HiFiRuss71
Distinguished Member
This isn't a full review with pictures, description of every technical aspect and all that jazz. I could talk about MQA over Tidal, Sabre DACs (means less than digital filter design anyway) MDC upgrade modules, etc, etc. There are people paid to do that. No; it's a story. It could also fit in the forum for streamers, but that's not the point here.
Divorce changes things. I used to run a 7.1 system with kilowatts of main channel and subwooferage in a 7x5m room detached from the neighbours and reality. Dive far enough back in the reviews section of this august website and you will see pictures of it and the kit that passed through it - 8ft high subwoofers and all.
Those days were gone and for two years I was shacked up mid terrace with frankly less room than was needed for a pair of twin 8" driver loudspeakers and a 14" subwoofer. But the enforced cold turkey did cure me of multichannel. I just didn't miss it, or the slippery slope of upgrades, or the hours of re-EQing 9 speakers every time something was moved or changed.
Time moves on, divorces were settled and money was released. New houses were bought and both the opportunity and means were there to do what I wanted. God bless my new partner in being both a music fan and saying I could buy whatever I wanted, by which she meant she didn't care how large. Get me.
The coffin sized Klipsch Forte IIIs and 100W valve monoblocks may seem a bit leftfield. Nobody who dare enter here forgets them and the amps aside (I first met them in my dealer days in the '90s and have hankered ever since) even I was surprised when I handed over the cash for the speakers. They weren't on the radar beyond idol curiosity, but at first listen I knew I wasn't leaving without them. If you can, do.
I digress; if there was something I missed, it was EQ. Had I not had it, I could have lived without it and always one to refine positioning before just pressing the EQ button, it was a pretty damn satisfying result. But I knew....
The main problem was finding a solution that didn't involve both paying for and then having a pile of redundant channels and processing, plus a shed load of other stuff I no longer need. I also didn't want a solution that went between the Audiolab M-DAC+ and the power-amps. Too much DAC to ADC to DAC conversion for my liking. The other issue was that outside of the very high end AV processors, I'd never heard an EQ system that didn't stuff up mid-range and treble detail when engaged. Anthem's ARC was as close as it came, but even then, I restricted it to below 300Hz to save stifling music.
At the time i was eyeing up purchases, there were only really two pre-amps that caught my eye. The Anthem STR Pre and the just announced NAD C658. Both were in budget (one obviously moreso) and I knew the Anthem would be stellar. But as someone already in the BluOS ecosystem, the thought of reduced box count and increased operational integration was seductive. And Dirac. I played with a full blown version for a few weeks in a Datasat RS20i once and it was awesome.
One problem. Dirac in the C658 was still a future promise of an upgrade and AV is littered with shattered promises. Still, the system wasn't exactly shabby, so I sat it out. Then came word from a reliable source in April that an announcement would be made in May about the date the upgrade would arrive in June. It had arrived as promised in the M10, so there was a precedent for NAD promises being met. Close enough. I bought one.
I was a bit underwhelmed at first. As it and I have settled into each other I began to appreciate the way that it's less sterile nature (than the still remarkable Audiolab M-DAC+ it replaced) makes everything more listenable. It's still highlights the difference between [real] 24/192 and 16/44, but it doesn't savage less than stellar mixes.
A bit rose tinted? Possibly, but then I'm sitting here with valves and horns, so I'm possibly less fussed about technical accuracy than I used to be and more concerned with communication of all of my music, not just test pieces that sparkle.
Then Dirac turned up, as promised "on or around the 10th June". The 13th as it turned out, which makes the cut for an AV promise. Better still, it ain't no flaky 1.1 being released on us public beta testers - It just works; supremely easily after years of effing about with serial cables, 1/60th octave parametric equalisers, clipping input levels and all the other pain that goes with having been an early adopter.
Of course, it was about 0.3 of a second before the techie me ponied up for the full version of Dirac. If you're not going to equalise more than the bass, it's better to know that can if you want to right? More later.
The phone/tablet/PC interface and workflow is so well explained, even the lowliest mouth-breather can't completely stuff it up. It's just the BluOS app with input selection and you toggle between up to five stored Dirac profiles under the players individual settings. People with high sensitivity speakers should note that the default test tone volume is staggeringly LOUD! My speakers a 99dB/W sensitive and I know valve Watts go further but not quite that much further. Reduce the test tone volume to below -50dB on the scale and THEN test the volume levels. Just saying.
To say the end result is transformative would be a small understatement, but one that those of us with a multichannel background will think self explanatory. However, to finally have this level of accuracy, this level of user friendliness in an actual real piece of hi-fi is bloody marvellous. To be able to do absolutely everything from track selection and volume to toggling between different EQ curves all from your phone is another promise finally delivered - That technology will converge and actually make things easier.
To give a hint of what it does to those not used to good EQ; when you turn it on for the first time, you actually think where the hell did everything go? All the performers seemed to shrink and bass disappears. It sounds pathetic, but you need to suspend disbelief and leave it on.
What has happened is that when images snap into focus (to extend a photography metaphor) is that the overall level of brightness goes down and the objects in focus get smaller. The quiet darkness around them fills the gaps, but the sharper, more tightly defined images are locked distinctly in their own space, separated from the background and have greater in dynamic contrast because of it. Because bass is no longer flooding the room, you turn it up and the images grow and the thump is replaced with punch and speed.
You can revisit a measurement and create different versions of it. The C658 will store up to five. Once I'd dialled in sufficient bass lift (default is too flat and NADs .txt curve was a bit too phat and restricted to the non-full Dirac 500Hz max) I uploaded a full range, a below 500Hz (because that's were my bass driver rolls off) and a below 120Hz versions of the filter solution. Memories of great bass but not doing 'its thang' above that lingered from past lowlier EQ implementations lingered in my mind.
