Pioneer, Onkyo, Integra To Support Dirac Live Bass Control But Is there a Problem?

[gene]

Under the Premium Audio Company umbrella, Onkyo, Pioneer, and Integra began offering Dirac Live room correction on mid-priced AVRs in 2021. Now the brands’ latest receivers offer Dirac Live Bass Control as an optional add-on. The single-sub version costs $349, and the multi-sub version costs $499.

A Note About Dirac Live Bass Control (DLBC) by Gene DellaSala
We've noted on several products from Audio Control and Arcam that Dirac Live Bass Control implements a non-defeatable HPF on the main channels which means you cannot set them to "large" or full-range. We've done some investigating and it appears to be a limitation of DLBC that Dirac has yet to resolve. We presume this will also the case with DLBC implementation on Onkyo, Integra and Pioneer AVRs as well. Be mindful of this IF you wish to run your main L/R speakers full-range simultaneously with your powered subwoofers while using DLBC. We plan on covering this topic more thoroughly in a future livestream on our Youtube channel.

Read: Dirac Live Bass Control Available Now On Select Receivers From Onkyo, Pioneer Elite, and Integra

 

[stevestrike]

Exciting news I'm sure for owners of those new products.

For a single sub, how does DLBC compare to other bass management options? Say an AVR (Marantz/Denon/etc) with regular DL and a sub like a Paradigm Defiance with room correction built-in? Does DLBC offer benefits beyond what the sub can do for itself in a single sub situation?

 

[dlaloum]

Things will get interesting when ART comes out for these...

 

[PENG]

Exciting news I'm sure for owners of those new products.

For a single sub, how does DLBC compare to other bass management options? Say an AVR (Marantz/Denon/etc) with regular DL and a sub like a Paradigm Defiance with room correction built-in? Does DLBC offer benefits beyond what the sub can do for itself in a single sub situation?

In my experience, yes, I would use DLBC even with one subwoofer. Unlike Audyssey, DL without BC does not seem to do much for a 2.1 system in terms of bass management, let alone control. DLBC is the real deal. As for ART, I think people having been hyping it up already while anxiously awaiting. Based on what I read from Dirac's websites, I think the benefits will be marginal/or even audible at best, unless the speakers are all near full range, then it may offer audible benefits. Obviously, we don't know how it would perform until many people have tried, even then I will only believe in claims supported by measurements. I trust even the typical Omnidirectional mics, but not other people's ears/brains.