If you're running a purely digital setup they provide a purely digital processor that can sit before your DACs. I've gone for the base model which features a 'not so HiFi' ADC/DAC codec but there are higher spec models in their hardware portfolio that will also run Dirac. miniDSP do now provide a multitude of solutions. Only thing I would change is that I wish i'd known about it earlier so I could have bough a preamp with DIRAC built in (NAD C658 for example) instead of having a preamp, riaa_preamp, streamer and miniDSP.Įveryone has a different idea of 'HiFi'. For the rare recording that doesn't get on with it, I can always switch the miniDSP back out. But, unless you have perfect listenting room, the sonic impact of these losses pail into insignificance compared to the sonic imperfections imparted by the room. Sure, it is not a purist setup, info is definitely lost. On balance though, I'd have to say that the gains out weight the losses. Miles davis 'a kind o blue' would be a good example of this. I guess this is the case where the recording is so good that it can tolerate or maybe even 'enjoy' a bit of 'room interaction' without becoming unpleasant. It can somehow suck a bit of the life out of the recording. On some true golden recordings (you know, the ones you can somehow play on any system and sound good) the DIRAC Live is too much. Basically, it has a sonic signature of its own.Ģ. It's not unpleasant but there is info being lost. It almost allmost feels a bit 'smoothed out' (bearing in mind this is bypass so straight through the ADC - DAC and out). Using my turntabhle as a signal source, the tone is significantly changed. Stick it in bypass and you switch it in/out of the signal path in your amp and you will clearly hear it's presence.
![dirac live dual subs dirac live dual subs](http://abload.de/img/equal-loudness-contouu3sjb.png)
Apparently it simply comes from improve time allignment in all the drivers. It feels a bit like a surround sound feature has been added but this is absolutely not a feature of DIRAC. The speakers have vanished and, for good recordings, there is far more space around the lead instruments. No apparent loss of clarrity, just less tiring to listen to (especially when turned up). More interesting (to me at least) is that a fatiguing 'harshness' in the upper mid band is just gone. A bizare 'scoop' in the bass responce from 80Hz to 150Hz is gone (I've measured this on all speakers I've tried in this room/loaction). No boominess in the bass, totally consistent with no nasty resonances. Certainly, all the 'cliche' test tracks sound tremendous. Or, at least as good as you can expect a given recording to sound (rubbish in, rubbish out and all that). I've run a single set of 13 room measurementswith fairly rough/ready mic placement and tried out four target curves.
![dirac live dual subs dirac live dual subs](https://cdn.shopify.com/s/files/1/0921/3560/files/home-promo-cyber-monday-2021_-_mobile_2048x.jpg)
It's installed in the tapeloop of the preamp so can be easily switched in/out.
Dirac live dual subs license#
So, preamble over, I bought a DRC24, UMIK1 and Dirac license from miniDSP (incredible shipping BTW, 3 days from HongKong!). However, we have the space we have and that is where they need to sit. Both are 'too close' to the wall even for sealed cabs.
![dirac live dual subs dirac live dual subs](https://prowly-uploads.s3.eu-west-1.amazonaws.com/uploads/7164/assets/234041/large-f5e5d2a9eed73e3383cf603e6895aea8.jpg)
The speakers sit against the end wall but with one in a corner and the other in the middle of the wall. So, I figure, it's the room?įair bet it is since the setup is textbook bad. Despite the huge changes to my amps and speakers, these chararteristics have been common to all setups. Still htough, the kit sounded brash on some recordings and muffled on others. Several iterations of kit later I have a pair of ATC SCM11s, an home bulit Avondale power amp and an Audiolab 8200q preamp. It was loud, lively, musical but unsubtle. I'd previously had a set of home built KEF Calinda type speakers that I'd been running via a behringer ultradrive xover and a the power amps from a NAD home cinema set up. I have been on a recent mission to improve the sound of a living room hifi.