XMC-1 Review And Comparison To The Prev Gen - Dirac Update
Sept 24, 2014 20:05:14 GMT -5
klinemj, LuisV, and 6 more like this
Post by ansat on Sept 24, 2014 20:05:14 GMT -5
Hello All,
I would like to start off by stating that I have had the UMC-1, UMC-200, Denon 3808ci and now the XMC-1 in my current system. I am 95% theater and 5% music. I received my XMC on Aug 14 and installed it on the same day. I received my XMC well packaged and UPS treated my package very well. I unpacked the box and took my measurements to modify the 3ru rack ears that I had already purchased, installed the ears and installed the XMC into the blank rack space that I had already designated for the XMC.
Installation
The Video chain that I am using - Oppo 103 to the XMC to the Darbee to my Epson projector.
The Audio chain – Oppo 103 to the XMC (HDMI) to the XPA-5 (Gen-1)(RCA) to my front 3. XMC to UPA-7 for the rear 4 (RCA). XMC Sub L to the UMC-2 Split to both inputs for passive subwoofers and XMC Sub R split to two powered subs (RCA)
Calibration
I am usually a fan of letting the mic determine the position of the speakers as I feel that this will give a more accurate imaging. However since there is no ARC at this time, I used a laser tape measure to determine the distance to my listening position and a Radio Shack SPL meter to set the levels. I ran multiple sweeps using REW and was able to come up with the filters that I wanted to use. The filters were no different then what I had applied to the UMC-200. I found the EQ selection of the XMC to be quite powerful, however, I found that having to go up and down from the defaults to be a PITA. I would like to see a digit selection using the left and right arrow keys to allow for easier selection. I would also like to see a reset option to reset all the filters back to default for a single speaker as I tested multiple speaker configurations including my new addition of the Mythos ST-L.
Calibration Issues
During the initial setup I had 2 problems pop up and worked closely with Keith (Thanks Keith!) to find a workaround.
1. Trigger issue with just the UPA-2. Mine would trip the trigger relay on any settings changes or any input changes. Keith and I went back and forth numerous times and we were able to come up with the trigger combination that is now being given out as an option. I also received the trigger expansion kit which also resolved the trouble. My particular trigger issue is a small dropout in the voltage when the tables are being written to or accessed. (The other amps don’t care about the dropout.) The capacitor is designed to hold the charge during these dropouts but to lose its charge quick enough so that when the unit is powered off, there is no delay in shutting down the amps. The other trigger issue I found was with the C12 cooling unit. The unit will only function when set to the auto mode. Having it set for the 5-12v setting the unit will not power on. I have not messed with the cabling on this yet as setting it to auto corrected the trouble and was not in need of an immediate fix.
2. Subwoofer test tones would not work in dual subs on one channel – Keith and I went over this one and he was under the impression that it was corrected in the new firmware. He tested and found that it did not get resolved on official release. He stated that it would be corrected on the next release.
GUI / Playback
The GUI is pretty good, not the most intuitive, but is my favorite against the UMC lines. There are a lot of settings that can be tweaked and this processor has a lot of potential in a custom installation setting. After I waded through all the settings I made the relevant adjustments and backed up my configuration. If I were to describe the menus, I would call them industrial and rough. Given that Emotiva has a good illustrator on the payroll (Nick) I was hoping for something more refined. Just because something doesn’t need to be on the GUI doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t enhance the overall experience. I hope that they decide to do a revamp of the menus. Give some pictures in the setup menus. Some tips even. Give us a help selection since this is a Linux platform and have an easy mode that hides the advanced features. I am a technology geek and understand the menus and features, however I am a small segment of the market share that would purchase this.
For the playback, I started with Live at Red Rock from Mumford and Sons. Playback was no different from the UMC-200. I have since watched about 30 hours of content from the XMC and I do have the occasional handshake issue, but I believe that this is in part due to the Darbee and the projector. Forcing the XMC to start the handshake over again fixes my issue. (Again, I do not believe this to be the XMC bug and similar issues happened in all my setups). I also found an annoying pop sound on the audio re-sync on chapter advance. I have Keith looking into that to see what, if anything, can be done.
Another issue was that you can turn on Zone 2 without the remote but you cannot turn it off. You can uncheck the box, but it remains active. The remote is not affected by this and Keith has been made aware to be addressed.
Final Thoughts
At the time of this writing, my final thoughts are incomplete. As it stands today (sans–Dirac) I would advise that anyone looking to the XMC to instead look to the UMC-200, as nearly the same level of satisfaction was achieved for a fraction of the cost. As far as SQ and PQ goes, they are identical and the UMC-200 gives ARC to boot. The key differences at this time are the XLR connections, dual sub outputs, a second HDMI out and a slightly more advanced EQ are included in the XMC. I think that the XMC is worth the money spent and I appreciate the time and the features given for a complex installation such as mine, but sans-Dirac, the UMC-200 is a bargain in comparison. Now that I have said that, Dirac (the trial that I used) has made significant changes that I can see in the measurements that I take. Once Dirac is finished and activated on the XMC, I will likely change my stance on the value of the UMC-200 and the satisfaction differences between the two.
Please note in this review that I made no mention specifically about the SQ of the unit. I do not hear differences in well-made processors and I feel that the XMC does its job perfectly by adding nothing other then the filters that I chose and set up by design, just the same as the UMC-200. I have saved all the REW files but do not plan to post those until Dirac is released.
