Is DEQX a game changer?

Just to clarify: I participated in the "sloped baffle" thread and mentioned the DEQX, but I don't own it nor have heard it. I've been interested in time-aligned speakers and discussed this with a couple knowleadgeable people who have tried them, and in that context I discussed with an owner of a DEQX who uses it for DRC and as DAC (he doesn't do time alignment though). He has a very expensive system, spoke super highly about this unit, and said it replaced a $30k DAC.

Bifiwyne: how are you planning to set up your audition? I see you have Paradigm S8 and a sub (or two?). Since you have a turntable, I'm guessing you'll have it after the preamp and driving amps directly. It is my understanding such a setup would allow the unit to perform the room correction and set delays between subwoofer amp and S8 amp, but to time-align the drivers in the S8 you would need to disconnect the crossovers and drive each driver with one channel of an amp. I myself am very intrigued by this approach, but realize it's cumbersome and requires more amps to try out.

If I may, I'd like to make the OP's initial question broader: "is DSP as it stands today a game changer?" I'm VERY intrigued. Just as to some who never heard it this makes no sense, to me (never heard it either) makes a lot of theoretical sense. And the few I exchanged with who have tried it speak highly about it.

For those of us with only computer sources, there are cheaper ways to try this. Acourate DSP software + Lynx Hilo is one option. Here are two articles on such use worth reading:
1) doing room correction
2) time-aligning drivers

To me, actively multi-amping always made a lot of theoretical sense, but the incremental cost of amps and cables and XO made it non-practical/economical. But with these software/multichannel DAC packages we could do without the preamp and XO and associated cables, plus we can do time-alignment. Is it worth vs my beloved Lamm preamp? Well...that is what intrigues me!
In full disclosure, this also would open a door for me to build my own speakers, an additional benefit to me. I'm a mechanical engineer and comfortable with the mechanics associated with speakers and drivers and room, and building stuff, but I'm not up to par for building crossovers. So if I can have a software tackle that piece, I could build my speakers - that would be fun!

Anyway, sorry I digressed. I guess I used this post as therapy! I couldn't talk to anybody about these things without them thinking I lost it...maybe I'm not alone here? :-)

Cheers!

08-24-14: Lewinskih01
Just to clarify: I participated in the "sloped baffle" thread and mentioned the DEQX, but I don't own it nor have heard it.

sorry Lewinskih01, I thought you were the fella who had DEQX.
In that case I must have mistaken it with the OP - Psag - of the "sloped baffle" thread who has DEQX.

yeah, Bruce has a few of us waiting with bated breath on 2 of his trials - over a month ago he was going to get some Home Depot thick gauge wire to try out as speaker cables & see if they bested his current audiophile speaker cables & the 2nd is his DEQX experiment (which seems to be delayed to after Labor Day).
Bruce, are you going to do that speaker cables A/B anytime soon? Or, is that just idle talk? Thanks.

@Bombaywalla, not idle talk re romex. Summer has been very busy time. Also, trying to get the DEQX guys to get their act together has been a major PITA. The US rep said after Labor Day. The reasons for the delays are not worth repeating ... too boring.

I haven't forgotten about the DEQX and will report back.

@Lew ... not sure that's the way it works re the self powered sub and my Ref 150/mains. But I'll report back.

@Unsound ... not sure I'm the guy who can respond to your concerns.

I'll copy and pass these Qs along to the US rep.

BIF

Near the end of the "best speaker you ever heard" thread I mention Overkill using DEQX as a "game changer" FOR ME not simply for what the speakers were doing but more importantly for what they were not doing. You start with a spectacular speaker design and take it to the next level of adaptation in the room with DEQX. As I recall the speaker had no internal crossover at all. Both drivers were directly connected to the DEQX as room correction and crossover combined. It would make a crappy speaker better but that's missing the point isn't it.

As a purity/ transparency nut I would have never believed running the signal through an active xover could sound so surreal and "pure" but that remains the most honest (you are there) rendering of seemingly limitless 3Dimensional 2-channel to date. Recently I listened at a friends house to the Fleetwood Mac reunion concert in full Revel Salon 2 surround that was sweet, clear, DIMENSIONAL and beyond powerful. Surround sound quality is outstanding, highly recommended, Lindsey B. leaves the planet. What I heard with a redbook cd in the Overkill room w/DEQX (optimized to the highest level) remains the absolute high bar. BTW The Salon 2 properly optimized can also completely vanish.

I am a DEQX user (HDP3 since mid 2012) and for me it has certainly been a game changer. It is not an easy product to set up and takes a great deal of research and learning to perfect. I now consider myself quite experienced. This was once I properly understood all the nuances of crossover slopes, phase, time alignment and room effects. What follows below is a simplified description of the procedure for using DEQX. The manual itself is lengthy and in many cases not easily comprehended (ie not difficult to get it wrong in several important aspects)

Originally I calibrated and used a pair of existing Shahinian Obelisks and the improvement compared to the sound I was familiar with was very dramatic. This was with the standard passive crossovers in place and blended to a pair of subs. By time-aligning these and with subtle room equalisation below 250hz, it was the first time that the crossover to the subs truly became seamless and all room effects disappeared (no exaggeration). I remember swearing out loud when I first got this, it has to be heard to believe it!

After a few months and fully appreciating what the DEQX could do, I decided to build a pair of Open Baffle speakers. Mid-sub crossovers are at 100hz (72db slopes), mid-treble at 3145hz (60db slopes). Extreme slopes allow individual amps and driver sets to operate within a narrow band and this creates very clean and dynamic transients

The beauty of DEQX is that you can calibrate these outdoors (raised ideally above grass, not a hard surface and no walls around so there are only very faint and unimportant reflections to corrupt the microphone reading) - the software creates a flat frequency response, which can be verified. Then when a mic is placed at the listening chair indoors, it compares with the original 'anecholic' result and time aligns all the drivers including phase at each frequency etc. All you then need to do is further manually time align the separately calibrated subs, if you use them. Very clever and effective - sitting in the sweet spot is holographic & 3D sounding. Performers 'hang' in space before you, realism way beyond anything I have heard in a hi-fi dealer demo, exhibition or, frankly anywhere else including some very expensive and otherwise impressive systems. My own speakers also manage to beat the Shahinians in every respect but I suspect this is more to do with 3 separate frequency bands being opimised for each driver set and very steep crossovers. The way this was described to me is like the latest military aircraft or Airbus. These are intrinsically unstable but sophisticated software allows them to fly. In the case of a fighter jet, often way beyond the realms of normal aerodynamics. I think that is what the DEQX algorithms do

Oh, and by the way...everything you do can be listened to using 4 presets to compare and changes made in real time whilst music is playing (including time alignment which I can only describe like turning the dial on a lens until suddenly everything falls into crystal clear focus, very useful)

DEQX is also an excellent preamp, completely neutral and very analogue sounding to my ears (I play a lot of vinyl) and also contains very good DACs (only bettered by a new Graham Slee product called the Majestic. I had previously used a Chord 64 and the DEQX DAC was much more musical, the Slee even more so)

I only caution someone borrowing and trying to set this up themselves in a short time. You may get 50-60% of what is possible but not appreciate what it can really do. When you do eventually dial everything in correctly, there really is no going back. I probably sound like I am preaching so sorry about that - I am 57 years old, have been fanatical about music all my adult life, am extremely fussy about realism and my loft is full of expensive but ultimately unrewarding hi-fi kit. If anything, after 2 years, I am more enthusiastic about DEQX that I was before