Second generation Dirac Live Room EQ coming

[amirm]

Great to see them follow up on their promise last year to put renewed emphasis on Dirac Live. https://www.dirac.com/news/2017/12/...its-acclaimed-dirac-live-platform-at-ces-2018

The update is free to current users!

Dirac Research to Introduce the Next Generation of its Acclaimed Dirac Live Platform at CES 2018

December 6, 2017

The new version of Dirac Live features an updated UI, improved performance through a new algorithm, simplified setup process, and support for multiple languages.

UPPSALA, SWEDEN — Dirac Research, the global leader in digitally optimized sound solutions, today announced several major updates to its pioneering Dirac Live room correction platform, including a refreshed, modern user interface with a simplified setup procedure, improved performance through a new algorithm, and new multi-language support. CES 2018 attendees will be able to experience a pre-release demo of this second-generation Dirac Live platform at Dirac Research’s Westgate Hotel Suite #630. The updated software is expected to launch in Q1 2018.

According to Niklas Thorin, Dirac’s General Manager of High Performance Audio, these upgrades come in response to technological advances and user input, and lay the foundation for the company to continuously expand Dirac Live’s capabilities throughout 2018 and beyond across all of the markets it serves – from home theater and stereo to professional studios and automotive.

“Dirac Live has been delivering the world’s best room correction for many years now,” Thorin said, “and these updates broaden the market and deliver user-requested features including support for Spanish, French, Mandarin and Japanese languages, a new, more user-friendly interface and configuration process, and an even more advanced algorithm that ensures improved performance.”

Indeed, this next-generation Dirac Live platform is now easier to configure, shifting from a fairly technical process requiring a substantial base of knowledge to one where the app helps the installer ensure everything is being done correctly. This is achieved through a more guided process that confirms the correct actions are being taken and the optimal settings are being implemented. The mobile app version of this new Dirac Live platform is designed so intuitively that even end-users, with no technical expertise, can room correct one’s home theater set-up.

“With our refreshed interface and configuration, users don’t need to be technical experts to gain optimal benefits from the platform,” Thorin added. “And an equally important change is the move toward a more mobile-friendly UI. The Dirac Live interface is now as accessible on a midsize tablet as it is on a larger laptop, giving installers flexibility in which tools they prefer using on site. Together, these improvements reaffirm our commitment to providing the best product, developing ever-improving room correction tools, and keeping current with peripheral technological advances.”

Where the previous version of the Dirac Live algorithm individually measured the phase of each stereo speaker, this new version also analyzes speakers in pairs. By doing so, the algorithm ensures that the pair’s phase responses are matched to each other. The upgrade will further enhance Dirac Live’s ability to improve staging and imaging – already key strengths of the platform – and will deliver immediate and obvious improvements to all users.

In Q3 2018, Dirac Research will build on this CES 2018 momentum by introducing an entirely new product development model for this second-generation Dirac Live platform. Going forward, Dirac will be committed to introducing, on a yearly basis, one new Dirac Live “module” that offers unique functionality and allows users to customize their Dirac Live platform based on specific usage requirements and market application – be it home theater, stereo, professional studio, and/ or automotive.

“We will soon offer our Dirac Live customers both cross-market and market-specific modules, which can be bolted on to their existing Dirac Live platform, to allow for a more customized and personalized room correction experience,” concluded Thorin. “As a result, Dirac Live will become a highly-dynamic, always-evolving, market-customized room correction platform, forever equipped with the most advanced audio optimization technologies.”

This second-generation Dirac Live platform will be available for demo at CES 2018, from January 9 through 12, at Dirac’s Westgate Hotel Suite #630. For more information, and to schedule a demo, email Dan Griffin at [email protected]. For hi-res photography, click here.

 

[jhaider]

A simpler interface would be nice, but I read "Unison in 2019, maybe" between the lines.

 

[dallasjustice]

@amirm I hope you are going to CES this year.

 

[amirm]

@amirm I hope you are going to CES this year.

I have tickets to the show but have not made hotel/flight reservations. Will have to decide soon on that.

 

[tr1ple6]

I have tickets to the show but have not made hotel/flight reservations. Will have to decide soon on that.

I recently went to the Warsaw audio show. People not showering or using deodorant is a big turnoff when it comes to audio shows

 

[amirm]

I recently went to the Warsaw audio show. People not showering or using deodorant is a big turnoff when it comes to audio shows

This was a really bad problem at RMAF two years ago. But since then they redid the AC and that show and all the others have been good. That said, CES can be nasty at times too.

FYI I just booked my hotel and flights for CES.

 

[dallasjustice]

I’d love to know the progress Dirac has or has not made implementing Unison for Windows.

This was a really bad problem at RMAF two years ago. But since then they redid the AC and that show and all the others have been good. That said, CES can be nasty at times too.

FYI I just booked my hotel and flights for CES.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I recently went to the Warsaw audio show. People not showering or using deodorant is a big turnoff when it comes to audio shows

It has always been that way.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I’d love to know the progress Dirac has or has not made implementing Unison for Windows.

