Dirac Live Bass Management?

[ephemere]

Uhhh not sure why nobody has yet mentioned the fact that SHD is now Roon endpoint.That would be a killer for me and NAD would be only choice.Why fret over Volumio if your going to use it daily with Roon?Am I wrong here?Also wondering if in fact SHD would be better in it's xover functions and Dirac or is that not the case i.e. NAD full Dirac license will allow for same level of funtion all be it without 2/4 out (essential for me if I think at some point I might want to use it as full crossover).But to me Roon puts SHD in lead at the finish line.Thoughts corrections?

Isn't the NAD also a Roon endpoint? I don't use Roon.

I believe SHD has more flexible crossover functions. The NAD does allow you to select a crossover point up to 200Hz for its two subwoofer outputs, but the MiniDSP has more capabilities. See the SHD manual for details. That said, Dirac Bass Management may tip the scale the other way. We'll see.

I'm not sure if Dirac works differently on the MiniDSP compared to NAD. When I connected one subwoofer to the NAD and ran Dirac, it measured each of the three speakers separately (L, R, sub 1). I'm not sure it "sees" the subwoofer as a subwoofer, or if it's treated equally to the L/R outputs.

One thing I noticed on the NAD that confused me at first. The NAD has a menu option to select if you have no subs, 1 sub, or 2 subs, with a crossover activated in the latter two settings. Suppose I select no subs and then build a Dirac filter and export it to the NAD. If I then go into the menu and switch the subwoofer setting from no subs to 1 sub, the Dirac filter will silently override that setting and shut off the subwoofer and crossover even though from the NAD menu it appears the sub/crossover is active. The fact that this happens silently is confusing; ideally the NAD would "grey out" the subwoofer menu if Dirac is overriding it. But once I figured out what was going on, I like this function. Now I permanently leave the subwoofer setting active (1 sub, with my desired crossover), and if I want to toggle sub on/off I do it all with the Dirac filter selection. In other words, I switch between "no sub + Dirac filter #1" and "sub + Dirac filter #2" with a single menu setting (the Dirac filter selection), rather than needing to switch both the Dirac filter and the subwoofer settings in tandem.

 

[ElNino]

sorry but that beta testing is not currently active, the link is not present anymore in our site but we should remove that page as well in order to avoid possible confusion

Could you comment on what the status of the overall beta is? It's hard to tell from your website. I saw someone post on Reddit the other day that they had been accepted into the beta last week, but I signed up for the beta mailing list months ago and haven't heard anything. I'd love to participate.

 

[Flak]

I don't know about that Reddit poster, he might be an exception but the initial beta testing that was run by using a computer (no AVR) and a multichannel audiocard/DAC has been replaced by beta testing with AVRs that need to have the necessary channels/firmware... these tests aren't public, sorry

 

[ElNino]

I don't know about that Reddit poster, he might be an exception but the initial beta testing that was run by using a computer (no AVR) and a multichannel audiocard/DAC has been replaced by beta testing with AVRs that need to have the necessary channels/firmware... these tests aren't public, sorry

Thanks -- I appreciate the reply!

I was wondering if you were still planning on releasing the computer-only version (no AVR) in the future or whether the plans for that have been shelved?

 

[Flak]

Thanks -- I appreciate the reply!

I was wondering if you were still planning on releasing the computer-only version (no AVR) in the future or whether the plans for that have been shelved?

No, it hasn't been shelved but it will take time... (luckily) we have many concurrent projects

 

[Lorenzo74]

@audimus

With reference to the tier 3 version of Dirac Bass Management which will be free....

Dirac Live will manage the crossover replacing the AVR's one.

By using a dedicated channel it will time-align the sub to the main speakers and will compute and display in real-time the combined results of sub + mains at the crossover region of frequencies.

As a result, the user will be able to choose the crossover frequency that offers the best results.

For Tier 3 there is no guidance for which the best choices are, you will have to use your own knowledge for that.

Tier 2 instead will compute the best crossover frequency automatically and correct the combined response while tier 1 doesn't

Tier 2 works with the phase _and_ the magnitude to achieve a better summation, something that cannot be done manually in Tier 1.

Finally, Tier 1 will correct the respective interactions among multiple subs as well as their interactions with the speakers at the crossover frequency

Flavio

ciao Flavio, any chance to get bass management with minidsp 2x4HD? I was at CES 2019 and I was impressed by it. I can’t buy another equipment (not yet) but I’m facing many issue in crossing my subs to main speakers.
subs are reflex loaded.
main are reflex loaded.
i find best to close main speakers ports and xcrossover at 50-60Hz LR 48dB.
I made many measurements and I struggling with phase and sub position respect to main and listening spot. (I delayed based on sound distance travel)
It’s really complex (impossible so far) to have same phase from subs and mains both reflex loaded. I can’t see any better than Full acoustic suspension system with EQ-xover-Dirac if targeting bass alignment.
any help, insights? Your expertise is of incredible value to me.
my Best
Lorenzo in Rome

 

