Amarra Symphony with Dirac Live Impulse Response Correction

[mojave]

Interesting thread this is.

Does Dirac, or any other soft, allow to convert a music file from for example flac to flac but equalization applied to it? In other words, the EQ would be 'hard coded' / embedded in the copied music file thus eliminating the need to have an EQ in the live audio stream?

Yes, JRiver Media Center will do it with its own DSP including convolution. However, I don't think it would work with Dirac.

 

[flyer]

Edorr and mojave,

thanks for the tip. I gave it a quick try just now; downloaded a trial version of Jriver, put some values in the DSP options for converting (even directly from (original) flac to (new) flac!) and hit the convert option. The result is exactly what i was hoping for. It even allows me to convert a whole batcb of directories (CD's) at once and keeping all the metadata along.
Great tool, thanks again.

 

[michael123]

I am curious why you guys EQ to straight line while our ears are anything else but a linear device!
Moreover, the hearing of 20 years old is different from 45 years old and from 60 years old.

I eq only bass area < 120Hz, all the rest is done with the passive treatment and speakers placement - whatever I can do

And all the iterations I fine-tune using my own ears

 

[flyer]

I am curious why you guys EQ to straight line while our ears are anything else but a linear device!
Moreover, the hearing of 20 years old is different from 45 years old and from 60 years old.

I eq only bass area < 120Hz, all the rest is done with the passive treatment and speakers placement - whatever I can do

And all the iterations I fine-tune using my own ears

I couldn't agree more. That is exactly what I have done; optimize the listening room and only then, as a final resort after more than a year of optimizing, tweak those frequencies that are merely due to the physical constraints of the room's dimensions. Those frequencies are effectively below 120 hz. My room has a serious boom at 31 Hz for example that I EQ out this way, there is no other way except if you have plenty of space to spare to put huge bass traps (and probably won't have that much of an issue that low in the first place). Between 40 and 60 Hz in contrast I have too little pressure that I can also remedy this way. It makes a clear audible difference (improvement) in most classical music reproduction and costs only the price of a Jriver licence.

 

[dallasjustice]

Hifi critic article 10-12/2013

There's an excellent article from Martin Colloms concerning loudspeaker design wherein he explains problems with reflex/ported loudspeakers in the time domain. He shows the group delay problem this type of speaker exhibits. One of the real world examples he uses is from various studio mixing engineers at different locations. It was shown these engineers were EQing the bass differently for the same program material. It was discovered that these engineers were simply calibrating their in room monitors using steady state test signals to achieve a "flat" FR. Of course, the EQ differences were shown to be caused not by the FR difference but due to the time domain differences with their loudspeaker's group delay. That is, bass may measure flat with a steady state signal but not perceived that way given sufficiently poor time behavior.

Michael123,
You are only seeing one-half of the coin. The other half is in the time domain. The time domain anomalies affect how much of a particular frequency you hear. FR and time domain are interrelated. Interestingly, Colloms makes the case that the group delay problems with bass reflex speakers can be corrected with DSP. In some cases, a correction of up to 10 feet may be necessary.

Modern day DSP shouldn't be thought of as an EQ. The best DSPs correct BOTH FR and time domain. Btw, I don't know anyone that sets a full range target curve to flat. I think Amir has posted the Harmon studies showing the curves that people tend to prefer. Most DSP designers will offer recommended curves. Those are usually backed with many listening tests and can be tailored to personal preference.

Michael.