TOPIC:

What is the differences between Dirac and OpenDRC?

I am a newcomer to DRC. I purchased a Denon AV unit for the family television (with B&W tower speakers). The Denon came with Audyssey room correction, which I initially didn't notice or care about. However, once setup, it is excellent. I never cared for the B&W sound, but now it's pretty good.

My "audiophile" system is the Linkwitz Phoenix with original Phoenix circuit boards. I occasionally connect some Triangle Acoustics speakers and an EL84 push-pull amplifier when I'm in the mood. I have a Behringer three-way digital crossover to experiment replacing the original analog boards. But that's a different matter.

Since Audyssey DRC worked so well with the cheap consumer electronics (Denon Receiver), I want to try DRC with my audio system. Which one? Dirac or OpenDRC? And why?

Hello swmoore, the OpenDRC doesn't come with software to do the room correction. The idea is that you use third-party software (hence "open") to generate the filters, and you can use what you like. Some options are rephase, acourateDRC, DRC, PORC, align2. AcourateDRC needs to be purchased, the others are free. I believe the full version of Acourate can also be used.

Dirac Series (DDRC) include the Dirac Live software which is a partly automated system that guides you through doing nine measurements and then generates the filters for you. You have control over the target curve which is the final response and the range of frequency correction.

In summary the OpenDRC is more "hands on" and the Dirac Series is more expensive.

Both of the above are stereo only. There also the new nanoAVR DL which is HDMI in/out and multichannel DIrac.

Hope that helps. If you go to the Applications section of the menu above you will find a lot of information and tutorials. There's a recent post by danvprod in the forum on how to use align2 that may be of interest.

Oh, another difference (that may or may not be significant to you) is that OpenDRC runs (internally) at 48 kHz and Dirac Series run at 96 kHz. nanoAVR DL runs at 48 kHz.

Thank you for the clarification. The bottom line is "which one is best"? By "best", one could refer to the complexity of filters (number of poles, number of filters, etc.) and the best method of curve fitting (least mean squares, R2 value, etc.)

Since DRC is now totally driven by computational algorithms, may the best algorithm win. I curve fit simple functions with Excel every day, but when I need particularly good fitting accuracy, I use TableCurve. It beats Excel by a mile every time.

Do the same rules apply for the various DRC algorithms? Is Dirac generally superior to the other packages, just as TableCurve is better than Excel? Is the expensive Dirac license justified?

I'd like a general rule-of-thumb before I start downloading packages and doing trial runs with my laptop.

Very good answer from John already! Dirac is a complete different beast than a simple fir bank. From multipoint measurements to impulse response correction,Dirac Live algorithm is not comparable to the Opendrc in a sense... That is where the price difference comes in. As much the OpenDRC and software we've assembled around does some amaziñg work for 299usd, it is not the same as Dirac and price difference is here for a reason...

Ps: unfortunately, dsp structure is under nda so not something we can share i am afraid..