Hans is back. Yeah! - And reviewing a product I expected him to review this summer. Not sure if I’ve got a ESP or if he’s just predictable but either way he knows to give us great content featuring the products we’re interested in. Thank you Hans. Hope you had a great vacation.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I want to do some room correction and bass management for my home theater, but I'm no expert or audio engineer. Can you recommend a product that will be simple to use for my 7.1.2 system? I'm hoping for it to be as simple as installing software, taking measurements and then the software making the adjustments or suggestions needed. Thanks for your help
I have the poor man’s version of this - a MiniDSP DDRC-24 with an NAD 3020. Even with my less sophisticated system, the sound is TrueType stunning. I understand people who prefer to use room treatments, however now that I’ve had Dirac 3.0 I can never imagine myself owning a system without it. There is no going back- Dirac 3.0 is simply unbelievable.
I just discovered REW to make filters for Roon DSP to apply room correction. I wonder how this compares to the MiniDSP hardware. Benefit of Roon filters is that I can use my existing system.
I have tried REW and heard the processing. As I did with a number 9f other systems. Not with Dirac. I think it - at least partly - must have to d with the mixed filter approach..
Welcome back. I have a minidsp 2x4hd. I love it. The DAC could be better I feel. A question though. Would replacing it with a Minidsp Nano Digi + External DAC be a better option or getting the Dirac plug in for the 2x4hd be a better option?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel that is nice to hear! The SHD Power seems unbeatable in my upcoming desktop set-up, I was looking for decent power output, Dirac (+ mic), USB input and subwoofer support. Thank you!
Hi Hans, glad you back. Hope you had a great holiday. Does the investment on MiniDSP (with DSP processing capability + Dirac) is better compare than having a good NAA like SoTM in SQ aspect? My concern is the measurement just only need to be done once, while both of them provide streaming capability.
They do different things and thus provide different quality improvements. It is hard to say what would be the best order, NAA or Dirac. The measurements for Dirac remain valid until you make drastic changes to the listening room.
Serious comments: is this not a bit like the Bose sucks argument? Given enough time, tech/engineering nouse and modelling skills, you can make it sound like anything you want... Is this ok? Or do we want three components direct wired in a steel box?
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I don't know if there is a question, just the difference between all DSP, ultra high bit.... And all analogue point to point hand wired stuff. Wish I could win a lotto to try th AB comparison. 😺🏴
@@paznewis107 These amplifiers with dsp, Direc Live, Roon, room correction etc could be compared to the current F1 car's, Motogp bikes that have lot's of electronic aids to prevent understeer, oversteer. Downforce, traction control etc. Some rider's love it while some prefered it with no electronic aids on the older cars, bikes. Yes there technically faster but it isn't as natural, the feeling is lost. Back to music, sound in the real world voices, instruments don't have equalisers, dsp attached changing the sound character. My system is a simple short chain source to point without lot's of different boxes pre amps, computers, media streamers, DACs etc diluting degrading the signal. Just a Oppo UDP 203 as the DAC & pre amp, CD/SACD player. Connected straight to a very high quality stereo power amplifier, plus subwoofer from the analogue outputs on the Oppo UDP 203. No room correction or eq. Thick carpeted room thick curtains with common sense placement of bookshelf speakers on stands. Only proper room treatment is custom made acoustic open cell foam on my speaker stands. With additional HiFi anti vibration silicone feet. Not heard a lot of other people's systems but sound quality wise in my room my HiFi system sounds very very natural. Accurate, dynamic, transparent 🎶
Hans, have you got a chance to test 'MiniDSP SHD' (the one with analog outputs)? I'm thinking if this is worth trying not only as room correction squezed between my DAC and source (SHD Studio), but as a full solution replacing DAC and Preamp.
The MiniDSP SHD/Studio require 2 DACs to use the unit as an active 2-way crossover. Does the SHD Power allow you to use it as an active crossover with just one DAC? My system is bi-amped. I could see using the amp in the Power for my woofers if I could use a separate DAC and amp for the mid/tweeters.
