LocutusEstBorg

Like I said before, the current version of the jRiver WDM driver is not as fast or stutter free as the Dirac Audio Processor WDM driver. I find the click to sound delay unacceptable even for the browser, let alone games.

The VST chain is the most efficient, for a single application. However if you are using Dirac Audio Processor system-wide, then the Equalizer APO chain is far more efficient than using jRiver WDM, since it's just an APO DLL that's loaded as part of the Dirac Audio Processer driver itself - there would be only one virtual sound card, not two. I don't see the point in leaving the rest of your system and all its applications uncalibrated, and not even bass-managed.

It's installed per device. Dirac Audio Processor is a WDM driver which is compatible with Equalizer APO. The actual sound card doesn't matter to Equalizer APO when using it with Dirac Audio Processor. jRiver WDM is still laggy for me.

This does not help other applications like the brower or games. Doing it globally with Equalizer APO is much better. There is really no reason to use anything else. Equalizer APO attaches to the Dirac Audio Processor virtual device and performs bass management just before it for all audio on the system.

Equalizer APO is the best solution for global bass management before Dirac Live. You can apply both HPF, LPF, and subwoofer mixing in Equalizer APO. I prefer to apply 4th order HPFs in Dirac Live by manually editing the target curve file, and apply 4th order LPFs and subwoofer mixing in Equalizer APO. This prevents unnecessary boosting of low frequencies in Dirac Live since the HPF is applied to the target curve itself.

Sometimes the default target curve clips so you have to lower it. The -8 dB gain is insufficient in such cases.

Seems to work fine after upgrading, in case anyone else was wondering.

Has any one upgraded to Windows 10 and successfully tested whether Dirac Live works properly?

When I do this, the measured LFE level doesn't change. The crossedover frequencies are boosted relative to the higher frequencies and this shows up in the Front Left / Right graphs, but the LFE graph is at exactly the same height as before!

Two video connections are problematic, though it can be made to work. If your HTPC is already connected via HDMI, you can use HDMI for bitstreaming and 7.1 PCM and SPDIF from your motherboard or sound card for the second zone. Any sound card or on-board is fine.

You can put a miniDSP DDRC-88A between the pre-pro and the power amp. This will apply multi-channel room correction to all input sources. It's also setup once and forget. However you should know that unless you actually need a dedicated power amp for hundreds of watts per channel, pre-pros offering "higher quality" are nothing more than a gimmick. An integrated AVR like a Marantz SR7009 is cheaper and equivalent in every way and you will get multi-channel room correction built in for all audio sources (except 7.1 analog input, stereo analog input does work). What do you feel you'll gain by buying a $10000 pre-pro over an AVR like a Marantz SR7009? You can even use it as a pre-pro by using the pre-outs and you get room correction built in.

Each "Playback Device" in Windows is effectively one zone. You can either search for a rare sound card that has two SPDIF playback devices or just buy two sound cards - it makes no difference. In your playback software you need to assign each zone to one playback device. If your playback software support ASIO, you can buy a multi-channel ASIO interface and assign different channels to each zone. You can use HDMI but you'll need to plug two HDMI cables into your AVR and "clone" the displays. Each HDMI cable will appear as a single playback device in Windows. Even if you do this, your AVR should support treating a HDMI input as a secondary zone. Normally only analog or SPDIF inputs are usable as a secondary zone.

The jRiver MC20 WDM driver means I can now perform bass management first and then pass the output channels to Dirac and to my power amp. However won't this result in the crossover point being slightly imperfect?

What does this mean?

Can we get a clear answer on where bass management needs to be done with regard to Dirac Live on Windows? For the average user using standard software, Dirac Processor is the default playback device and all 7.1 channels are directly presented to Dirac without any bass management. In this case bass management has to be done on the physical output device (sound card / receiver). Dirac will correct the combined response resulting in a smooth crossover. However this gives Dirac incorrect information about the individual channels (it thinks everything is full range) and the timing will be incorrect (partially from the subwoofer several feet away from the speaker). Due to its plug and play and globally active nature throughout the OS, I assume this is the intended configuration. The crossover cannot be changed after calibration. Advanced users may use analog power amplifiers or Direct Mode in their receivers and perform bass management in their audio software before Dirac Processor. This will result in correct measurement of each physical speaker, but since the crossover frequency and slope is unknown to Dirac, this region will be incorrect. It also makes the system unusable outside of audio software that does not support bass management. The crossover can be changed without recalibration.