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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 9, 2020 14:44:05 GMT -6
I just re-measured with SW and the bottom end is totally different. Mind boggling. I'm just sticking with the profile that works and moving on.
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Post by thirdeye on Jun 10, 2020 8:25:03 GMT -6
Everybody I have talked to has said the DA/ AD on mini DSP boxes sucks and avoid at all costs! Otherwise I would have jumped on one already! I've reached out to minidsp to see if I could somehow demo a DHRC-88A. I looked on their website and they have a "no return" policy, so I don't want to be stuck with one if I don't like the sound of it. My DA is a Lavry DA10 (one DA10 for L+R and one DA10 for PFL/AFL), so not super high end DA, but still okay. Those signals then go to my Avid/Digidesign XMon inputs. The Xmon monitor outs I split to feed my L+R+Lsub+Rsub. The DHRC-88A is the only minidsp box that will work for my configuration (2 balanced inputs, 4 balanced outputs post Xmon if that makes sense). I wish I could use the DHRC-88D and avoid the additional AD/DA of the DHRC-88A, but I just can't make it work with the configuration I am using. Follow up. I reached out to minidsp and they don't do demos unfortunately, and have a no return policy (Ugh!!). I reached out to all the minidsp dealers in the US, no demos either, although some of them will take returns. Comparing the DDRC 88A and DDRC 88D, there is only $100 difference in their price. To me that says the conversion in the 8 in 8 out analog box is probably pretty low quality (only $100 more than the digital box). So, I think I may go for the DDRC 88D, and re-purpose and reconfigure my converters I already have. |
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Post by thirdeye on Jun 19, 2020 17:35:57 GMT -6
I took the leap and ordered a minidsp DDRC 88D. I have no idea how long it will take to get here, but I'll check back in on this thread after I get it all set up.
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Post by indiehouse on Jun 20, 2020 6:23:56 GMT -6
I ended up buying Dirac. The difference was clear enough to warrant the purchase, for me.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 20, 2020 7:40:02 GMT -6
I ended up buying Dirac. The difference was clear enough to warrant the purchase, for me. Man. Wish I heard what you heard...but I could never get along with it. |
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Post by thirdeye on Jun 20, 2020 8:54:15 GMT -6
I ended up buying Dirac. The difference was clear enough to warrant the purchase, for me. Hoping I hear the same! |
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Post by indiehouse on Jun 20, 2020 9:50:10 GMT -6
I ended up buying Dirac. The difference was clear enough to warrant the purchase, for me. Man. Wish I heard what you heard...but I could never get along with it. I even remeasured Sonarworks carefully using a mic stand just to be sure. I really didn’t want to spend the money, but... (I never did understand Sonarworks measuring procedure. Why would just hold a mic while taking measurements? What about handling noise? And I can’t hold a mic perfectly still to save my life. I have so much sway. And we all know how much a difference and inch makes.) |
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Post by Johnkenn on Jun 20, 2020 18:09:37 GMT -6
Man. Wish I heard what you heard...but I could never get along with it. I even remeasured Sonarworks carefully using a mic stand just to be sure. I really didn’t want to spend the money, but... (I never did understand Sonarworks measuring procedure. Why would just hold a mic while taking measurements? What about handling noise? And I can’t hold a mic perfectly still to save my life. I have so much sway. And we all know how much a difference and inch makes.) I actually used a stand. But who knows...if I had started with Dirac, and had had success with it, I probably would have favored it. One of the reasons I decided to stick with SW is because the only thing that I still wonder about is the bottom being a little too big in my car. But it’s a new car with a big bottom end so it could just be the consumer system. Other stuff sounds big too. Anyway, Dirac had much less bottom in my studio which would have in turn made me ADD bottom...I changed the target to match it more closely with SW, but then I didn’t feel like it was how it was intended to be used. |
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Post by thirdeye on Sept 3, 2020 19:25:15 GMT -6
We finally had a break in the schedule and a chance to setup our Minidsp DDRC-88D, 8 in 8 out digital processor, with Dirac Live 3. We have Apogee converters on the inputs and Lavry on the outputs.