I posted this question on the MiniDSP community support and wanted to share with everyone the response I received. Their opinion is that the SHD/Studio is designed for active crossover application but the Power is not. They also said no external DACs are required with the SHD, but by-passing the internal DACs may provide better sound quality
While a senior member of the support community responded, looking at the connections on the back, I don’t see the difference between two sets of digital output to a pairs of preamps or amps versus one set of digital outputs for preamp/amp and direct wiring of the amp portion of the Power to a second set of speakers
I think I understand the uses of these devices (FINALLY!). The SHD has analogue outputs as well as digital outputs so you could either directly connect up to four mono amps or 2 stereo amps. You could also connect 1-2 external DACs via the two digital outputs . The Studio is digital only so you would have to connect that device to external DACs via the 2 digital outputs. If you plan to use external DACs, that is the way to go as the Studio is less expensive than the SHD and you avoid any potential issues with compatibility with the DAC in the SHD. Lastly the Power is designed to power a pair of stereo speakers or a pair of speakers and a powered sub. It does not use the same DAC as the SHD; the specs for the Power state that the chip is for use with a sub.
Hi Hans, if you only want to add Dirac room correction to the signal path (so if you already have a Mac Mini with DAC/DSP combo like RME ADI-2) is there any advantage in using the DSP mini (hardware solution) over the software only solution for Mac? In terms of sound quality I mean.
That all depends on how all is set up. Computers have a far from clean USB or SPDIF feed. If you would use the MiniDSP SHD streamer function, audio quality - even without Dirac - will be better.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Ok thx :)! It is purely for desktop use, so direct input over USB. I read that the RME uses something called SteadyClock FS which should highly reject jitter. So I will give that unit a try and maybe add miniDSP later on.
Hi. Do you think this device can be used to power fairly inefficient speakers? I have Magnepan MMG + Rythmik sub but I'm lacking a decent integrated AMP with DAC with bass management. I'm interested on this device, but I don't know if it is a good match for my speakers
Love your content!!! I’m wondering if you’ve tried Buchardt’s room eq? I’ve been doing some research and have come to the conclusion that the best room eqs out there right now are Dirac and RoomPerfect by Lyngdorf…. But as you mentioned, Dirac has a cap of 96 kHz for sample rate. And it seems that Buchardt’s system can handle 192 kHz…..
No, I haven't tried Buchardt's room eq. About the sampling rate: I think the quality of the EQ's algorithm can exceed that of a 2 x higher sampling rate. Don't be fooled by numbers, check the sound quality.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel wow. Thanks for replying and I’ll keep that in mind!!! I really quite like the fact that with Dirac one can setup for just 1 person or the whole room, so this makes me happy to hear ☺️
Thank you for these videos! If MQA is important, then this isn't an option right? Is the NAD C658 the closest option to this in terms of price and features that supports MQA in addition to Dirac? Would it be silly to just use a Bluesound Nodi 2i and then add a MiniDSP DDRC-24 via analog input/outputs between the Node 2i and the amp/speakers in order to have full MQA but also Dirac?
Hans is back. Yeah! - And reviewing a product I expected him to review this summer. Not sure if I’ve got a ESP or if he’s just predictable but either way he knows to give us great content featuring the products we’re interested in. Thank you Hans. Hope you had a great vacation.
Thank you sir. And I did have a nice vacation 👍🏻
Great to see you back
Love to be back.
Excellent content as usual Hans. Thanks.
Glad you enjoyed it
Sure did miss you Hans! Hope you had a wonderful holiday! See you next week.
It was great. Fully reloaded for another season.
Hey Hanz, missed you. 🏴😺🐙
Glad to be back 😀
Very nice product and review good to see you Hans
🙏🏽
Another very useful review. Thanks.
🙏🏽
Great review, thanks for your education.
My pleasure!
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I want to do some room correction and bass management for my home theater, but I'm no expert or audio engineer. Can you recommend a product that will be simple to use for my 7.1.2 system? I'm hoping for it to be as simple as installing software, taking measurements and then the software making the adjustments or suggestions needed. Thanks for your help
I have the poor man’s version of this - a MiniDSP DDRC-24 with an NAD 3020. Even with my less sophisticated system, the sound is TrueType stunning. I understand people who prefer to use room treatments, however now that I’ve had Dirac 3.0 I can never imagine myself owning a system without it. There is no going back- Dirac 3.0 is simply unbelievable.
