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Post by jmnextime1 on Dec 14, 2014 12:22:18 GMT -5
As I wait for my Dirac "kit" to arrive I thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to how Dirac sounds. Before and after. Perhaps using a scale of 1 thru 10 to quantify the improvement Dirac made, if any. Also, comments regarding specific audible changes in sound e.g. tighter bass, improved soundstage, etc. So, all you Dirac users, what say you?
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geebo
Emo VIPs 
"Too bad that all the people who know how to run the country are driving taxicabs and cutting hair"
Posts: 24,204
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Post by geebo on Dec 14, 2014 12:46:43 GMT -5
As I wait for my Dirac "kit" to arrive I thought it might be nice to have a thread dedicated to how Dirac sounds. Before and after. Perhaps using a scale of 1 thru 10 to quantify the improvement Dirac made, if any. Also, comments regarding specific audible changes in sound e.g. tighter bass, improved soundstage, etc. So, all you Dirac users, what say you? Dirac is sounding mighty good on my system. The first RCS I like using. Clarity and detail that others have spoken of is there as is a better isolation of individual instruments, a beautiful midrange especially with female vocalists and yes, a tighter bass. I prefer a bit more bottom end than what is in the standard Dirac curve so I made an on-the-fly adjustment with the XMC's tone controls of 4dB @ 60Hz. I'm looking forward to the full version when it becomes available but as it is now, the improvement is an obvious and welcome one for me. And I liked the sound of my system before Dirac. |
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LCSeminole
Global Moderator 
Res firma mitescere nescit.
Posts: 20,501
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Post by LCSeminole on Dec 14, 2014 13:06:18 GMT -5
George's experience is quite close to mine. If you like detail and isolation, Diana Krall's Live in Rio(a recent addition) really shines both vocally and instrumentally. The center channel on movies was the first thing I noticed as dialogue to me sounds more enunciated and the surrounds have given me a more immersive effect. I have enjoyed going back and hearing those movies and CD's that I am quite familiar. As for bass, the lower frequencies are quite satisfying in my set, but I do have larger ported subwoofers. I too was quite pleased with what I was hearing before Dirac, now even more so. I'm sure everyone's mileage will vary, but a very positive and unexpected one here for me as I've been a skeptic of the "set-it-and-forget-it" room correction softwares.
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Post by jmnextime1 on Dec 19, 2014 18:33:09 GMT -5
Anyone else able to comment on how their audio system sounds with Dirac?
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Post by LuisV on Dec 19, 2014 20:45:27 GMT -5
I'm waiting for my license key and notification of the mic kit shipment, but is anyone running Dirac in a room with acoustic panels?
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Post by samujohn on Dec 19, 2014 22:14:26 GMT -5
I have used the Tact room EQ system for years, but the company went bust. The XDM-1 has replaced the Tact in my system since September, and I am impressed with it by itself, but I surely did miss the room EQ. Once I got used to it, I never turned it off. Now the Dirac system has been up and running for two whole days, so I only have first impressions, but they are generally quite favorable. Better noise floor and EQ capability. Sucks power like crazy (and I have 570 RMS watts per channel). It seems just barely enough. A lot of folks will need new amps.
I will be happier when I can draw my own curves and switch them on the fly. The stock Dirac curve is very good (modeled on Peter Walker's slope), but like some others, I have bumped the bass up a couple of db. A bit of patience, and I look forward to zeroing in on my specific room and equipment problems and getting back to using three curves.
Sources: MacMini, Sota Turntable/Souther
Amp: Wyred4Sound ST-1000
digital Pre: Emotiva XMC-1
Analog Pre: Music Reference RM-5 (tube)
Speakers: Soundlab Aura (modified)
Sub:RythmiK F15
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Post by dad311 on Dec 19, 2014 22:20:09 GMT -5
Bass is much tighter, vocals are a lot clearer. I feel as there is more depth to the sound.
