do you consider the Minidsp DDRC-24 a viable option if I want to intergrate Dirac Live into my system? I am use a Matrix Audio Element 2 as a streamer/dac/Pre-Amp.
I wonder if the Minidsp would degrate the audio for doing another a/d and d/a conversion.
Room treatment is already on the way.😊
Hi Edwin, I dont know I havent used one them before. miniDSP are quite quirky to use Dirac with and they have pro and cons but they do the job.
A friend uses an analogue unit in a crazy high end system but I think if you can keep the signal digital its probably a better way to go,
Will DSP remedy suboptimal speaker placement? One of my speakers is quite close to a sidewall. The stereo is not placed on the middle of the wall, bacause there is a cupboard on one side.
Do you know you have a Doppelgänger on UA-cam? His name is Kris and he runs a metal detecting channel called “Addicted to Bleeps“. The resemblance is uncanny right down to both of you having the same accent and vocal mannerisms, although he does have a full set of hair! Enjoy your channel by the way. Very informative. Would love to try some room correction on my system. Speakers are a tad bright. Cheers.
Wow there is a guy who works in HiFi is almost my twin which I thought was uncanny and now we have another look alike wow hahaha. I want to check him out but is he has hair I will likely be very jealous
Great video. I see people measure their room and find a 4db peak at 800hz…then they use a PEQ filter to cut 4dB…but isn’t that kind of wrong to do because our brain can in most cases recognize that the 4dB peak is reflected energy and not direct sound?
It depends on what your trying to do. Some people say +/- 3db is an audible threshold but i think depending on the rooms acoustic conditions you can hear differences lower than that. Applying eq is not a good thing in most cases because its not audibly transparent so quite often less is more. Making graphs look pretty doesn sound good. Using graphs as a guide to making your system sound good is what Dirac allows and is why i like it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem yes I think Dirac can tell destructive close in time reflections from harmless ambience reflections. The common wisdom out there is to buy a USB mic, download REW, and find PEQ settings…then like you say show off pretty graphs. I think that works for bass peaks, but I wouldn’t do it for mids or treble because I wouldn’t want to screw with my direct sound with PEQ. For Headphones 🎧 I would imagine PEQ is great.
Freq response and impulse response are interlinked, seeing it on a graph is one thing, solving it in dsp is clever shit - its still not the same as acoustic treatment though but its better than nothing
How does Dirac compared to Roon's DSP functionality? Can the readings from Dirac be used in Roon? Thanks
Does this software make a Schiit Lokius EQ obsolete? Or can I leave it in the chain and insert the Mini DSP Flex (with DIRAC) between the DAC and the EQ?
Hi Terry I've got both now I've spent quite a bit of time and effort getting my room Acoustics right recently with corner bass traps and sound absorption on the walls. I have dirac live in the form of a Mini dsp SHD. Probably need some more help with the digital room correction side of things. Out of interest what microphone would you suggest? I have the microphone that comes with the unit the umik-2.
But I agree with you completely having both is a real luxury but for an Audiophile a necessity if your serious about getting things right.
UMIK2 is spot on Shane
@@PursuitPerfectSystem thanks Terry👍
I am in love with Dirac for the improvement in sound. I hate Dirac because there is a steep learning curve that's needed to get the best results. I use the trial and error method to alter the sound, hoping to find strategies that I can use going forward. Can be a bit frustrating. The Dirac and other on-line tutorials are lacking in specificity and depth. What's needed is someone experienced with Dirac to write a book going through how to achieve the best results. Maybe someone like Terry Ellis! Just a thought. Looking forward to your reviews of the NAD M10 and the Arcam SA30. I have an M10 and like it, I also recently purchased an Arcam AV41 (because my NAD T778 has been at the repair shop for several months and I can no longer count on it working).
I found Dirac was easy to set up on my SA30 but was a nightmare on the AVR21 because a subwoofer was connected. Like you say, some guidance would really help especially when they sell Dirac to non experts!
Interesting its the exact same process for all arcams,
@@shemsureshot I recently purchased the Bass Control module and it really helped. If you know what you're doing the same result might be gotten with a bit of futzing around. But for me, the cash outlay was worth it.