In my opinion, it really is amazing. Helped the lows and low mids immensely. The top end sounds sweet, crisp and focused. Transient response is better, super punchy and tight. The Dirac Live 3 software is great! Really nice to be able to group the L + R monitors separate from the 2 subwoofers. Also great to be able to adjust the target curve and "curtains". I'm very happy with it so far. I can tell you already it's going to make decisions much easier in our control room.
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Post by craigmorris74 on Jul 27, 2022 17:53:50 GMT -6
Downloaded Dirac Live today after hearing a lot about the Trinnov that recent thread (not dropping 4k for this). I wanted something that would do frequency and phase correction. I’d tried Sonarworks before and while it revealed frequency response issues, it didn’t knock me out.
Just did some listening tests with Dirac, and the results were shocking. My stereo image without correction is apparently a mess, and I was guessing a lot of the time about low end because of a couple dips below 100Hz. Phantom center went from being about a foot and a half wide to a defined spot.
Of course I have to tell myself that almost almost all my favorite reference mixes where done without this type of correction, and the image was smeared as it passed over a large format console. Kinda at a crossroads as to whether to just use this as a learning experience about my system, or purchase Dirac. My mixes have been translating pretty well, but always want to get better.
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Post by Johnkenn on Jul 27, 2022 21:10:55 GMT -6
Downloaded Dirac Live today after hearing a lot about the Trinnov that recent thread (not dropping 4k for this). I wanted something that would do frequency and phase correction. I’d tried Sonarworks before and while it revealed frequency response issues, it didn’t knock me out. Just did some listening tests with Dirac, and the results were shocking. My stereo image without correction is apparently a mess, and I was guessing a lot of the time about low end because of a couple dips below 100Hz. Phantom center went from being about a foot and a half wide to a defined spot. Of course I have to tell myself that almost almost all my favorite reference mixes where done without this type of correction, and the image was smeared as it passed over a large format console. Kinda at a crossroads as to whether to just use this as a learning experience about my system, or purchase Dirac. My mixes have been translating pretty well, but always want to get better. Of course, 99% of your favorite mixes were most likely down at studios with tens of thousands of dollars in acoustic treatment. |
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Post by craigmorris74 on Jul 27, 2022 21:51:50 GMT -6
Downloaded Dirac Live today after hearing a lot about the Trinnov that recent thread (not dropping 4k for this). I wanted something that would do frequency and phase correction. I’d tried Sonarworks before and while it revealed frequency response issues, it didn’t knock me out. Just did some listening tests with Dirac, and the results were shocking. My stereo image without correction is apparently a mess, and I was guessing a lot of the time about low end because of a couple dips below 100Hz. Phantom center went from being about a foot and a half wide to a defined spot. Of course I have to tell myself that almost almost all my favorite reference mixes where done without this type of correction, and the image was smeared as it passed over a large format console. Kinda at a crossroads as to whether to just use this as a learning experience about my system, or purchase Dirac. My mixes have been translating pretty well, but always want to get better. Of course, 99% of your favorite mixes were most likely down at studios with tens of thousands of dollars in acoustic treatment. Definitely true, they typically started with great sounding sources. But the spaces where mixdown occurred in the albums I enjoy often weren’t particularly special. |
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Post by OtisGreying on Oct 7, 2022 20:54:56 GMT -6
After playing with a fuzz measure demo and a pro Q2 on my master listening to references and mixes - the difference in the low end and what’s happening in my new room is pretty ridiculous. Pretty much like 7 db peak at 130hz and 7 db nulls at 40,50 and 60hz. Toggling on and off it was just obvious why I’ve been so confused dealing with low and low mid resonant bloomy issues that I could never solve in the past.
Think I’m gonna try Dirac for my first dedicated room EQ to really feel some confidence in the monitoring, and hoping it will sound even better than my pro Q2 that I made by hand.
Is anyone running Dirac in the background on their computer outside the DAW? I’d like to have the processing done while referencing tracks on Spotify for obvious reasons. Also if you can have it in the background, can you configure it so it doesn’t affect your headphones?
