Planning room measurements - what is interesting to test?

[hejon]

Good day!

I have recently started some threads on new equipment for my music setup which landed in a couple of Kef R3, a Wiim Ultra and a Hypex NC252MP. Added to this has been the following measurement equipment:

• UMIK-1 Measurement Mic
• IMM-6 USB C Measurement Mic (For mobile phones)
• Cubilux USB C to SPDIF converter (Since the Wiim Ultra does not have USB in and REW needs to output sound somehow)

Other than using this to maybe possibly improve my sound setup using the Wiim Ultra EQ I was thinking that i should have some fun and do a few measured comparisons:

• WiiM Ultra room correction with and without the USB-C Mic (If it will even use it)
• REW results with UMIK vs WiiM Ultra EQ Measurements
• Old and new speakers (Audiovector and Kef)
• Angles and wall distance of new speakers

The idea is to post the result here. But there are a few open questions still:

• Is there anything else that would be interesting to try out?
• I have read about the USB to spdif converter possibly producing a 1s delay (at least in stereo), do i need to and can i compensate for this in REW somehow?
• After working through the extremely helpful "For dummies" posts 1 and 2 on this subject by Amir i know the basics of using REW, but i still need a replacement for that third post. Is there any other resource i could go to for more help on reading the measurements and measuring a real setup using REW?

Note: I am not doing this for quick results in sound improvements, this is at the end of the day mainly because it is very fun and interesting.

 

[MAB]

Good day!

I have recently started some threads on new equipment for my music setup which landed in a couple of Kef R3, a Wiim Ultra and a Hypex NC252MP. Added to this has been the following measurement equipment:

• UMIK-1 Measurement Mic
• IMM-6 USB C Measurement Mic (For mobile phones)
• Cubilux USB C to SPDIF converter (Since the Wiim Ultra does not have USB in and REW needs to output sound somehow)

Other than using this to maybe possibly improve my sound setup using the Wiim Ultra EQ I was thinking that i should have some fun and do a few measured comparisons:

• WiiM Ultra room correction with and without the USB-C Mic (If it will even use it)
• REW results with UMIK vs WiiM Ultra EQ Measurements
• Old and new speakers (Audiovector and Kef)
• Angles and wall distance of new speakers

The idea is to post the result here. But there are a few open questions still:

• Is there anything else that would be interesting to try out?
• I have read about the USB to spdif converter possibly producing a 1s delay (at least in stereo), do i need to and can i compensate for this in REW somehow?
• After working through the extremely helpful "For dummies" posts 1 and 2 on this subject by Amir i know the basics of using REW, but i still need a replacement for that third post. Is there any other resource i could go to for more help on reading the measurements and measuring a real setup using REW?

Note: I am not doing this for quick results in sound improvements, this is at the end of the day mainly because it is very fun and interesting.

Assuming you have a computer with a USB for the microphone and a reasonable soundcard, all you need is the analog output or headphone jack to drive an amplifier. Or any DAC, like this cheap one:

Meizu Mblu Lifeme Pro Portable DAC/Amp Review

This is a review, listening test and measurements of the Meizu Mblu Lifeme portable DAC and headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $23. Not much to say about the form factor other than it terminates in 3.5mm unbalanced headphone connection. If you are not familiar...

www.audiosciencereview.com

If using the analog output of your laptop, you do need to make sure no system headphone eq is being applied. Many computers have some brand of EQ applied to the outputs.

A more performant approach would be to use an interface like a Focusrite 2i2 and and non-USB measurement mic. Like outlined here:

https://kimmosaunisto.net/Software/VituixCAD/VituixCAD_Measurement_REW.pdf

I typically use this setup for most measurements.

Here is a midrange driver in a sealed cabinet, measured at 0.5 meters with two different setups:

Red trace is a UMIK-1, using the headphone jack on my laptop to drive the amp, the green trace is using a Focusrite 2i2 with an Earthworks mic. Not much difference if you are just measuring room and speaker interactions. If designing speakers, there are benefits to using an interface with ability to use loopback for the timing reference.

Even the distortion traces are fairly equivalent between setups:

In no way do you need to use the WiiM as part of the chain for measurements alone. Once you have made your measurements, you can analyze the data, load the filters into your WiiM. To evaluate PEQ, you can actually use the analog input and output of the WiiM from your computer to verify the performance of the filters.

