Dirac Live room correction software will ‘soon’ be coming to Bluesound streaming devices like the NODE and POWERNODE. That’s according to a press release issued by Dirac yesterday.
Dirac Live is a software app that optimises the audio signal – and therefore the loudspeakers’ output – for the acoustic makeup of the room. In my experience, Dirac Live is excellent at tackling bass problems in small spaces but, with only two speakers in play, it cannot fix reverberation problems in the midrange and treble.
We don’t yet know which Bluesound devices will accommodate Dirac Live but we do know that the Bluesound software team is looking at how far back they can go: “Backwards compatibility to existing Bluesound devices is also being studied and roll-out plans for eligible models will be shared at a later date.”
Also: “Integration will bring industry-leading room correction capabilities to select Bluesound devices with the purchase of a microphone accessory kit and a license”.
Once Dirac Live compatibility has been added to your Bluesound player – presumably via an over-the-air update – you will need to purchase a) a compatible microphone and b) a Dirac Live licence. Connect the microphone to a Mac or PC, install the Dirac Live app and activate the licence. The Dirac Live app will then walk you through the measurement process: it uses the microphone to ‘listen’ to the room at a handful of different locations before calculating a customisable correction curve that can be transferred to the Bluesound device’s internal storage. This correction curve is then (optionally) applied to the digital audio signal before it hits the D/A converter.
This brings us to what I (and many colleagues) see as a must-have feature: Dirac-enabled NODE users should be able to send the room-corrected signal to a third-party DAC using the NODE’s digital outputs. The market is thirsty for a Dirac solution that doesn’t force us to use the host device’s DAC. Please, Dirac. Please, Bluesound. Don’t miss this opportunity to make a lot of hi-fi enthusiasts happy.
Further information: Dirac Live