If you can get a home audition--hearing for yourself in your system is always the best way to decide. Every room and system (and listener) responds differently and priorities differ.
My experience with digital room correction (RCS) has been very positive. A friend brought over a Tact preamp and we set it up and it was as if a blanket had been removed from the speakers. I also though I had a good room, but measurements (especially in the bass) showed otherwise. My speakers have changed twice since then, but the RCS remains (Tact 2.2x and two 2150s).
Main benefits are in frequency response. The bass humps and suckouts that most of us have learned to live with are gone, which creates a subjective experience of opening up the mids. And time alignment helps add clarity, depth and realism to the soundstage. The only trade-off is a slight lack of warmth and bloom. These are very slight IMO, and insignificant compared to the advantages.
A year ago I thought maybe I was missing something with the likely recent advances in digital conversion, so I bought a $5K tube DAC and $4K amp to substitute for the Tact amp. Yes it was slightly more liquid, but less open and detailed so they were quickly sold (actually, I kept the amp for another system). There is a wonderful advantage to keeping the signal digital all the way to the speaker.
If analog or SACD is your main thing, the trade-offs with RCS might not be worth it -- hard to say. For me it wasn't and I sold my SACD, as my CD with RCS sounded about as good overall as SACD without. Depends on your room and listening preferences.
The presets are quite good by themselves, but heck, we're audiophiles and we like to tweak. I've tweaked my correction curves to fit my listening priorities, and also to have alternate options for different recordings (ie, some have too much bass for my taste, etc.) I've also got power supply, etc. mods to the preamp and amp which further increase the fidelity and minimize the digital conversion artifacts, but I could have happily lived without these.
In the end, different strokes for different folks -- but try to experience it in your system. You may be surprised. Products from Tact and Lyngdorf and Behold, etc. have really upped the ante.
My experience with digital room correction (RCS) has been very positive. A friend brought over a Tact preamp and we set it up and it was as if a blanket had been removed from the speakers. I also though I had a good room, but measurements (especially in the bass) showed otherwise. My speakers have changed twice since then, but the RCS remains (Tact 2.2x and two 2150s).
Main benefits are in frequency response. The bass humps and suckouts that most of us have learned to live with are gone, which creates a subjective experience of opening up the mids. And time alignment helps add clarity, depth and realism to the soundstage. The only trade-off is a slight lack of warmth and bloom. These are very slight IMO, and insignificant compared to the advantages.
A year ago I thought maybe I was missing something with the likely recent advances in digital conversion, so I bought a $5K tube DAC and $4K amp to substitute for the Tact amp. Yes it was slightly more liquid, but less open and detailed so they were quickly sold (actually, I kept the amp for another system). There is a wonderful advantage to keeping the signal digital all the way to the speaker.
If analog or SACD is your main thing, the trade-offs with RCS might not be worth it -- hard to say. For me it wasn't and I sold my SACD, as my CD with RCS sounded about as good overall as SACD without. Depends on your room and listening preferences.
The presets are quite good by themselves, but heck, we're audiophiles and we like to tweak. I've tweaked my correction curves to fit my listening priorities, and also to have alternate options for different recordings (ie, some have too much bass for my taste, etc.) I've also got power supply, etc. mods to the preamp and amp which further increase the fidelity and minimize the digital conversion artifacts, but I could have happily lived without these.
In the end, different strokes for different folks -- but try to experience it in your system. You may be surprised. Products from Tact and Lyngdorf and Behold, etc. have really upped the ante.