EDIT 1 - 9/26
Bass Management
The bass management on the XMC-1 deserves its segment. I will not directly compare it to the older processors as it is a completely different beast. The new bass management is powerful, cumbersome and thorough. Given that good bass management is probably the #1 misunderstood feature in sound calibration, I cannot call the XMC implementation a success. For those who have a good understanding and better, Emotiva offers the tools needed to get the job done and I have watched a lot of back and forth on how Emotiva should implement and tweak further the options (such as adding separate distance and levels while having one eq). I am not quite in agreement and think that the tools given are the proper tools to do the job. Where the failure comes in, is due to the lack of a simple option or documentation on properly setting up the XMC in the home user environment. Once Dirac is finished and out, this will be less of a concern, but page 14 and 20 makes a huge assumption that just giving you the data on how the XMC handles the bass management, that the user can take that information and apply it in practice.
Now since I have made a comment about a disagreement in only having one EQ for multiple subs, I should probably explain myself. Having one EQ for multiple subs is perfect for a single listening position. For a multi listening position environment, separate EQ would be preferable as adding loss or gain to both subs is usually unneeded to achieve good results and rarely are gains and losses spread over multiple listening positions. My method with the XMC is to set the distances then to eq both channels to flat over my three main listening positions (as close as I can get them)(the other 4 in my room don’t get accounted for) individually. Then I would fine tune the distance setting taking multiple measurements to phase align both subwoofers. Then I would start to adjust the eq with both subs playing and taking the measurements at the three listening positions on each adjustment. At this point I am not aiming for a flat response, but a good average between all listening positions to avoid any overly active bass at any one location. (I use a similar eq process for the center channel due to critical content being played over it)
I feel the tools given make for excellent results with the 5 hours it took to EQ the front two. (I currently don’t have the rear two connected as I am waiting for Dirac to see if I need to invest the time to do this for 4 subwoofers.)
As for dual stereo subwoofers, I have not played with that yet. I have the ideal speakers (mythos ST-L) to make use of it and will probably test it out at a later date (but I am in no hurry as I don’t really do anything 2 channel).
Edit 2 10/21 - re-evaluation of the PEQ implementation.
Over the last month, I have seen more and more users of the XMC claim to be getting better results with the XMC then what they were able to achieve over the UMC-200. This has caused me to question just how user friendly the PEQ is. Since I was unable to obtain any SQ enhancements that others are obtaining, this is cause for me to believe that that the tools in the XMC are presented in a way that more users are able to understand over the UMC-200.
One of the major things that stick out is determining the size of the filter. Since this is not something that I use all the time, I usually have to break out a Q calculator or head over to www.rane.com/note170.html to gather my cheat sheets. Since the XMC does the math for us, this is a major score for the XMC-1 as it is much easier to visualize frequency difference then to visualize Q or measures of an octave.
In the end, I am no longer sure how user friendly the PEQ is. Initially I was thinking that it would still be to cumbersome for users to work with, but as the reports come in to the forums, users are proving me wrong.
Edit 3 11/14 Updates - So far I have been impressed with the amount of updates that have been pushed out. We have had a total of 4 updates to date. 3 Linux updates and 1 FW update to the USB port. While the Linux updates are quite easy, the FW update remains to be installed as my laptops are all windows 8. While part of the blame goes to the manufacturer, most of the blame resides in the choice to implement something that is a known PITA. This hopefully end up on the "Lessons Learned" talk for the hardware choice for future products. While the Linux updates are easy and numerous, considering that the XMC is still missing one of the primetime featuresand not available for immediate sale (went available within an hour of this post edit), the updates are not as polished as you would normally find for the larger competition. The items that were addressed by the firmware were hit and miss, leaving some with existing issues and sometimes creating new ones for others. This type of update policy is what I would expect coming from a smaller business like emotiva and each update will act as a beta test due to limited equipment that emotiva carries, however I hope they get some help for Ray as it appears that all of the coding is left up to him alone. There isn't much that I can compare with the UMC-200 on this one as I came in late on the lifecycle, but the updates are more frequent with the xmc (which I assume is due to it being in house). Both the UMC-1 and UMC-200 have a general consensus there are still bugs that could be worked out through future updates and emotiva has elected to update the UMC-200 since 9/17/2013 and the UMC-1 has been "end of life" for some time. With the XMC being as expensive as it is, I hope that the lifecycle holds out longer then its predecessors and the bug fixes and the new features keep coming.
Updates to date(11/14/14) 12/13/2014 3/9/2015
Update 1.1
Update 1.2
Update 1.3
Update 3.0
Edit 4 12/13/2014 - New hardware!
While I wait for the elusive Dirac key to show up in my email, I thought I would take a good look at the little care package that emotiva sent over. It included a microphone, mic tripod, mic holder (universal), the final version of the manual, Dirac manual, USB pen drive and an xlr to usb cable.
Build - The microphone (EEM-1) looks like a stubby version of most condenser microphones on the market. I am unsure of the need for the long neck on the others that I have seen, but emotiva has elected to not have it on their microphone. Since I have broken a condenser microphone before, emotiva's looks like it will take much more abuse then the others I have used. The skeleton of the microphone is one piece which appears to have the microphone glued to the top and the xlr connection glued into the bottom. This appears to be a disposable item as there is no access anywhere on the mic to make repairs.
The small tripod came to me with one of the rubber feet detached, It appears that a bit of glue on all three feet will be needed if you plan to keep the rubber attached to the tripod. The mic clip, while initially I thought to look and feel very cheap came into its own when I was able to attach 2 different microphones of different sizes to it for testing.