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Post by thirdeye on Oct 7, 2022 23:11:11 GMT -6
After playing with a fuzz measure demo and a pro Q2 on my master listening to references and mixes - the difference in the low end and what’s happening in my new room is pretty ridiculous. Pretty much like 7 db peak at 130hz and 7 db nulls at 40,50 and 60hz. Toggling on and off it was just obvious why I’ve been so confused dealing with low and low mid resonant bloomy issues that I could never solve in the past. Think I’m gonna try Dirac for my first dedicated room EQ to really feel some confidence in the monitoring, and hoping it will sound even better than my pro Q2 that I made by hand. Is anyone running Dirac in the background on their computer outside the DAW? I’d like to have the processing done while referencing tracks on Spotify for obvious reasons. Also if you can have it in the background, can you configure it so it doesn’t affect your headphones? We run a Minidsp DDRC-88D, 8 in 8 out digital processor, with Dirac Live 3 processing. I like having a dedicated processor rather than using the Dirac plugin. Our monitor controller is an Avid X-Mon run from our DCommand. The main outs of the monitor controller go AD-->Minidsp w/Dirac-->DA--Studio Monitors, so every input going into the Xmon gets processed (Pro Tools, Computer, Aux input for iphone, etc..) and it does not process the headphone outs. Not the same or as simple as using the plugin, but works for us. Dirac has been really helpful for us and sounds amazing. |
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Post by OtisGreying on Oct 8, 2022 0:33:42 GMT -6
After playing with a fuzz measure demo and a pro Q2 on my master listening to references and mixes - the difference in the low end and what’s happening in my new room is pretty ridiculous. Pretty much like 7 db peak at 130hz and 7 db nulls at 40,50 and 60hz. Toggling on and off it was just obvious why I’ve been so confused dealing with low and low mid resonant bloomy issues that I could never solve in the past. Think I’m gonna try Dirac for my first dedicated room EQ to really feel some confidence in the monitoring, and hoping it will sound even better than my pro Q2 that I made by hand. Is anyone running Dirac in the background on their computer outside the DAW? I’d like to have the processing done while referencing tracks on Spotify for obvious reasons. Also if you can have it in the background, can you configure it so it doesn’t affect your headphones? We run a Minidsp DDRC-88D, 8 in 8 out digital processor, with Dirac Live 3 processing. I like having a dedicated processor rather than using the Dirac plugin. Our monitor controller is an Avid X-Mon run from our DCommand. The main outs of the monitor controller go AD-->Minidsp w/Dirac-->DA--Studio Monitors, so every input going into the Xmon gets processed (Pro Tools, Computer, Aux input for iphone, etc..) and it does not process the headphone outs. Not the same or as simple as using the plugin, but works for us. Dirac has been really helpful for us and sounds amazing. Does the hardware provide a latency solution? Or is it just a matter of offloading the CPU strain off the computer? |
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Post by thirdeye on Oct 8, 2022 7:47:17 GMT -6
We run a Minidsp DDRC-88D, 8 in 8 out digital processor, with Dirac Live 3 processing. I like having a dedicated processor rather than using the Dirac plugin. Our monitor controller is an Avid X-Mon run from our DCommand. The main outs of the monitor controller go AD-->Minidsp w/Dirac-->DA--Studio Monitors, so every input going into the Xmon gets processed (Pro Tools, Computer, Aux input for iphone, etc..) and it does not process the headphone outs. Not the same or as simple as using the plugin, but works for us. Dirac has been really helpful for us and sounds amazing. Does the hardware provide a latency solution? Or is it just a matter of offloading the CPU strain off the computer? The hardware is a great solution for us because it's just always "on". Even before powering up the studio computer, I can listen to music from my phone, laptop or ipad with Dirac processing active. Also, when switching from Pro Tools to HOFA (or anything else), we don't have to load the plugin in each program. It wasn't really ever about off loading CPU strain, I actually never tried using just the plugin. And we process L+R plus two subwoofers, and I'm not sure how to do that with just the plugin. There is some latency to deal with hardware or plugin. If I'm tracking in the control room through the monitors, I will bypass Dirac. Also, when I'm editing drums, sometimes I will bypass Dirac, so the visual on the screen matches closer to what I'm hearing, if that makes sense. |
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