WiFi HiFi’s “Hands On” Review of the Dirac-enabled Tritton Kunai Pro Gaming Headset

“Listening to some of my favorite albums in foobar2000, Dirac HD Sound instantly expanded the sound field and sharpened every sonic element, making individual instruments or voices dramatically more distinct. With Dirac HD Sound turned on, the Kunai Pro went from being a pretty average low-end gaming headset to a very respectable open-sounding set of headphones. Turning Dirac HD Sound off again felt like shoving wads of cotton wool into the ear cups.

I have no idea what violence Dirac’s algorithms perform on the original recorded waveform. High frequencies seem to be considerably enhanced, but low bass is more distinct as well. Overall loudness is elevated somewhat, and stereo separation seems wider. But even on careful extended listening, I couldn’t detect any particular degradation in the musicality of the audio. To my ears, there was none of the obvious harshness, distortion, or feeling of artificiality that one might expect with intensive DSP processing.”