The USB to XLR cable I feel will be a bit short for a lot of users at only 9ft, I did run a test using a 5 meter extension USB and found zero difference between the results. (I would not go more than the 5 meters as that is the limitations of USB 2.0 specification) Since the difference is zero, there is no need to use an xlr extension over a usb one (unless you already own the XLR)
Previously I have commented on the build quality of the manual (which is in pretty sad shape at this point), This has been corrected with the spiral bound manual which I am still comparing to the preliminary. The smaller manual for Dirac is just stapled together, and for most, it will not be referenced often and should serve its purpose.
The USB stick (64 mb) looks pretty and it was recommended to be used to update the XMC, however on each upgrade there is a warning that you should use no smaller than a 1gb drive. However, it still is a nice little promotional item that will find its usefulness somewhere.
On to the Microphone tests
To test the microphone I set up a rig with a single Definitive Technology Studio Monitor 350 and ran a sweep with both the EMM-1 any my calibrated Dayton Audio UMM-6(calibrated by cross-spectrum) @ 6".
Here are the same measurements in a few different views.
While I have presented this info to make your own opinions, please keep in mind that even slight variations in my placement (which I tried to avoid) could cause some of the variation. After going through the graphs and the other measurements that I took at different locations, I would say that this is a microphone that appears to be within +-2db across the board with my calibrated microphones. My only real concern is the -2db that spanned the wide area on the 1/6th smoothing. Overall, the EMM-1 is closer then anything that I received with the UMC or any other receiver that I have worked with (all puck microphones) to the calibrated microphone. Below is the UMC puck mic (which will surprise some) the UMM-1 and the EMM-1.
Edit 5 12/15/2014 - New hardware! addendum
In going through the microphone comparison measurements in more detail, I have found a few more differences between the microphones. It appears that the EMM-1 is less sensitive at lower volumes in the high frequencies (see image below). The other difference that I noticed was the THD seems to show the same pattern. I have also included my REW file. 1drv.ms/1uOQlZX
[img src="https://seqowg-
Edit 6 12/15/2014 Dirac installed
I would like to start by stating that the Dirac process was utterly infuriating. But I worked through each of my issues and the issues I experienced should not affect many users out there.
After I received my key, and have already read the dirac manual cover to cover multiple times, I called emotiva and received support almost immediately. My questions were relating mic placement in a 2 row seating arrangement with riser. I was provided some general guidelines to follow and was satisfied with the support given. I upgraded to 2.0 firmware and decided that I would run Dirac for the front 3 seats only for the first run. (All 9 mic positions) (my benchmark run) I followed the instructions and ran my first run of Dirac. I put in Terminator Salvation and the results were awful... I did some digging and found that my left and right speakers were 10+db hotter then the rest. I had no vocals and no bass other then what the ST-L's were producing. I was able to correct this using the levels in the Dirac Speaker settings and the results were still not great as the levels were not consistant. I called emotiva again and got the late shift support who stated that I need to call in the morning to get someone more familiar with dirac (I had no issues with that) But he was able to confirm that Dirac should be setting the levels. So I factory reset the XMC and reloaded my config.
XMC/Dirac 1 - Tony 0
Round 2.
I started dirac back up and followed the instructions again. The levels sounded much better. I took my first measurement and I started getting clipping errors. Set the levels again, clipping, set them a final time, clipping. Also after each try, I had to go and unplug the subwoofer to get it to wake up.
XMC/Dirac 2 - Tony 0
Round 3.
increased the gain on the subwoofers more (to turn down the mains as they were showing the clipping) Increased the gain on the center speakers built in subwoofer and dropped 6db on the fronts built in subs. I took the first measurement and success!!!! 2nd measurement. Sub went to sleep and CLIPPING!!!!!!! on the mains and the rear subwoofer (after waking it up).
XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 0
Round 4.
Same as round 3. But this round ended with beer, lions choice and a cigarette.
XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 1 (This one goes to me.)
Round 5 (To hell with the instructions..)
Set the input gain to where I wanted it, then set the output in the green. EUREKA!!!!!!! did a complete Dirac sweep and the sub stayed awake for all 9 positions.
Final install score = XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 2
So what happened and why didnt the instructions work for me? So here is what happened that was happening in the background. On the first Dirac run the Furnace was running and it added enough background noise that setting the output to -24 worked out for me. What happened to cause the low levels? Well even after the reset and reload, the levels were still weird, I moved them all back to 0, and the levels didnt get sorted out until I turned off enhanced bass.
Rounds 2-4 didn't have the furnace running and my room is extremely silent without it. This caused my sweeps to clip the mic really easy (just through random room modes). This also had the output so low that it wasnt enough to keep the rear subwoofer awake.
Round 5, How low did I have to set the sensitivity? below the minimum (-36) (See Image Below) This allowed me to increase the output so that the sweeps were running at around 70db.
So here are a few tips to make life a little easier.
Do a backup and factory reset. Then power cycle (full off) if you are upgrading to 2.0
Do a rough levels check after setting up the speakers and before you run Dirac.
Leave enhanced bass alone until you have run through Dirac.
Clipping error = turn down the input gain and turn up the output. There appears to be no issues that I found in going lower then even the scale.
So how does it sound? I like it. Does it add the lost value that I referenced above to the UMC-200, That is a question that I can no longer answer as it has been too long since I had the UMC-200 in my system. But I am satisfied with my purchase. I cant wait till the full version of Dirac, as I will probably wait for it to do the full seating arrangement calibration (Still hoping for multiple curves).
Edit 7 01/27/2015 Dirac continued.
It has been an interesting ride this far. Some things that I have discovered and shared with the fellow loungers as I progressed. The measurement process while pretty quick and painless to perform, I find myself almost overwhelmed at the amount of different ways they can be taken and end results are only limited to how you took your measurements. You can group your microphone tightly to create a narrow zone of perfection. You can take a wide measurement to make a very wide less then perfect zone. You can meet in the middle of all this. There are just to many different combinations of microphone arrangements and results to count.
