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Room Shaper plugin review by Mitch Barnett

 

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Comments: 19
  • #19

    Tim M (Thursday, 23 June 2022 09:53)

    Great praise for Room Shaper - an innovative solution to the fatiguing sound caused by uneven decay in small rooms.

    I have been using digital room correction now for some months. It has transformed the quality of sound from my mains + dual subwoofer system. However, even after much optimisation of subwoofer position, listening position, some modest acoustic treatment together with highly refined room correction filters, there is still a lingering bass bloom in some tracks, so much so that I become fatigued when I listen to them.

    I had settled on the realisation that this was an inevitable consequence of small room acoustics that even state-of-the-art convolution DSP could not deal with. Without the space (or finances) to deploy large scale bass traps, I had come to the point of just accepting that the only way to listen to certain tracks was with a bass cut.

    When I came across Mitch Barnett's review of Room Shaper on audiophilestyle.com, I was quite intrigued that there might be a way to deal with annoying bass decay resonances in the digital domain so I decided to give Room Shaper a try.

    There were, admittedly, some initial hiccups with the plugin in JRiver but Thierry's persistent help to get this to work paid off.

    Now, with Room Shaper in place, I have been able to finally enjoy these tracks without resorting to a bass cut which has been amazing.

    Thank you for this brilliant invention.

  • #18

    Tim Woodward (Sunday, 03 October 2021 15:19)

    Another vote for Thierry and Home Audio Fidelity! After a number of measurements and filters went backwards and forward we finally got to a very good solution to my weird room and speaker issues!

    My LH speaker fires into an open plan kitchen behind and to the left of my listening position, the RH speaker directly into a wall a metre or so behind me. So although I have played with REW and basic PEQ filters in Roon for months I could never solve the weird balance issue. I got close, with a Roon speaker position edit that added a little delay and a balance adjustment… but it was still susceptible to slightest head movement and wobbling imagery! Plus my speaker drivers have a fast off axis treble rolloff beyond 3k combined with a lift in the presence region - 700-2.5K - what fun! (never would have known that rolloff was unusual if Thierry hadn’t commented!)

    So the HAF convolution filters deal with both the timing issues and reflections, plus frequency SPL (although of course Thierry can’t be your ears so that’s what took a bit of back and fro adjustment). The result in my system was better than I could ever get it with PEQ, because some of the frequency loudness was obviously reflections not just speaker design. Plus imaging is now much tighter locked down, and tonality (timbre?) improved quite a bit, as my speaker position adjustment used to knock that right out.

    So all told a very worthwhile investment even if you are a dab hand with REW and Roon PEQ, especially as an update to your system costs a minimal fee to implement! In fact I might have an update in the pipeline already - sorry Thierry!!

  • #17

    Mac F (Sunday, 25 April 2021 14:58)

    Want to get the most out of your system? Then don’t overlook the impact the room has on your listening experience. For all you novices like me out there interested in experimenting with room correction & convolution filters but don’t know where to begin, check out Home Audio Fidelity. Thierry will walk you through every step of the way. He is extremely responsive & patient for those of us who know nothing about the process of generating convolution filters but are eager to learn. Thierry created several iterations of filters based on measurements I took in my listening room. I then loaded them into my Roon Nucleus+. It took 4 tries to achieve the sound I was looking for, but now my system sounds better than ever. Imagine seeing clearly on a beautiful sunny day & then you put on a pair of polarized sunglasses. Everything looked great before, but now things really pop! Don’t take my word for it, try HAF for yourself.

  • #16

    Lorenzo (Tuesday, 26 January 2021 08:20)

    Thank you for your patience and the multiple iterations. I think it was worth it, the result and the filters you proposed are great! Everything has become much more flowing and harmonious. The instruments and voices are beautifully separated. Also the correction in the bass is not comparable before the use of the filters.

  • #15

    Euge Lee (Friday, 22 January 2021 05:48)

    I'm by no means an audiophile connoisseur with a golden ear... just a passionate enthusiast. I initially created my own convolution filters for Roon using REW and it was good. I heard about HAF and decided to give it a shot. I will say I'm very impressed and he did some magic that I was unable to get myself (not suprising) and I only signed up for the basic package.

    After a couple weeks and playing around with a simple 2-band PEQ filter to add a "room curve" to HAF's settings... I emailed him back with the PEQ filter info and I quickly received back updated filters with the room curve integrated. Such great service. Highly recommend.

  • #14

    Remus D (Thursday, 31 December 2020 09:04)

    Already at second rendition of filters by Thierry. I changed my speakers recently and needed new filters to use with Roon. As always, Thierry was very kind, patient and helpful and his work - outstanding. Tonal balance, dynamics, extended soundstage and much more time spent listening to my music. I purchased excellence option and use almost exclusively the crosstalk filter. As previously said, huge improvement in SQ vs the modest investment. Thank you Thierry!

