(September 27, 2022) CEDIA week is always full of surprises, and this is a big one. Today, Dirac and Sound United announced a collaboration to make Dirac Live available in several new AV receivers and preamps from Denon and Marantz. Bringing Dirac functionality to these brands is a major blow to Audyssey's presence in the home theater space and a massive boon to AV enthusiasts around the world.
With six new mid-range and high-end Denon and Marantz units that are Dirac Ready to run Dirac Live, Dirac and Sound United will release an over-the-air software update in March 2023 that will allow customers to purchase a license to activate one of Dirac Live’s main functions - Dirac Live Room Correction.
Powered by patented technologies, Dirac Live stands as one of the most popular room correction solutions on the market. It automatically addresses audio issues that all home audio systems have, but hardware alone can’t address – or takes too much time, expertise, and cost to do so. Dirac Live allows users to easily achieve dramatically enhanced sound experiences to hear the best possible sound from their home theater systems. It achieves this through a patented mixed-phase impulse response correction technology that corrects not just magnitude response, but also time domain – which is exclusive to Dirac Live and critical for creating accurate staging, clarity, and tight bass. Dirac Live Room Correction also generates an auto-target curve based on the sound system's unique measurements, which makes it easier for users to get even better sound quality from their system automatically. This auto target curve is then fully customizable so users can get their speakers to sound exactly how they want.
Dirac’s Vice President of Home & Pro Audio, Erik Rudolphi, says “Dirac and Sound United have long been leaders in their respective areas of audio engineering – pioneering many of the solutions and technologies that have created, and continue to create, the home theater industry,” stated Rudolphi. “Now, with the release of Dirac-enabled Denon and Marantz units, we’re showcasing the combined engineering leadership to the benefit of home theater owners and enthusiasts across the world. It’s a seminal moment for our companies and the industry and we look forward to the first-ever release of Dirac Live-enabled Denon and Marantz home theater devices.”
With Sound United as one of the world’s largest home theater equipment manufacturers, this announcement blows Dirac’s market presence wide open. It also brings wildly powerful technology to Sound United's well-regarded processors and AVRs.
As of now, Denon’s Dirac Ready units will include the Denon AVR/AVC-A1H, Denon AVR/AVC-X4800H, and Denon AVR/AVC-X3800H. Marantz’s Dirac Ready models will feature the Marantz AV 10, Marantz CINEMA 40, and Marantz CINEMA 50.