Network Audio Players/Servers

The Aries G2.2 (together with the Vega G2.2 and forthcoming G3 models) are soon to be Dirac Live-enabled. This is unusual for a source component, especially a digital transport, as the Swedish-built 'room correction' software is generally found in devices situated further down the playback chain – mainly AV receivers and stereo integrated amplifiers. These include the EISA Award-winning Arcam SA30 [HFN Jul '20], NAD's M33 [HFN Aug '20] and the active loudspeakers from Dynaudio's Focus range. It makes sense, though, to incorporate Dirac Live, which applies digital filters to correct both frequency and impulse response, in a processing-rich device such as the Aries G2.2.

Using Dirac will involve running the licensed software on a laptop or a mobile device, the latter being more user-friendly but offering fewer possibilities in terms of manual frequency adjustments. A measurement microphone (Dirac recommends miniDSP's UMIK-1) is required. Depending on your listening situation, the software will ask you to make measurements from anywhere across nine to 17 positions, and will then calculate a correction filter according to a chosen target curve. Dirac allows for bespoke user adjustments, but fine-tuning the target curve is something of an art and science rolled in to one, especially when correcting over the full frequency band where Dirac's default curve tends to 'flatten out' the response.

Auralic estimates that Dirac Live will be available by Spring 2024, depending on further testing, and will arrive as a firmware update.