Dirac - worth activating?

Absolutely worth listening to. :)

Definitely!

Worth it to most.

Certainly worth it if it is free and only takes time.
Then you know for sure whether it is worth it, and can also opine on it.
Or if it is difficult, then someone may be able to assist you.

Does it adj beyond processor?, ie. For stereo listening via preamp?

Good topic for me, have to jump in.

I have the NAD C658 preamp, the free dirac version (up to 500hz) is included. I'm only using that freebie so far, and I only toggle on when playing vinyl. I used the included microphone on the 15ft cord btw to setup.

Why? Because there's a major boost in gain, and without it my Starkrimson amp doesn't have enough gain (combined with phono amp, NAD impedance, unkown other factors). 

BUT! the happy gain boost is ONLY when the 'analog bypass' is ON and the dirac profile I created is enabled. When streaming there's not much a gain difference, but there is a frequency/dirac difference (mainly bass is way flatter). I've thought about posting this oddity actually in a separate NAD / dirac post actually. 

Definitely worth trying.  I bought an Arcam SR-250 AV 2-channel receiver which comes with Dirac Live.  It required a bit of a learning curve but made a huge difference in a pair of Martin Logan speakers.  I was so impressed that I bought the Mini-DSP DDRC-24 for my main system when I was trying to integrate a pair of Legacy Focus speakers in a smallish room.  Again, a huge improvement but I ended up selling the speakers because of their size/weight.

I have a streamer with dac.  Not sure if a mini dsp is possible since it goes between digital source and a dac.

curious device

I'm not familiar with your setup.  In my situation, the miniDSP DDR-24 is inserted between the preamp and power amp.  The link below goes to the manual.  Check out section 4.4 beginning on page 23.

miniDSP DDRC-24 User Manual

Yowser,

thanks,

how is minidsp working out?

As mentioned earlier, I sold my Legacy Focus speakers and now have Reference 3A Reflectors.  I have yet to insert the miniDSP as I'm in the process of moving to a different house.  My intention is to first prepare the listening room with acoustic panels and then insert the miniDSP afterwards.  As you may have noticed in the manual, there's a bit of a meticulous procedure to calibrate it and I only want to do it once. Also, there's several very good youtube tutorials of Dirac Live that were very helpful.

Seems dirac is mostly for ht

Seems dirac is mostly for ht

I have no idea how you can draw that conclusion from the posts in this thread. Almost all of them are using or recommend trying it for stereo. I use Mini DSP Studio with Dirac Live for stereo listening. Digital out of my cd player to Mini DSP. Digital out of Mini DSP to active speaker system. As stated above, there is a learning curve, but it is very worthwhile for stereo. 

I am not sure why you wouldn't at least try it if you have it. Then you can decide for yourself if you like what it does.

 

Because stereo is easier to deal with and ht has many more spkrs.  Not sure many use minidsp.  

 

I have a streamer with dac. Not sure if a mini dsp is possible since it goes between digital source and a dac.

It usually goes between the pre-amp and the amp, or the source and the pre-amp.
(Best on a higher line level side, rather than a cranked down pre-amp).

So on a tape source side would be common.

MiniDSP is but one example.

 

Because stereo is easier to deal with and ht has many more spkrs.  Not sure many use minidsp. 

Car audio is also an area where is it hard to put in draperies over the windows or other treatments. Most of that is 2 channel, and the use of DSP is standard.

Stereo is not easier to deal with, other than 2 is a lower number than say 5. And 2.0 is a lower number than 5.2. People usually do better listening to a single speaker, 2 hides sins, and 5 hides sins even better.

Does anybody have an idea how DDRC-24/ Dirac handles analog input. Does it get reconfigured into a digital signal and then convert back to analog by a DAC in the DDRC? 

If that's the case, is the sound quality degraded by being processed a second time because my streamer has a built in DAC and I go directly from the streamer to my amp. There is no way to integrate the DDRC between steamer and DAC?

And just what the heck does dirac do to the signal?  Anybody know what dirac does under the hood?????

Their website talks about the Dirac delta function, and transfer functions to undue the colouration of the system.

I am pretty sure it is similar to the modem channel correction that fred harris (of Blackman-Harris fame) did many years ago.