Room correction explained: Audyssey, Dirac Live, YPAO and the rest
What receiver room correction fixes, what it cannot, which system each receiver we track ships with, and how to run it so the result is worth keeping.
What does receiver room correction actually do?
It measures your room through a microphone and adjusts the receiver to compensate. Every system on this page works the same basic way: the receiver plays test tones through each speaker while a microphone at your seats records what arrives, then it sets each speaker's level and distance, often suggests crossovers, and builds equalization filters that pull down the peaks your room adds. It does most of its useful work in the bass, where the room's own resonances dominate what you hear. What it cannot do is just as important. It cannot fill a deep, narrow dip, because a dip is two sound waves cancelling and boosting the signal feeds both of them. It cannot move a speaker that is in the wrong place, and it cannot remove the echoes off a bare side wall. So placement comes first, as our subwoofer integration guide explains for the bass, and room acoustics second; room correction is the fine-tuning on top, not a substitute for either.
Which room correction does each receiver brand use?
Mostly one family per brand, so choosing a system usually means choosing a brand. In our catalog, Denon and Marantz receivers ship Audyssey in three tiers: Audyssey MultEQ, Audyssey MultEQ XT and Audyssey MultEQ XT32. Yamaha ships YPAO, with YPAO R.S.C. on its Aventage RX-A models. Onkyo ships AccuEQ on some models and Dirac Live on others. Pioneer ships MCACC, Sony ships D.C.A.C. IX, Anthem ships ARC Genesis and NAD ships Dirac Live. For the per-model answer, this page carries a live list, shown where the catalog yields enough rows, built from each manufacturer's own sheet, so it stays current as the catalog changes: the system each receiver ships with, whether the sheet says part of it is a paid upgrade, and whether a measurement microphone is in the box. A blank in that list means the sheet does not say. It is not a "no". Browse every model in AV receivers.
Which room correction the receivers we track ship with
Grouped by the room correction system the manufacturer's sheet names, then cheapest tracked price first — a grouping, not a ranking: no figure we hold says how well any of these systems corrects a room, so none of them is sorted above another on merit. A receiver whose sheet names no system is not listed, and the table shows at most the first 60. "Yes" under paid upgrade means the sheet says part of the room correction is unlocked by a paid licence rather than included in the box. An em dash means the manufacturer does not state it — not "no". Prices are the cheapest offer we currently track.
| # | Receiver | Room correction | Paid upgrade | Mic included | Tracked price |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Onkyo TX-NR5100 | AccuEQ | — | Yes | $700 |
| 2 | Onkyo TX-NR6100 | AccuEQ | — | Yes | $900 |
| 3 | Onkyo TX-SR3100 | AccuEQ | — | — | — |
| 4 | Onkyo TX-SR494 | AccuEQ | — | Yes | — |
| 5 | Anthem MRX 540 8K | ARC Genesis | — | Yes | $1,900 |
| 6 | Anthem MRX 740 | ARC Genesis | — | — | $3,100 |
| 7 | Anthem MRX 1140 8K | ARC Genesis | — | Yes | $4,200 |
| 8 | Denon AVR-S670H | Audyssey MultEQ | — | — | $519 |
| 9 | Denon AVR-S770H | Audyssey MultEQ | — | — | $599 |
| 10 | Denon AVR-S760H | Audyssey MultEQ | — | Yes | $699 |
| 11 | Marantz NR1510 | Audyssey MultEQ | — | — | $700 |
| 12 | Denon AVR-S980H | Audyssey MultEQ | — | Yes | $949 |
| 13 | Marantz CINEMA 70s | Audyssey MultEQ | — | Yes | — |
| 14 | Denon AVR-X1700H | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $699 |
| 15 | Denon AVR-S970H | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $799 |
| 16 | Denon AVR-X1800H | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $849 |
| 17 | Denon AVR-X2800H | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $999 |
| 18 | Denon AVR-X2900H | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $1,349 |
| 19 | Marantz CINEMA 60 | Audyssey MultEQ XT | — | Yes | $1,800 |
| 20 | Denon AVR-X3800H | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $1,399 |
| 21 | Marantz AV7706 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | — | $2,000 |
| 22 | Marantz Cinema 50 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $2,000 |
| 23 | Denon AVR-X4800H | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $2,799 |
| 24 | Denon AVR-X6800H | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $3,799 |
| 25 | Marantz CINEMA 40 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $3,800 |
| 26 | Marantz AV 30 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $4,000 |
| 27 | Denon AVR-A10H | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | — | $5,199 |
| 28 | Marantz AV 20 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $6,000 |
| 29 | Denon AVR-A1H | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $7,199 |
| 30 | Marantz AV 10 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $8,000 |
| 31 | Marantz CINEMA 30 | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | Yes | $8,800 |
| 32 | Marantz AV8805A | Audyssey MultEQ XT32 | — | — | — |
| 33 | Sony STR-AN1000 | D.C.A.C. IX | — | Yes | $948 |
| 34 | Sony STR-AZ3000ES | D.C.A.C. IX | — | Yes | $1,998 |
| 35 | Sony STR-AZ7000ES | D.C.A.C. IX | — | Yes | $3,998 |
| 36 | Onkyo TX-NR7100 | Dirac Live | Yes | Yes | $749 |
| 37 | Onkyo TX-RZ50 | Dirac Live | — | Yes | $1,400 |
| 38 | NAD T 758 V3i | Dirac Live | — | — | $2,299 |
| 39 | Onkyo TX-RZ70 | Dirac Live | — | — | — |
| 40 | Pioneer VSX-534 | MCACC | — | Yes | $279 |
| 41 | Pioneer VSX-LX105 | MCACC | — | Yes | $599 |
| 42 | Pioneer VSX-LX305 | MCACC | — | — | — |
| 43 | Pioneer VSX-LX505 | MCACC | — | — | — |
| 44 | Yamaha RX-V4A | YPAO | — | — | $650 |
| 45 | Yamaha RX-V6A | YPAO | — | — | $960 |
| 46 | Yamaha RX-A2A | YPAO R.S.C. | — | — | $1,210 |
| 47 | Yamaha RX-A4A | YPAO R.S.C. | — | Yes | $1,600 |
| 48 | Yamaha RX-A8A | YPAO R.S.C. | — | — | $2,600 |
| 49 | Yamaha RX-A6A | YPAO R.S.C. | — | — | $3,000 |
What is the difference between Audyssey MultEQ, MultEQ XT and XT32?
