Article: Dirac Live 2 Digital Room Correction Software Walkthrough

[One and a half]

On 2/26/2020 at 4:45 AM, mitchco said:

Thanks @sem115 One will require an application to "host" the Dirac Live Processor (DLP) plugin. An oldy but goody is VSTHost on Windows. I just tried loading the DLP VST plugin and was successful. There are several VST host's available, some free, some $$'s, some standalone and some integrated with other music player software. The trick is routing the audio.

I ran out of time to try DLP in this configuration. But essentially, you will want to route Qobuz or Roon's output through the application hosting the DLP plugin and then out to the DAC and rest of the system. Perhaps other members here have tried this approach and can assist.

Thanks @mitchco for an eye opener of a program, it takes a great walkthrough like this to realise, hey, I could do this

 

Roon doesn't support any VST plugins, let alone cataloging Box sets correctly, I don't envisage Roon having that vision any time soon. The VST host is one way, yes. Thinking out load, my server PC is 25m from a Lumin, which uses the RAAT networking protocol over CAT5e. I can see VST working on a local basis with USB out for example, any ideas on how a DLNA server can come in between VST host?

 

DSD files are sent as is over the network, already converted by Roon to PCM.

 

Roon -> VST host (with Dirac VST) -> DLNA Server -> Cat 5e -> Lumin ?

[One and a half]

15 hours ago, One and a half said:

 

 

Roon -> VST host (with Dirac VST) -> DLNA Server -> Cat 5e -> Lumin ?

Follow up, VST host looks for ASIO or sound cards as inputs and outputs rather than an application. It could not see Roon. Roon can output to system audio which might be a way around, but Server 2016 has the audio service disabled. 

Is there a hardware device that performs room EQ as a passthrough like this one from Accuphase?

 

 

[One and a half]

11 hours ago, mitchco said:

@One and a half you need digital loopback capability to route the output of Roon to the VST and then to the DAC. On the PC something like https://www.vb-audio.com/Cable/ or https://vac.muzychenko.net/en/ should work.

 

I see this person got it to work in a basic setup:

https://community.roonlabs.com/t/roon-vst-plugins-hifiberry-digi-pro-possible/73928

There is also a Dirac doc on how to do it as well:

http://diracdocs.com/Windows-Using_Dirac_plugins_with_players_not_supporting_plugins.pdf

 

But, I have no idea about DLNA...

 

Unfortunately, most hardware devices are limited by the processing power required for low frequency control. The lower the frequency, the more "filter taps" required. So most hardware is limited to 8,000 FIR filter taps, whereas on the PC we can easily do 65,536 or even 131,072 taps. https://www.deqx.com/ is about the only hardware solution I would consider, but it is considerably more expensive than Dirac...

Thanks here for the tips, can see how to route Roon's output to the virtual cable and then to Dirac. If the PC has an attached spdif. USB DAC, there's no problem.

 

For Ethernet routing, the Dirac output can be 'wired' to Jriver, as Jriver is a sound card in itself and can operate as a service. Jriver can send Ethernet packets to the Lumin via DLNA. 

 

You may well ask why not use Jriver in the first place to select what to play and avoid the run around, I don't use Jriver for primary listening, although I have purchased a licence. Roon has the controls on android, ioS well established, Jriver bought the best remote and left it to rot.

 

Also thought about Roon's integration with HQPlayer,  but  NAA and Lumin don't work together. 

 

I take it Dirac setup once commisionined is a set and forget excercise, if regualr changes are required, I would need to bring my server to the living room for the microphone calibrations every time, or use a spare dedicated Cat5 cabling for the microphone, also possible.