TOPIC:

So my system sounds better without Dirac than with it. How come? Is that normal?

Well, I'm not sure what sort of answer you're looking for with a query like this. 
The magic elixir of Dirac isn't the be-all end-all of "room correction" systems.

It's fancy and it's expensive, but there isn't anything you can do with Dirac that you can't do manually.....with some extra work.

Dave.

I get that, but my room is completely untreated and very irregular. I had audyssey before that did a wonderful job correcting it, and I thought Dirac would be even better. But it isn't. I measured the room and all, exported filters/presets, but when I toggle it on/off, the off sounds significantly more open and present. With dirac on it sounds thin and compressed. Which is weird.

I would examine your Dirac correction curve and see where/why you think it went wrong.  Compare it to your Audyssey curve and match it, if you can.

Dave.

 

Are you sure you are level matched when comparing?  Louder always sounds better. 

It doesn't get louder when I toggle off Dirac, it just gets more 'in the room'.. what do you hear when you turn it off?

I had the exact same experience a couple of hours ago. Went troubleshooting/cursing through the internet and couldn’t figure out why it went so poorly. I just went back to do another round of measurements and realized on the first round we started measuring on the right side of the seating position and not the left side like you’re instructed. Measured correctly it’s definitely better with than without the correction. My room is about 18’x20’x10’ with odd openings to either the kitchen/dining/bedrooms and hard floors.

worth looking at. We described the sound the first time as frail and compressed, so could be the same situation. The graphic is a bit squirrelly, especially when looking from an angle.

A key point with Dirac Live is that there isn't a single 'effect' that it achieves. The target curve is very much something to be seen as a starting point to be adjusted to personal taste, not some sort of definitive 'perfect' target. Such a thing does not exist.

Personally I only like Dirac Live applied in the bass region (up to around 150-200 Hz).

Kenken wrote:

It doesn't get louder when I toggle off Dirac, it just gets more 'in the room'.. what do you hear when you turn it off?


 

that’s sorta the point …. Remove the room 

lusten to it for a month , then try and go back to without it 


if it were me I would switch to manual mode and make my own fir , but the Dirac can works nice.

ots supposed to remove the room and make it less lively and more accurate….

why do you want a room correction, and still have the room effects? It’s a double negative. Room correction says it all. 

My $0.0002.

DIRAC vs REW + Harmon Curve   vs Flat

I have all three and flip back and forth.. ended up going back to REW +Harmon for most listening / loud listening where I "expect" sound per previous experience.

But for new  / HiFi  music..  Flat with slight bump in base   Is best. 

Preset 1: DIRAC I found if you compare output curve on recorded sweep, after DIRAC programed into preset, to be close to what I got from my receiver's automatic adjustment....\
Preset 2: ...but as noted.. when I was trying with manual tools to get line level REW + Harmon Curve overlay to bump mid / base up is most "pleasant" though has issues with base crazy music
Preset 3: Line level.. goal to get sweep to be flat as can be considering room and treatment.   This does have best Stage presence capable but that comes down to treatment and delay which no EQ overlay can correct totally for.

In end DIRAC was not worth $$.  But if you don't want to slog through sweeps and time delay fiddling ... it serves its purpose. 
My main issue is that it takes a "reboot" to enable it.. vs just selecting preset.. hense another reason I abandoned it.  I understand now the technical reason for it.. its just not what I expected.

 

penguinpages wrote:

My $0.0002.

DIRAC vs REW + Harmon Curve   vs Flat

I have all three and flip back and forth.. ended up going back to REW +Harmon for most listening / loud listening where I "expect" sound per previous experience.

But for new  / HiFi  music..  Flat with slight bump in base   Is best. 

Preset 1: DIRAC I found if you compare output curve on recorded sweep, after DIRAC programed into preset, to be close to what I got from my receiver's automatic adjustment....\
Preset 2: ...but as noted.. when I was trying with manual tools to get line level REW + Harmon Curve overlay to bump mid / base up is most "pleasant" though has issues with base crazy music
Preset 3: Line level.. goal to get sweep to be flat as can be considering room and treatment.   This does have best Stage presence capable but that comes down to treatment and delay which no EQ overlay can correct totally for.

In end DIRAC was not worth $$.  But if you don't want to slog through sweeps and time delay fiddling ... it serves its purpose. 
My main issue is that it takes a "reboot" to enable it.. vs just selecting preset.. hense another reason I abandoned it.  I understand now the technical reason for it.. its just not what I expected.


 

Have you tried using the Harman curve within Dirac as its target curve? I get very good (to my ears) results with that.

Tony_J wrote:

penguinpages wrote:

My $0.0002.

DIRAC vs REW + Harmon Curve   vs Flat

I have all three and flip back and forth.. ended up going back to REW +Harmon for most listening / loud listening where I "expect" sound per previous experience.

But for new  / HiFi  music..  Flat with slight bump in base   Is best. 

Preset 1: DIRAC I found if you compare output curve on recorded sweep, after DIRAC programed into preset, to be close to what I got from my receiver's automatic adjustment....\
Preset 2: ...but as noted.. when I was trying with manual tools to get line level REW + Harmon Curve overlay to bump mid / base up is most "pleasant" though has issues with base crazy music
Preset 3: Line level.. goal to get sweep to be flat as can be considering room and treatment.   This does have best Stage presence capable but that comes down to treatment and delay which no EQ overlay can correct totally for.

In end DIRAC was not worth $$.  But if you don't want to slog through sweeps and time delay fiddling ... it serves its purpose. 
My main issue is that it takes a "reboot" to enable it.. vs just selecting preset.. hense another reason I abandoned it.  I understand now the technical reason for it.. its just not what I expected.



 

Have you tried using the Harman curve within Dirac as its target curve? I get very good (to my ears) results with that.

The Harman curve - do you "draw" it in Dirac or in the DSP's PEQ?

You can draw it in the Dirac app, or rather more accurately you can make up a target curve file. They are text files and it's easy enough to figure out the format - try saving the default curve somewhere and look at it using Notepad.

And I can just find the default Harman curve file somewhere and ingest it?

I've attached one of the files I use which is based on the Harman curve. The forum software only allows certain file extensions, so you would need to change the extension from ".txt" to ".targetcurve" to use it. The "4dB" in the file name refers to the amount of bass boost - you can of course tweak it to taste!