perpetual Dirac low signal-to-noise error, minidsp ddrc-88d, ddrc-88bm

[win]

Hello, I figured I should try asking this here, since many people have the ddrc-88d.

• The configuration uses 2 input channels (stereo), 3 dirac channels (L, R, summed mono bass [LFE mgt]), and has 6 outputs: L, R, and 4x mono bass to subwoofers. Configured on a windows machine with latest software/firmware/Dlive version on win11
• I have configured the mono bass that feeds my 4 subwoofers through MSO already. Their summed response is very smooth. I did all this through REW on the same computer and microphone that I'm having issues with Dirac on. This has been integrated into the outputs section of ddrc-88d already, although I've had this issue on a Config that omitted these output xover/peq/delay adjustments.
• My mic seems to be working just fine.
• Within Dirac Live, I have tried a variety of master gain and mic gain combinations. I can get the Dirac Live (3.x) program to show the signal as it's measuring. But no matter what, I ALWAYS get low signal-to-noise error. Doesn't matter if I turn off my AC, super quiet room, etc.
• The test sounds within Dirac play plenty loud on each of the three Dirac channels [L, R, LFE mgt].
• My LFE mgt [mapped to Dirac 3] is simply created by summing the L+R, and I bypassed the filters for those channels within LFE mgt, so they are not being High or Low passed.
• I even tried just doing L and R within Dirac [i.e. Dirac 1 and Dirac 2, with all others turned off], because the test signal for the LFE mgt [Dirac 3] plays much quieter during measurement than it does during the test on the volume calibration page. This is how I used to have the whole chain configured when I was using a minidsp SHD studio [i.e. 2 channel dirac only]
• I have also made sure to use the shortest possible USB cables for both the microphone and the minidsp ddrc-88d to PC connection.
• Out of desperation, I even took out an old Macbook, updated its OS, installed the latest firmware/software for the ddrc-88d, and installed the latest Dirac Live. Same situation, where it plays the test sounds just fine in Volume Calibration, but during measurement it creates SNR error. The mic is working on the Macbook, too.

I will probably submit this problem directly to MiniDSP, but wanted to do a sanity check to make sure I haven't missed something obvious. Can't hurt to ask, after all, and maybe this could help someone in the future, googling and reading dozens of articles/manuals/forum posts.

I'm attaching images of the configuration as well. Thanks for looking!

Hardware is following: toslink optical -> rme adi-2 pro fs r (I believe this gets completely bypassed during the test) -> minidsp drc-88d -> dac8 pro -> amp for L+R, 4x subwoofer. Mic is a calibrated dayton audio 2-umm-6.

 

[win]

Ordered a 'supported' mic, the umik-2. Will update if it fixes it.

 

[win]

Unfortunately still pulling my hair out on this one. Doesn't matter what I do, how loud the signal is, how high or low mic gain is... Mac or Windows... even tried the beta version of Dirac live that was linked in the exclamation point error thread. Hopefully minidsp has an idea of how to fix it. I'll update for posterity if/when I get it fixed.

 

[Bugless]

Unfortunately still pulling my hair out on this one. Doesn't matter what I do, how loud the signal is, how high or low mic gain is... Mac or Windows... even tried the beta version of Dirac live that was linked in the exclamation point error thread. Hopefully minidsp has an idea of how to fix it. I'll update for posterity if/when I get it fixed.

I had this same problem and then I found that by default in Windows 11 audio enhancements are enabled in the Windows sound settings for the mic. Once I disabled the audio enhancements the low signal to noise errors went away. Go to Windows menu > Settings > System > Sound. You should see your mic there and can adjust the settings. Disable audio enhancements and you should be good.

 

[win]

I appreciate the response. Unfortunately, that is not the issue. The issue seems to be that the measurement sounds are playing a sweep that is being high passed for some reason. The sounds literally do not contain any frequency content below 350hz. This is why I could barely hear my subwoofer during tests. I verified this with the mic on my PC, as well as a different mic on a different PC, and you can even hear the lack of bass in the room once you realize it's missing. For verification, I even pulled out my old SHD Studio and tried the dirac calibration on that. No issues whatsoever. The Dirac sounds play just fine (with bass content below 350hz), I get no errors. The DDRC-88D plays bass just fine; it's only the Dirac measurement sweeps that don't contain bass.

I don't know how Dirac interacts with the hardware, but somewhere along the way the measurement sweeps are being corrupted and not playing correctly, which means it can never appropriately measure the signal. Been working with both companies but no fix yet.