I agree completely!
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Funny, Paul from PS Audio says yes to home theatre and definitely NO to 2 channel system.
I just discovered REW to make filters for Roon DSP to apply room correction. I wonder how this compares to the MiniDSP hardware. Benefit of Roon filters is that I can use my existing system.
I have tried REW and heard the processing. As I did with a number 9f other systems. Not with Dirac. I think it - at least partly - must have to d with the mixed filter approach..
So REW will work with ROON? you only need the endpoint and the SW will use the REW profiles? Nice to know that
You can load the convolution files into Roon.
2 channel amps with bass management are hard to find. This is an awesome piece of hardware, even without Dirac.
I think so too
Welcome back. I have a minidsp 2x4hd. I love it. The DAC could be better I feel. A question though. Would replacing it with a Minidsp Nano Digi + External DAC be a better option or getting the Dirac plug in for the 2x4hd be a better option?
Probably but I have not tried this.
Hi Hans, are you planning to review the minidsp flex at some point?
Not decided yet.
Great review, thanks! I was wondering how it compared to the NAD M10 as on paper they are nearly identical.
Sound wise I would rank them equal although they do have different sound characters. Feature wise they are different too.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel that is nice to hear! The SHD Power seems unbeatable in my upcoming desktop set-up, I was looking for decent power output, Dirac (+ mic), USB input and subwoofer support. Thank you!
Hi Hans, glad you back. Hope you had a great holiday. Does the investment on MiniDSP (with DSP processing capability + Dirac) is better compare than having a good NAA like SoTM in SQ aspect? My concern is the measurement just only need to be done once, while both of them provide streaming capability.
They do different things and thus provide different quality improvements. It is hard to say what would be the best order, NAA or Dirac. The measurements for Dirac remain valid until you make drastic changes to the listening room.
Serious comments: is this not a bit like the Bose sucks argument? Given enough time, tech/engineering nouse and modelling skills, you can make it sound like anything you want...
Is this ok? Or do we want three components direct wired in a steel box?
I don't get what the question is.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel I don't know if there is a question, just the difference between all DSP, ultra high bit.... And all analogue point to point hand wired stuff. Wish I could win a lotto to try th AB comparison. 😺🏴
@@paznewis107 These amplifiers with dsp, Direc Live, Roon, room correction etc could be compared to the current F1 car's, Motogp bikes that have lot's of electronic aids to prevent understeer, oversteer. Downforce, traction control etc. Some rider's love it while some prefered it with no electronic aids on the older cars, bikes. Yes there technically faster but it isn't as natural, the feeling is lost. Back to music, sound in the real world voices, instruments don't have equalisers, dsp attached changing the sound character.
My system is a simple short chain source to point without lot's of different boxes pre amps, computers, media streamers, DACs etc diluting degrading the signal. Just a Oppo UDP 203 as the DAC & pre amp, CD/SACD player. Connected straight to a very high quality stereo power amplifier, plus subwoofer from the analogue outputs on the Oppo UDP 203. No room correction or eq. Thick carpeted room thick curtains with common sense placement of bookshelf speakers on stands. Only proper room treatment is custom made acoustic open cell foam on my speaker stands. With additional HiFi anti vibration silicone feet.
Not heard a lot of other people's systems but sound quality wise in my room my HiFi system sounds very very natural. Accurate, dynamic, transparent 🎶
Those Dirac measurements... They're so flat! You must have a fantastic setup 👍
Dirac can do that while maintaining a good phase behaviour.
Hans, have you got a chance to test 'MiniDSP SHD' (the one with analog outputs)? I'm thinking if this is worth trying not only as room correction squezed between my DAC and source (SHD Studio), but as a full solution replacing DAC and Preamp.
I understand. I might, bot not on short notice.