I was just wondering, coz of the speed of the Rel high level connecters, would there be any lag with DSP bass control 🤔
@@Antibackgroundnoise bass control is for subwoofets connected via lfe not high level it won't do anything in that instance
Great review and True talk - room treatment makes a big difference in my setup with Wilson Audio TuneTot speakers.
Hello Terry, i love your videos thank you for that at first👍🏻 There you are a specialist in Dirac a have a few questions i am still struggeling with with Dirac. So i have Dirac build in in my NAD c 658 combined with the NAD c298. I have also upgrated the Dirac software to the full bandwithfrequenties. Now i experience shrillness in the upper midtones, for instance quite frequent with female voices or some specific instruments like tones of an Fender Rhodes. Also i don’t experience great and full sound on lower volumes, i am thinking then where is the good old loudness knob as i hope what i mean?!? I think i know quitte well how to do a measurement with Dirac, because after measement i experience a more focused sound with the instruments from left and right and the singer or soloartist straight in the centre. I also play around with tweaking in the different frequenties, but i am not totaly satisfied untill now what i am achieving with Dirac. So do you have some tips for me with the questions i have, so in which frequentieareas can i best tweak and how much db without losing dynamics. An other thing i still don’t understand with Dirac, after measurement the correction in frequenties and respons should be perfect for my room, so am i not killing that with tweaking in that measured slot.
Thank you in advance for your help, and keep up making your videos, if a can make a suggestion maby a walktrough of a Dirac measurement you do in your own room and explain the results and where you should tweak or not. Regards Danny.
Hi Danny, this is exactly the question that I get asked as to why I setup my Dirac calibration service. I have a calibration process that I developed myself that guarantees the result with Dirac is the best it can be for your system. Each system requires something different because of how Dirac has been integrated into the hardware aka the NAD and their inherent sound and how that plays through your speakers and their sound, both need to be taken into account . My advice is either be patient and try and learn what you can or dont be patient and hire the professional for the best sound straight away. Thanks for watching my videos I appreciate it
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thanks for your quick respons Terry, i will try on my own and hope i will find my way. For your picture i live in the Netherlands so i don’t know if there are professionals over here.
I am still the professional in the Netherlands, I have done calibrations for customers in the US Sweden Germany France Portugal and more, I complete remote (online) calibrations for customers outside the UK or too far from me to drive
Hi Terry,any chance of reviewing the SA 30 with those Missions?😌
That is whats happening next for me review wise yes
Perfekt,looking forward to it! Keep up the amazing work 👌🔥
Tried Dirac through a top arcam avr and processor with my Jbl synthesis speakers ,unfortunately it killed the soundstage, made everything sound closed in and small. I think this was because of jbl using horns, a friend of mine with a had the same problem, although it really helped getting the subwoofers under control
It’s nothing to do with the speakers or the system it’s just how you have used Dirac. I have made over 150 systems all over the world perform to their best, go back to the beginning and think about the calibration process or hire the pro :)
am trying to go from KLH M5 to the Mission 770 would you recommend the move 😀
I havent heard the KLH sorry, they seemed to miss me when there was a lot of buzz around them
@@PursuitPerfectSystem great video
I think the problem with Dirac is that most users try it with the built in settings and are under whelmed by the results. They don't have the knowledge to use Dirac to make the necessary adjustments in order to tune the system to do all the things you describe. Is there any guidance out there for the normal punters that describes in greater depth how to make adjustments without employing someone like yourself which would probably be disproportionate in cost when compared to the equipment involved? Do you have any recommendations for microphones if those supplied aren't good enough?
I dont think there is because not many people really know how to use it well from my experience, every system requires a unique approach to find its sound quality top limit - no curve you can download will do that for you - it takes me on average 4-6 hours to find this for a customer. FWIW on most systems I calibrate my cost is about 1-2% of the total system cost and I make sometimes 100% difference to it - noone has ever complained to me about value for money. Most audiophiles have thousands sometimes 10's thousands and more tied up in the system. Getting the most from that in setup often saves them money in keep buying upgrades to try and fix what they think is not performing.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thanks for the comments. I wasn't meaning to denigrate the art of someone such as yourself or for that matter the value of your consultancy. However the 2 Dirac amps you have on the table are relatively modest as will be the systems they fit into. I'm just making the point that these companies include this sophisticated software but with rudimentary implementation without further explaination/detail on how to get the most out of it. Consequently once you've tried Dirac and it fails to impress the likelyhood is that it's switched off. Which is what I did with my NAD M10. It would be gret to have a consultant to come and sort me out but living in the depths of West Cumbria I'm a very long way from a decent dealer let alone a Dirac Consultant. Keep up the good work Terry, always stimulating.
