DIRAC LIVE Review | The BEST ROOM CORRECTION software?
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- เผยแพร่เมื่อ 3 ก.ค. 2024
- In this video, I'll share with you my thoughts and impressions on going through the Dirac Live measurement process for the first time. I'll also go over how it went downloading, installing and configuring both the Dirac Live and the Dirac Live Processor applications, which allows you to get Dirac Live corrections on pretty much any audio system connected to your PC. But more importantly, how does everything sound after Dirac has worked its magic? Watch the full VIDEO REVIEW to find out!
Use the coupon code DIRACW21 at checkout for 25% off of either version of the Dirac Live Room Correction Suite!
(code valid until December 31st, 2021)
Items talked about and/or used in the video (contains affiliate links)
Purchase a Dirac Live Room Correction Suite license on this page: www.dirac.com/online-store/di...
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Amazon Basics Mic Stand: amzn.to/3hp58Mu
Watch my Dirac Live Tutorial Playlist: • Dirac Live Tutorials a...
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(Above are affiliate links. As an SVS affiliate, I earn from qualifying purchases)
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Apple 4K TV
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Dual SVS PB-2000 Pro Subwoofers: www.anrdoezrs.net/click-10019...
SVS PB10-ISD Subwoofer (linked to PB-1000 Pro):
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*Disclaimer: Brad (Home Theater Gamer) is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to www.amazon.com.
TIMESTAMPS
Intro - 00:00
What is the Dirac Live Room Correction Suite? - 00:23
What will this review focus on? - 01:38
Disclosure, discount code and subscribers, O MY! - 02:17
How easy was installing and configuring the software? - 03:34
Some info about the Dirac Live Processor - 04:28
Always online... - 05:06
Differences between Dirac live on receivers and pre/pros... - 06:02
How was the measurement process and experience? - 06:27
Volume calibration: a bit too confusing? - 06:55
Seating arrangement selection: something from everyone! - 08:03
Is it EASY to adjust frequency curve or add a house curve? - 08:29
So, how does my system sound with Dirac Live? - 09:24
It's TIME for something interesting... - 09:59
Where does Dirac Live really shine? - 11:18
But what about games and movies? Still sound good? - 12:37
A quick discussion and comparison with Audyssey - 13:31
Room EQ Wizard woes... - 14:24
Would I recommend buying the Dirac Live Room Correction Suite? - 15:07
A bit of SOUND advice... - 16:22 - วิทยาศาสตร์และเทคโนโลยี
Hey everyone! Thanks for checking out my video review for Dirac Live!
You may have noticed that I checked the box for “Paid Promotion” on this video. As I state in the video, Dirac didn’t pay me any money to make this review, but I do get to keep the software licenses and measurement microphone they gave me.
Since both of those things do cost money and have monetary value, it only felt right to make sure you guys know about it, even if you skip over the part in the video where I say “I get to keep this stuff!”
I love this series about Dirac!
Thank you and thank you for taking the time to comment!
My next AVR is going to have Dirac. Really happy Onkyo released some!
This is awesome I had been looking into this and you answered all my questions that no one else has covered. So little coverage of home theater pc anywhere. I was going to try using this in my tiny house that I travel with, but with very inconsistent internet it looks like I will have to get a physical unit. If you are in a regular house though this can save so much money and is very good for suboptimal rooms/set ups like a tiny house.
Thanks! Glad you enjoyed it!
Thanks for your video. One thing lead to another and I was able to download and load NAD 6db bass boost curve as per your video instractions. Thank you kindly!!
I’m one of the lucky few who was able to snag an Onkyo RZ50, and for a steal at $1095. And Dirac blows audessy away. I love it and its cool you can have 3 different filters.
How'd you manage that price?
@@TyGamer125 Place called avscience in Rochester NY, they started taking preorders in June. I was the 2nd to preorder and they got 10 of them in late August.
Sure is a steal now with the MSRP as of 9/1 now $1600!. I've got the baby brother NR7100 coming tomorrow.
