Dirac update , Roon and VST/AU plugins

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82

Very interesting, thanks for sharing. What are your thoughts on the pre and post-correction SQ?

83

Have they finally added a system wide version without need for VST plugin hosting?

84

Yes! I was a beta tester December 2020 through the end of January, I ended up purchasing
the final product. The current version works only on Windows platform. Basically it works as a virtual sound card, it shows up in your audio device menu. You set it up like any other audio device in exclusive mode, which Roon sees under system > audio.
No plugins, really easy to set up. 24bit/196. The only downside, once you set up the sample rate, it is fixed. In other words you set it at 96, everything below or above that rate is either down or up sampled. But for how good it works in my setup, plus ease of use, it’s a minor quibble. Besides I don’t have to keep referring to your REW tutorial. :joy:
Sam

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85

I think they have built their own mini-VST-host, which would explain the fixed sample rate (VST don’t support variable sample rate). Not a problem unless you want to use HQPlayer with NAA (which I do).

Makes me wonder though: Roon + Dirac vs Roon + HQPlayer with convolution files from REW, which sounds better? My guess is the later, provided you can handle REW reasonable well, unless in a very problematic asymmetrical room.

86

See you know more about what’s under the hood than I. Like you I also use HQP with a NAA, but the benefit I get from Dirac is superior than the other arrangement. I am in a dedicated room with good acoustical treatment. Although what Dirac dose in my room is subtle, the spaciousness and articulation of vocals and Instruments is something I could not quite achieve using REW. My frequency graph
I posted above is what Dirac produced using 3 subs scattered throughout the room. I can come close to producing the same results with REW, but Dirac sounds better to my ears. It may have something to do with better phasing that Dirac manages.
Sam

1 Like
87

Yes, Dirac corrects phase as well, REW doesn’t. Depending on room this can be a big deal or very subtle.

88

Hi Jose,

Dirac correction is probably best suited too small to medium sized rooms where you are listening in the far field. My room happens to be large non rectangular, with large speakers and my sitting position is effectively in the near field.

Its hard to say the amount of improvement that I get, but it does allow me to also add some EQ correction that I prefer. I have compared in detail with the Roon EQ correction and after normalising for overall volume I personally can’t hear the difference but perhaps younger ears could.

For me it is just a very interesting acoustic engineering investigation. Always trying to learn.

Cheers
Drew

2 Likes
89

Thank you Drew for your prompt answer. I just started experimenting with room correction and it is fascinating all the things one can do. I am curious about Dirac and would probably end up testing it. My room is relatively small and the positioning of the speakers is far from ideal (it is a living room). So anything I can do for improving the sound is welcome.
Thank you again,
José

90

if dirac is comming as a virtual sound device and not as a filter/plugin then that means there is no option to use a dirac+streamer and you have to use a PC USB→DAC connection, that is in the most cases worse than using a dedicated external streamer.

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91

Didn’t want to disturb the REW thread so better to ask here: did you give Dirac Live a spin ?

92

No not yet. I’ll probably try soonish.

I have a few issues:

  • I don’t have a PC in my main listening room, although I could test via laptop
  • I prefer the sound of my RPI4/Pi2aes hat over my PC via USB into my RME ADI 2
  • My RPI4 is silent, my PC is not
  • Time (Really this is the main factor)

I’ll report back

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93

Hi Drew,

Would you be able to provide a step-by-step explanation?
Does it work with different sample rates?
Is it worth the hassle?

Thank you,

Wouter

94

With Dirac Live 3, could be a lot better


REW alone doesn’t do time domain (phase) correction
 Dirac Live does
 REW + rePhase can do this but you really need to know what you’re doing.

Dirac has very advanced built-in algorithms about what to correct (and how to correct it) and importantly, what not to correct at all.

As mentioned, you could achieve the same with REW + rePhase ‘for free’ but Dirac uses advanced psychoacoustics research in its algorithms.

Acourate and Audiolense and HAF are in the same boat in this regard.

I use Audiolense myself (the correction files loaded into HQPlayer) but could easily recommend Acourate, Dirac Live 3 and HAF based on hearing the improvements (and measurements) these have made in friends systems.

95

Yes, from my own testing of older Dirac, and from what I have read, I am sure Dirac is very good.

The problem is integration with Roon and especially in combination with HQPlayer which have a custom made 64 bit audio-protocol between them. If Roon or HQPlayer could “host” Dirac than it would work, but as it is now you have to introduce virtual cables and VST hosts which if nothing else adds a lot of complications (and probably a decrease in SQ as well).

Better to bother Terry at HAF and get high-quality convolution files to use in HQPlayer

3 Likes
96

I’ve heard HAF’s results at a friends and can highly recommend it.

For similar price, one can also get equally great results with Audiolense XO and Acourate and high quality correction filters in HQPlayer (I’m doing that with DIY 3-way + 2-sub system and with my pair of Genelec 8341A + sub desktop system).

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97

For me, those two are much more interesting, since they will work directly with both Roon and Roon + HQPlayer. But which one is best? :slight_smile:

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98

And they work without Roon and HQPlayer too.

For movies, using my Mac Mini I use a zero latency convolver to pipe Netflix, Apple Movies, Amazon Prime Movies etc audio through zero latency convolver, to handle DSP crossover and room correction for movies, with no lip sync problems.

As you know, it’s not practical to use sinc-M for watching movies via PC/Mac :smile: I haven’t seen any solution for delaying video by 7 seconds lol

Looking at just room correction both are equally great. But Audiolense XO is easier to use.

In terms of ease of use for measuring and getting room correction results, Dirac Live is closest to being an automated process. Audiolense XO is semi-automated and Acourate is manual process lol (if I had to attempt to describe differences).

There is learning curve with both Audiolense and even moreso with Acourate.

This is why some people are happy to pay HAF and Accurate Sound (Mitch B) - they get you great results and you get to skip the learning curve.

So it depends. All costs are fairly similar. All under $1k.

2 Likes
99

My Dirac Live 2.0 standalone installation was lost, so I installed the current Dirac Live 3 standalone. It works fine with Win10 MediaPlayer but I cannot get Roon to stop skipping everything I try to play.

Dirac 2 developed filters for all sample rates, but not in 3. This skipping behavior is what I would see if I only made a 44.1 filter and tried to play hi-res. I saw some workaround comments with the beta, but hope this gets resolved. I would like to not have to downgrade to 2. Has anybody gotten this to work, it’s been nearly 6 months after the last comments.

100

I abandoned Dirac and went for https://www.focusfidelity.com/

101

Interesting never heard of that one before. Now that Dirac is virtually useless for Roon and HQPlayer users, it’s nice with alternatives. How does it compare to DRCs like Acourate and Audiolense?