Dirac Live weird behaviour

[Topaz_83]

Hi everyone,

I’m trying to decide between Dirac and Trinnov for my audio system, and while comparing both, I've discovered something very curious happening with Dirac, and honestly, I can’t find any explanation for it.

I’m using an Apollo X4 as my sound card. The issue appears when I activate Dirac in the system.

Problem with mono:

If I use the mono button on my Apollo X4, the mono sound is terrible, like it's "phased." Elements like the snare or vocals sound out of phase and get lost significantly. It feels like there's some kind of phase cancellation going on.
However, if instead of using the mono button on the interface, I do the mono conversion through a plugin on the master bus of the DAW, the mono sound is correct, without those phase issues.

Then I run some tests without Dirac:

If I disable Dirac and leave the speakers playing without correction, both when using the mono button on the Apollo X4 and when converting to mono through a plugin in the DAW, the sound is perfect, without any phase issues.

I’ve tried the same process using Trinnov Nova instead of Dirac, and whether I use the mono button on the interface or do it from a plugin in the DAW, the mono sound is identical and plays correctly.

In summary, when I use **Dirac**, it seems there's a significant difference between how mono sounds when I activate it from the mono button on my Apollo X4 versus when I do it from a plugin in the DAW. Honestly, I don’t understand the logic behind this.

I’ve tried contacting the Dirac team, but I haven’t received any response. Their customer support seems quite poor. This has forced me to ask this question in this forum, hoping someone can help me.

Does anyone know why this might be happening? What could be the logical explanation for this behavior?

Thanks in advance for your help.

 

[staticV3]

Since the Apollo has Optical out, consider recording a snipped of audio via a Hifime UR23 or Cubilux SPDIF receiver, once in Stereo, in Mono via plugin, and in Mono via the Apollo button.

That would give us (and potentially Dirac's or Apollo's customer support) something to analyze.

 

[Topaz_83]

Since the Apollo has Optical out, consider recording a snipped of audio via a Hifime UR23 or Cubilux SPDIF receiver, once in Stereo, in Mono via plugin, and in Mono via the Apollo button.

That would give us (and potentially Dirac's or Apollo's customer support) something to analyze.

I just did a test recording several takes of the same song. I routed the audio through SPDIF to a second PC I have, and recorded the signals. Interestingly, when Dirac is activated, and I press mono on the interface, the audio gets sent in stereo, and it records in stereo. I guess because of the routing. I can imagine that's where the error is coming from (not sure though). I have to go now, but I'll keep running tests this week. Thank you so much for replying. Best regards.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

In summary, when I use **Dirac**, it seems there's a significant difference between how mono sounds when I activate it from the mono button on my Apollo X4 versus when I do it from a plugin in the DAW. Honestly, I don’t understand the logic behind this.

One of those options sums the L/R before DL processing and the other after DL processing. Only the first keeps the DL correction routed to the appropriate speakers. Summing after the DL processing sums the channels and the corrections so each speaker gets its own proper correction plus the inappropriate correction for the other.

 

[Topaz_83]

One of those options sums the L/R before DL processing and the other after DL processing. Only the first keeps the DL correction routed to the appropriate speakers. Summing after the DL processing sums the channels and the corrections so each speaker gets its own proper correction plus the inappropriate correction for the other.

That's it!

Perfect explanation.
Thanks a lot