@@moniack
I was able to snag mine at Best Buy for $1,399 still and it arrived there on my bday (9-13) purchased it on 9-7-2022 but couple days later they had finally raised the price!😳😪
I have used 2 MINIDSP DDRC88A boxes since they first came out, and I love them (prior to getting them I ran Audyssey, and YPAO, and they are not even in the same league as Dirac IMO). In my last Home Theater which was a fully tuned room (room within a room construction) with acoustic panels it made a big difference. In my current home (open floorplan) which has concrete walls, marble floors, huge windows, and a 32' high Boveda ceiling (no way it will ever sound as good as my old room did), sounds noticeably better after installing 10 acoustic panels that are 6" deep with 4" of Roxul R60 in them. When I ran Dirac before the panels were made...it did not make much difference, but I am planning on running Dirac again to see how it sounds, and fully expect it to be much better now.
Brad - thanks. I sure appreciate the efforts you make to give away the efforts you make. I always learn something new from you.
Here's a funny thing about "room correction": I've watched many HT installer vids and talked to installers that have been called in on a HT system problem after the home owner installed his system. They have found the speakers placed haphazardly in the room and the owner complained that room correction didn't make it sound great. Likely happens far to often. HT is far from "plug and play" - isn't it?
Thanks, Kevin! You definitely hit the nail on the head. Home theater is more accessible now than it has ever been, and that means problems and issues that are related to setup are becoming more and more common. Thankfully, people have access to far more information than what I did when I first got into the hobby, so if they look for it, they will be able to quickly and more easily learn how to get the best performance out of their gear.
I can concur to this. I recently bought a minidsp with Dirac Live and I am both floored with joy and also angry at the same time.
I mainly use my system for music and was forced to use speakers that wasn't dipole or large due to our living room layout and need to sit kind of close to the speakers though having a long room.
I have spent about 20 years of finding and learning about good speakers using all from Quad ESL57, ESL 989, Apogee Scintilla, Apogee Duetta Signature, Magnepan MG 3.6r and Infinity RS1b and many more.
All these speakers were not tested at home but at another place and sounded GREAT. Some better then others in different areas but dipoles are quite good.
So bringing one or two of these didn't work placement wise or fiancé-wise....
My solution was, "OK then I at least go for design if I can't have the perfect sound". So I bought a Bang & Olufsen 5500 system and Beolab 8000 flanked with an Audio Pro B2-50 subwoofer.
I had for some time back looked at minidsp and was quite used to REW through my speaker evaluations but a few weeks back I made the decision and bought a minidsp WITH Dirac Live.
Christ!!!!
I was gob-smacked!......
It had the timing of an electrostatic speaker!
The detailed mid-range of the infamous Quad ESL57 and kept it together with my subwoofer like an Apogee planar!
All this time searching....
Ok, the minidsp and Dirac hasn't been around for very long but still!
All this time searching and big money spent!
I am still happy AND angry though! Hahahaha!!!
PS. I don't dare to test this with the big speakers......
Question: Do you have a UHD Optical drive in your HTPC for the movies? Or do you use something like Plex or rip your own? How did you route the UHD video/audio through the HTPC?
at 4:20, the detail about limited to 7.1... i have a question. If I configure/optimize DIRAC (using PC) onto my RZ50, does that mean my atmos wont work? I didnt quite understand that detail from this video.
Hey great video, keep up the great work. I was wondering if it's necessary to take measurements at several locations with dirac. If so, why is it necessary if it only.concerned with the primary listening position?
After you calibrate all the speakers are you able to play music in real time to test the curve and adjust the curve(s) in real time? The reason I ask is it seems you need to calibrate, get your curve, then import Dirac into your receiver before you can hear the curve Dirac has created.
Great video, Dirac trial has been amazing. Any chance of an updated discount code?
@Home Theater Gamer: I would love to here more about setup for the Onkyo Receivers with Dirac built in. And your thoughts about using a miniDSP 2x4HD for subwoofer/ bass management. Would you still run eQ curve for a subwoofer. On the mini DSP after Dirac Live ???