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Post by smfins on Dec 20, 2014 0:38:13 GMT -5
Why would I need an amp uprade? Please explain. thanks I have used the Tact room EQ system for years, but the company went bust. The XDM-1 has replaced the Tact in my system since September, and I am impressed with it by itself, but I surely did miss the room EQ. Once I got used to it, I never turned it off. Now the Dirac system has been up and running for two whole days, so I only have first impressions, but they are generally quite favorable. Better noise floor and EQ capability. Sucks power like crazy (and I have 570 RMS watts per channel). It seems just barely enough. A lot of folks will need new amps. I will be happier when I can draw my own curves and switch them on the fly. The stock Dirac curve is very good (modeled on Peter Walker's slope), but like some others, I have bumped the bass up a couple of db. A bit of patience, and I look forward to zeroing in on my specific room and equipment problems and getting back to using three curves. Sources: MacMini, Sota Turntable/Souther Amp: Wyred4Sound ST-1000 digital Pre: Emotiva XMC-1 Analog Pre: Music Reference RM-5 (tube) Speakers: Soundlab Aura (modified) Sub:RythmiK F15 |
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Post by bolle on Dec 20, 2014 4:35:56 GMT -5
Because Dirac smoothes frequency response by lowering peaks and filling out depths by adding / rising. This needs amplifier power. There is a reason I employ 1,5kW for each front and center...  |
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Post by wkingincharge on Dec 20, 2014 10:41:11 GMT -5
My experience would be to give Dirac an 8 out 10.
The sound is much more spacious on familiar music in stereo and the center and rear channel are much more lively for movies and my overall volume on the XMC is now -20 originally -15. I demoed a couple of 5 star LFE movie kings so far and feel that I need to turn the subwoofer's up a few DB hotter in the XMC to bring back the low end and this could be due to all of my sound treatments but once that's done the bass is very tight sounding. Today I plan to move the subs just little and sum them together and recalibrate to see if it changes anything and if it does my rating would now go to a 10.
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Post by ansat on Dec 20, 2014 11:27:15 GMT -5
I have used the Tact room EQ system for years, but the company went bust. The XDM-1 has replaced the Tact in my system since September, and I am impressed with it by itself, but I surely did miss the room EQ. Once I got used to it, I never turned it off. Now the Dirac system has been up and running for two whole days, so I only have first impressions, but they are generally quite favorable. Better noise floor and EQ capability. Sucks power like crazy (and I have 570 RMS watts per channel). It seems just barely enough. A lot of folks will need new amps. I will be happier when I can draw my own curves and switch them on the fly. The stock Dirac curve is very good (modeled on Peter Walker's slope), but like some others, I have bumped the bass up a couple of db. A bit of patience, and I look forward to zeroing in on my specific room and equipment problems and getting back to using three curves. Sources: MacMini, Sota Turntable/Souther Amp: Wyred4Sound ST-1000 digital Pre: Emotiva XMC-1 Analog Pre: Music Reference RM-5 (tube) Speakers: Soundlab Aura (modified) Sub:RythmiK F15 Try adding some gain in the Dirac Speaker set to get your headroom back. Your speaker RMS rating is based on a full signal output and since dirac attuniated all the signals, your no longer getting the power level you were. Tony |
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Post by ansat on Dec 20, 2014 11:31:12 GMT -5
My experience would be to give Dirac an 8 out 10. The sound is much more spacious on familiar music in stereo and the center and rear channel are much more lively for movies and my overall volume on the XMC is now -20 originally -15. I demoed a couple of 5 star LFE movie kings so far and feel that I need to turn the subwoofer's up a few DB hotter in the XMC to bring back the low end and this could be due to all of my sound treatments but once that's done the bass is very tight sounding. Today I plan to move the subs just little and sum them together and recalibrate to see if it changes anything and if it does my rating would now go to a 10. What all controls do you have on your subs? I am seeing poor results letting dirac take complete control when it comes to multiple subs. Tony |
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Post by wkingincharge on Dec 20, 2014 11:50:26 GMT -5
My experience would be to give Dirac an 8 out 10. The sound is much more spacious on familiar music in stereo and the center and rear channel are much more lively for movies and my overall volume on the XMC is now -20 originally -15. I demoed a couple of 5 star LFE movie kings so far and feel that I need to turn the subwoofer's up a few DB hotter in the XMC to bring back the low end and this could be due to all of my sound treatments but once that's done the bass is very tight sounding. Today I plan to move the subs just little and sum them together and recalibrate to see if it changes anything and if it does my rating would now go to a 10. What all controls do you have on your subs? I am seeing poor results letting dirac take complete control when it comes to multiple subs. Tony I have fixed 0 or 180 degree phase settings and currently have them both at 0. There also whats called a ULF trim to boost for room size from 16hz to 50hz and typically I have left this at the middle setting before calibrating because it seems to overdrive the amp/speaker (known issue) at 16hz if driven hard on the most demanding material. |
