New MKII Rotel home theater products add Dirac Live room correction

[Vasr]

Those photos are identical on the RSP-1576 'Mk 1' webpage, so they are actually pretty old and repurposed for the new model's page.

Good catch! So they have just taken the pictures of the previous version of the two units (with missing screws and photoshopping) and put it up as MkII? The MK II seems even more "vaporware" than I thought. Looking at the specs, the only difference is they have added Dirac with hardware being identical to the 4 year old model. That is easy to do on paper!

 

[jomark911]

Something doesn't look good here.

 

[Krobar]

Good catch! So they have just taken the pictures of the previous version of the two units (with missing screws and photoshopping) and put it up as MkII? The MK II seems even more "vaporware" than I thought. Looking at the specs, the only difference is they have added Dirac with hardware being identical to the 4 year old model. That is easy to do on paper!

Flax works for Dirac so I'm not sure it is vaporware, probably not finished yet though

 

[Flak]

@Vasr
Let's hope for the owners that the hardware hasn't changed... otherwise, it probably won't be possible to upgrade their components to Dirac Live enabled with a simple firmware upgrade
@Krobar
you're correct
the upgrade from LE to Full for the Rotel RAP-1580MKII is available here:
https://live.dirac.com/home-audio/

 

[Vasr]

Let's hope for the owners that the hardware hasn't changed... otherwise, it probably won't be possible to upgrade their components to Dirac Live enabled with a simple firmware upgrade

If you are saying Dirac may be available as a firmware upgrade to the previous (non MkII) owners, I would doubt it very much even if they have not changed the hardware. There is a price jump to Mk II to pay you guys for the Dirac license and I don't think they can price and sell a firmware upgrade. You can't buy a MK II with or without Dirac yet as far as I can see. The announcement from Rotel is just a press release for now.

Will have to wait and see what Mk II units are really like when they release them to market. I mentioned no hardware change as a negative since the previous systems were already a bit outdated (old Wolfson DACs), if they have upgraded HDMI to at least HDMI 2.0b (they have removed all references to HDMI version in the MK II product pages), etc. I am not even sure if the previous version had a powerful enough processor to run Dirac without an upgrade to the processor.

 

[jam]

My first AVR was a Rotel RSX-972 back in 2001.
I'm disappointed Rotel didn't use balanced outputs on the AVP.
That's another win for Dirac though. They're at 16 OEMs that have opted to include DL into AVRs/AVPs. Meanwhile Audyssey is going downhill.

Here are the links from Rotel:
AVP: RSP-1576MKII AVR RAP-1580MKII

 

[dougi]

Speaking of room correction licensing, it's disappointing that Lyngdorf don't do that for Roomperfect anymore. When my DPA-1 preamp dies there is nothing similar to replace it now.

 

[Flak]

... the only difference is they have added Dirac with hardware being identical

I can now say that it's not, a more powerful DSP and new PCB are used to support Dirac Live

 

[markus]

Rotel introduces RSP-1576MKII Surround Processor and RAP-1580MKII Amplified Surround Processor now with Dirac Live room correction support
The RSP-1576MKII Surround Sound supports theaters of up to 7.1.4 channels for Dolby Atmos and DTS:X audio formats, the surround processor features Dirac Live Full room correction and a measurement microphone.
Dirac Live Full enables 20Hz – 20kHz automatic frequency and time domain adjustments
The RAP-1580MKII Amplified Surround Processor includes a license for Dirac Live LE room correction - delivering adjustments in the most difficult frequency region from 20Hz to 500Hz.

Do both models support Dirac Live Bass Control?
Looks like there are only 2 sub outputs which are NOT independently addressable (p. 16 http://www.rotel.com/sites/default/files/product/manuals/RSP-1576MKII Owners Manual Ver E.pdf)

 

[Vasr]

We should probably wait for them to actually release the product. Even the link to their Dirac guide web page linked in the manual is not live.

 

[Vasr]

I can now say that it's not, a more powerful DSP and new PCB are used to support Dirac Live

Yes, I would have expected it to be so. They could not have selected a processor 4 years ago anticipating Dirac processing in the future.

 

[pedrob]

This seems to be the latest manual.

http://www.rotel.com/sites/default/files/product/manuals/RSP-1576 Owners Manual Ver N.pdf

 

[Joaquinín]

According to the published specifications of the 1576 MkII, the sum of the distortions and noise in the digital input would be something like:
Noise (-112 dB) + THD (-90.5dB) = 90.46 dB
But if we take IMD (-86 DB) into account, the total figure is lowered to = 84.7 dB
Am I wrong? What do you think?

 

[pedrob]

According to the published specifications of the 1576 MkII, the sum of the distortions and noise in the digital input would be something like:
Noise (-112 dB) + THD (-90.5dB) = 90.46 dB
But if we take IMD (-86 DB) into account, the total figure is lowered to = 84.7 dB
Am I wrong? What do you think?

Using the online calculator at http://www.sengpielaudio.com/calculator-thd.htm confirms your figures.

How those figures deteriorate with 32 test frequencies and then complex recordings could be revealing? Unfortunately the only test for the latter seems to be ears.

 

[Daaadou]

I don't think we've seen any Rotel products reviewed here. This would be a good start.

I would really like to see how the 15 series reference unit would perform under Amir's tests.
I own them both, RC and RB 1590, quite happy with them.
Though, the RC is giving me trouble because it is sensitive to electrical network perturbation. Still trying to find how to fix that.
It's great to see Rotel getting acquainted with Dirac.

 

[Flak]

A review here:
https://www.soundandvision.com/content/rotel-rsp-1576mkii-surround-sound-processor-review

 

[hmt]

No Dolby Vision pass through and no balanced outs? Disappointing. Those features are far more important that some super cheesy DACs with a SINAD of 100 db instead of 90 db.

 

[oupee]

Dolby Vision will be and balanced outputs are unnecessary for short cables and in exceptional cases even worse.

 

[pseudoid]

This seems to be the latest manual.
http://www.rotel.com/sites/default/files/product/manuals/RSP-1576 Owners Manual Ver N.pdf

There is a newer Owner's Manual version N2, somewhere in the bowels of the rotel support section which may have been released in the last 4 months but I can't remember the link and don't know if much has been revised in Version ...N2

 

[Flak]

There is a newer Owner's Manual version N2, somewhere in the bowels of the rotel support section which may have been released in the last 4 months but I can't remember the link and don't know if much has been revised in Version ...N2

Are these the ones you're referring to?
They are labeled as Version D and Version H depending on model:
https://rotel.com/sites/default/files/product/manuals/RAP-1580MKII Owner Manual Ver D_072721.pdf
https://rotel.com/sites/default/files/product/manuals/RSP-1576MKII Owners Manual Ver H_062221.pdf