Currently I am also under the belief that the EMM-1 microphone has a calibration process error that is resulting in lower then normal highs and higher then normal lows. I have done extensive testing with other microphones as well as requested assistance from others who have a calibrated microphone as well. While an consensus has not been reached as of today, I have altered the default calibration to so that the EMM-1 consistently is producing the same results of my ECM8000 and my UMM-6 calibration microphones that were calibrated by Cross-Spectrum. Having done so, has made a noticeable improvements over previous calibrations (from the microphones perspective). From my before and after measurements, I am seeing a flatter response than I was able to achieve using PEW alone and the impulse response have been cleaned to a little further (these were small changes visually over a wide frequency where the sum of which creates some fantastic results).
Now as far as my listening experiences, I trust my microphone more then I trust my ears. And as someone who has spent as much time reviewing graphs and charts of their room, my microphone and my ears are in agreement with each other. I know what flat sounds like and I know where my preferences are with a house curve. While I do not think that Emotiva's curve is aggressive enough on the low end for my tastes, but I do understand why it was done this way and the full version will rectify the situation.
All and all, I prefer Dirac (with some minor level adjustments) over my PEQ (which I have spent a significantly greater time investment on) for movies and multi-channel music. For 2 channel music, the reference stereo along with my Mythos ST-L's sounds too good to be beaten by room correction.
Edit 8 03/29/2015 Dirac Full - 100$ upgrade.
I received my copy of Dirac Full yesterday and proceeded to install it on my Surface Pro 3. The installation process was similar to Dirac LE and it required some additional steps to force Windows to allow the installation. (Windows thought it was a malicious program and didn't want to let me install it). After the install, I checked both my USB microphones and Dirac was able to see them both as well as allow a custom calibration file to be used on each microphone. I was quite happy to see that that the calibration data had changed for the emm-1, however the calibration data is still quite a bit off from my calculations. I will stick with the cal files located in my signature. Another surprise was that the stadium seating was present in the Dirac program and I look forward to playing with that in my theater.
This morning, I loaded up firmware 3.0, which went quite smooth, and proceeded to run Dirac again. Everything that Dirac wanted to do was quite familiar at this point. I have run it so many times that it is completely automatic in the taking the measurements. What was not automatic was creating the custom filter. This was a rather pleasant experience for me and I tweaked away until I had something that resembled the house curve that I had been using before Dirac LE was released. The other added feature was showing all the measurements. In digging into the data, I found that one of my seats is getting hit really hard with a ceiling reflection that I did not identify previously and will be correcting in the near future. The level of control received was just how Big Dan sold it to me @ emofest.
Hopefully I will get a chance to do some listening in the next few days.
TO DO STILL
Review Dirac Full Listening experience
Firmware 3.0
Conclusion
Questions? Comments?
Thanks all,
Tony
I would like to start off by stating that I have had the UMC-1, UMC-200, Denon 3808ci and now the XMC-1 in my current system. I am 95% theater and 5% music. I received my XMC on Aug 14 and installed it on the same day. I received my XMC well packaged and UPS treated my package very well. I unpacked the box and took my measurements to modify the 3ru rack ears that I had already purchased, installed the ears and installed the XMC into the blank rack space that I had already designated for the XMC.
Installation
The Video chain that I am using - Oppo 103 to the XMC to the Darbee to my Epson projector.
The Audio chain – Oppo 103 to the XMC (HDMI) to the XPA-5 (Gen-1)(RCA) to my front 3. XMC to UPA-7 for the rear 4 (RCA). XMC Sub L to the UMC-2 Split to both inputs for passive subwoofers and XMC Sub R split to two powered subs (RCA)
Calibration
I am usually a fan of letting the mic determine the position of the speakers as I feel that this will give a more accurate imaging. However since there is no ARC at this time, I used a laser tape measure to determine the distance to my listening position and a Radio Shack SPL meter to set the levels. I ran multiple sweeps using REW and was able to come up with the filters that I wanted to use. The filters were no different then what I had applied to the UMC-200. I found the EQ selection of the XMC to be quite powerful, however, I found that having to go up and down from the defaults to be a PITA. I would like to see a digit selection using the left and right arrow keys to allow for easier selection. I would also like to see a reset option to reset all the filters back to default for a single speaker as I tested multiple speaker configurations including my new addition of the Mythos ST-L.
Calibration Issues
During the initial setup I had 2 problems pop up and worked closely with Keith (Thanks Keith!) to find a workaround.
1. Trigger issue with just the UPA-2. Mine would trip the trigger relay on any settings changes or any input changes. Keith and I went back and forth numerous times and we were able to come up with the trigger combination that is now being given out as an option. I also received the trigger expansion kit which also resolved the trouble. My particular trigger issue is a small dropout in the voltage when the tables are being written to or accessed. (The other amps don’t care about the dropout.) The capacitor is designed to hold the charge during these dropouts but to lose its charge quick enough so that when the unit is powered off, there is no delay in shutting down the amps. The other trigger issue I found was with the C12 cooling unit. The unit will only function when set to the auto mode. Having it set for the 5-12v setting the unit will not power on. I have not messed with the cabling on this yet as setting it to auto corrected the trouble and was not in need of an immediate fix.
2. Subwoofer test tones would not work in dual subs on one channel – Keith and I went over this one and he was under the impression that it was corrected in the new firmware. He tested and found that it did not get resolved on official release. He stated that it would be corrected on the next release.