  • #13

    Mark Johnson (Monday, 12 October 2020 19:45)

    Extremely happy with the filters that Thierry has provided. After 4 days of evaluation switching from standard correction to crosstalk, I have decided to stick with crosstalk, even when moving around my open plan lounge, dining room and kitchen. There are subtle improvements in overall sound quality and I am loving them more and more each day. Thanks Thierry for such a great service.

  • #12

    Jean-Charles (Tuesday, 06 October 2020 14:07)

    Bonjour,
    Je tiens à remercier Thierry pour son professionnalisme et sa disponibilité.
    Après de nombreux échanges par mail, j'ai commandé ces filtres de convolution pour les intégrer dans Audirvana.
    Après plusieurs essais de filtres, j'ai pu obtenir un résultat qui me convenait.
    J'utilisais précédemment Math audio room eq, mais les filtres de Thierry vont beaucoup plus loin :
    Largeur de scène
    Plus de détails
    Beauté des timbres.
    Merci
    Jean-Charles

  • #11

    Luis B (Monday, 07 September 2020 21:27)

    Hi, Thierry, Luis again.

    Thank you very much for once again exceeding my expectations. After my initial work with you some years back I changed my speakers and therefore needed to re-do the whole convolution. Thierry (even while on holidays!!!) managed to do it for me, iterating several times until the perfect solution arrived. Once again, the results are astonishing. I knew that my soundstage, especially with the crosstalk option, would be great, and so it was. Way beyond the limits of the physical speakers, everything in its place. As my room is rather small, taming the bass of now full range speakers was indispensable, and so we managed to do it, Thierry kindly providing several "versions" until the right one appeared.

    I cannot recommend him and his service enough. The impact is huge, this is no small tweak. Thanks a lot, Thierry, once again!

  • #10

    Ross H (Thursday, 07 May 2020 15:25)

    Thierry has an excellent service which is great in a number of ways, firstly my system sounds so much better with his filters. However in addition, Thierry's service itself is also excellent, and he has helped me far more than I could have expected and I would highly recommend Home Audio Fidelity.
    Kind regards
    Ross

  • #9

    Hugo Sottomayor (Saturday, 02 November 2019 18:18)

    In my opinion this is the most competitive solution on the market because we have to remember that it is the only customized solution made by a real professional. If we change any part of the audio system or its location we just have to ask for its very affordable upgrade.
    The work Thierry does corresponds to improvements as when upgrading a system component (the amplifier, the speakers, or the DAC).
    This is an essential component for our sound system to play properly. Without it we will never get the full potential of our system. My system has never played so well !
    I could not be more pleased.
    Thank you so much Thierry
    Best Regards,
    Hugo

  • #8

    Glenn Root (Friday, 08 March 2019 14:02)

    I greatly enjoy quality home audio but I am far from understanding "the techie" side of it. I knew I needed room correction to get the quality and enjoyment out of my system especially since I do not have a special listening room. So doing the sweeps and moving large files back and forth was scary. Thierry walked me through the steps to ensure I got what I needed. The end result is outstanding. I listen on Roon so I can turn it off and on without any troubles.....there is no going back. With the system and Cross Talk I find not just solid sound stage but a spaciousness that extend beyond the speakers to fill the room. It may seem daunting but deferentially doable for the newbie and well worth the effort when you have someone that will support you!

  • #7

    Uros Jojic (Monday, 26 November 2018 12:34)

    As many have stated here before me, I am very happy with the positive impact Thierry's filters have had on my system. I have been making my own filters for a while now using REW and Re-phase, but what I got from Thierry is markedly better than what I had managed to do myself. Money well spent.

  • #6

    Roel (Tuesday, 25 September 2018 00:58)

    I am the owner of a recording studio.
    The control room has acoustic treatment but due to the size of the room (quite small) the possibilities for treatment are limited.
    I was not satisfied about the sound in the studio especially about the sound of low frequency range.
    I have tried several room correction plug in software but i was not satisfied with the result, because they all sounded highly coloured and i stopped using them.
    So i had my doubts about digital room correction but i decided to try Homeaudiofidelity because i still wanted to improve the sound in my room.
    I was surprised at the filter set that Homeaudiofidelity delivered.
    The result is a better sounding room, a much more neutral sound with more detail in the lows and mixes that translate better on other systems.
    Highly recommended.

  • #5

    Luis Bameule (Friday, 26 January 2018 16:32)

    Thank you very much Thierry for your help and work. Many of us can understand what you do, but a different thing is actually doing it. You have made it easy for us to enjoy the improvements technology can bring to our systems so as to overcome the realities of our listening environments and their limitations. The change in my system was clear and important:

    * much better balance and taming of bass, it sounds a lot better, crispier, more real, while also putting the mids and highs in their place, for lack of a better expression.
    * huge improvement in soundstage and stereo field, even in a complex situation as my listenting space, with one whole side open while the other one is a wall.

