2. digital
  3. 132593-94635

Dirac vs dspeaker room correction

The last "component" in a large array of components in my system is going to be a room correction device. You can buy great components, but you still have that room....that room that WILL affect your sound negatively.

I am no expert, but I have done quite a bit of research on this so I thought I would share what I have learned.

I wanted a device room correction that would directly communicate in real time, as a component itself, to my system....not just software. For price, performance and features, I narrowed it down to Dirac DD-RC 2d and Dspeaker antimode 2.0. Both are about the same price as the dspeaker is on sale through December.

I have chosen the dspeaker. Here are my reasons:

1) Dspeaker does both digital and analog processing, the dirac does not. You have to buy 2 seperate dirac components to do that, thus significantly more.
2) The dspeaker has a usb input for such devices, the dirac does not
3) The dspeaker was a stereophile recomended component in 2012...2013...2014...2015...2016. Good props there for me, as well as a host of other awards including absolute sound
4) The dspeaker operates without a computer. I don't want to have to lug around and connect a laptop in order to accomplish my room correction thank you very much
5) The dspeaker has a preamplifier if that suits your taste
6) Last, but certainly not least, according to Walter of Underwood hifi, the dspeaker does its frequency correction in the sweet spot of up to 500hz. This, as Walter says, is the arena of sound badly affected by room anomalies. The dirac goes above the 500hz, but to "correct" the midrange and upper frequencies is to remove the signature sound that drove you to purchase that speaker in the first place. To "correct" the upper range is to take away from the speakers intended sound. As he states, the midrange is where about 80% of the sound is that identified you to that speaker, so you don't want to transform your b&w speaker to sound like a Martin Logan...or vice versa. So, in effect, save your signature sound, your mids and highs, because that upper range is not where the effect of the room is going to attack your SQ. 
128x128easola01
soix
9,819 posts
 
I got to hear an A/B comparison many years ago in a TacT system where they played it back to back uncorrected and full-range corrected using the same music.  I forget the speakers they were using, but they were high-end, 3-way speakers.  If the character of the speakers was changed, it was FAR outweighed by the effects of the room correction.  So I'm not sure I buy the argument that correction above 500 Hz is detrimental on balance. 

That said, bass is BY FAR the hardest issue to deal with in terms of room correction.  My opinion is if you get that solved you can much more easily deal with the mids on up to get satisfactory results.  I'd think correcting up to 500 Hz will go a very long way toward realizing your system's potential without a major room overhaul or multiple and intrusive bass traps.  Just my $0.02. 

willemj
1,036 posts
 
I agree, and the difference is much bigger than any other tuning tweak that gets passed around as the latest and greatest upgrade that is supposed to make a night and day difference. You can hear it, you can measure it and watch the graphs, and the physics behind is established science rather than voodo science. And something like the Antimode 8033 is dirt cheap by audiophile standards (the cheaper $345 Antimode 8033 Cinema will suffice for most people).
barrysandy
193 posts
 
Have been using Dspeaker Dual Core Antimode 2.0 since 2012. 

Very easy to use for basic room correction and it has lots of additional functionality besides.  Terrific customer support if you have a software issue like when doing uploads of new versions.

Two downsides. Wall wort power supply is a little veiled and should be replaced by an LPS if you want the last word in transparency or just use it on the subs (you can EQ but you won't have a completely time aligned system then).  The postage stamp screen doesn't have the resolution you need if you want to do extensive frequency tailoring. These will not be drawbacks for many people. I use mine with REW & a laptop to get around the screen resolution issue, but that's complicated and my system if far from typical.. 

Another totally different and great option is MiniDSP.
cowan217's avatar
cowan217
112 posts
 
The DSPeaker Dual core will actually do full frequency range correction; there's an option for it. It will also do a full sweep of your room and display the results. It also has a very powerful parametric EQ you can use to tweak your system. 
More to discover