GUI / Playback
The GUI is pretty good, not the most intuitive, but is my favorite against the UMC lines. There are a lot of settings that can be tweaked and this processor has a lot of potential in a custom installation setting. After I waded through all the settings I made the relevant adjustments and backed up my configuration. If I were to describe the menus, I would call them industrial and rough. Given that Emotiva has a good illustrator on the payroll (Nick) I was hoping for something more refined. Just because something doesn’t need to be on the GUI doesn’t mean that it wouldn’t enhance the overall experience. I hope that they decide to do a revamp of the menus. Give some pictures in the setup menus. Some tips even. Give us a help selection since this is a Linux platform and have an easy mode that hides the advanced features. I am a technology geek and understand the menus and features, however I am a small segment of the market share that would purchase this.
For the playback, I started with Live at Red Rock from Mumford and Sons. Playback was no different from the UMC-200. I have since watched about 30 hours of content from the XMC and I do have the occasional handshake issue, but I believe that this is in part due to the Darbee and the projector. Forcing the XMC to start the handshake over again fixes my issue. (Again, I do not believe this to be the XMC bug and similar issues happened in all my setups). I also found an annoying pop sound on the audio re-sync on chapter advance. I have Keith looking into that to see what, if anything, can be done.
Another issue was that you can turn on Zone 2 without the remote but you cannot turn it off. You can uncheck the box, but it remains active. The remote is not affected by this and Keith has been made aware to be addressed.
Final Thoughts
At the time of this writing, my final thoughts are incomplete. As it stands today (sans–Dirac) I would advise that anyone looking to the XMC to instead look to the UMC-200, as nearly the same level of satisfaction was achieved for a fraction of the cost. As far as SQ and PQ goes, they are identical and the UMC-200 gives ARC to boot. The key differences at this time are the XLR connections, dual sub outputs, a second HDMI out and a slightly more advanced EQ are included in the XMC. I think that the XMC is worth the money spent and I appreciate the time and the features given for a complex installation such as mine, but sans-Dirac, the UMC-200 is a bargain in comparison. Now that I have said that, Dirac (the trial that I used) has made significant changes that I can see in the measurements that I take. Once Dirac is finished and activated on the XMC, I will likely change my stance on the value of the UMC-200 and the satisfaction differences between the two.
Please note in this review that I made no mention specifically about the SQ of the unit. I do not hear differences in well-made processors and I feel that the XMC does its job perfectly by adding nothing other then the filters that I chose and set up by design, just the same as the UMC-200. I have saved all the REW files but do not plan to post those until Dirac is released.
EDIT 1 - 9/26
Bass Management
The bass management on the XMC-1 deserves its segment. I will not directly compare it to the older processors as it is a completely different beast. The new bass management is powerful, cumbersome and thorough. Given that good bass management is probably the #1 misunderstood feature in sound calibration, I cannot call the XMC implementation a success. For those who have a good understanding and better, Emotiva offers the tools needed to get the job done and I have watched a lot of back and forth on how Emotiva should implement and tweak further the options (such as adding separate distance and levels while having one eq). I am not quite in agreement and think that the tools given are the proper tools to do the job. Where the failure comes in, is due to the lack of a simple option or documentation on properly setting up the XMC in the home user environment. Once Dirac is finished and out, this will be less of a concern, but page 14 and 20 makes a huge assumption that just giving you the data on how the XMC handles the bass management, that the user can take that information and apply it in practice.
Now since I have made a comment about a disagreement in only having one EQ for multiple subs, I should probably explain myself. Having one EQ for multiple subs is perfect for a single listening position. For a multi listening position environment, separate EQ would be preferable as adding loss or gain to both subs is usually unneeded to achieve good results and rarely are gains and losses spread over multiple listening positions. My method with the XMC is to set the distances then to eq both channels to flat over my three main listening positions (as close as I can get them)(the other 4 in my room don’t get accounted for) individually. Then I would fine tune the distance setting taking multiple measurements to phase align both subwoofers. Then I would start to adjust the eq with both subs playing and taking the measurements at the three listening positions on each adjustment. At this point I am not aiming for a flat response, but a good average between all listening positions to avoid any overly active bass at any one location. (I use a similar eq process for the center channel due to critical content being played over it)
I feel the tools given make for excellent results with the 5 hours it took to EQ the front two. (I currently don’t have the rear two connected as I am waiting for Dirac to see if I need to invest the time to do this for 4 subwoofers.)
As for dual stereo subwoofers, I have not played with that yet. I have the ideal speakers (mythos ST-L) to make use of it and will probably test it out at a later date (but I am in no hurry as I don’t really do anything 2 channel).
Edit 2 10/21 - re-evaluation of the PEQ implementation.
Over the last month, I have seen more and more users of the XMC claim to be getting better results with the XMC then what they were able to achieve over the UMC-200. This has caused me to question just how user friendly the PEQ is. Since I was unable to obtain any SQ enhancements that others are obtaining, this is cause for me to believe that that the tools in the XMC are presented in a way that more users are able to understand over the UMC-200.
One of the major things that stick out is determining the size of the filter. Since this is not something that I use all the time, I usually have to break out a Q calculator or head over to www.rane.com/note170.html to gather my cheat sheets. Since the XMC does the math for us, this is a major score for the XMC-1 as it is much easier to visualize frequency difference then to visualize Q or measures of an octave.
In the end, I am no longer sure how user friendly the PEQ is. Initially I was thinking that it would still be to cumbersome for users to work with, but as the reports come in to the forums, users are proving me wrong.
