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DIRAC Room Correction gain?

Martini

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I have Dirac Live Standalone installed on my Mac. I use Audirvana for the music server. I have run the Live sampling process and have a correction in place, however I may have set the Dirac Master Volume too high...:confused: when doing this, as the default -12dB drop seemed way too low to get decent sound levels without turning the pre-amp most of the way up. I ended up pushing the Dirac channel volumes up to only -5dB. It might be some weeks before I can run the correction tests again, so until then I would like to ensure I'm not pushing the Dac3 or the Dirac virtual Dac into clipping. When viewing the Dirac correction project, how do I view the correction to see how much peak gain has been added?
For reference my system consists of the Mac Mini which feeds a Benchmark stack: Dac3-B > LA4 > AHB2 into Revel F328be.
 

Flak

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I have Dirac Live Standalone installed on my Mac. I use Audirvana for the music server. I have run the Live sampling process and have a correction in place, however I may have set the Dirac Master Volume too high...:confused: when doing this, as the default -12dB drop seemed way too low to get decent sound levels without turning the pre-amp most of the way up. I ended up pushing the Dirac channel volumes up to only -5dB. It might be some weeks before I can run the correction tests again, so until then I would like to ensure I'm not pushing the Dac3 or the Dirac virtual Dac into clipping. When viewing the Dirac correction project, how do I view the correction to see how much peak gain has been added?
For reference my system consists of the Mac Mini which feeds a Benchmark stack: Dac3-B > LA4 > AHB2 into Revel F328be.
You may look at the difference in dBs between the "before" and "after correction" graphs
 
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Martini

Martini

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Bump, plus another question:

Q: When calibrating the volume for measurements, I am dealing with two volume controls, the Master Volume setting in DIRAC and the volume of the LA4 pre-amp. Should the volume on the LA4 be turned all the way up and then adjust the measurement volume via the DIRAC Live software? I did not see this is covered in their instructions.
 
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Martini

Martini

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You may look at the difference in dBs between the "before" and "after correction" graphs
You are not talking about the "Spread" graphs, correct? If so, would I just be picking one of the troughs and counting the dB from dip to "corrected" line? If talking about the "Spread" some of those are extreme.
 

Flak

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You are not talking about the "Spread" graphs, correct? If so, would I just be picking one of the troughs and counting the dB from dip to "corrected" line? If talking about the "Spread" some of those are extreme.
No, I'm not referring to the spread... I refer to the "before" vs. "after correction" graphs
 

Dj7675

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@Flak
I have seen mentioned several times in other threads and forums that Dirac uses 10dB of headroom. I have 2 Dirac systems. NAD M10 and a StormAudio MK2 and have noticed that when Dirac is enabled it is quite a bit quieter. I still need to measure how much quieter but haven’t had a chance to do that yet…Couple of questions..
-Is that the correct amount?
-Is it a fixed amount, or is it dependent on the particular EQ needed for particular a particular system?
-Does the headroom vary by manufacturer implementation (NAD, Storm, MiniDSP etc)?
Just trying to get a sense of how much quieter Dirac can make a system and they need to turn up the volume to compensate for the loss. Thanks
 

Flak

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@Flak
I have seen mentioned several times in other threads and forums that Dirac uses 10dB of headroom. I have 2 Dirac systems. NAD M10 and a StormAudio MK2 and have noticed that when Dirac is enabled it is quite a bit quieter. I still need to measure how much quieter but haven’t had a chance to do that yet…Couple of questions..
-Is that the correct amount?
-Is it a fixed amount, or is it dependent on the particular EQ needed for particular a particular system?
-Does the headroom vary by manufacturer implementation (NAD, Storm, MiniDSP etc)?
Just trying to get a sense of how much quieter Dirac can make a system and they need to turn up the volume to compensate for the loss. Thanks
The necessary headroom depends on the music material, "old school" recordings can require very little while recordings that follow the "loudness war" guidelines will require more.
Whether the headroom can be changed or not depends on the implementation.
8 to 10 dB is usually adopted and is a valid choice but miniDSP processors allow changing the headroom and the same is possible with the Dirac Processor.
 
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Martini

Martini

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No, I'm not referring to the spread... I refer to the "before" vs. "after correction" graphs
Thanks Flak. Can you advise on one more question (see Post #3)?
And, thanks for visiting ASR from time to time! :)
 

Flak

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Thanks Flak. Can you advise on one more question (see Post #3)?
And, thanks for visiting ASR from time to time! :)
Thanks, my pleasure :)

and sorry if I didn't answer Post #3... I expect that it should make no difference
 

Dj7675

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The necessary headroom depends on the music material, "old school" recordings can require very little while recordings that follow the "loudness war" guidelines will require more.
Whether the headroom can be changed or not depends on the implementation.
8 to 10 dB is usually adopted and is a valid choice but miniDSP processors allow changing the headroom and the same is possible with the Dirac Processor.
Thanks for the reply. Material shouldn’t matter though, correct? For example if I run a Dirac calibration and then run pink noise for example, and compare how loud Dirac on vs Dirac off is, Dirac on will probably be be 8-10dB quieter. Is that correct (depending on the platform and how it is implemented etc)?
 

Flak

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Thanks for the reply. Material shouldn’t matter though, correct? For example if I run a Dirac calibration and then run pink noise for example, and compare how loud Dirac on vs Dirac off is, Dirac on will probably be be 8-10dB quieter. Is that correct (depending on the platform and how it is implemented etc)?
Yes, correct :) the music material is relevant only if the headroom can be adjusted as feasible with the standalone version
 
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