Dirac ART is now running on beta FW for Denon Xx800H AVRs!

[Alice of Old Vincennes]

It’s good to be skeptical. The biggest challenge is that Dirac still relies on a single omnidirectional microphone in contrast to Sony, Yamaha, and Trinnov. Certainly you can do a better job of “Active Room Treatment” if you also knew where the speakers were coming from as opposed to estimating from the FR response alone. This again, is one reason why Dirac Unison works better in car audio than it does in the home theater world.

Fundamentally different refers to the underlying technical approach. Think Class AB vs. H vs Class D. To your ears, the flagship options within each class will sound similar to your ears but Class D is fundamentally different in approach.

Most room correction devices correct the left speaker by manipulating the left channel. Dirac ART manipulates the left bass by utilizing every channel (that you allow it to use).

It sort of makes sense. If we say below 80 Hz is non directional and you get ambitious and say that less than 60 Hz is non directional, why don’t you take the LFE signal and if your speakers can handle it, send the below 60 Hz content to all of your other speakers since it will reduce the cumulative workload?

This in fact is how many good soundbars work. The sub 80 Hz content is reproduced by all channels, regardless of the source encoding. That’s how you get surprising bass out of a 2” or 3” driver…

I hope makes significant audible improvement.

 

[machinist]

Any further word on Dirac for the current gen Denons? Was thinking something might be announced at Cedia, but didn't see anything.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Any further word on Dirac for the current gen Denons? Was thinking something might be announced at Cedia, but didn't see anything.

My guess is they can’t announce because Storm is exclusive until 2024

 

[Music707]

My guess is they can’t announce because Storm is exclusive until 2024

Wrong date. Starting Q4 2023 ART is no longer exclusive to StormAudio products.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Wrong date. Starting Q4 2023 ART is no longer exclusive to StormAudio products.

That’s awesome! Only bummer is that I gotta spend a mint soon with a new AVR. I’ll be selling my X4700, gotta buy an AV10 or 6800, then re-buy MQX, then like $900 in Dirac licensing

 

[Music707]

That’s awesome! Only bummer is that I gotta spend a mint soon with a new AVR. I’ll be selling my X4700, gotta buy an AV10 or 6800, then re-buy MQX, then like $900 in Dirac licensing

Depending on your situation/needs just waiting some more time might make sense. Rumor has it that ART will come to the Monolith HPT-1 and the Integra DRX-8.4 (which if true could mean that other Integra/Pioneer/Onkyo AVRs will get ART, too). Even if you want to stay with Denon/Marantz having more user reports about ART might be revealing to some extent. And manufacturers might not be ready to roll out ART as soon as the exclusivity agreement between Dirac and StormAudio expires because firmware development might simply require additional time.

 

[dlaloum]

The comment from the Integra guy at CEDIA was apparently - sometime in 2024.
That was also the only commitment D&M gave.

I doubt we will see anything released in October 2023, but 2024 should be an interesting year.

 

[tjcinnamon]

Depending on your situation/needs just waiting some more time might make sense. Rumor has it that ART will come to the Monolith HPT-1 and the Integra DRX-8.4 (which if true could mean that other Integra/Pioneer/Onkyo AVRs will get ART, too). Even if you want to stay with Denon/Marantz having more user reports about ART might be revealing to some extent. And manufacturers might not be ready to roll out ART as soon as the exclusivity agreement between Dirac and StormAudio expires because firmware development might simply require additional time.

No doubt. I'm a big fan of MQX, so if I don't end up liking ART or regularly getting poor results from ART, I can use MQX with DEQ.

 

[Miker 1102]

Depending on your situation/needs just waiting some more time might make sense. Rumor has it that ART will come to the Monolith HPT-1 and the Integra DRX-8.4 (which if true could mean that other Integra/Pioneer/Onkyo AVRs will get ART, too). Even if you want to stay with Denon/Marantz having more user reports about ART might be revealing to some extent. And manufacturers might not be ready to roll out ART as soon as the exclusivity agreement between Dirac and StormAudio expires because firmware development might simply require additional time.

I found the Integra amp cheap feeling and plasticy (I know not a word) but same with the Pioneer that were both returned even thou I enjoyed the sound. The Denon is a better made product. So, the Denon would be looking at say 2025 for implimentation? This really seems like the tech migt be worth the wait.

 

[kernelpanic]

Man, if the HTP-1 and Denon/Marantz get ART along with potentially other mainstream AVR's, JBL/Arcam really need to step up their game. I have an SDP-58 and there's been zero word.