Edit 3 11/14 Updates - So far I have been impressed with the amount of updates that have been pushed out. We have had a total of 4 updates to date. 3 Linux updates and 1 FW update to the USB port. While the Linux updates are quite easy, the FW update remains to be installed as my laptops are all windows 8. While part of the blame goes to the manufacturer, most of the blame resides in the choice to implement something that is a known PITA. This hopefully end up on the "Lessons Learned" talk for the hardware choice for future products. While the Linux updates are easy and numerous, considering that the XMC is still missing one of the primetime features
Updates to date
Update 1.1
New Features Added:
• Dual Mono Subwoofers (customer request) - allows two subwoofers to be individually configured, including equalization and distance, but then fed a summed mono subwoofer signal.
Feature Enhancements:
• Added status display information which tells the user when the TV has “stolen” audio via CEC.
• Added additional Turn-On Volume setting options.
• Moved OSD display higher so it doesn’t get cut off on 2.35:1 displays.
Bug Fixes:
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Occasional faults preventing certain configuration inputs after changing to/from Stereo Subs.
• Occasional issues with Menu formatting.
• Test Tones sometimes didn’t play correctly with Stereo Subs.
• Added a key combination to allow you to override certain conditions where you could lock yourself out of the XMC-1 Menu System.
• Corrected/modified trigger logic.
• Dual Mono Subwoofers (customer request) - allows two subwoofers to be individually configured, including equalization and distance, but then fed a summed mono subwoofer signal.
Feature Enhancements:
• Added status display information which tells the user when the TV has “stolen” audio via CEC.
• Added additional Turn-On Volume setting options.
• Moved OSD display higher so it doesn’t get cut off on 2.35:1 displays.
Bug Fixes:
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Occasional faults preventing certain configuration inputs after changing to/from Stereo Subs.
• Occasional issues with Menu formatting.
• Test Tones sometimes didn’t play correctly with Stereo Subs.
• Added a key combination to allow you to override certain conditions where you could lock yourself out of the XMC-1 Menu System.
• Corrected/modified trigger logic.
Update 1.2
New Feature Added:
• When setting up the Parametric EQs in the Speaker Presets, in addition to the original sine wave test signals, you now have the option of using pink noise. Unlike the special band- limited pink noise used in the Level calibration, this is true pink noise, and is available at three different levels. The pink noise continues to play as you make adjustments, so you can hear the results of your adjustments in real-time. Bug Fixes: Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Brief trigger dropouts during certain menu operations, which adversely affected some other trigger-enabled devices, have been eliminated.
• The bug that caused Zone 2 Volume to default to 0 dB after a cold boot has been corrected; Zone 2 now defaults to -40 dB after a cold boot.
• Test tone noise generator now works properly with Dual Mono Subs.
• Digital audio at 176k and 192k sample rates via HDMI now works correctly.
• Mute is now applied to headphones.
• Information display now correctly reflects when different audio sources, other than the defaults, are selected to be used with video inputs.
• When setting up the Parametric EQs in the Speaker Presets, in addition to the original sine wave test signals, you now have the option of using pink noise. Unlike the special band- limited pink noise used in the Level calibration, this is true pink noise, and is available at three different levels. The pink noise continues to play as you make adjustments, so you can hear the results of your adjustments in real-time. Bug Fixes: Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Brief trigger dropouts during certain menu operations, which adversely affected some other trigger-enabled devices, have been eliminated.
• The bug that caused Zone 2 Volume to default to 0 dB after a cold boot has been corrected; Zone 2 now defaults to -40 dB after a cold boot.
• Test tone noise generator now works properly with Dual Mono Subs.
• Digital audio at 176k and 192k sample rates via HDMI now works correctly.
• Mute is now applied to headphones.
• Information display now correctly reflects when different audio sources, other than the defaults, are selected to be used with video inputs.
Update 1.3
Several very minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Fixed a bug where, in certain very specific situations, a configuration loaded using the Restore Configuration option would fail to be saved when the XMC-1 was powered Off.
• Fixed a bug where, in certain very specific situations, a configuration loaded using the Restore Configuration option would fail to be saved when the XMC-1 was powered Off.
Update 2.0
Bug Fixes:
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Changed several internal level adjustments related to Dolby and DTS compliance.
• Fixed a bug where Zone 2 Input and Volume were sometimes lost during a cold boot.
• Added confirmation requirement when selecting Reference Stereo mode from the Input menu.
• Fixed some problems with menu options when using headphone and 2.x speaker setup.
• Surround mode now updates when speaker preset changes are incompatible with current mode.
Dirac Live for Emotiva:
Finalized some settings and options for the Dirac Live Correction Filter engine.
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Changed several internal level adjustments related to Dolby and DTS compliance.
• Fixed a bug where Zone 2 Input and Volume were sometimes lost during a cold boot.
• Added confirmation requirement when selecting Reference Stereo mode from the Input menu.
• Fixed some problems with menu options when using headphone and 2.x speaker setup.
• Surround mode now updates when speaker preset changes are incompatible with current mode.
Dirac Live for Emotiva:
Finalized some settings and options for the Dirac Live Correction Filter engine.
Update 3.0
New Features:
• Added support for 4k/60Hz video.
• Added choice of several color themes for the OSD, including one optimized for 4k.
• Added the ability to import filter settings directly from Room EQ Wizard (REW)
(this includes the ability to save and load filter settings via standard XML files).
Improved Functionality:
• Added more granular control over CEC functions.
• Added improvements to the audio muting strategy to make it “smarter”
(the muting will now do a better job of blocking noises you don’t want to hear, especially with
certain cable boxes, and of not clipping off the first few milliseconds of some audio tracks) .
• Adjusted the gain set in the Dirac preset to more closely match the levels in other presets.
Bug Fixes:
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Noise generator was clipping with some combinations of settings and modes.
• Zone 2 failed to remember current volume setting through a cold boot.