The MiniDSP SHD/Studio require 2 DACs to use the unit as an active 2-way crossover. Does the SHD Power allow you to use it as an active crossover with just one DAC? My system is bi-amped. I could see using the amp in the Power for my woofers if I could use a separate DAC and amp for the mid/tweeters.
Correct
I posted this question on the MiniDSP community support and wanted to share with everyone the response I received. Their opinion is that the SHD/Studio is designed for active crossover application but the Power is not. They also said no external DACs are required with the SHD, but by-passing the internal DACs may provide better sound quality
While a senior member of the support community responded, looking at the connections on the back, I don’t see the difference between two sets of digital output to a pairs of preamps or amps versus one set of digital outputs for preamp/amp and direct wiring of the amp portion of the Power to a second set of speakers
I think I understand the uses of these devices (FINALLY!). The SHD has analogue outputs as well as digital outputs so you could either directly connect up to four mono amps or 2 stereo amps. You could also connect 1-2 external DACs via the two digital outputs . The Studio is digital only so you would have to connect that device to external DACs via the 2 digital outputs. If you plan to use external DACs, that is the way to go as the Studio is less expensive than the SHD and you avoid any potential issues with compatibility with the DAC in the SHD. Lastly the Power is designed to power a pair of stereo speakers or a pair of speakers and a powered sub. It does not use the same DAC as the SHD; the specs for the Power state that the chip is for use with a sub.
Hi Hans, if you only want to add Dirac room correction to the signal path (so if you already have a Mac Mini with DAC/DSP combo like RME ADI-2) is there any advantage in using the DSP mini (hardware solution) over the software only solution for Mac? In terms of sound quality I mean.
That all depends on how all is set up. Computers have a far from clean USB or SPDIF feed. If you would use the MiniDSP SHD streamer function, audio quality - even without Dirac - will be better.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Ok thx :)! It is purely for desktop use, so direct input over USB. I read that the RME uses something called SteadyClock FS which should highly reject jitter. So I will give that unit a try and maybe add miniDSP later on.
Hi Hans. Do you use the same curves on your SHD Studio which is on your system 1 during regular listening?
Yes.
Hi. Do you think this device can be used to power fairly inefficient speakers? I have Magnepan MMG + Rythmik sub but I'm lacking a decent integrated AMP with DAC with bass management. I'm interested on this device, but I don't know if it is a good match for my speakers
I have no hands on experiences with Magnepans but the MiniDSP SHD Power hasss class D amps so power wise there will not be a problem I think.
How accurate is the automatic room correction?
Does it need manual fine tuning after the automatic part is done?
It doesn't need fine-tuning but you can very the target curve a bit to taste. Watch th-cam.com/video/zr_oqF9jb-8/w-d-xo.html
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel Ah okay, thanks!
That one's added to the watch later list 👌
Love your content!!! I’m wondering if you’ve tried Buchardt’s room eq? I’ve been doing some research and have come to the conclusion that the best room eqs out there right now are Dirac and RoomPerfect by Lyngdorf…. But as you mentioned, Dirac has a cap of 96 kHz for sample rate. And it seems that Buchardt’s system can handle 192 kHz…..
No, I haven't tried Buchardt's room eq. About the sampling rate: I think the quality of the EQ's algorithm can exceed that of a 2 x higher sampling rate. Don't be fooled by numbers, check the sound quality.
@@TheHansBeekhuyzenChannel wow. Thanks for replying and I’ll keep that in mind!!! I really quite like the fact that with Dirac one can setup for just 1 person or the whole room, so this makes me happy to hear ☺️
Thank you for these videos! If MQA is important, then this isn't an option right? Is the NAD C658 the closest option to this in terms of price and features that supports MQA in addition to Dirac? Would it be silly to just use a Bluesound Nodi 2i and then add a MiniDSP DDRC-24 via analog input/outputs between the Node 2i and the amp/speakers in order to have full MQA but also Dirac?
You got it!
"only" $1499? I guess I'm cheap. (but not that cheap since I just bought Roon lifetime :) )
my sentiments excactly
Room conditioning blocked by the aesthetics department
😉