Mini DSP flex with Diraclive as a DAC + Pre, any first hand exeperince?

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

This is my current chain- Raspberry pi 4b(volumio) - Topping D90LE - Topping A90D - T+A A1500 - KEF Speakers

I am planning on replacing the topping chain with a mini DSP flex which has a pre out. Somehow the entire Topping chain sounded very clinical compared to my old chord mojo. Using the mojo as a hifi dac is a PITA being battery driven and it has no remote/no auto turn on feature. Since my setup is in living room which is untreated, my room treatment options are very limited. At my listening distance I cannot hear any difference between 48khz and 96khz or above. At this point, adding a room correction may help me hear more details if m not wrong. Anyone tried the flex series replacing their high quality dacs ? Audibly was there any loss in sound quality replacing the dacs with the DSPs internal DAC?

 

[Kannan]

Since you want to employ digital room correction, why not try using CamillaDSP with Volumio (the plugin is called FusionDSP) before replacing the full chain.

https://housecurve.com/docs/appnotes/volumio.html

Another free way to try room correction is to use a PC with Foobar or JRiver. JRiver has a powerfull DSP studio built-in.

You will additionally need a calibration mic. An SPL meter will also be helpful (but you can aswell use a mobile app for that).

That said, one of the most powerful softwares for room correction is DRC, and the best part is that it is totally open source, but at the same time quite complex.
https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Since you want to employ digital room correction, why not try using CamillaDSP with Volumio (the plugin is called FusionDSP) before replacing the full chain.

https://housecurve.com/docs/appnotes/volumio.html

Another free way to try room correction is to use a PC with Foobar or JRiver. JRiver has a powerfull DSP studio built-in.

You will additionally need a calibration mic. An SPL meter will also be helpful (but you can aswell use a mobile app for that).

That said, one of the most powerful softwares for room correction is DRC, and the best part is that it is totally open source, but at the same time quite complex.
https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/

Since you want to employ digital room correction, why not try using CamillaDSP with Volumio (the plugin is called FusionDSP) before replacing the full chain.

https://housecurve.com/docs/appnotes/volumio.html

Another free way to try room correction is to use a PC with Foobar or JRiver. JRiver has a powerfull DSP studio built-in.

You will additionally need a calibration mic. An SPL meter will also be helpful (but you can aswell use a mobile app for that).

That said, one of the most powerful softwares for room correction is DRC, and the best part is that it is totally open source, but at the same time quite complex.
https://drc-fir.sourceforge.net/

thanks, I will give it a try. Hope raspberry pi can run volumio along with the DSP filters at the same time. Any one compared the results of this vs DSP+UMIK? How reliable is the mic on an iPhone for this purpose ?

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

I tried this and on the raspberry pi, sound feels very compressed when the DSP is active. Feels like a poorly implemented eq from early 2000s ! It alters the sound but say for example when there is bass the other sounds also reduces and increases with the beat. Somehow the eq is clipping. No idea what is at fault here.

 

[DB1989]

I tried this and on the raspberry pi, sound feels very compressed when the DSP is active. Feels like a poorly implemented eq from early 2000s ! It alters the sound but say for example when there is bass the other sounds also reduces and increases with the beat. Somehow the eq is clipping. No idea what is at fault here.

Are you referring to the Flex? I use Flex too and on the first run, i ended up with similar results as well - a compressed sound. Checked out the DIRAC live tutorial on YT and realised that unlike stereo measurements where the Umik is supposed to be firing forward, you have to use the 360 cal and have the mic facing upwards which is usually required for HT measurements.

The clipping is probably due to the EQ trying to boost too many bass nulls as opposed to flattening peaks. You can open the flex control panel and reduce the output by approx 3.5 - 5 db.

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Are you referring to the Flex? I use Flex too and on the first run, i ended up with similar results as well - a compressed sound. Checked out the DIRAC live tutorial on YT and realised that unlike stereo measurements where the Umik is supposed to be firing forward, you have to use the 360 cal and have the mic facing upwards which is usually required for HT measurements.

The clipping is probably due to the EQ trying to boost too many bass nulls as opposed to flattening peaks. You can open the flex control panel and reduce the output by approx 3.5 - 5 db.

Actually I meant Camilla DSP. I didn’t get the flex yet. But after playing with the DSP, I feel my room needs some treatment or need some other speaker to get any decent sound. It’s a combination of bloated bass+poor treble response of my speaker which makes it uninspiring to listen to anything. In the past, I had a treated room with speakers costing a fraction of my current ones and the music sounded so much more satisfying!

 

[Passive_audio_enthusiast]

Are you referring to the Flex? I use Flex too and on the first run, i ended up with similar results as well - a compressed sound. Checked out the DIRAC live tutorial on YT and realised that unlike stereo measurements where the Umik is supposed to be firing forward, you have to use the 360 cal and have the mic facing upwards which is usually required for HT measurements.

The clipping is probably due to the EQ trying to boost too many bass nulls as opposed to flattening peaks. You can open the flex control panel and reduce the output by approx 3.5 - 5 db.

There was a peak in my room with bass which I missed to dip down. Now it sounds perfect. In fact, surprised me how much transformation a free DSP could make! Its bit choppy with playback at times, probably my raspberry pi is struggling, but using a pc would fix this for sure.