What is "pure direct"?

[Good4it]

and why do you use it? What about "straight "?

 

[fuzz092888]

What is the brand and model of your receiver?

Usually pure direct means that it bypasses all room correction, crossover, and other settings. The manual will usually let you know what exactly is bypassed in pure direct mode. Pure direct is for when you want to go directly from source to speakers with as little in the way as possible.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

"Pure Direct" was invented by the Marketing Dept.

 

[Good4it]

Yamaha RX A1050

 

[agarwalro]

Back in the day, before HDMI, Prue Direct mode shut off all video circuits, the VFD display, and DSP circuits. The pre-pro connected the analog input directly to the amp input and the only thing possible was volume control. This gave the cleanest possible SNR on paper and like clockwork there was a fanaticism around using Prue Direct mode only. That the a few dB better SNR would easily get drowned out in the noise floor of your average urban/sub urban listening environment was irreverent.

IMHO, bass management, room EQ (and for me Audyssey Dynamic EQ) are more important.

If the source is digital (HDMI, Optical or Coax) the D-A will require the circuit be engaged. In this case, one might as well take advantage of other related DSP from that circuit.

 

[herbu]

My understanding of Direct and Pure Direct:

Direct bypasses all audio manipulation circuits in the AVR.

Pure Direct does that, AND turns off all other circuits that are not absolutely necessary, (like the front panel display), with the intent of eliminating any possible unintended interference within the AVR.

I've never been able to hear any difference between the two. And if an AVR is well designed, there will be minimal, (inaudible), unintended internal interference anyway.

 

[MR.MAGOO]

Depending on the source, I've noticed 'pure direct' mode will turn off the subwoofer or center channel and just use the two front speakers only.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Pure Direct, Direct and Straight means the AVR bypasses the Tone Controls, EQ, DSP.

You can still bypass the Tone Controls, EQ and DSP in Stereo Mode.

When you bypass the Tone Controls, EQ and DSP in Stereo Mode or usePure Direct, Direct or Straight mode, the sound may seem identical to you when you are just listening to music or watch videos.

I can tell you that when I do karaoke, Pure Direct and Direct have no delay in sound, but Stereo Mode has a few seconds delay in sound. This tells me that Stereo mode has some kind of additional processing, which causes the delay in sound. But Pure Direct and Direct do not have additional processing and hence no delay in sound (even when I do Pure Direct + LFE + Main which sends bass to the subwoofers) with karaoke.

 

[agarwalro]

Depending on the source, I've noticed 'pure direct' mode will turn off the subwoofer or center channel and just use the two front speakers only.

That is correct. If listening to 2.0 music in Prue Direct, one only gets sound from Main L and R. If the track is 5.1, the subwoofer will play.

Pure Direct, Direct and Straight means the AVR bypasses the Tone Controls, EQ, DSP.

You can still bypass the Tone Controls, EQ and DSP in Stereo Mode.

When you bypass the Tone Controls, EQ and DSP in Stereo Mode or usePure Direct, Direct or Straight mode, the sound may seem identical to you when you are just listening to music or watch videos.

I can tell you that when I do karaoke, Pure Direct and Direct have no delay in sound, but Stereo Mode has a few seconds delay in sound. This tells me that Stereo mode has some kind of additional processing, which causes the delay in sound. But Pure Direct and Direct do not have additional processing and hence no delay in sound (even when I do Pure Direct + LFE + Main which sends bass to the subwoofers) with karaoke.

I guess it would go something like this,
Pure Direct Mode
Pure Direct Mode + Front Display + Video Processing = Direct Mode
Direct Mode + A/D + DSP + D/A = Stereo Mode

 

[3db]

I detected no difference between Pure Direct and Direct on my Yamaha RX-V1500. What's more interesting is that Yamaha took away the Direct mode on the RX-V1800 offering stereo, straight, and Pure Direct in that class of sound.

From the RX-V1500 perspective, Pure Direct turns off everything Digital not required to pass the signal from its input to its output including the front panel display. YPAO is also turned off and there is no bass management.. The same thing holds true for Direct except that I get the front panel display. Stereo and straight gives me everything back that is digital. The difference between stereo and straight is that straight passes all channels played by the source component while stereo muxes the additional channels into 2 channels; ie straight will play 5.1 into all 5.1 channels but stereo will down mix to 2.1 if your mains are set to small or large+sub.

What I said for the RX-V1500 holds true for the RX-V1800 for pure Direct, Straight, and Stereo.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

(and for me Audyssey Dynamic EQ) are more important.

DEQ is more important to me for sure.

 

[RichB]

Pure Direct used to mean turning off all additional circuitry.
Now it is a marketing term.

