Dirac vs Audyssey Results and Questions

[CK.]

Greetings to the community,

I know other threads discussed aud vs dirac before but in this one I provide some interesting results and ask new questions.

SETUP


AVR: Denon 3700H
Speakers: KEF R3 (fronts), KEF R6 (center), Q150 (surrounds)
Sub: REL HT1003 mk II (10" driver, 300W Class D amp)
Auto Correction SW: Audyssey MEQ-X & DIRAC Live 3 trial on a PC


TEST

• Until now I have used Audyssey MEQ-X and have auto-EQ upto 400Hz.
• Interestingly, Audyssey measured my sub as having a roll-off at 40Hz and thus did not try to correct lower than that.
• The result is shown in figure "AUD_Initial_Results"

• I decided to use DIRAC Bass Control which found a subwoofer roll-off at ~15Hz and thus corrected down to 15Hz (photo "DRC_Correction")
• The result of the DIRAC calibration is shown in photo "FR" with green color. In order to make the comparison equal I manually set the sub cut-off in Audyssey to 15Hz and the result is shown in the same photo in red color.

Observations

• All things being equal, DRC and AUD measure the same sub response but find different roll-off/cut-off points (40Hz vs 15 Hz).
• The filters applied in DRC produce a more extended and smooth bass response which extends to the time domain as well. Look at the "Waterfall" graphs
• DRC seems to be more aggressive in boosting the low frequencies.

Questions

1. Is it possible to get the Dirac filters and delays applied after the calibration? Perhaps use this information to make manual changes in audyssey?
2. Is it possible and is it worth it, getting a minidsp with dirac live 3 (DDRC 24) to calibrate the bass response? (while letting audyssey handle the rest of the speakers)

Many thanks!!

P.S.: Based in the resulting response there is no doubt in my mind that Dirac is significantly better than audyssey - assuming that you do not listen to near reference levels I would say.

 

[NTK]

Dirac applied a +14 dB correction at 20 Hz (= 25X gain in power). That's kind of extreme IMHO.

 

[Miniyouuuu]

Dirac is capable of this 14dB bump, but I would recommend moving the cortain to 30Hz or more. This Valley seem to be a matter of room modes. When Dirac applies a bump in that low bass area, you’ll see secondary effects in audio. Check those results on REW and I bet you’ll see waterfall issues.

 

[CK.]

Dirac applied a +14 dB correction at 20 Hz (= 25X gain in power). That's kind of extreme IMHO.

View attachment 365132

Yes but to be fair I added the +6db boost in order to make a harman like house curve. So dirac added 8db boost.

My question is, the volume knob on the sub at 40% and on the avr is set to -6db. So how much of an issue is it?

 

[CK.]

Dirac is capable of this 14dB bump, but I would recommend moving the cortain to 30Hz or more. This Valley seem to be a matter of room modes. When Dirac applies a bump in that low bass area, you’ll see secondary effects in audio. Check those results on REW and I bet you’ll see waterfall issues.

I have attached the warerall graphs, do you see any issue? Not sure what to look for.

Also with this boost dirac managed to increase the responce down to 25hz flat. Would this be possible if that was a room mode?

 

[RDoc]

Purely subjectively.

Our Denon x3700H with Audyssey died and we replaced it with an Integra DRX 3.4 with Dirac Live. Everything else in the system is the same and we only use the AVR's as preamps even though we can't shut off the amps in the Integra.

I'm still playing with the Dirac settings after doing a lot of tuning using Audyssey MultEQ-X. The MultEQ-X has a much nicer user interface and capabilities than the Dirac app, but the Dirac app is usable.

Overall, they're both great, but both my wife and I noticed that the Dirac equalization seems somehow more "effortless" and "open". That's obviously very subjective. Somewhat less so is that I've noticed a bit less listener fatigue with the Dirac over many hours of constant use. This was never a big issue with the Denon, but does seem better with the Integra.

Anyway, not scientific at all, but we are at least as satisfied with the Integra/Dirac and perhaps a bit happier than with the Denon/Audyssey.

 

[jbattman1016]

If you're playing with Audyssey don't forget to give the Audyssey One script a spin for fun. Helped my system sound a lot better after some minor adjustments post running the script.

 

[Oddball]

Like anyone else, you will need to find your way around the different EQ systems. They work differently in a particular room and with a particular system. Seems like you prefer Dirac, which could be true as you have bookshelf speakers so that the whole Dirac crossover concept makes sense to your system.

But would not want to say that it makes sense for all systems. IMO the bigger you go with the subs and bed channels, better results you will get with Audy and D&M bass management. Just my 2c...