[Grandzoltar]

ciao Flavio, any chance to get bass management with minidsp 2x4HD? I was at CES 2019 and I was impressed by it. I can’t buy another equipment (not yet) but I’m facing many issue in crossing my subs to main speakers.
subs are reflex loaded.
main are reflex loaded.
i find best to close main speakers ports and xcrossover at 50-60Hz LR 48dB.
I made many measurements and I struggling with phase and sub position respect to main and listening spot. (I delayed based on sound distance travel)
It’s really complex (impossible so far) to have same phase from subs and mains both reflex loaded. I can’t see any better than Full acoustic suspension system with EQ-xover-Dirac if targeting bass alignment.
any help, insights? Your expertise is of incredible value to me.
my Best
Lorenzo in Rome

Identify the phase at the desired crossover frequency say 80hz find the phase plot on the sub say -180. Say your mains at 80hz are +135.
-180+135=-45
-45/360=-0.125
Wavelength 343/80= 4.3m
-0.125x4.3=-0.5m
At 80hz crossover subtract .5m from the actual distance from the mlp to the subwoofer
In your case plug in your numbers using that formula.

 

[jjk]

Any updates on DL BM release and which equipment it will be available on?

 

[EB1000]

I have:
- NAD C658
- Dirac Live full frequency license
- Two single 12" subs in sealed cabinets power by an amp with zero EQ or crossover function

I am over the moon with the results I get from Dirac as it is and chomping at the bit to get Bass Management.

What is Tier 1, Tier 2, and Tier 3?
Will all tiers be available with the C658 (at a cost no doubt)?

I have the same setup. Dirac Live BM was due to be available by end of 2019, but now I have a feeling NAD has backed off, and will only be offering Dirac BM for the newer M33 Streamer Amp.

I which Amirm could test the C658. I have a feeling that when Dirac is off, SINAD will be around 100-110, but when Dirac is on, it will drop to 90-96

You just can't have that much processing w/o sacrificing noise and distortion...

 

[EB1000]

Any updates on DL BM release and which equipment it will be available on?

Most likely, only for NAD upcoming M33... NAD told me that no ETA for DL BM support for the C658. I'm guessing that they are backing off due to some hardware incompatibility...

 

[DaleMurray]

I have the same setup. Dirac Live BM was due to be available by end of 2019, but now I have a feeling NAD has backed off, and will only be offering Dirac BM for the newer M33 Streamer Amp.

I which Amirm could test the C658. I have a feeling that when Dirac is off, SINAD will be around 100-110, but when Dirac is on, it will drop to 90-96

You just can't have that much processing w/o sacrificing noise and distortion...

Has Bass Management been made available to anything, yet? (NAD or otherwise?)

 

[Flak]

Has Bass Management been made available to anything, yet? (NAD or otherwise?)

Storm Audio has been the first to the market, they demoed the Dirac Live Bass management at ISE 2020.
Other manufacturers are following pretty soon... how soon is soon?
That's a question for each individual manufacturer to answer

 

[rvsixer]

Not directly related but since I saw a few wishes/complaints about it in this thread...the latest Minidsp SHD firmware supports screen blanking (along with some nice power management features as well).

 

[tecnogadget]

At least they got the decency to update the Release Schedule...but not sure how they will keep up with COVID 19.
It's a shame they've developed the most advanced Automated EQ software/algorithms but they fail at the delivery-commercialization stage...pure speculation, shady dates, bad integration of OEM manufacturers (AKA most AVR's), excessive "black box" concept.

 

[jjk]

Hope everyone is doing well so far. Best wishes.
Does anyone know if Dirac Live is available as a VST plug-in for Windows? I do not have any of the current gear. I would employ it inside JRiver.
Thanks.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Hope everyone is doing well so far. Best wishes.
Does anyone know if Dirac Live is available as a VST plug-in for Windows? I do not have any of the current gear. I would employ it inside JRiver.
Thanks.

Afaik, it is only available now as a VST plug-in. I've use the original that way for years.

 

[jjk]

Thanks Kal. I used it as a VST several years ago but there were some issues with it in my system.
I now have a much more powerful machine and I am going to try again. Flavio did confirm just now by email that a VST does exist and offered a free trial.
Thanks for your help.

 

[stevenswall]

The different Tiers are different levels of automatism and functionality.
Tier 1, which supports 2 sbus should be 399$

I'm also looking forward to seeing what bass management can bring to my system

So are they going to charge $750 for 4 subs?! Crazy pricing. I could see a hardware device like a MiniDSP for $400 that could do 4 subwoofers, but man. Spendy and only 2.

 

[KarVi71]

So are they going to charge $750 for 4 subs?! Crazy pricing. I could see a hardware device like a MiniDSP for $400 that could do 4 subwoofers, but man. Spendy and only 2.

As far as i know they have only revealed prices for 1 and multi subs setup. The 2 subs price is really for a multi sub setup.

Prices are from this page:

https://www.dirac.com/news/2019/8/21/dirac-live-bass-management-at-cedia-2019

I think the prices are high too. Too high.

A representative of the company mentioned they were thinking about lower prices as interest for the technology was greater than anticipated.

But we still wait for the first announcement of availability ...

 

[tecnogadget]

Available in April...lets hope so!