Room Correction / Dirac Live

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56 comments

  • Official comment
    Wesley P.

    Hello Maximillian,

    Thank you for taking the time to provide your feedback. Recently Bluesound's sister brand NAD has been implementing Dirac Live room correction in their latest products. With that being said, it is not outside the realm of possibility that this feature may find its way into future Bluesound players. With that being said, I will pass your feedback along to our Quality Assurance team for their consideration to see if some form of room correction could be implemented into Bluesound in the future.

    Regards,
    Wesley P.

  • Kirkat

    Hi, I strongly second that. I think room correction is a key feature now. Especially since competing products Like Sonos and Elac with their streaming amp provide some form of room correction using a phone app.It would be terrific if you can provide it through the bluos app or Dirac for the powernode 2i in future firmware update.

    1
  • Jack Rudich

    +1 for Dirac Live on Bluesound Products. Would love it for my Node 2i, even if we had to pay a small amount for the software upgrade. 

    3
  • Jerome Barrillon

    +1 on room eq. If not Dirac Live, at the very least a parametric EQ (7+ bands) in lieu of the Treble and Bass adjustments. 

    1
  • Kirkat

    I am pretty sure the hardware in Gen 2i can support Dirac Live since the NAD products seem to work on the same Arm processors. You could offer it as an optional feature for additional cost for those that need it and I am certain a lot of us would happily pay for it since the room acoustics are the biggest influence on sound. It would add value to bluesound as an audiophile brand compared to Sonos and other competitors who already offer this feature. I would appreciate an official response if this is a possibility in the near future. Thanks 

    3
  • Peter de Vos

    1+ Dirac for the powernode 2i

    0
  • Miguel

    Hello I would like to have the dirac please on the Bluenode 2i because the equalizer of the bluenode 2i doesn't work very good, is it possible to pourchase it paying an upgrade ?

    0
  • Ventil

    Any news about this? Considering TDAI 1120, but is a stretch budgetary.

    0
  • Felix Lorenz

    I can only confirm what Maximilian and my predecessors have already said (by using a NAD with Dirac Live).

    So please, dear Bluesound, go ahead and offer this crucial piece of functionality for your Streaming-Devices!

    Best regards

    1
  • Prebenkvist

    1+ Dirac for the Node 2i

    0
  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Thanks, everyone for your feedback.

    DIRAC room correction is not available in Bluesound and we have no immediate plans to incorporate it. Please remember it is third-party licensed software as a result there is a cost to incorporate it. When you purchase a DIRAC enabled product, you are also purchasing DIRAC. Adding DIRAC to Bluesound would result in a cost increase to Bluesound Products.

    If DIRAC room correction is important to you - consider looking at some of the fine BluOS Step up products available from our good friends at NAD Electronics.

    -1
  • Martin Holst

    Understandable - but still a bit sad.

    The C 658 is indeed a swiss army knife - and great for those who want an "all-in-one" product.

    But as far as I know there is currently no "simple streamer" with digital out and Dirac Live from NAD - for those os us who basically want a Bluesound Node with Room Correction.

    So those who appreciate the Bluesound platform and would like to hang on their DAC and amp... Well, they are basically out of luck :-(

    Fingers crossed for a product in the future.

    Best regards
    Martin

    2
  • Jerome Barrillon

    I have found success using the MiniDSP DDRC-22. It is all in the digital domain and inserts in between my Node 2i and my DAC. Of course, if you want to use the DAC in the Node, this might not work. 

    I have been very happy with this implementation. Of course, it is added cost, added interconnects, etc. and would prefer to have it on board the Node, but it does allow for a good implementation of Dirac Live. 

    4
  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Hi Martin

    The NAD C658 is in fact exactly that product

    Room correction happens at the DAC end - even if the NODE were to have DIRAC, all the filtering would be removed - or worse re-corrected - by the external DAC. For Dirac to work as designed you would have to go analogue out. So your answer is an external DAC that supports DIRAC...

    I would recommend the NAD C658, both professionally and as the BluOS Player in my Living Room.

    0
  • Igor

    Dimensions and weight:

    • NAD C658 - 435 x 100 x 405 mm / 10.1 kg
    • PowerNode 2i - 220 x 70 x 190 mm / 1.72 kg

    The NAD is 6 (!) times bigger and heavier than the PowerNode.
    I would be happy to switch to the NAD but it's just too big and heavy for a purpose where I use the PowerNode.

    0
  • Martin Holst

    Thank you all,

    I am currently using the DAC integrated in my amp - and I am quite pleased with it.

    I would definitely like a Node-sized streamer with Dirac Live onboard - and keep the output digital.
    That being said I am considering the C 658, as reviews have been favorable - but I will also look into the MiniDSP.

    Thanks again.

    1
  • Maximilian Sprenger

    It is a great pity that Bluesound does not want to offer any room correction.
    For me, the NAD products are not a real alternative and this is less a question of money than a question of space.

    Especially in the kitchen or the bathroom, a room correction would be very useful, because it is difficult to optimize the rooms acoustically, because here really other priorities are set. In my living room is anyway a NAD AV receiver with Dirac on board. For most other rooms you want small all-in-one solutions.
    A solution with a Node + miniDSP + active speakers is just too many devices in one pile for me.