I hope this helps...

 

[Flaesh]

WiiM Ultra room correction with and without

First measure and see what happens.

I have read about the USB to spdif converter possibly producing a 1s delay

1 s?? I have not noticed this (with other converters).

p.s.: Funny, but Wiim really does not have a USB input

 

[hejon]

Assuming you have a computer with a USB for the microphone and a reasonable soundcard, all you need is the analog output or headphone jack to drive an amplifier. Or any DAC, like this cheap one:

Meizu Mblu Lifeme Pro Portable DAC/Amp Review

This is a review, listening test and measurements of the Meizu Mblu Lifeme portable DAC and headphone amplifier. It is on kind loan from a member and costs US $23. Not much to say about the form factor other than it terminates in 3.5mm unbalanced headphone connection. If you are not familiar...

www.audiosciencereview.com

If using the analog output of your laptop, you do need to make sure no system headphone eq is being applied. Many computers have some brand of EQ applied to the outputs.

A more performant approach would be to use an interface like a Focusrite 2i2 and and non-USB measurement mic. Like outlined here:

https://kimmosaunisto.net/Software/VituixCAD/VituixCAD_Measurement_REW.pdf

I typically use this setup for most measurements.

Here is a midrange driver in a sealed cabinet, measured at 0.5 meters with two different setups:
View attachment 394797
Red trace is a UMIK-1, using the headphone jack on my laptop to drive the amp, the green trace is using a Focusrite 2i2 with an Earthworks mic. Not much difference if you are just measuring room and speaker interactions. If designing speakers, there are benefits to using an interface with ability to use loopback for the timing reference.

Even the distortion traces are fairly equivalent between setups:
View attachment 394800

In no way do you need to use the WiiM as part of the chain for measurements alone. Once you have made your measurements, you can analyze the data, load the filters into your WiiM. To evaluate PEQ, you can actually use the analog input and output of the WiiM from your computer to verify the performance of the filters.

I hope this helps...

Wow! That is some solid advice, i will look into doing some tests tomorrow so that document really comes in handy. Do you happen to know if a Macbook Air M3 has a sufficient sound card and sends the signal "as is"?

 

[hejon]

Also, i had another thought: Would sending the signal through bluetooth be detrimental to the test?

 

[Snarfie]

Good day!

I have recently started some threads on new equipment for my music setup which landed in a couple of Kef R3, a Wiim Ultra and a Hypex NC252MP. Added to this has been the following measurement equipment:

• UMIK-1 Measurement Mic
• IMM-6 USB C Measurement Mic (For mobile phones)
• Cubilux USB C to SPDIF converter (Since the Wiim Ultra does not have USB in and REW needs to output sound somehow)

Other than using this to maybe possibly improve my sound setup using the Wiim Ultra EQ I was thinking that i should have some fun and do a few measured comparisons:

• WiiM Ultra room correction with and without the USB-C Mic (If it will even use it)
• REW results with UMIK vs WiiM Ultra EQ Measurements
• Old and new speakers (Audiovector and Kef)
• Angles and wall distance of new speakers

The idea is to post the result here. But there are a few open questions still:

• Is there anything else that would be interesting to try out?
• I have read about the USB to spdif converter possibly producing a 1s delay (at least in stereo), do i need to and can i compensate for this in REW somehow?
• After working through the extremely helpful "For dummies" posts 1 and 2 on this subject by Amir i know the basics of using REW, but i still need a replacement for that third post. Is there any other resource i could go to for more help on reading the measurements and measuring a real setup using REW?

Note: I am not doing this for quick results in sound improvements, this is at the end of the day mainly because it is very fun and interesting.

Did you consider testing and or comparing Mathaudio Room EQ. I'm quite a tech dummy but was up an running in a few minutes with Mathaudio. System used with Foobar2000 is 100% for Free. For starters an tech dummies like me more than handy https://mathaudio.com/room-eq.htm

 

[Flaesh]

IMO for room acoustic measurements there is no need to complicate things. Computer-converter-wiim and umik-1 in LP.
Or

(I have never used this option myself)