DEQX: Next level DSP & Speaker Correction

Windows-based Passive Speaker Group Delay Correction: Is It Here Yet?

Though still much the newbie beyond grasping the reasons for room eq, and with little hands on knowledge, I did find the DEQX website quite informative. http://www.deqx.com/product-hdpExII-overview.php But as I rarely attend shows, I doubt that I will ever get to hear a DEQX enhanced system. Of course, that's hardly surprising as while currently DAC shopping I'm finding next to no DACs offering speaker time alignment. Sure, this feature would and obviously does add much to the final cost of any great sounding DAC. And this is a real loss for audiophiles owning almost any kind of speakers, considering that DEQX's Kim Ryrie, whose been at this since the 90s, has not been the only hardware engineer who has successfully fought and won the speaker time alignment war.
Loudspeaker/Room Optimization | Trinnov Audio

But what of audio software engineers? Stereophile and others supporting this market are well aware that computer audiophiles are very established and that our numbers are growing very fast. Computer Audiophile Once someone in our realm creates the algorithms for software that DEQX and Trinnov did for hardware-then couldn't the same microphone, an excellent and affordable A/D converter and a laptop with a Skylake or Kabylake processor make equally short work to get even passively crossed speakers to deliver excellent phase response? AND do so with the DAC of our choice?

Don't get me wrong. DEQX and Trinnov Audio hardware solutions are stunning achievements, offering an elegant "one box solution" for room eq, subwoofer integration, and, most enviably, speaker time alignment-AND of even passively crossed speakers. But doubtless many of us much prefer the sound and design of our DACs. Nor did we likely soon after forget about the fat bundle we had to spend on it. So why would we want to end up paying for another "built-in" DAC, and which might not sound quite as good to our ears?

Instead, leveraging the sophistication and computing power of today's software functionalities and CPUs, can it really be that hard to do two speaker group delay speaker correction from your desktop? And at least for those whose music sources are all digital-and with so many of today’s best systems being computer managed in one or more important ways-this certainly must be the direction in which many of us want and expect group delay correction of passively crossed speakers to evolve.

 

Acourate is the most highly regarded software solution, as far as I can see. My impression is, it's still more difficult to set up than the typical dedicated-hardware solutions. Things I wonder about are: can you adjust tonal balance (or target curves) while listening (i.e., by remote control)? Can you select the source likewise? Set volume? Balance? Those preamp functions are areas that don't seem to be so simple when using software-based solutions running on a general-purpose microcomputer. Or maybe I have missed something.

 

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Update on my system - last year I added a DEQX HDP-5 to the HDP-3 & am now running a much larger Open Baffle system, using 4 of the 6 stereo channels available from the two processors (-5 master, -3 slave, highlighted below).

 

By "tonal balance" do you mean something like using a "program equalizer" to compensate for deficiencies in the frequency response of a recording? If yes, then short of using restoration software (e.g. EQ | iZotope RX 6 Corrective EQ ), you can add VST equalizer plug-ins to JRiver, Foobar and other players. Audio
Whether they allow you to manipulate the response in real time I don’t know. I’m currently using Samplitude Pro X DAW software, which does have eq, among other features for making all manner of changes to audio files. Certainly “channel balance, channels 1 or 2 only fed to stereo outputs, reverse stereo feed and much more are included.

As for remote volume/mute, practically any DAC discussed here will have that. As all my music is digitally sourced (CD rips, 24 bit downloads, etc), I’ve no need of an actual preamp. But if you want to play an analog recording (e.g. vinyl) through the system, then unless it’s first digitized and saved as an (uncompressed WAV or FLAC) file, there’s obviously no way for the proposed “speaker group delay reduction” software to add its real time phase compensation to that audio signal and output that signal to your DAC and on to your amplifier.

Otherwise, if you play mostly vinyl and if you want to phase correct your speakers, then DEQX or Trinnov’s hardware is probably your only option, sorry to say. My only suggestion is to consider going for the cheapest model that gives you the phase correction, room eq and subwoofer integration (if you have subs) functionality. That way you might have money left over to buy and connect a better sounding DAC than the one that’s probably in even the top model DEQX.

 

The incoming DACs on both the HDP-3 & HDP-5 are truly excellent, especially the HDP-5 (I previously used a Chord DAC64 which I used to think was superb until I got the HDP-3). However, I auditioned a Graham Slee Majestic DAC & then purchased it a couple of years ago because it is the most analogue sounding piece of Digital kit I have heard - truly outstanding & hand built from this small niche manufacturer (...I play a lot of LPs via my system and a fair qty of FLAC files/CDs as well).