    At least a decent EQ could be integrated in the foreseeable future, but maybe a switch to Sonos is the best solution for me in the end. NAD AV receiver with BluOS or not.

    2
  • Felix Lorenz

    The filtering must happen with the digital analog conversion to ensure the correct analog signal.
    That argument fits the node but not the power node.

    The reason i guess why most people would like to have it is the size not the money.

    Therefore i just can recommend to overthink the pricing policy for power nodes or to introduce a kind of upgrade policy for them.

    1
  • Martin Holst

    Felix Lorenz I don't think that the statement about "Room Correction happens at the DAC end" can be applied in general.
    As Jerome states, products like the MiniDSP DDRC-22D are applying Room Correction entirely in the digital domain. (Although the measurements used for corrections are of course done entirely on analog sound output in your room)

    But MQA is a rather big feature for Bluesound/NAD, so I'm guessing that Tony-W means that pre-DAC DSP might mess with the proprietary MQA control bits which need to reach the DAC unaltered - in order for the final MQA unfold/render to be performed correctly.

    So by putting DSP in between the player which handles first MQA unfold (decoding) and the DAC which handles the second unfold (rendering), you will probably loose the last unfold.
    This means that you will "only" get half of the sample rate encoded in the MQA file - e.g. 96KHz vs 192KHz.
    (Which would be perfectly OK for me, since my DAC is not MQA compatible anyway :-) 

    /Martin

    0
  • someduder

    +1 on Dirac for Node 2i. at min expand EQ features. 

    0
  • Dale F Austin

    I am considering purchasing the Node 2i and would easily pay a fair bit more to add Dirac.

    0
  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    Hi Dale

    Then you may want to consider the NAD C658 BluOS Streamer by our good friends at NAD Electronics. All the same features of the NODE plus more, including DIRAC built in.

    0
  • Igor

    > Then you may want to consider the NAD C658 BluOS Streamer

    That is significantly larger and heavier than Node.
    A room correction is mainly a software feature, it doesn't require any significant increase in space and mass.

    0
  • Nuno Paiva

    Dear Tony,

    Please think of all new systems with Active powered speakers.

    I have DYNAUDIO XEO 30 active speakers (I want to stay in digital domain as input to speakers)

    To have Dirac:

    1) miniDSP SHD with analog input (turntable) and digital out to speakers (Volumio included)

       - 1300 Euros

       - I prefer BLUOS app to Volumio

    2) Node 2i digital out to miniDSP DDR-2 digital in. Digital out from miniDSP to Speakers Digital in.

       - I connect the turntable to the node 2i analog input

       - 400 euros + 950 Euros: 1350 euros 

    3) MiniDSP SHD Studio (Volumio included) + New Phono Amp with USB out

      - 1099 + 200: 1300 Euros

      - I prefer BLUOS app to Volumio

    So I would be willing to have a Node with Dirac and pay 750 Euros (500 + Dirac license) and have only one device for my needs.

    NAD C658 does not help me due to missing digital out to the speakers.

    Thanks,

    Nuno

    1
  • Jonas Calling

    Would be a great feature. As I have understood the messurement is done on a computer. Se we only need to be able to uploaded the created filter/correction. Or have I misunderstood.

    0
  • Nuno Paiva

    The way MiniDSP or NAD products work with Dirac is that you connect the PC / MAC that runs Dirac to the device via USB. When you perform the calibration the filter is then automatically stored in the device in one of the memories. Then you can assign the filter type or disable it. I don't think you can save Dirac filter in a file and upload them into a device to be honest. If the Bluesound node could read REW filters would be already great.

    0
  • Tony W.
    Product Support Manager

    DIRAC Room Calibration is model and room dependant. You can save filters on your NAD M10 and upload them to another NAD M10, but unless that second M10 is in the same place, using the same speakers, not sure what benefit you would receive. an NAD M10 filter cannot be uploaded to say an NAD C658.

    So no even if we were to consider adding DIRAC to Bluesound, you could not upload filters to it. At this time, we are not considering adding DIRAC to Bluesound in the foreseeable future.

    0
  • Blake Patterson

    Hey Tony, can you disclose the business reason to not add DIRAC to Bluesound products this year?

    Just curious - DIRAC is universally recognized as the best room correction solution on the market, and we are all willing to pay for it (if it's too expensive to devote engineering time to it for Bluesound, why not upcharge us to $1000 per license and you take the margin that doesn't go to dirac?).

    Just another customer saying we want this, name your price. Thanks!

    1
  • Nuno Paiva

    Totally agree. The Node 2i module MDC2 BlueOS for the NAD amplifiers now have also Dirac Live in the same module so I wonder why a Node N130 from 2021 as a stand alone product does not have this. I am really considering buying a Arcam with Dirac. Please help us.

    1
  • Ville Rautio

    Hey Tony,
    I am also ready to purchase an additional license for Dirac Live (Node 2 N130). Have you yet investigated whether this is technically possible at all? Unfortunately, a larger DAC than the Node 2 is not an option for me. I drive my active speakers (stereo 2.1) directly with the Node. In terms of size, this is the perfect set for my listening space.

    And by the way, sorry for my poor English :)

    1

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