On the Move in Automotive Audio, Dirac Unveils "Dirac Spaces"

(April 29, 2026) Dirac’s presence in the automotive world is hardly new. The company has spent years working behind the scenes with vehicle manufacturers, using software to improve in-car sound through calibration and advanced signal processing. In many ways, automotive audio has been one of Dirac’s most important proving grounds, with technologies such as its MIMO sound field control also helping shape later innovations, like Active Room Treatment for home theater systems. Now, the company is taking that experience in a new direction with the launch of Dirac Spaces.

Dirac Spaces is a new automotive audio platform designed to recreate the acoustic characteristics of real-world environments within a vehicle cabin, making it feel less like a small enclosed space and more like a studio, performance venue, or purpose-built listening room.

It’s an ambitious concept, but it also arrives at the right time. Modern vehicles are among the most common places people consume music, podcasts, and other media. Yet even premium cars remain limited by the realities of glass, reflective surfaces, seat placement, and compact cabin dimensions. Dirac Spaces uses advanced acoustic modeling and real-time signal processing to recreate distinct environments ranging from intimate studio spaces to larger concert hall experiences.

The company says Dirac Spaces operates on top of Dirac-optimized systems, eliminating the need for additional measurements beyond those already used to tune the vehicle. It supports both stereo and multichannel content, enabling consistent spatial audio performance across a wide range of listening scenarios.

The platform is offered in two forms. Signature Spaces allows automakers to partner with well-known venues and create branded acoustic experiences tailored to specific vehicles. The other, Designed Spaces, is a curated library of environments engineered by Dirac, including presets such as Balanced Room, Warm Stage, and Grand Hall. Each is meant to offer a different spatial and tonal personality.

The first production rollout comes through Chinese automaker NIO, where Dirac Spaces debuts in the new ES9 electric SUV alongside the NIO Lyra sound system. Dirac will publicly showcase the platform at Auto China 2026 through live demonstrations with NIO. Those demos will include examples of luxury, premium, and compact vehicles, highlighting how the technology can scale across different speaker counts and vehicle classes.

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• FORUM: Home Theater Advice on Microphones and Dirac Live

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Hmmm... I hope they will eventually offer this for the miniDSP C-DSP 8x12 DL.

 

[Todd Anderson]

Sounds interesting… hard to imagine it wouldn’t have a Yamaha processing effect. I’d love to hear it!

 

[Sonnie Parker]

Yeah... you could probably just add a bit of delay to some of the surround speakers to get the same effect. I installed a pair of small Morel Nano 3” shallow-mount speakers high in the rear pillars. I run them from 300 Hz to 10 kHz as differential rear fill, with 15 ms of delay and level control from my Conductor Pro up front. The differential rear fill emphasizes the information that differs between the left and right channels, while content common to both channels is greatly reduced or canceled. It can have that hall effect if you put too much volume in the rears.