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Free room correction on a pair of active speakers usually means a phone-mic toy, so I went in sceptical on Cambridge Audio's RoomMagic. It has landed as a free update in the StreamMagic app for the L/R X and L/R M. You take two measurements with your phone or tablet, one to calibrate that device's microphone and one from your seat, and it builds a correction against how the speakers measured in Cambridge's own controlled conditions.
The design choice I like: it only touches the low end. Midrange and treble are left alone, so the speakers keep their tuned voicing and the correction goes after room modes, which is where most living rooms actually go wrong. You get three target curves and a slider for how hard it corrects. Full-range auto EQ on a cheap mic is how you end up with a dull, overcorrected top end, and they've simply avoided that problem.
The phone mic is still the weak link. They say the calibration step accounts for differences between phone microphones, but a phone mic in the deep bass is a guess at best, and the deepest room mode is exactly where you want accuracy. One listening position is also a single-seat fix. Dirac and Anthem ARC take multiple points for a reason.
For a pair of desktop or bookshelf actives in an awkward room, this is a free upgrade with very little downside. Measure before and after with REW and a cheap USB mic if you have one, because that comparison will tell you more than any of the marketing about what it is doing in the bottom octave.
The design choice I like: it only touches the low end. Midrange and treble are left alone, so the speakers keep their tuned voicing and the correction goes after room modes, which is where most living rooms actually go wrong. You get three target curves and a slider for how hard it corrects. Full-range auto EQ on a cheap mic is how you end up with a dull, overcorrected top end, and they've simply avoided that problem.
The phone mic is still the weak link. They say the calibration step accounts for differences between phone microphones, but a phone mic in the deep bass is a guess at best, and the deepest room mode is exactly where you want accuracy. One listening position is also a single-seat fix. Dirac and Anthem ARC take multiple points for a reason.
For a pair of desktop or bookshelf actives in an awkward room, this is a free upgrade with very little downside. Measure before and after with REW and a cheap USB mic if you have one, because that comparison will tell you more than any of the marketing about what it is doing in the bottom octave.
