Bluesound Levels Up: Dirac Live Now Available for Select Node Players

(January 17, 2025) If you’ve ever wondered why your music doesn’t sound quite as good in your living room as it does in a demo studio, it probably has less to do with your gear and more to do with your room. Of course, many other factors come into play, but your room and how it interacts with sound is a big deal. That's why Bluesound's newly launched integration of Dirac Live room correction in both the NODE (N132) and NODE ICON (N530) players is a big deal. Better sound is on its way.

According to Matt Simmonds, Bluesound’s Product Manager, Dirac Live has ranked high on customer request lists, explaining, "this launch is important to us since Dirac Live has been one of the most requested features from Bluesound customers due to its unique room correction methods that result in more transparent, balanced sound, and tighter bass and enhanced clarity.” Using advanced algorithms to analyze and correct a room’s unique acoustics, Dirac Live can have transformative impacts on what you hear and experience. As an added benefit, Bluesound's implementation of the technology happens before its players' internal DACs, allowing owners who prefer bypassing to an external DAC to realize the same benefits. This feature, says Morten Nielsen, Associate Product Manager for Bluesound, has also been commonly requested by customers.

Owners of the NODE (N132) and NODE ICON (N530) can access Dirac Live by purchasing Bluesound’s Room Calibration Kit and a Dirac Live license. The Kit, retailing for $39 USD and available through authorized dealers and Bluesound’s website, includes a high-performance omni-directional microphone capable of capturing audio across the full audible frequency range of 20 Hz to 20 kHz. It connects to laptops via USB-A 2.0 and is plug-and-play compatible with both Windows and MacOS.

Owners have three Dirac Live license levels to choose from: Dirac Live Limited, which corrects frequencies below 500 Hz for $159 USD; Dirac Live Full, which offers full-frequency correction for $249 USD; and an upgrade from Limited to Full for $99 USD. These licenses are device-specific and available directly from Dirac’s website.

Bluesound says it plans to roll out Dirac Live compatibility to older models, including the NODE X (N131), NODE (N130), POWERNODE (N330), and POWERNODE EDGE (N230), by summer 2025.

Rikard Hellerfelt, Dirac’s VP of Consumer and eCommerce, highlights the significance of this news, noting that it introduces Dirac Live to streamers for the first time. "We know that Bluesound has very passionate customers who love great sound, and we are pleased to be able to introduce Dirac Live to a new device category—streamers—for the very first time," explains Hellerfelt. "This allows music lovers to elevate their existing audio setups— even those without built-in Dirac Live—by simply adding a Bluesound streamer.”

Owners can begin their journey to better sound by purchasing a Calibration Kit (here) and visiting Dirac's online shop for license information.


Related Reading:

• Bluesound Launches, Node Nano, Node, and Node Icon in Advance of CEDIA 2024
• FORUM: Differences in Dirac flavors
• REVIEW: Bluesound Tenth Anniversary Node X Review [VIDEO]
• Celebrating a Decade, Bluesound to Ship Limited Edition NODE X Wireless Multi-Room Streamer

 

[Robert Zohn]

Thank you for covering this very nice and important upgrade from Bluesound for the New Node Streaming Music Servers!

 

[Sonnie Parker]

I believe products without Dirac Live are going to start seeing a decline in sales... just a hunch.

 

[Head_Unit]

I believe products without Dirac Live are going to start seeing a decline in sales... just a hunch.

Well...$250...I dunno. But I totally welcome any trend of room correction finally coming into 2-channel products. Now if only we can make highpass filters ubiquitous as well...

 

[Todd Anderson]

That’s the biggest downside to Dirac - the buy in.

 

[JStewart]

That’s the biggest downside to Dirac - the buy in.

Until you’ve heard the difference it can make

Years ago when I first tried Dirac it was on a PC and it was a free working trial. It seems like it would be reasonably easy to re-implement this. I think many might see the purchase as a gamble but also would be happy to pay if they know what they’re paying for and that requires hearing it in their room.

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yeah... I was going back and forth comparing Baseline (PEQ only to tame peaks), Dirac Bass Management, Dirac Bass Control, and Dirac ART last night. All of these have the same target curve and measure similarly, with BM measuring slightly different in the bass area. Of course, DLBC extends the response to 13.5Hz while ART cuts it off at 20Hz, but I was comparing while listening to music, which most of what I listen to has no content below 20Hz. Any of the Dirac modes is a significant improvement over Baseline, although Baseline is not bad. However, DLBC steps that up again, and swapping back and forth between DLBC and DLART is just cool beans. ART sounds uniquely more full and defines the bass so well in the front. There is no doubt to me that ART just sounds better. However, every mode of Dirac adds improvement to the sound.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Sonnie, with ART, you still get content below 20Hz… it’s just not corrected, correct?

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Sonnie, with ART, you still get content below 20Hz… it’s just not corrected, correct?

Yes, that is correct, and if you want a Harman-like curve or house curve, if you boost the low-end, Dirac will not boost anything below 20Hz with ART. So... I use the cut method instead, cutting the frequencies above the low-end by 8-10dB, which gives me a fairly flat extension down to 10Hz. Then, I compensate the cut with the +9dB gain in the settings. Ultimately, my response with ART looks very similar to the response with DLBC, but I get the added benefit of ART. I'll be including all of this in my review. The graphs and target curves do a good job of showing this.