Hi Andrew, that is true and is really very indicative of lots of markets these days, people buy online have products shipped to them and then are on their own to set them up, relying on YT guides and Google to get things working. A dealer is supposed to bridge this gap but its not always possible. That is why I started completing remote calibrations so I can help people in other countries really. I wasn't sure if I could pull it off, but I have done about 20 now and succeeded every time so my system works and I have got better at it each time, But its time consuming, it takes many hours to nail a Dirac calibration. This is why guides will be fruitless for people because it takes knowing what to do when something sounds a certain way to make it sound more how you want it and that is not easy to create a guide for.
The biggest lesson for me is when I started doing calibrations for people I was trying to make their system work to the same calibration profile as my system, and I struggled. I did a good job but I know now I could have done a better job. Several years later I am still learning and just recently I discovered something new to get even better sound out of Arcam AV gear. How do you create a guide for that. Dirac are giving us an amazing tool but its up to use to learn how to use it.
How are you finding the SA30?
Enjoyed the video. One disagreement. You should not boost bass frequencies, lower the peaks and treat the room with panels or Helmholtz resonators targeting specific frequencies, if you're a hardcore audiophile. Boosting bass will only make the speakers work harder and the driver(s) will be overworked and you could damage the speaker.
I listen mainly to vinyl so digital room correction is out for me, would be great if someone would make a good analog parametric EQ for those who listen to records.
If you look at the science of human hearing for bass you will see that it’s not boosting bass it’s setting the system up to create a sound with a bass that’s natural to the ear so the bass is linear. I have made a video about this too.
Also parametric eq does not work well as it’s not specific enough to the speakers in the room it’s global and that does not work it’s the same as tone controls
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Parametric targets specific frequency ranges. You can set the Q value to adjust the range of each "band" Wide or narrow. I've used them before and they work well but I haven't found an analog Parametric with enough bands. I don't think you understand how they work. You say they are the same as tone controls, not at all like that.
I used PEQ for years and know what they do and what the limitations are, tone controls raises and lowers the sound with a set q. PEQ does the same thing with a little bit more resolution but doesnt have anywhere near enough resolution and doesnt work in the time domain like Dirac Live which corrects the impulse response, magnitude response and more. I can appreciate why you would want to stay all analogue in an all analogue system but its not the same as modern DSP like Dirac Live which is on another whole over level of quality of solution.
Hi Terry. How would you address the criticism of the very narrow sweet spot afforded by Dirac? I.e. if you move your head even a few inches the sound can collapse, even if you chose the wide setting during calibration. You sort of addressed it broadly, but I don’t think you can compare this to a speaker’s natural sweet spot.
If your experiencing either of these factors with Dirac your doing something really very wrong so its not a real criticism of the solution. I do calibrations with people sitting next to me on a sofa and yes the seat I am in will sound better, but in the seat next to me people still hear the same things as me because we are discussing it as I go. That wouldnt be the case if the sound collapsed by an inch. If someone is telling you this is how things are they are misleading
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Thank you, Terry!
I see room correction as creating an inverse flaw to address flaws elsewhere in the system.
Whilst room treatment - in the broadest sense of the term - is trying to stop certain flaws from happening in the first place.
I totally disagree with you about dedicated room treatments vs general furniture - for my home and for quite a few other homes I've been in. For your room with your taste in interior decor GIK type treatments make a lot of sense.
My rooms are approx 24' by 18' by 12' with a bay window and fireplace. Multiple 4x4 and 5x5 Ikea Expedits packed ful of vinyl. Carpet, curtains, thick wallpaper, soft comfy furniture to sit or lie in, various items and bric a brac for that lived-in look.
All of this adds up to acoustics that I'm happy with.
I'm glad that DIRAC Live won't make my speakers sound like £100,000 Wilson Audio speakers, because I don't particularly like the Wilson sound :)
I have an open mind on DIRAC. I can see that it would have some advantages. One disadvantage for me would be the addition of all those components in my single path. Especially for analogue sources. Bearing in mind the ultra simple signal path that I enjoy in my systems.