I get the impression that it will be coming later in the year. The current announcement is evolutionary.

 

[dallasjustice]

I’d also love to hear your CES report Kal about anything DSP.

I get the impression that it will be coming later in the year. The current announcement is evolutionary.

 

[DonH56]

Wonder if the upgrade will apply to my Emotiva pre/pro or if just for those who bought direct from Dirac Live?

 

[Blumlein 88]

Wonder if the upgrade will apply to my Emotiva pre/pro or if just for those who bought direct from Dirac Live?

Was wondering the same thing as one of my friends has the Emotiva unit.

 

[amirm]

Wonder if the upgrade will apply to my Emotiva pre/pro or if just for those who bought direct from Dirac Live?

They say that is up to the manufacturer of that hardware to deal with. I will ask at CES and see what they say.

 

[jhaider]

Wonder if the upgrade will apply to my Emotiva pre/pro or if just for those who bought direct from Dirac Live?

No inside knowledge, but I would expect it. If only because supporting two separate programs sounds like a pretty big pain. Dirac's having enough trouble getting manufacturers to implement their software correctly. Especially when it bumps up against legacy bass management that often wasn't carefully considered in the first place.

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

No inside knowledge, but I would expect it. If only because supporting two separate programs sounds like a pretty big pain. Dirac's having enough trouble getting manufacturers to implement their software correctly. Especially when it bumps up against legacy bass management that often wasn't carefully considered in the first place.

I disagree. Yes, supporting multiple versions is a pain. But, so is rolling out a firmware update to your customer base, which inevitably seems to include more morons than there are stars in the sky. (Been there, done that.)

Is Dirac indeed having problems with proper implementation by manufacturers? Please share what you know.

Incidentally, and I don't know, the future Dirac will support two subs. Does an Emotiva prepro have two independent sub outputs? Current AVR/prepro hardware, including available computing horsepower on their DSP chips, might limit the ability to offer this new Dirac version. But, hey, time to upgrade to the new, enhanced AVR/prepro with Dirac II. (Been there, done that, too.)

That, dear friends, is one reason I jettisoned my prepro. My Dirac is just in my PC, which sends signal to my DAC, which is unaffected by this. So, I will be happy to update my PC to the new Dirac. I look forward to it.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

I’d also love to hear your CES report Kal about anything DSP.

Thanks but I am not going to CES this year. It will be the first I have missed in more than 20 years but they have become progressively less interesting in recent years.

 

[NorthSky]

Wonder if the upgrade will apply to my Emotiva pre/pro or if just for those who bought direct from Dirac Live?

There is also Arcam and NAD.

 

[DonH56]

Incidentally, and I don't know, the future Dirac will support two subs. Does an Emotiva prepro have two independent sub outputs?

Yes, the XMC-1 has two independent subwoofer outputs. A major PITA is that DL does not know anything about the crossovers in the pre/pro so most folk are adding a miniDSP or something similar to handle multiple subs. I am not but am sort of a special case and getting everything to play well together took some work. Would be much easier if the processing chain was fixed so subs and mains were properly integrated. Kal may know but I do not recall where blame was laid, DL or Emotiva.

 

[Kal Rubinson]

Yes, the XMC-1 has two independent subwoofer outputs. A major PITA is that DL does not know anything about the crossovers in the pre/pro so most folk are adding a miniDSP or something similar to handle multiple subs. I am not but am sort of a special case and getting everything to play well together took some work. Would be much easier if the processing chain was fixed so subs and mains were properly integrated. Kal may know but I do not recall where blame was laid, DL or Emotiva.

I cannot say but the same issue occurred with ARCAM. It was apparent that they had inserted DL into the signal path before BM but ARCAM insisted that it was OK and Dirac didn't throw them under the bus. Gradually, they have made grudging corrections to a point where it works but you have to stand on your head for the setup. Big thread on this in AVSForums.

 

[Fitzcaraldo215]

Yes, the XMC-1 has two independent subwoofer outputs. A major PITA is that DL does not know anything about the crossovers in the pre/pro so most folk are adding a miniDSP or something similar to handle multiple subs. I am not but am sort of a special case and getting everything to play well together took some work. Would be much easier if the processing chain was fixed so subs and mains were properly integrated. Kal may know but I do not recall where blame was laid, DL or Emotiva.

Yes, it seems that Dirac has difficulty in some instances with bass management and where it is in the chain, since BM is independent of Dirac's scope. I do mono bass to a single sub channel with the xover in JRiver pre-Dirac on the PC, so no problems. But, it should be interesting to see what Dirac does in the new version. Not sure how that might work. Adding an extra Dirac channel to turn it into 9-channel 7.2 would seem difficult, but possibly that is the plan for prepros. They do now have > 8 channels and multiple subs on the Datasat, I believe.

Audyssey went through a similar two sub evolution, but I cannot remember how they did it. Ancient history.

I think Toole prefers summed mono bass with multiple subs, incidentally. But, the subs still need to be synced.