Do the curtains serve as crossover points or only to indicate where to limit correction? Is there a way to set crossover position in Dirac?
Thanks Brad for a great video. I ran the Dirac today and pretty much saved it and tested didn't apply any curve and sound good. I would like to adjust the volume on the center channel and re-save it can I do that just a few db and then maybe apply a default curve from either Dirac or NAD didn't see a house curve online thanks
Question: If you’ve run Dirac already, but you later decide to change your subwoofer’s crossover, is it necessary to run Dirac again?
Cause and effect. If you use Dirac for a solo seat will the cause the front right and left to dominate the center if you are sitting on the right or left side of a wide couch? My seat (solo) sounds great, center is strong but if I move to parallels the right speaker it sounds like it is producing the center channel instead? Or is there something wrong with my AVR?
hello sir ..i have a questions....what the dirac suite multichannel support as a receiver or audio video processor?or it is support any receiver/processor?
without mini DSP can we use DIRAC with DENON and MARANTZ
Because of Dirac, is it now possible for people to mix and match speaker brands where you could have one brand for a center speaker and another brand for the other speakers (fronts and rears)? Also, would Dirac allow for mixing speaker sizes where the center channels may be 3.5 inch woofers and the front left right speakers are 6 inch woofers?
That’s a great question. In my personal and non-professional opinion the answer would be no. As much as Dirac can change the response of a speaker, it will not and cannot change the distinct characteristics of a speaker and the type of materials used for each driver. For instance, a horn-loaded tweeter on a Klipsch speaker will always sound different than a soft-dome tweeter on a different speaker regardless of EQ or room correction.
Proper speaker placement and setup along with timbre-matching are still more important in my opinion than relying on EQ/room correction to fix issues that are correctable. Mixing speaker brands and types between fronts and rears isn’t ideal but is generally more forgiving than mixing speaker brands for the front soundstage. However, if you have the capability to make sure every speaker in your system is timbre matched, that will always be the preferred way to go.
How did you connect to your amp?
If Room Correction Suite sends multichannel PCM to your AVR via HDMI, how can you play multichannel contents like movies in Dolby Atmos? Does it come with a media player? I don't think 7.2.4 format can be transferred via PCM.
Hey @home theatre gamer I have a denon X4800H and purchased Dirac live for the very first time and really I’m really new to the software. I followed your 2 video guide and after the calibration and exporting the filter to my avr the sound is completely muffled with a lot of compression. Is there something I am doing wrong? During the pink noise the speakers were playing the noise at full range with no compression or muffle. I really don’t know what to look at when seeing the graphs but it looked like Dirac was going to do a good job with fixing the frequencies of each speaker. But the filter has messed up the sound. Completely muffled sound
While using Dirac from PC, have you re entered the levels of Dirac in AVR?
My denon x3500 has finally given up the ghost. Do you have any thoughts on if you will be reviewing the pioneer LX 505? @Home Theater Gamer
Where is the setting delay compensation?
Do u compares the New audyssey multieqX vs dirac?
Had Audyssey and ARC before, but Dirac is significantly better.
Awesome that Dirac gave you the standalone license code for free. Now you can use that money towards a new couch. 😉
I really would love some home theater seating, but need some that are cat proof haha.
@@HomeTheaterGamer Water squirt bottle worked great for training our cats...we also have a cat scratch pad that fits on the armrest of our couch. They do not touch anything they are not allowed to anymore. just say NO, and squirt them. One of our cats learned after 1 time, and then we just say no, and they remember.
Do you know if you run MCACC/AccuEQ before you run Dirac, or do you skip that and go straight into Dirac?
I would personally avoid doing any room correction and just go straight to Dirac.