They are three tiers of the same system, and the higher tiers can correct more finely. All three measure several seats and build filters for every speaker and the subwoofer. The higher tiers use filters with more resolution, which matters most in the bass, where room problems are narrow and close together, and XT32 is the top of the range. In our catalog the tier mostly rises with price inside each brand, with Audyssey MultEQ XT32 on the upper models, but not strictly, so check the exact model in the receiver list on this page rather than inferring the tier from a model number. Two things change the tier comparison in practice. On supported receivers, Audyssey's MultEQ Editor app (a paid app) lets you view the measured curves and limit the correction to the bass, which many owners prefer. And when comparing two receivers on this, the Denon ladder shows which models share a tier, so you are not paying for a step that does not change the room correction.
Is Dirac Live better than Audyssey?
Neither spec sheets nor our catalog can settle that, and we will not pretend they can. Dirac Live corrects timing (impulse response) as well as frequency response, and it lets you draw your own target curve on a computer or phone, which is a large part of its appeal to people who like to tune. Audyssey, YPAO and the rest also measure and correct, with less hands-on control in the basic receiver menus. Owners argue about which sounds better, and that argument depends on the room, the speakers and how carefully each was run. What a sheet can tell you is how you get Dirac. Some receivers include it, and others ship their own system and offer Dirac Live as a paid licence, often marketed as "Dirac Live ready". Our catalog is meant to record the shipped system as primary and the Dirac upgrade as a separate paid-upgrade flag, rather than calling the receiver a Dirac model (spec §3.5). For a direct comparison of two receivers that ship different systems, the Anthem MRX 740 against the Denon AVR-X3800H puts ARC Genesis and Audyssey MultEQ XT32 side by side, and the NAD T 758 V3i against the same Denon does the same for Dirac Live.
What are YPAO, MCACC, AccuEQ, D.C.A.C. IX and ARC Genesis?
Each one is a brand's own version of the same idea, built into its receivers. YPAO is Yamaha's; the R.S.C. variant (Reflected Sound Control) adds correction aimed at early reflections, and the Yamaha RX-A2A against the RX-V6A shows the two side by side. MCACC is Pioneer's, with an MCACC Pro variant on higher models. AccuEQ is Onkyo's entry system, and the Onkyo TX-NR6100 against the Yamaha RX-V6A compares AccuEQ with YPAO directly. D.C.A.C. IX (Digital Cinema Auto Calibration) is Sony's, and the Sony STR-AN1000 against the Denon AVR-X1800H puts it against Audyssey MultEQ XT. ARC Genesis is Anthem's: you run it from a computer or a phone app rather than the receiver's menus, and you can see and edit the target curve. Our catalog's list of systems also includes Trinnov Altitude, a high-end processor platform; the receiver list on this page will show it the moment a row states it.
Do you need a separate measurement microphone?
Not to run the receiver's own system, but yes if you want to check its work. Every system above is designed around the microphone its maker supplies, and many receivers include one; the mic column in the receiver list on this page shows which sheets state it. Use that microphone for the receiver's calibration, because the receiver expects its own mic's response. A separate calibrated USB microphone is for independent measurement with Room EQ Wizard (REW), the free software that plots what you are actually hearing at the seat. It is the tool for before-and-after checks, finding a subwoofer position, or seeing whether a correction curve made things better. A phone app is not a substitute, because phone microphones are not calibrated for bass.
How do you run room correction properly?
Prepare the room, measure carefully, then check the receiver's choices. First, finish placement: speakers and sub where they will stay, and the sub's own crossover knob at its highest setting or LFE/bypass. Make the room quiet (no HVAC, no fridge hum, no one talking) and put the microphone on a tripod at seated ear height, pointing at the ceiling unless the manual says otherwise, never sunk into a couch cushion. Take the first measurement at the main seat, because many systems set distances and levels from that position, then spread the rest across the seats people actually use, not across the whole room. Afterwards, check what it decided. Systems sometimes set speakers to "Large" or pick crossovers that do not match the speakers; set the speakers to "Small" with a crossover around 80 Hz unless you have a reason not to, and re-check the subwoofer level by ear. Our subwoofer integration guide covers phase and distance, and the builder checks the receiver you choose against the rest of your system.