• No audio pass-through in Video on Standby Mode with some Sony Bravia sets.
• Crash if you removed the USB stick while confirming or after its presence was confirmed.
• Trims and triggers associated with the rear channels were not working properly in some modes.
• Wrong sample rate and bit depth shown when using HDMI video with alternate audio sources.
• Added support for 4k/60Hz video.
• Added choice of several color themes for the OSD, including one optimized for 4k.
• Added the ability to import filter settings directly from Room EQ Wizard (REW)
(this includes the ability to save and load filter settings via standard XML files).
Improved Functionality:
• Added more granular control over CEC functions.
• Added improvements to the audio muting strategy to make it “smarter”
(the muting will now do a better job of blocking noises you don’t want to hear, especially with
certain cable boxes, and of not clipping off the first few milliseconds of some audio tracks) .
• Adjusted the gain set in the Dirac preset to more closely match the levels in other presets.
Bug Fixes:
Several minor bugs were fixed (based on our testing and user input), including:
• Noise generator was clipping with some combinations of settings and modes.
• Zone 2 failed to remember current volume setting through a cold boot.
• No audio pass-through in Video on Standby Mode with some Sony Bravia sets.
• Crash if you removed the USB stick while confirming or after its presence was confirmed.
• Trims and triggers associated with the rear channels were not working properly in some modes.
• Wrong sample rate and bit depth shown when using HDMI video with alternate audio sources.
Edit 4 12/13/2014 - New hardware!
While I wait for the elusive Dirac key to show up in my email, I thought I would take a good look at the little care package that emotiva sent over. It included a microphone, mic tripod, mic holder (universal), the final version of the manual, Dirac manual, USB pen drive and an xlr to usb cable.
Build - The microphone (EEM-1) looks like a stubby version of most condenser microphones on the market. I am unsure of the need for the long neck on the others that I have seen, but emotiva has elected to not have it on their microphone. Since I have broken a condenser microphone before, emotiva's looks like it will take much more abuse then the others I have used. The skeleton of the microphone is one piece which appears to have the microphone glued to the top and the xlr connection glued into the bottom. This appears to be a disposable item as there is no access anywhere on the mic to make repairs.
The small tripod came to me with one of the rubber feet detached, It appears that a bit of glue on all three feet will be needed if you plan to keep the rubber attached to the tripod. The mic clip, while initially I thought to look and feel very cheap came into its own when I was able to attach 2 different microphones of different sizes to it for testing.
The USB to XLR cable I feel will be a bit short for a lot of users at only 9ft, I did run a test using a 5 meter extension USB and found zero difference between the results. (I would not go more than the 5 meters as that is the limitations of USB 2.0 specification) Since the difference is zero, there is no need to use an xlr extension over a usb one (unless you already own the XLR)
Previously I have commented on the build quality of the manual (which is in pretty sad shape at this point), This has been corrected with the spiral bound manual which I am still comparing to the preliminary. The smaller manual for Dirac is just stapled together, and for most, it will not be referenced often and should serve its purpose.
The USB stick (64 mb) looks pretty and it was recommended to be used to update the XMC, however on each upgrade there is a warning that you should use no smaller than a 1gb drive. However, it still is a nice little promotional item that will find its usefulness somewhere.
On to the Microphone tests
To test the microphone I set up a rig with a single Definitive Technology Studio Monitor 350 and ran a sweep with both the EMM-1 any my calibrated Dayton Audio UMM-6(calibrated by cross-spectrum) @ 6".
Here are the same measurements in a few different views.
While I have presented this info to make your own opinions, please keep in mind that even slight variations in my placement (which I tried to avoid) could cause some of the variation. After going through the graphs and the other measurements that I took at different locations, I would say that this is a microphone that appears to be within +-2db across the board with my calibrated microphones. My only real concern is the -2db that spanned the wide area on the 1/6th smoothing. Overall, the EMM-1 is closer then anything that I received with the UMC or any other receiver that I have worked with (all puck microphones) to the calibrated microphone. Below is the UMC puck mic (which will surprise some) the UMM-1 and the EMM-1.
Edit 5 12/15/2014 - New hardware! addendum
In going through the microphone comparison measurements in more detail, I have found a few more differences between the microphones. It appears that the EMM-1 is less sensitive at lower volumes in the high frequencies (see image below). The other difference that I noticed was the THD seems to show the same pattern. I have also included my REW file. 1drv.ms/1uOQlZX
[img src="https://seqowg-
Edit 6 12/15/2014 Dirac installed
I would like to start by stating that the Dirac process was utterly infuriating. But I worked through each of my issues and the issues I experienced should not affect many users out there.
After I received my key, and have already read the dirac manual cover to cover multiple times, I called emotiva and received support almost immediately. My questions were relating mic placement in a 2 row seating arrangement with riser. I was provided some general guidelines to follow and was satisfied with the support given. I upgraded to 2.0 firmware and decided that I would run Dirac for the front 3 seats only for the first run. (All 9 mic positions) (my benchmark run) I followed the instructions and ran my first run of Dirac. I put in Terminator Salvation and the results were awful... I did some digging and found that my left and right speakers were 10+db hotter then the rest. I had no vocals and no bass other then what the ST-L's were producing. I was able to correct this using the levels in the Dirac Speaker settings and the results were still not great as the levels were not consistant. I called emotiva again and got the late shift support who stated that I need to call in the morning to get someone more familiar with dirac (I had no issues with that) But he was able to confirm that Dirac should be setting the levels. So I factory reset the XMC and reloaded my config.
XMC/Dirac 1 - Tony 0
Round 2.