 

[dlaloum]

Man, if the HTP-1 and Denon/Marantz get ART along with potentially other mainstream AVR's, JBL/Arcam really need to step up their game. I have an SDP-58 and there's been zero word.

Keeping in mind that the SDP55/58 was designed by independent Harman... whereas now, JBL is Samsung/Harman... (leveraging Arcam hardware, with some old Lexicon IP input...)

I have absolutely no idea where Harman is taking its Home Theatre... - will it continue with the "JBL" approach? Resurrect Lexicon? Release stuff under the Samsung brand?

I've heard nothing from insiders... no announcements, nada....

Does Samsung/Harman have a home theatre group any more?

 

[PHD]

Just a quick update: ART FW for the compatible Denon/Marantz models is fully ready and working as well as DLBC. However, they have decided to postpone the ART release until early 2024. A new FW that will enable DLBC will be released before Christmas this year.

 

[joentell]

Dirac, Audyssey and Anthem ARC are basically EQ systems with some impulse/phase correction

None of those attempt to do any active "correction" of room effects....

Dirac ART does active correction - similar to active noise cancelling headphones - in addition to and on top of the EQ and phase/impulse correction. - That makes it fundamentally different.

My understanding of ART is that it's called Active Room Treatment because it is actively using your speakers to cancel unwanted frequencies as opposed to typical room treatment that does it passively.

It isn't active in the sense that it does not use a microphone to listen to sounds in real-time in order to produce an inverse signal the way noise cancelling headphones do.

The system determines the impulse response of each speaker in your system and can you can then set which speakers can be used to cancel out unwanted reflections and how high in frequency you would like for those speakers to act as support speakers. It's static in that the frequencies it chooses to cancel are set during calibration. Once the settings are sent to the AVR, it does not change dynamically. The content may change dynamically, but the filters and the support ranges for ART do not.

Full disclosure: I was a beta tester for Dirac ART for nearly 2 years now. I cannot comment on whether these rumors are true, because I simply don't know.

 

[abdo123]

Just a quick update: ART FW for the compatible Denon/Marantz models is fully ready and working as well as DLBC. However, they have decided to postpone the ART release until early 2024. A new FW that will enable DLBC will be released before Christmas this year.

bless you! just purchased the 3800.

 

[PHD]

bless you! just purchased the 3800.

The biggest drawback here is the price. Going from no Dirac to a full range Dirac + DLBC + ART will cost you over $1000 as I was told by the same insider. This doesn't make much sense for a low-budget AVR like the X3800H...

 

[abdo123]

The biggest drawback here is the price. Going from no Dirac to a full range Dirac + DLBC + ART will cost you over $1000 as I was told by the same insider. This doesn't make much sense for a low-budget AVR like the X3800H...

it's for a small living room, and it's worth the money imo considering the benefit we're talking about.

 

[GXAlan]

The biggest drawback here is the price. Going from no Dirac to a full range Dirac + DLBC + ART will cost you over $1000 as I was told by the same insider. This doesn't make much sense for a low-budget AVR like the X3800H...

Agree.

I would make sense of they allowed one transfer to a new AVR. Since Dirac is playing at a mass market level now, if they don’t want to drop the prices, they have to do something like this.

Maybe they will sell 20X the licenses by letting people migrate their purchase once or twice and they will make more money not less. No subscriptions though. The licenses must be permanent, but transferable.

I vaguely recall that there are Dirac representatives on ASR. @joentell , you should mention this to Dirac too.

 

[dlaloum]

The biggest drawback here is the price. Going from no Dirac to a full range Dirac + DLBC + ART will cost you over $1000 as I was told by the same insider. This doesn't make much sense for a low-budget AVR like the X3800H...

On the other hand the X3800 makes a perfectly good AVP, and has ample power for surround/height...
Where can you get an equivalent AVP with Dirac at a similar price (including the additional for ART).

In the current market structure, it is still good value.

Onkyo/Integra/Pioneer, may upset things.... but their RZ70 with ART, would still be more expensive than an X3800 + ART

 

[dlaloum]

Agree.

I would make sense of they allowed one transfer to a new AVR. Since Dirac is playing at a mass market level now, if they don’t want to drop the prices, they have to do something like this.

Maybe they will sell 20X the licenses by letting people migrate their purchase once or twice and they will make more money not less. No subscriptions though. The licenses must be permanent, but transferable.

I vaguely recall that there are Dirac representatives on ASR. @joentell , you should mention this to Dirac too.

I agree - the whole value equation changes if the ART licence can be transferred to a different device.

 

[GXAlan]

I agree - the whole value equation changes if the ART licence can be transferred to a different device.

And it just needs to be one-time, not indefinite transfer.