I'm now running Dirac full range and there it will stay. It's the real deal.
Russ
Divorce changes things. I used to run a 7.1 system with kilowatts of main channel and subwooferage in a 7x5m room detached from the neighbours and reality. Dive far enough back in the reviews section of this august website and you will see pictures of it and the kit that passed through it - 8ft high subwoofers and all.
Those days were gone and for two years I was shacked up mid terrace with frankly less room than was needed for a pair of twin 8" driver loudspeakers and a 14" subwoofer. But the enforced cold turkey did cure me of multichannel. I just didn't miss it, or the slippery slope of upgrades, or the hours of re-EQing 9 speakers every time something was moved or changed.
Time moves on, divorces were settled and money was released. New houses were bought and both the opportunity and means were there to do what I wanted. God bless my new partner in being both a music fan and saying I could buy whatever I wanted, by which she meant she didn't care how large. Get me.
The coffin sized Klipsch Forte IIIs and 100W valve monoblocks may seem a bit leftfield. Nobody who dare enter here forgets them and the amps aside (I first met them in my dealer days in the '90s and have hankered ever since) even I was surprised when I handed over the cash for the speakers. They weren't on the radar beyond idol curiosity, but at first listen I knew I wasn't leaving without them. If you can, do.
I digress; if there was something I missed, it was EQ. Had I not had it, I could have lived without it and always one to refine positioning before just pressing the EQ button, it was a pretty damn satisfying result. But I knew....
The main problem was finding a solution that didn't involve both paying for and then having a pile of redundant channels and processing, plus a shed load of other stuff I no longer need. I also didn't want a solution that went between the Audiolab M-DAC+ and the power-amps. Too much DAC to ADC to DAC conversion for my liking. The other issue was that outside of the very high end AV processors, I'd never heard an EQ system that didn't stuff up mid-range and treble detail when engaged. Anthem's ARC was as close as it came, but even then, I restricted it to below 300Hz to save stifling music.
At the time i was eyeing up purchases, there were only really two pre-amps that caught my eye. The Anthem STR Pre and the just announced NAD C658. Both were in budget (one obviously moreso) and I knew the Anthem would be stellar. But as someone already in the BluOS ecosystem, the thought of reduced box count and increased operational integration was seductive. And Dirac. I played with a full blown version for a few weeks in a Datasat RS20i once and it was awesome.
One problem. Dirac in the C658 was still a future promise of an upgrade and AV is littered with shattered promises. Still, the system wasn't exactly shabby, so I sat it out. Then came word from a reliable source in April that an announcement would be made in May about the date the upgrade would arrive in June. It had arrived as promised in the M10, so there was a precedent for NAD promises being met. Close enough. I bought one.
I was a bit underwhelmed at first. As it and I have settled into each other I began to appreciate the way that it's less sterile nature (than the still remarkable Audiolab M-DAC+ it replaced) makes everything more listenable. It's still highlights the difference between [real] 24/192 and 16/44, but it doesn't savage less than stellar mixes.
A bit rose tinted? Possibly, but then I'm sitting here with valves and horns, so I'm possibly less fussed about technical accuracy than I used to be and more concerned with communication of all of my music, not just test pieces that sparkle.
Then Dirac turned up, as promised "on or around the 10th June". The 13th as it turned out, which makes the cut for an AV promise. Better still, it ain't no flaky 1.1 being released on us public beta testers - It just works; supremely easily after years of effing about with serial cables, 1/60th octave parametric equalisers, clipping input levels and all the other pain that goes with having been an early adopter.
Of course, it was about 0.3 of a second before the techie me ponied up for the full version of Dirac. If you're not going to equalise more than the bass, it's better to know that can if you want to right? More later.
The phone/tablet/PC interface and workflow is so well explained, even the lowliest mouth-breather can't completely stuff it up. It's just the BluOS app with input selection and you toggle between up to five stored Dirac profiles under the players individual settings. People with high sensitivity speakers should note that the default test tone volume is staggeringly LOUD! My speakers a 99dB/W sensitive and I know valve Watts go further but not quite that much further. Reduce the test tone volume to below -50dB on the scale and THEN test the volume levels. Just saying.
To say the end result is transformative would be a small understatement, but one that those of us with a multichannel background will think self explanatory. However, to finally have this level of accuracy, this level of user friendliness in an actual real piece of hi-fi is bloody marvellous. To be able to do absolutely everything from track selection and volume to toggling between different EQ curves all from your phone is another promise finally delivered - That technology will converge and actually make things easier.
To give a hint of what it does to those not used to good EQ; when you turn it on for the first time, you actually think where the hell did everything go? All the performers seemed to shrink and bass disappears. It sounds pathetic, but you need to suspend disbelief and leave it on.
What has happened is that when images snap into focus (to extend a photography metaphor) is that the overall level of brightness goes down and the objects in focus get smaller. The quiet darkness around them fills the gaps, but the sharper, more tightly defined images are locked distinctly in their own space, separated from the background and have greater in dynamic contrast because of it. Because bass is no longer flooding the room, you turn it up and the images grow and the thump is replaced with punch and speed.
You can revisit a measurement and create different versions of it. The C658 will store up to five. Once I'd dialled in sufficient bass lift (default is too flat and NADs .txt curve was a bit too phat and restricted to the non-full Dirac 500Hz max) I uploaded a full range, a below 500Hz (because that's were my bass driver rolls off) and a below 120Hz versions of the filter solution. Memories of great bass but not doing 'its thang' above that lingered from past lowlier EQ implementations lingered in my mind.
I'm now running Dirac full range and there it will stay. It's the real deal.
Russ