Room correction - what device works best?

I have found adding reflection absorbing panels and bass traps have made a tremendous improvement. Mostly DIY. A good site for advice is real traps.com.

Just curious why you're considering room correction? Is there a specific room issue you're trying to overcome (let's face it, they all have'em)? Have you heard a system with room correction? I get that you don't want to turn your family room into what looks like an adult daycare center, but I'd still try to do some of the basics like treating first reflections, corners, etc. if at all possible.

I'll just share my experience FWIW. I heard two different corrected systems, one in a hotel room and one in a big buck home system in a well-treated room. In both instances the differences were huge, as in as big or perhaps bigger than a significant speaker upgrade but definitely at that level. Put it this way, after hearing the corrected signal I didn't even want to listen to the un corrected system anymore. I'm with Byfwynne in not wanting to insert anything into my analog signal, but the improvements in these cases were so overwhelming that if it was degrading the signal to any degree it was swamped by all the other benefits.

Anyway, if it's me I'd try the DSpeaker just because it seems to work well and is relatively easy to use -- I'm not into endless fiddling with this stuff either. And it has a built-in display that may even allow you to use it without using a laptop. All that said, every room and system is different and you may or may not get the level of improvement I heard. Maybe you can find a way to demo one? Cable Company sells it so maybe you could return it with a relatively modest restocking fee? Hope this helps somewhat, and best of luck.

As others have stated you should do some physical room correction first.
This is advice based on my experiences;
Treat first reflections, front/back wall, corners and wall ceiling junction.
You will need a measurement device, highly recommend the Omni Mic system.
Bass issues are the most difficult to tame, especially if you have a smaller space that you can't move things around in to get out of the modes.
Bass traps were a no go for me, just not enough space.
I tried the DSpeaker Dual Core in the digital and analog domain, it would correct but I was never satisfied with the end sound.
Any device that worked in the digital domain that I tried always seemed to mess with the sound adversely.
I ended up inserting a Rives Parc just before my mono blocks, pure analog correction.
It is extremely transparent and did the bass correction that I needed without mucking up everything else.
You do not need the Rives software to set the Parc up, just a good measurement tool and enough patience to work through the learning curve, its really not that involved.
It is a shame that they are out of business.
There is a seller with two for sale on Audiogon, I feel that his asking price is too high, but he is taking offers.
Do not be fooled into thinking that you can not correct enough with only 3 bands of parametric correction per channel.
It works extremely well!

Does the Ayon have a digital out or better yet a digital tape loop? If not your system with a room correction device will have an A/D conversion step and you won't be using the D/A converter in the Ayon, but the one in the room correction component.

If your primary goal is to eliminate peaks resulting from bass room nodes than an alternative approach is to use an analog parametric equalizer. A used Rives is a good choice.

I understand that not everyone's significant other is cool with having a lot of tube traps and acoustic wall panels in their living room--and I count my wife among them. That's why I use Lyngdorf's RoomPerfect room correction system and it's simple to set up and use, plus the results are gratifying.

I have also used a fairly basic dbx 31-band stereo graphic equalizer with very good results... but usually you need a way of measuring the resulting response curve and it is done manually, band by band whereas the Lyngdorf does it automatically using measurements you take around your room with the included microphone.

From what I understand the DSpeaker EQ only adjusts frequencies from 500Hz and lower, and the Rives unit, while it is reputed to be fairly transparent, is also limited to what it can do, and I believe it only works in the bass. The Lyngdorf works full-range and reduces room reflections which can improve the fine detailing and imaging quite a bit. There is a lot of flexibility as to the adjustments you can make to the sound via remote control from your listening position, and that's another reason why I like it. It also has a bypass button so you can instantly compare the direct input signal to the EQ settings. For me this makes it a no-brainer.

While the Lyngdorf is not inexpensive, neither are acoustic panels, diffusers, helmholz resonators or tube traps... and none of those devices may work at the specific frequencies that your particular room needs corrected.

Many audiophiles are "purists" at heart, and as such are closed-minded to anything that does not fit their purist mindset. In the case of room acoustics and EQ keep in mind that most of the people giving advise have little or no experience working with electronic EQ. Even if they have tried electronic room equalization, there is a learning curve and they may have given up before they fully understood how to use their device effectively. That said, it's not exactly rocket science.