    Thierry is also quick to answer, knowledgeable and nice, and very helpful. I cannot recommend this enough.

    Luis

  • #4

    Mark (Thursday, 05 October 2017 19:25)

    Thanks Thierry for doing this. I don't know what magic you are using, but my setup has never sounded this good. Just adding on to what Remi says in the below thread. I finally have a soundstage! The downside is I have to re-listen to all my music again :-). This has been the best purchase in awhile for me.

  • #3

    Rémi (Thursday, 07 September 2017 12:27)

    After a lot of playing around with tools such as REW, Rephase, Dirac, I was able to achieve an OK result in my untreated living room in terms of tone and balance. But I was somehow frustrated with the width and depth of the soundstage. I believed I had to go with it, blaming (rightfully) the many defects of my room - quite reverberant.

    Curious by nature and somehow skeptical in the first place, I tried Thierry's advanced filtering technique and... WOW ! Finally, I had the soundstage, super wide well beyond the walls, super defined. My speakers "vanished", it is no longer possible to locate them. Considering the price is 2-3 times cheaper than the competition, that you get a personalised service, an outstanding performance, I highly recommend you to try Home Audio Fidelity filters before any other paying convolution service, and definitely before buying any expensive cable or gimmick that will bring much less (or nothing) to your audiophile pleasure !

  • #2

    Rv_K (Friday, 01 September 2017 17:57)

    I tested and adopted the convolution filters made by Home Audio Fidelity as they represented a significant contribution to my audio configuration. My system is in a dedicated room processed acoustically. I listen mainly to dematerialized music. HAF filters have improved the impact of low frequencies and softened the top of the spectrum. In addition, the cross talk correction represents a major contribution to listening to acoustic music. Better separation, localisation.
    I tried homemade filters but they never reached the quality of those made by HAF.
    Knowing that the test is free, everyone can judge the contribution on his system. As said in the previous comment, the correction has a greater impact than the change of some cables.
    Just try it to have your own idea!

  • #1

    Paul K (Wednesday, 09 August 2017 05:34)

    I was particularly interested in the cross-talk reduction version of the filters. I’ve been a long-time user of REW and manually created and optimized convolution filters that have been in my system for a long time (way before I even had a PC-based system).

    Cross-Talk
    What is the cross-talk reduction and why is it important? Well, the theory is that recorded stereo sound when played back over stereo speakers causes mixing, or cross-talk, from left to right channel and from right to left. This is unnatural, since ideally anything recorded in the left channel should only reach the left ear, while anything recorded in the right channel should only reach the right ear.

    This clearly does not happen when playing music over speaker systems, since some of the sound from left speaker reaches the right ear, and some of the right channel sound reaches left ear. The theory goes that this produces a less natural sound, with less clarity and a more confused soundstage image. Note that this does not happen when listening to music over headphones! There are much more complex solutions that have been proposed to solve this problem, but most require a very tiny sweet spot, or involve complex head tracking algorithms that are as expensive as they are hard to implement.

    For this reason, when Thierry offered his service, I jumped on it. While his filters promise some cross-talk reduction, all of cross-talk cannot be completely eliminated with convolution filters.

    Conclusions
    Thierry was very helpful, patient, and provided great support during my trial. I can highly recommend that you try his service, especially the free evaluation he offers. I do suggest that you pick music that is very well recorded, with minimum amount of processing and good spatial cues, as that seems to highlight the effect of the cross-talk reducing filters the best.

    The filters worked in my system after a few false starts. The final version of XTALK reducing filters I settled on produced a more natural sound for voices, acoustic, and other well-recorded, minimally miked music. The result was a wider sound stage, and better focused, cleaner instruments and better sense of space. The sound extended further out and away from the speakers than with my regular filters. In fact I almost never heard the sound coming directly from my speakers with these filters.

    The effect was obvious but not overwhelming, I’d say about 15% improvement compared to what I’m used to with my system in the above areas. By way of comparison, I find that USB cables produce no difference in my system, a better DAC might produce a 10-20% improvement, digital and analog interconnects mostly have no effect. So, a 15% improvement is actually significant in relation to other things I could try to improve ;)

    Large scale, well-recorded choral performances did benefit quite a bit from these filters: individual voices became easier to distinguish and locate in a large group, where previously they sounded more like a large jumble of voices.

    Sounds of a large orchestra or synthesized or heavily produced rock recordings did not seem to benefit as much, but the filters never made things worse.

    The non-cross-talk reducing version of the filters turned out to be very similar to the filters I constructed myself, so there wasn’t much reason for me to use these. They might still be very helpful for those who don’t know how to create your own filters by measuring the room response and optimizing phase.

    Overall, I’m happy with Thierry’s cross-talk reducing filters, they’ll stay in my system, replacing my own. I recommend you try them yourself, but of course, YMMV!