I started dirac back up and followed the instructions again. The levels sounded much better. I took my first measurement and I started getting clipping errors. Set the levels again, clipping, set them a final time, clipping. Also after each try, I had to go and unplug the subwoofer to get it to wake up.
XMC/Dirac 2 - Tony 0
Round 3.
increased the gain on the subwoofers more (to turn down the mains as they were showing the clipping) Increased the gain on the center speakers built in subwoofer and dropped 6db on the fronts built in subs. I took the first measurement and success!!!! 2nd measurement. Sub went to sleep and CLIPPING!!!!!!! on the mains and the rear subwoofer (after waking it up).
XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 0
Round 4.
Same as round 3. But this round ended with beer, lions choice and a cigarette.
XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 1 (This one goes to me.)
Round 5 (To hell with the instructions..)
Set the input gain to where I wanted it, then set the output in the green. EUREKA!!!!!!! did a complete Dirac sweep and the sub stayed awake for all 9 positions.
Final install score = XMC/Dirac 3 - Tony 2
So what happened and why didnt the instructions work for me? So here is what happened that was happening in the background. On the first Dirac run the Furnace was running and it added enough background noise that setting the output to -24 worked out for me. What happened to cause the low levels? Well even after the reset and reload, the levels were still weird, I moved them all back to 0, and the levels didnt get sorted out until I turned off enhanced bass.
Rounds 2-4 didn't have the furnace running and my room is extremely silent without it. This caused my sweeps to clip the mic really easy (just through random room modes). This also had the output so low that it wasnt enough to keep the rear subwoofer awake.
Round 5, How low did I have to set the sensitivity? below the minimum (-36) (See Image Below) This allowed me to increase the output so that the sweeps were running at around 70db.
So here are a few tips to make life a little easier.
Do a backup and factory reset. Then power cycle (full off) if you are upgrading to 2.0
Do a rough levels check after setting up the speakers and before you run Dirac.
Leave enhanced bass alone until you have run through Dirac.
Clipping error = turn down the input gain and turn up the output. There appears to be no issues that I found in going lower then even the scale.
So how does it sound? I like it. Does it add the lost value that I referenced above to the UMC-200, That is a question that I can no longer answer as it has been too long since I had the UMC-200 in my system. But I am satisfied with my purchase. I cant wait till the full version of Dirac, as I will probably wait for it to do the full seating arrangement calibration (Still hoping for multiple curves).
Edit 7 01/27/2015 Dirac continued.
It has been an interesting ride this far. Some things that I have discovered and shared with the fellow loungers as I progressed. The measurement process while pretty quick and painless to perform, I find myself almost overwhelmed at the amount of different ways they can be taken and end results are only limited to how you took your measurements. You can group your microphone tightly to create a narrow zone of perfection. You can take a wide measurement to make a very wide less then perfect zone. You can meet in the middle of all this. There are just to many different combinations of microphone arrangements and results to count.
Currently I am also under the belief that the EMM-1 microphone has a calibration process error that is resulting in lower then normal highs and higher then normal lows. I have done extensive testing with other microphones as well as requested assistance from others who have a calibrated microphone as well. While an consensus has not been reached as of today, I have altered the default calibration to so that the EMM-1 consistently is producing the same results of my ECM8000 and my UMM-6 calibration microphones that were calibrated by Cross-Spectrum. Having done so, has made a noticeable improvements over previous calibrations (from the microphones perspective). From my before and after measurements, I am seeing a flatter response than I was able to achieve using PEW alone and the impulse response have been cleaned to a little further (these were small changes visually over a wide frequency where the sum of which creates some fantastic results).
Now as far as my listening experiences, I trust my microphone more then I trust my ears. And as someone who has spent as much time reviewing graphs and charts of their room, my microphone and my ears are in agreement with each other. I know what flat sounds like and I know where my preferences are with a house curve. While I do not think that Emotiva's curve is aggressive enough on the low end for my tastes, but I do understand why it was done this way and the full version will rectify the situation.
All and all, I prefer Dirac (with some minor level adjustments) over my PEQ (which I have spent a significantly greater time investment on) for movies and multi-channel music. For 2 channel music, the reference stereo along with my Mythos ST-L's sounds too good to be beaten by room correction.
Edit 8 03/29/2015 Dirac Full - 100$ upgrade.
I received my copy of Dirac Full yesterday and proceeded to install it on my Surface Pro 3. The installation process was similar to Dirac LE and it required some additional steps to force Windows to allow the installation. (Windows thought it was a malicious program and didn't want to let me install it). After the install, I checked both my USB microphones and Dirac was able to see them both as well as allow a custom calibration file to be used on each microphone. I was quite happy to see that that the calibration data had changed for the emm-1, however the calibration data is still quite a bit off from my calculations. I will stick with the cal files located in my signature. Another surprise was that the stadium seating was present in the Dirac program and I look forward to playing with that in my theater.
This morning, I loaded up firmware 3.0, which went quite smooth, and proceeded to run Dirac again. Everything that Dirac wanted to do was quite familiar at this point. I have run it so many times that it is completely automatic in the taking the measurements. What was not automatic was creating the custom filter. This was a rather pleasant experience for me and I tweaked away until I had something that resembled the house curve that I had been using before Dirac LE was released. The other added feature was showing all the measurements. In digging into the data, I found that one of my seats is getting hit really hard with a ceiling reflection that I did not identify previously and will be correcting in the near future. The level of control received was just how Big Dan sold it to me @ emofest.
Hopefully I will get a chance to do some listening in the next few days.
TO DO STILL
Review Dirac Full Listening experience
Firmware 3.0
Conclusion
Questions? Comments?
Thanks all,
Tony
)
