Which one do you need?
Beginner
Dirac Live is sold as a core product with two add-ons. Each add-on builds on the one before it, so you can start with Room Correction and add the others later.
| Room Correction | Bass Control | Active Room Treatment (ART) | |
|---|---|---|---|
| What it is | The core product | Subwoofer integration add-on | Speaker cooperation add-on |
| What it fixes | Frequency and timing problems for each speaker in the room | How subwoofers blend with your speakers and with each other | Lingering, uneven bass below about 150 Hz across the whole seating area |
| Requires | A Dirac-enabled device | Room Correction | Room Correction, plus Bass Control if you use subwoofers |
| Best for | Every Dirac owner | Anyone with one or more subwoofers | Multichannel systems where bass still booms or varies seat to seat |
A quick way to decide
- No subwoofer, just a pair of speakers or a simple system: Room Correction.
- One or more subwoofers and bass that never quite blends with the speakers: add Bass Control.
- Bass Control done, but bass still hangs on or sounds different from seat to seat: add ART, if your device supports it.
Not every device supports every add-on. Check what yours offers on Compatible Hardware before buying.
At the time of writing Dirac lists Room Correction from $99 to $349 depending on the licence, and Bass Control and ART at $299 each. Prices vary by device and change, so check Dirac’s store for your device.
Ready for more? The Advanced section below explains how Bass Control and ART actually work.
How the tiers work
Advanced
Room Correction
Per-speaker, mixed-phase correction of the measured impulse response, designed across the measured listening area. Bass management (crossovers and which speakers are small or large) is left to your device. Full Bandwidth corrects from 20 Hz to 20 kHz, Limited Bandwidth up to 500 Hz. See How Dirac Live Works and Full vs Limited Bandwidth.
Bass Control
Dirac describes Bass Control as running alongside Room Correction “to manage the interaction between your subwoofers and speakers”, with “phase and arrival time aligned between subs and speakers”. In practice this means:
- Dirac replaces your device’s own bass management, so crossover choices are made inside the Dirac app.
- The crossover region is optimised so the speaker and subwoofer add together instead of partly cancelling. Poor blending around the crossover is one of the most common causes of thin or uneven bass.
- With individually addressable subwoofer outputs, it also works to reduce seat-to-seat differences between multiple subwoofers.
- Community testing (AVS Forum) describes Bass Control using delay and all-pass filtering to shift phase per frequency, which changes timing without changing level.
Active Room Treatment (ART)
ART uses a multiple-input, multiple-output (MIMO) filter matrix. Instead of each speaker being corrected on its own, bass-capable speakers “support” each other up to about 150 Hz, playing carefully shaped signals that counter the room’s problems. Above 150 Hz, ART reverts to per-speaker correction. Dirac states the 150 Hz limit is fixed for home ART.
- Dirac’s stated benefits: shorter bass decay times and better seat-to-seat consistency.
- Requirements: an ART-certified device, the ART licence, Bass Control if you use subwoofers, the desktop calibration app, an omnidirectional mic and at least two speakers.
- ART’s result depends heavily on its support settings: which speaker groups support which, at what level, and over what frequency range. See Active Room Treatment and ART and Unison.
ART is sensitive to measurement quality. Because it relies on precise timing between speakers, noise, movement or an unstable USB connection during sweeps shows up as imprecise-measurement warnings. Measure in a quiet room and redo any flagged position.
Sources
- Dirac: Dirac Live Room Correction
- Dirac: Dirac Live Bass Control
- Dirac: What is Dirac Live ART?
- Dirac: ART Bundle
- Dirac Research: A Look into Dirac’s MIMO Framework for Active Room Treatment and Unison (white paper)
- AVS Forum Dirac Live owners thread
