To SAM or not to SAM and DRC

[Jean-Marie]

I don't think that bit perfect is what really matters. The ideal would be a system that reproduces at the listening location as the output of the speakers the exact sound Field that the microphone was attempting to capture. 

Back to topic ....  

+1 Jean Marie. After chewing on it awhile, I believe your conclusion is the one which really makes the most sense.

The listening postion has to be the reference point, and since that varies for each of us (for better or for worse), it would seem logical that the individual listening position would explain why some hear more benefits with SAM and others less.

And SAM does not take into account the room effect, which DRC does. 
To simplify what SAM does is "only" to give a "ideal" bass drive unit and correct the phase of the speaker. 
I was discussing one day with Pierre-Emmanuel Calmel, at the very early days of SAM, and he was explaining to me that they had taken the conscious decision to respect the personality of the speakers, so beyond exempting the bass the frequency response of the speaker is not affected. 
And when I asked him why this approach instead of Room Correction his answer was that at the time they where looking for something that was very simple for the end user to configure, and proper room correction is anything but simple. I did not know at the time that SAM was a product of their development work for the phantom that was "back ported" on the expert. 

So I agree with you the the perceived benefits or deficits of SAM will highly depends on the combination of the speakers and the room / listening position. 
For instance if you have a speaker that is time aligned already and that the bass exemption falls into a frequency range that is cancelled at your listening position, I doubt that you will perceive much benefits from SAM, and if even worse, the bass extension excites a room mode, then that could even be detrimental. 

Jean-Marie

[Graham]

I have been reassured by the last couple of posts, I really found SAM made very little difference with my D120 and I was never sure if it was my old ears, my speakers or the listening room.
With the D220 Pro I have convinced myself that there is a small but significant improvement in the bass, but I can't tell the difference when there is no bass.