@@HomeTheaterGamer Thanks for answering. I have another question I can't seem to find a good answer on... When you apply a target curve with a rising LFE in Dirac, can you apply that rising LFE to all your speakers? Does Dirac use your AVR crossovers to control the LFE, or do you have to follow the speakers roll-off by either changing the target curve or sliding the curtain to the right?
Is there anything other than windows
that outputs Dolby Atmos sound?
I don't believe so, but don't quote me on that. I believe macOS only supports Dolby Atmos over specific headphones and iPhones (yeah... Don't get me started on that haha).
So you go full correction, not only up to ~500Hz for watching movies ?
I have the feeling that stage-imaging is falling down if I go for full FQ-EQ.
I´m using it in my living room for movies and music, it is very good but it cannot do wonders. I´m also using it with miniDSP 2x4HD with REW for my 2 subs but sometimes when setting volumes it gets the sub level way too low :/ You have to fix this B E F O R E doing MEASUREMENTS, otherwise you won´t hear your sub.
I just subscribed to you about 2 months ago and have now ran across this video. I wish you could get your direct coupon extended. I would like to purchase the multi sub base control
where did you get the 25% off?
I dont think its available anymore
If only Windows 10 or 11 can manage more than 8 speakers for Atmos etc, I'd buy it in a heartbeat as I'm running 5.1.4 in my room. I'm sure Dirac would increase the speaker count options if that were the case.
Yeah, that's a limitation I would love to see removed. It's not really feasible to go back to just 5.1 or 7.1 when you have speakers installed on the ceiling haha.
@@HomeTheaterGamer Dirac Live Processor now can manage 7.1.4 and 9.1.4 multichannel configurations since 1.5.0 version.
@@jaimequijano9 Can it manage 9.2.4?
@@jaimequijano9
But standalone software is limited to windows supporting only 8 channels.
How do you get over that limitation using the plugins?
Can't find anything on that subject...
I don't know the pc dirac live, but on my Arcam avr20 when listening stereo music with the EQ on it sounds bad, weak, almost no mids, and the stereo imagining it's bad! But for movies, it's awesome!
That’s interesting. When setting it up, did you do every measurement it asked you to do? That and mic placement are incredibly important.
I use my two channel system 50/50. When having people over and playing with other gear, I start to find that I prefer a slightly richer, warmer sound for music, but then for movies, transparency is king.
Dirac locked my sub distance at 0. I know this is wrong. It's sounds terrible. If they're not going to give me the base management with the receiver that it's built into. I think it's kind of messed up that they just throw their hands up. Set it at zero. Knowing that's incorrect and lock you out of it. I didn't pay extra for the receiver. Just to have to pay more for more equipment to adjust my subwoofers.
Another nice review...much appreciated.
Have been using Dirac since more than a year after trying REW and Audiolense. Completely agree with your views on Dirac.
If possible please discuss your preferred Dirac curves and reasons for your preference.
I have tried umpteen number of curves and finally settled for the default Dirac Curve. Wish to know your opinion also to further refine my hometheater sound.
Once again Than You very much for your practical and insightful reviews....
Keep up the excellent work...🙂
Very good video. Well done. You should try Joe Santorini - Flying in a blue dream for a demo piece. Besides, you look like him. th-cam.com/video/SINl5JY7LhI/w-d-xo.html, now with out of the way, I've got a Pioneer LX305 because I couldn't find the LX505 anywhere and thought the differences were minuscule. My Klipsch :a Scala's have always had an issue with MCACC on my Pioneer SC27. It would always peg them out at +10 or was it -10. Heard of any issue s with horn loaded speakers? And should I run MCAACC first or not at all you think?
Damn you lost me at no Atmos 🥺🥺🥺 I have 11 channels
HI. Why is this video uploaded in Vietnamese????
Definitely uploaded in English.
HI. It keeps translating from Vietnamese to me...
The video is obviously in English, but if I ask for translated subtitles it starts from Vietnamese...
Interesting. The subtitles are auto-generated by TH-cam as I never added any manually, so it’s probably just TH-cam being glitchy.
Sin. Your videos are very interesting but I need them translated...