Dirac - Onkyo Partnership
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: The partnership with Onkyo has really been special for us at Dirac. Dirac and Onkyo have worked very closely for many years.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: Dirac Live exploded on the market as the most advanced room correction technology available. Onkyo recognized this and decided to partner with Dirac early on.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: And that made our engineering teams work very closely together, which has been fantastic. It’s been a great exchange of ideas back and forth.
Kazuki Tomita, Electrical Engineer, Onkyo: we have evaluated various room calibration technologies, and (Dirac) is the best. Especially, I think the sound spread and realism are excellent.
Masahiro Utsumi, Electrical Engineer, Onkyo: Ensuring phase alignment becomes more challenging with more speakers, but Dirac can correct this.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: Onkyo was established in 1946, in Japan. In fact, our engineering team is still located in Osaka, Japan today.
Masaru Fukuda, Software Assurance Manager, Onkyo: We are a company with a long history, carrying of legacy for 75 years. We have always pursued high-fidelity sound.
Masahiro Utsumi, Electrical Engineer, Onkyo: Originally, (Onkyo) made speakers. Later, to drive the speakers, we developed amplifiers, and now from hi-fi to home theater systems, we develop a wide range of products.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: The focus has remained the same, providing incredible sound quality for the best cinematic experiences in your home.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: Dirac was founded back in 2001 as a university spinoff from Uppsala University in Sweden. We were six PhD students and professors that started the company based on the idea that we can upgrade any kind of sound system to reach its full performance potential with digital signal processing. What sets Dirac apart in the world of audio is that we’re truly science based. We have lots of PhD’s, and we invest a lot of money on continuous research to tackle the problems you’re facing as a listener and create better and better sound experiences.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: Our playback systems excite the energy in the room. The air molecules, and we perceive it as sound. Unfortunately, our rooms interfere with the sound from the playback system to our ears.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: And that’s where Dirac Live comes in. Because room acoustics completely change the sound of your speakers. By then measuring with a microphone in a number of positions in your room, the software can calculate an optimization, tune your speakers to your room, and ensure the best possible sound experience. You have the Onkyo controller app. Dirac live is fully integrated into the app and you can run the full calibration from there.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: You can use the included wired microphone and our Onkyo app, or you can use a USB microphone and a PC or Mac app from Dirac.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: So it’s really easy to use and really powerful. If you want to control the sound, we give you the result or the tools to really get to the results that you want to. You can also just go with the standard settings, and you’re going to get a great sound in a few minutes.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: Current Onkyo products that are equipped with Dirac Live actually include a full bandwidth license right out of the box.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: And then you have bass control as an optional upgrade. The trend today is to have multiple subwoofers, but bass management is really difficult to set up properly. Dirac live bass control solves that for you.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: By eliminating variations between listening positions and smoothing our bass evenly throughout your room.
Masahiro Utsumi, Electrical Engineer, Onkyo: It is effective for frequencies below 80 Hz. Clearing up the lower frequencies improves the overall balance.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: And also bass control, regardless of whether you have one or more subwoofers. Ensures perfect integration with the main speakers so that you get the best possible bass response and low frequency response, not just in the lowest frequencies, but also where they integrate with the main speakers.
Rob Viera, Sr. Director, Category Ownership and Integrated Electronics, PAC: Although these products are mechanical and electrical, I think it is really important to express how much human interaction, love and care goes into the development process of these products.
Mathias Johansson, Chief Technology Officer, DIRAC: And the pursuit of perfection, precision and great sound is what unites us. So it’s been a fantastic collaboration for quite some time now.