Commonly, room correction is defeated, volume control settings for each channel are enabled.
It's a crap-shoot on DSP processing, this is usually on or off depending on other options selected.

Emotiva has Stereo Reference mode which bypasses all but volume control. It works very well

- Rich

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Pure Direct used to mean turning off all additional circuitry.
Now it is a marketing term.

Commonly, room correction is defeated, volume control settings for each channel are enabled.
It's a crap-shoot on DSP processing, this is usually on or off depending on other options selected.

Emotiva has Stereo Reference mode which bypasses all but volume control. It works very well

- Rich

Pure Direct is no more a marketing term than Emotiva's so-called "Stereo Reference".

Just because Emotiva has less features does not mean it is any more "pure" than any other company.

 

[RichB]

Pure Direct, Direct and Straight means the AVR bypasses the Tone Controls, EQ, DSP.

Pure Direct on Denon/Marantz does not always defeat DSP processing... LFE+Main and Bi-amp are two modes that come to mind. If upmixers work in pure direct, they fall into this category.

Pure Direct is no more a marketing term than Emotiva's so-called "Stereo Reference".

Just because Emotiva has less features does not mean it is any more "pure" than any other company.

I did not put a qualifier in the description of it as a marketing term. They are all marketing terms. With Emotiva, I know what it does and does not do.

I prefer a product that has a mode that faithfully limits processing to decoding and volume control (trims) that bypasses additional circuitry. Emotiva has such a mode and I like it.

Many processors with 7.1 analog inputs do not have the hardware to A/D convert the channels. These bypass all additional processing by necessity.

- Rich

 

[lovinthehd]

I never use it, don't know why I'd want to use it.

 

[AcuDefTechGuy]

Pure Direct on Denon/Marantz does not always defeat DSP processing... LFE+Main and Bi-amp are two modes that come to mind. If upmixers work in pure direct, they fall into this category.

Where's your proof that PD w/ LFE+Main adds DSP, EQ, post-processing? You just assume that. As I have said in my external microphone & external stereo mixer example, I can tell if post-processing is involved because there will be a few seconds delay in sound. This is the case with "Stereo" or any other surround modes. But with PD/Direct modes, there is absolutely no delay.

Just because EMO can't Bypass DSP, EQ, post-processing with LFE+Main in "Stereo Reference" mode isn't proof that Pure Direct automatically uses DSP, EQ...

 

[RichB]

Where's your proof that PD w/ LFE+Main adds DSP, EQ, post-processing? You just assume that. As I have said in my external microphone & external stereo mixer example, I can tell if post-processing is involved because there will be a few seconds delay in sound. This is the case with "Stereo" or any other surround modes. But with PD/Direct modes, there is absolutely no delay.

Just because EMO can't Bypass DSP, EQ, post-processing with LFE+Main in "Stereo Reference" mode isn't proof that Pure Direct automatically uses DSP, EQ...

It is obvious. It cannot be done on the 7.1 inputs, all bass management is performed by DSP. This is bass management. QED.

- Rich

 

[fuzz092888]

Where's your proof that PD w/ LFE+Main adds DSP, EQ, post-processing? You just assume that. As I have said in my external microphone & external stereo mixer example, I can tell if post-processing is involved because there will be a few seconds delay in sound. This is the case with "Stereo" or any other surround modes. But with PD/Direct modes, there is absolutely no delay.

Just because EMO can't Bypass DSP, EQ, post-processing with LFE+Main in "Stereo Reference" mode isn't proof that Pure Direct automatically uses DSP, EQ...

It is obvious. It cannot be done on the 7.1 inputs, all bass management is performed by DSP. This is bass management. QED.

- Rich

Wait, so Acu is saying that there is no EQ or DSP with PD, which means no Audyssey right with LFE + Main?

And Rich, you're saying that PD does not bypass Audyssey with LFE + Main?

Just for further clarification, with LFE + Main and PD should the subs still be playing?

 

[RichB]

Wait, so Acu is saying that there is no EQ or DSP with PD, which means no Audyssey right with LFE + Main?

Audyssey is disabled with PD, but all DSP processing is not disabled. That depends on other settings.

And Rich, you're saying that PD does not bypass Audyssey with LFE + Main?

LFE+Main operates with PD so there is DSP processing.

Just for further clarification, with LFE + Main and PD should the subs still be playing?

Yes, the sub(s) will be playing.

This is neither good nor bad. Also, amp assign, bi-amp, and Atmos, DTS-X all require additional DSP processing. As these processors become more sophisticated, then "PD" disables less when core functionality remains operational.

- Rich

 

[lovinthehd]

Pure direct on my units turns the panel light off....that makes it purer.