I agree...Guys, the NAD is getting better and better the more I am into Dirac. It is interesting what subtle changes to the EQ curve can impact listening quality!
However, WiiM still very very good for its price tag. WiiM Amp v2 is a safe buy for me.
Anything else? I don't think so. There are definitely alternatives. RoomPerfect works brilliantly (and brilliantly simple).I agree...
Build from walls a dedicated and precisely designed listening room or go with Dirac.
Anything else will be always a merely and unsatisfactory compromise...
Yes, it could be... I was more extensively meaning about the concept of any real effective correction system. Don't know about RoomPerfect but I can absolutely trust Dirac.Anything else? I don't think so. There are definitely alternatives. RoomPerfect works brilliantly (and brilliantly simple).
Yes but I completely trusted what can does Dirac, after witnesses how much it can improves even on a well known and well prepared showroom, in my town...I think that positioning and room acoustic treatment options should be exhausted before trying room correction
It was not much what Dirac improved, but for me it was the last and finally crucial step. With the standard tools my devices gave me it was more or less frustrating. One step forward, two steps back. Never really finished. Now it is fixed for months and every new check for curiosity confirmed the status quo. A result I got never without Dirac.Yes but I completely trusted what can does Dirac, after witnesses how much it can improves even on a well known and well prepared showroom, in my town...
My experience is the exact opposite.I'm not a huge fan of room correction just because it tends to narrow the sweet spot by the nature of how it works... + the fact that room acoustics are also pretty dynamic in practice - e.g. many issues can be corrected by bringing in a couple human flesh + blood bass traps (preferably with some partially filled glass resonators in their hands!!)
I think that positioning and room acoustic treatment options should be exhausted before trying room correction.
And obviously if there are narrowband "suckouts" that persist in your room then it's very difficult to fix that with EQ because increasing amplitude will do nothing to correct the reflection/phase issues that cause these problems in most cases.
I agree, after timing correction among subwoofer and speakers, room's resonance nodes are less invasive and the before wery tight "sweet point", it's now acceptable even for people sitting beside me and I got no more, excessive boomy points.My experience is the exact opposite.
The above was the very, very short version, so let me explain in more detail.haha, fair enough lads, that's why we share our experiences on here... it's interesting to hear you say that it's widened your sweet spot because all of the 9 measurement points are centered pretty closely to the listening position (makes sense tbh).
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but even in the "wide imaging" mode with 17 measurements, the focus is clearly on the optimal listening area.
maybe it's just the case that your room acoustics were already decent enough (mostly broadband issues and fewer narrowband/phase-related issues) that only needed minor EQing to compensate for. who knows? (as @Fender says - "final touches")
i just see some of the EQs people have posted on here with the room correction beta and i'm seeing like + or - 5/6 dB !! i mean, that's got to be too much colouration of the overall sound??! most of those issues detected are either transient artifacts potentially (when measuring) or really narrowband "suckouts" that can't really be fixed with EQ and that usually have not a huge effect on overall SQ (not always)...
Very well said.Agree 100% with this.
I was using the WiiM Amp and the Atoll IN100 Signature in the same room, connected to the same speakers, and although the Atoll is not high-end by any means, sound from it was significantly more detailed, more dynamic and better balanced than with WiiM Amp. On the other hand, Atoll is a 4 times more expensive piece and commands an additional DAC and streamer.
But, there is also a question of a baseline: WiiM Amp in my opinion is quite a good baseline for those of us who don't aspire to get some crazy high-end sound in our rooms. It sets the bar high enough, both in terms of sound quality and especially in terms of features. Measured by that, other gear needs to be really good in order to show a clear and significant increase in sound quality which might justify the price difference (usually very high difference).
The above was the very, very short version, so let me explain in more detail.
First of all I'm not using Dirac, I'm using RoomPerfect (RP). RP works by taking only one measurement in the MLP. All other measurements are taken at totally random points in the room (not outside the listening space, though). The intention is to capture the room's characteristic, not to concentrate on the sweet spot. All I can say is that in daily use this is working very well. In addition, RP has two different main profiles, named "Focus" and "Global". Global puts even less emphasis on the sweet spot and more on what's perceived in the entire listening space. And if that still isn't enough for you, RP allows to add different "Focus" positions (for each MLP) any time. Brilliant!
When dealing with stuff not supporting RoomPerfect (read: anything that isn't Lyngdorf, Steinway Lyngdorf or McIntosh) I try to emulate a similar approach. I do measure in the MLP (mic pointing at the center between the speakers) and add as many room measurements (mic pointing 90° upwards) as I feel necessary, mainly interested in those measurements differing from the previous ones. I then average those measurements (adding the MLP measurements to the mix three or four times to give it some extra weight) and carefully apply some correction to address the defects visible in the result. So far, I've been very satisfied with the results.
I'll go as far as admitting that a good thick rug on the floor is always a good idea. Choose a listening space where moving youre head just a few inches won't result in totatlly different results. Place your speakers in a way that avoids early reflections disturbing your listening experience. I'm fine with all that. But that's about it.
That's been the practical part. Now on to some theory and philosophy. Bass traps are incredibly inefficient. Dampening and diffraction might be helpful for a glass and concrete hipster loft, but isn't really needed for the average living room. Music is not recored, mixed and mastered to be replayed in an unechoic chamber. The late famous swiss sound artist Jürg Jecklin (calling him a sound engineer would be wrong on too many levels) gave a great lecture on the history of concert halls in 2015. Unfortunately, there is no English translation that I am aware of. I am not entitled to provide a summary, but I will take the freedom to elaborate on my own conclusions and how they can be applied to music reproduction: Our brain has a good concept of usualy rooms and it is well able to distiguish between the original sound event and the rooms contribution, if we give it a chance to do so.