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Post by ansat on Dec 20, 2014 12:08:17 GMT -5
What all controls do you have on your subs? I am seeing poor results letting dirac take complete control when it comes to multiple subs. Tony I have fixed 0 or 180 degree phase settings and currently have them both at 0. There also whats called a ULF trim to boost for room size from 16hz to 50hz and typically I have left this at the middle setting before calibrating because it seems to overdrive the amp/speaker (known issue) at 16hz if driven hard on the most demanding material. Subs semmetrical? The reason that I am worried about your existing plan is that dirac time aligned both subs at their current position, if you move them and run dirac again, it will time align them again. You could keep doing this until you get lucky and any phase cancellation is outside the listening area, but that seems really cumbersome. I might suggest just plugging them into 1 port. That way when you run dirac, it can only time align the summed response instead of the individual subs. Tony |
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Post by wkingincharge on Dec 20, 2014 12:35:33 GMT -5
I have fixed 0 or 180 degree phase settings and currently have them both at 0. There also whats called a ULF trim to boost for room size from 16hz to 50hz and typically I have left this at the middle setting before calibrating because it seems to overdrive the amp/speaker (known issue) at 16hz if driven hard on the most demanding material. Subs semmetrical? The reason that I am worried about your existing plan is that dirac time aligned both subs at their current position, if you move them and run dirac again, it will time align them again. You could keep doing this until you get lucky and any phase cancellation is outside the listening area, but that seems really cumbersome. I might suggest just plugging them into 1 port. That way when you run dirac, it can only time align the summed response instead of the individual subs. Tony Yes I have them symmetrical currently!!! I understand your thought process and will try the 1 port option as that may resolve the issue and report back. |
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Post by DellaDog on Dec 20, 2014 18:33:29 GMT -5
Finally got some time to run Dirac, as to how it sounds - well, in a word, quieter.
I think the whole ARC concept is subject to a lot of hyperbole.
Sure, the graphs look cool, but honestly, I like my system better without any room correction at all - DIRAC included.
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Post by ansat on Dec 20, 2014 18:56:46 GMT -5
Finally got some time to run Dirac, as to how it sounds - well, in a word, quieter. I think the whole ARC concept is subject to a lot of hyperbole. Sure, the graphs look cool, but honestly, I like my system better without any room correction at all - DIRAC included. A flat curve takes a while to get used to. Unfortunately, lively and accurate do not go hand and hand. I always recommend leaving the corrections in place for at least a good week before making final decisions. But as always, to each his own. Tony |
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Post by DellaDog on Dec 20, 2014 19:17:45 GMT -5
Finally got some time to run Dirac, as to how it sounds - well, in a word, quieter. I think the whole ARC concept is subject to a lot of hyperbole. Sure, the graphs look cool, but honestly, I like my system better without any room correction at all - DIRAC included. A flat curve takes a while to get used to. Unfortunately, lively and accurate do not go hand and hand. I always recommend leaving the corrections in place for at least a good week before making final decisions. But as always, to each his own. Tony Thx for the comment. I think it's a good idea to give it some time, and you're right - my preset is lively, but probably not accurate. |
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Post by adam631 on Dec 20, 2014 19:34:22 GMT -5
I have been working 7 days a week lately, so I didn't have much time to do the set up the way I would of liked.
I just wanted to try it before I had to leave for work, so I put in the sacd dsd of pink Floyd dark side of the moon that I am very familiar with.
I was so disappointed with how it sounded with dirac, and I thought about it all day at work as to what happened. When I got home, I read the manual and didn't realize that dirac will not work if my oppo was set to bitstream dsd digital so I set it for pcm and then set the xmc to auto, as the sacd is a multi channel mix.
Let me tell you I was blown away with how great it sounded compared to before in pre-set1. I also didn't remember that dirac will only work in stereo mode, not reference or direct which I initially thought. I can't wait to set it up properly once I get my mic stand and have more time, but I am so happy the way it sounds right now.
I loved my xmc-1 before and thought it sounded wonderful, but now it exceeded my expectations with dirac. This is one bad ass processor. Way to go emotiva!
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Post by total2727 on Dec 20, 2014 23:37:23 GMT -5
So far I LOVE it!! I have ran Dirac about 4 or 5 times so far just moving speakers around and playing with crossover points.The detail and sound stage are just so much better.The only issue so far is running my 3 subs, I know this not ideal but 3 is what I have to work with. I use the front 2 for music as they are a horn type design (Wo32's)and use the 15 inch Def Tec for movies.I love the tip about running all together for Dirac to measure!! Going to try that soon, if Dirac can work my weird sub problem out I will be totally impressed!!!!
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