Lindsay you have a great room size but maybe the room and its acoustic behaviour dictates why you like the big old school speakers you do.
Aesthetic is not really for me, the room used to be pitch black you cam here when it was pitch black
If you think about it there is nothing in normal funiture that will absorb mids and bass frequencies, so nothing to reduce the reflected energy in that region so its gonna ring in rooms that are smaller than 40 feet in each dimension, I think its 40 feet for 30hz.
Similar for diffusion - QRD diffusors for mid range are around 7 inchs deep, normal furniture doesn't really give you this, its not designed for that. Especially book shelves and stuff its not the same.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem With bass waves it seems to be more a case of breaking the waves up - for my systems in my rooms. Loads of surfaces of different materials at different places and different angles relative to the speakers.
It could also be that my attention isn't drawn to the acoustic shortcomings of my rooms because I've gotten used to them.
The main reason that I generally like big old classic yank speakers is that they were cheap and they sound fantastic for the price. If I had medium sized rooms I'd use the same speakers - and put up with them looking out of proportion in the room.
Your room is looking nicer than when I visited. My understanding was that the black decor was for the best environment for watching movies via your projector?
Yes it was black for the projector, never intended to go on camera and I think you met my mrs and one son, I have 2 sons now so the house is small as you know and getting smaller all the time so I needed somewhere to work and make videos and be able to make products look half decent so the room had to change. The irony is I didnt have space for the big speakers when you as here before, I could fit them in now, but they would still be massive in here. I do get it though big drivers have a sound,. Cheers Lindsay all the best
Please what's the Wilson Audio sound?
Perhaps I missed it but couldnt clearly hear why the two are generically different given some dsps do claim to correct room problems and at least one of them I have heard seems to…
DSP does not correct the rooms problems, it adjusts the sound in the room to make the system sound better but the room is still the room so you will still hear the room basically to some extent. Acoustic treatments help to remove the rooms footprint on the sound so you hear more of what the audio system is doing. But treatments cant change the sound of the audio system so it cant tune the sound more to your liking - that is the major difference and its totally different.
@@PursuitPerfectSystem Well I disagree as I purchased the system I used specifically to do both but much more especially to correct room problems which it both said it would do and has delivered so it is very much possible.
DSP does not fix acoustical problems how can it? They are still there but good dsp just makes it so the problems are not as obvious to you as they were before, If you actually fix the problems then you realise what the difference is between fixing it and making it less obvious.
@@georgecav If you are talking about RoomPerfect then it doesn't change the sound of the physical room that you're in. Peter Lyngdorf inventer of RoomPerfect has gone on record lots of times saying the room will account to upto 50-60% of the sound quality you will achieve.
Ie the better accousticly treated your room is the better the sound quality will be. RoomPerfect can't magically change a bad accousticly room. What it does do is cleverly change the sound (in a way that isn't going to sound bad or unnatural) coming out of the speakers to compensate for the bad room.
But in that same bad room say tiled floor and glass coffee table, mirrors on the walls. If you put a underlay and carpet over the tiled floor, removed the glass coffee table and mirrors you would hear a much bigger beneficial audible difference. And that's even before acoustic room treatments absorption and diffusion.
Ps. some room correction EQ around 400Hz and less, and acoustic room treatments is the best combination.
Do a Dirac on/off AB sound demo, this was what you used to get subscribers for. No one is really interested in reviewers opinions.
hahaha - if you check out my dirac calibration website you will see lots of opinions of the people who now have Dirac calibrations done by me - real world feedback its all people need to read www.diraclivecalibration.com
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Dirac was a lot easier to get by the WAF.....
haha yes
Go with the Pannels , you are paid to say And you will call
Dirac is best. But it messes up the sound. Again, go with room treatments. Every one on U Tube toss around. I'm a Professional. These are professional pannels. I'm a Professional let me tell you
Listen to me Mate I'm a Professional
Not sure what you are on about here, I am not paid to say anything. Acoustics treatments fundamentally improve the sound of a room. There is no question to that and therefore you hear more of the truth of the hifi system and it’s setup.
Dirac live does what you to tell it to, if it messes up the sound it’s because the user doesn’t know what they are doing. I use it for people’s systems all over the world and they all say the same thing. Sound is much better after that is because I am a professional with using it and therefore get exceptionally good results every time. Please take rants like this elsewhere