Dirac Live ART vs. Custom DAW-based MIMO Calibration Objective and Subjective Comparison

[DatSpeakerTho]

Appreciate sharing your comparisons.

I haven't used a correction suite I like nearly as much my manually generated filters. Dirac is annoying in how limited it is in shaping the target curve.

 

[KenMasters]

Dirac is annoying in how limited it is in shaping the target curve.

How so? Dirac is certainly limited in a number of ways, but the target curve can be shaped as you like?

 

[DatSpeakerTho]

How so? Dirac is certainly limited in a number of ways, but the target curve can be shaped as you like?

It only lets me slightly adjust a LF shelf and HF tilt. Won't let me do anything else.

 

[KenMasters]

It only lets me slightly adjust a LF shelf and HF tilt. Won't let me do anything else.

You can switch between that method and using the custom point method by clicking this option in the speaker group:

You can add and delete points as you need and convert the shelving curve to a point curve by right clicking the curve itself.

 

[DatSpeakerTho]

You can switch between that method and using the custom point method by clicking this option in the speaker group:

View attachment 535462

You can add and delete points as you need and convert the shelving curve to a point curve by right clicking the curve itself.

Thanks for pointing that out. That ui element could be a little more obvious.

 

[Satanica]

Same thing as above, different way. Right Click ---> Convert shelves to control points.

 

[Rmjesty]

Update: Remote guidance for an friend to perform calibration. He has 9.5.4 Dolby Atmos system.

 

[levimax]

Update: Remote guidance for an friend to perform calibration. He has 9.5.4 Dolby Atmos system.View attachment 537382View attachment 537383View attachment 537384View attachment 537385View attachment 537386

That looks excellent, thank you for sharing. One question, what causes the 100 ms group delay? Is it the sub it's self or does your calibration cause group delay?

 

[usmat]

Nice. What caught my interest is the DAW + Mac Mini + Multichannel Dac setup. To enhance the sound of my AppleTv LPCM out (7.1 only) I have benn working on putting together the following setup
AppleTv output LPCM ---> HDMI to AES --> Okto DAC8 Pro AES In to USB out ---> Mac Mini running Reaper ---> OktoDac8 pro output --> Amp .
Got Claude (AI tool) to write a plugin so I can switch between REW and the AppleTv LPCM. Controlled via homekit. Need to test out.
Absolute beginer to room correction etc, MIMO is very interesting. A lot to learn.
SMathews

 

[DWPress]

AppleTv output LPCM ---> HDMI to AES --> Okto DAC8 Pro AES In to USB out ---> Mac Mini running Reaper ---> OktoDac8 pro output --> Amp .

I do similar processing with my analog sources via an ADC > AES input on the Okto>Mac mini for room correction and XO for a 3-way +2 subs system. If you can get the HDMI>AES part working then the rest will work no problem. I'm using Hang Loose Convolver with 8ch filters instead of a DAW but DSP=DSP if done correctly.

 

[Rmjesty]

That looks excellent, thank you for sharing. One question, what causes the 100 ms group delay? Is it the sub it's self or does your calibration cause group delay?

I think it's probably the problem caused by both the room and the low-cut filter. I have also tried, for instance, linear phase low-cut or using FIR to correct the excess group delay, but both would lead to a deterioration in the subjective listening experience.

 

[levimax]

I think it's probably the problem caused by both the room and the low-cut filter. I have also tried, for instance, linear phase low-cut or using FIR to correct the excess group delay, but both would lead to a deterioration in the subjective listening experience.

Pre-ringing vs group delay seems to be where all this DSP time domain stuff nets out in the end. When you tried the FIR allpass and linear phase low-cut did you notice pre-ringing on the impulse response graph? If so do you have an example you could share? I really don't have a good feel for when pre-ringing becomes audible... I also don't really have a good feel for when group delay becomes audible either. 100 ms seems like a lot though and is clearly audible if syncing audio and video together, but 20 Hz is a lot different that 1 KHz centered vocals.

 

[Rmjesty]

Pre-ringing vs group delay seems to be where all this DSP time domain stuff nets out in the end. When you tried the FIR allpass and linear phase low-cut did you notice pre-ringing on the impulse response graph? If so do you have an example you could share? I really don't have a good feel for when pre-ringing becomes audible... I also don't really have a good feel for when group delay becomes audible either. 100 ms seems like a lot though and is clearly audible if syncing audio and video together, but 20 Hz is a lot different that 1 KHz centered vocals.

I have an example at hand, which is about the observable pre-ringing phenomenon caused by the use of linear phase division (or a separate phase correction fir) in the in-unit dsp of the Genelec 8351B speaker. In contrast, the R7meta placed in the same room does not have such a pre-ringing measurement result. Of course, this is just a very small difference and may not be audible. However, if all the low frequencies up to 20hz are to undergo complete phase correction, in principle, there will be a larger and more audible pre-ringing.

 

[OCA]

macOS inherently acts as an excellent high-quality music player and a native Dolby Atmos renderer

Can you please elaborate on that? AFAIK (and I don't own a Mac) CoreAudio even blocks lossless Atmos HDMI passthrough (unlike Windows) and even lossy HDMI passthrough is locked outside internal apps like Apple Music and Quicktime with their APIs not available outside the apps themselves.

 

[Rmjesty]

Can you please elaborate on that? AFAIK (and I don't own a Mac) CoreAudio even blocks lossless Atmos HDMI passthrough (unlike Windows) and even lossy HDMI passthrough is locked outside internal apps like Apple Music and Quicktime with their APIs not available outside the apps themselves.

There's no need for a "pass-through" feature. Simply connect your Mac to a multi-channel output device, and you can configure it in your system settings to play content up to 9.1.6 format using Apple Music, Apple TV, any DAW, or DRP.

 

[OCA]

There's no need for a "pass-through" feature. Simply connect your Mac to a multi-channel output device, and you can configure it in your system settings to play content up to 9.1.6 format using Apple Music, Apple TV, any DAW, or DRP.

Interesting that it doesn't even allow passthrough but freely decodes Atmos for you.

 

[Rmjesty]

Interesting that it doesn't even allow passthrough but freely decodes Atmos for you.

Apple pays Dolby, so they naturally want you to use their own methods to play Dolby content.

 

[usmat]

Interesting that it doesn't even allow passthrough but freely decodes Atmos for you.

I believe they are allowing passthrough for Atmos from Appletv in the near future release.
SMathews

 

[ramu2842]

Hello. If you don't mind me asking, do you have a specific community in your home country? If so, could you let me know which community you are from? I would love to check it out

 

[Rmjesty]

No. In fact, a friend and I independently researched and completed this workflow. Of course, we have some discussion groups on Tencent QQ; you might be able to join if you're interested.