Room Correction for (not so much of a) Beginner

Audio Gear Talk DSP
1

Hello everybody. I’m quite new to Roon but I’ve been tinkering with room correction in the last few years for my home theater system.

So I know how to use REW, not to its full extent, but I know how to take measures with the Umik-1 and have a basic knowledge of how frequency and impulse response curves work.

Lately (2023, when I finally got an AVR with Dirac Live support) I jumped on the Dirac bandwagon and I’ve been enjoying its results (but a little less its “black box” style workflow).

Now I’d like to apply some room correction to my Roon listenings (and not only, see later) and, after some reading here and elsewhere I’ve restricted my choices to three possibilities:

  1. The hard (and expensive) way: Acourate. The software looks like REW on steroids, with a high price tag (almost the price of a miniDSP Flex) and a steep learning curve and, for sure, a bunch of functionalities that I’ll never even scratch.

  2. The easy and delegate way: HAF. Basically a human version of Dirac, you just take the measures and then the, surely more prepared than me, people of HAF will make the filters for you; and that’s it, no tinkering, no second try, probably also the need to pay again if you change something that make you need to run the process again (gear changes, room changes, etc.).

  3. Finally what looks like a good in-between: Focus Fidelity. This one looks like a good compromise between ease of use and the possibility to have a little more control on the process (which would also be part of the fun).

Now what I’m asking you is, what about the final results?

My goal is to achieve the good results Dirac Live (with Bass Control) is giving me for the home theater system (especially in the bass frequencies area).

But I also know that HT is a different kind of beast and especially integration of the subwoofers (that I don’t like to use for stereo listening) make the use of filtering a must, while for stereo listening the benefits are more limited.

So would the filters generated by any of the three aforementioned tools/services be able to match Dirac Live’s room correction level and which of the three would you suggest for a not complete beginner with some will to tinker (and learn) like me?

P.S.: I’m considering also using the calcuated filters for CD listening, putting a RaspberryPi based DSP between the CD transport and the DAC.

Thanks in advance for your replies.
Emilio

2

I’ve used HAF a number of times over the years and been satisfied with the results but recently have been experimenting with Focus Fidelity. It’s really straightforward to use but has lots of options for fine tuning the results. I use REW to analyse how I’m doing. I’m really pleased with the results so far. In particular the lower registers have really filled in. I have a couple of quibbles such as not being able to print out any results (have to use screen captures) and there doesn’t seem to be any kind of Focus Fidelity user groups or forums to exchange information. Other than that it’s been a positive experience for me.

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It depends. If we are we talking about running Dirac Live (with DLBC etc.) on something that has dedicated sub outputs that Dirac can regulate separately, Dirac will probably do a better job vs. REW or others mentioned that only see the device as pure stereo and can’t integrate the bass quite as well.

On an actual stereo device, you might get more pleasing results with the others (I use Focus Fidelity myself, so I am more familiar with what it can do) due to greater flexibility.

Also, not that it mattered in real life but if one is OCD about keeping original resolution, Dirac is limited to 24/192 even on a PC, while Roon will quite happily apply convolutions at higher resolution…

4

As a very satisfied HAF customer it’s perhaps worth commenting that there absolutely is some toing and froing until you’re satisfied with the result.

That’s true, although the cost to update for an existing filter is substantially lower.

5

HouseCurve is a nice halfway house, you can use your UMIK mic and a calibration curve with it too via a lightning to USB adaptor.

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I’ve been using HouseCurve as basic room correction for 2.1 and it’s been pretty straight forward and useful. I can’t compare against any of the other options you’re entertaining but interested to hear what you go with. I’ve downloaded REW but it’s a whole new beast I haven’t dived into yet.

7

I ruled out HouseCurve because it looks too much like a toy and it’s a little app that doesn’t let you any control on what you are doing. On that level of things, I’ve already tried the built-in room correction app of my Eversolo T8, which actually does nothing audible to the sound.

8

I’m not quite sure if I got it right.

You already use the Dirac Live enabled AVR with roon? And you’re quite satisfied with it? So, why do you want to move to a separate software based room compensation for roon only?

What you definitely should avoid is to use Dirac and an additional system all together enabled. Only one system shall handle room compensation.

What actually does make a difference is how you actually follow the measurement procedure, no matter which system you use. It can make a/the huge difference.

I’m pretty sure if you do the procedure with Dirac properly, you won’t feel the need for another room compensation system.

But for this we’d need to understand more about your issues with Dirac used with music from roon and the procedure you followed for measuring so far. Are you able to store separate Dirac profiles in your AVR, one for HT, one for (roon) music?

9

Thanks to everybody for the suggestions. I’m leaning to the FF option, for being the best “middle ground” between ease of use and control on the process (and the relative fun).
I know HAF offers crosstalk correction that FF doesn’t but CT correction is quite a controversial topic and I’m not completely sold on it.

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My HT pre-out front channels are hooked up to my stereo amp that can be set into “bypass mode” (basically making it a power amp, bypassing the preamplifier-volume section) so I can use them while consuming HT content.
But when I listen to stereo I keep the AVR off, just use the integrated amp with its other sources (phono and DAC). This is why I need separate room correction.
BTW using the AVR for stereo would not only make paperweights of my expensive hifi DAC and preamp section of the stereo amp, but would have some complications like the fact that, to apply some loudness compensation for the different home theater sources (Blu Rays are a lot louder than the AppleTV and PS5), I’ve basically used all the (few, only 3) Dirac configuration memory slots my AVR has.