miniDSP - Q2 2020 Newsletter
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Hello Visitor, Hoping you're doing well and staying healthy in these challenging times.. While the COVID-19 crisis has had an impact on all of us including our hectic release schedule, we’re pleased to be able to announce two new products in this newsletter, available now for pre-order on our webshop. We're also excited to provide some major updates for existing products. We look forward to hearing back from you so feel free to contact us if you have any questions. DevTeam |
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SHD PowerOur engineering team has been pulling out all the stops to bring you the latest member of the Streaming HD product line, the SHD Power. The SHD Power is our take on a high-fidelity integrated DSP-powered amplifier!Like all SHD Series processors, the SHD Power includes Dirac Live room correction, multiple digital inputs including USB, network streaming, and a suite of powerful DSP functions. However, this one also includes a low-distortion 2x120W power amplifier. We’ve spec’ed and tuned the amp for true high-fidelity performance, with less than 0.005% THD from 1 Watt all the way up to 100 Watts of output power. Two separate analog outputs can drive up to two subwoofers with independent DSP control of each.
All of this is packaged in a solid yet remarkably compact enclosure. Priced at $1499 US, we feel this new feature-packed product represents an incredible value in delivering transparent sound with almost any speaker and room combination. You can pre-order it on our webshop here and learn more from the datasheet and updated SHD Series user manual. While working on the SHD Power, we’ve also been developing features that benefit all SHD Series processors. As a result, we have a new remote control with play and skip buttons for Volumio. The new remote ships with all SHD Series processors starting in June, and you can also buy it separately on our webshop. Dirac Live for headphonesWhile the team at Dirac Research already has some amazing headphone correction solutions, it never hurts to be creative! This is exactly what prompted community member and long-time miniDSP Finnish dealer, Aaninen. He realised that – with a bit of trickery – some miniDSP platforms (e.g. the DDRC-24 and SHD series) would be a perfect fit for headphone equalization when matched with miniDSP's EARS headphone jig. And this was the beginning of his Dirac Live for headphones journey....
Want to give it a try? We've put together an application note showing how to do with this EARS and a DDRC-24 or SHD Series processor. (The DDRC-22D won't work as you need an onboard matrix mixer.) Note that this is a non-conformant application of Dirac Live (which is designed for speaker tuning). Still, we found the results very convincing. What did you think? Share with us your feedback on the forum! Introducing ambiMIK-1Our second new product for this newsletter is the ambiMIK-1. Like our wildly popular UMIK-1, this is a USB microphone compatible with USB Class 2 for Mac and Linux, and with Windows using our ASIO driver. However, the ambiMIK-1 is designed for “3D” recording for applications such as ambisonics (hence the name). The ambiMIK-1 features four microphone capsules in a tetrahedral arrangement:
The capsules feed an on-board 4-channel microphone preamp and A/D convertor with 120 dB dynamic range. The microphone has its own XMOS processor providing audio recording support at sample rates up to 32-bit 192 kHz. To complete this brilliant package, miniDSP partnered with our long time friends @ Dirac to include a VST plugin for A to B format & Binaural conversion. An exciting new partnership for an exciting new product!
Priced at an unprecedented $349 US, the ambiMIK-1 is up on our webshop for pre-order here. We’re looking forward to seeing the uses that our creative customers come up with! Other NewsFirmware/Plugin updates Dirac Live 2.0 multichannel beta test program Our development team has also been working hard on the multichannel version of Dirac Live 2.0 for our platforms. We’re nearly there and would like to hear from advanced DDRC-88A users who would be interested in participating in a beta test program. Please register with a support ticket to express interest. Please note: as this is still a test build, there may be bugs and issues. So we’d like to limit this to users with lots of experience already in Dirac Live tuning with the DDRC-88A and who can help us identify issues with the underlying software. Our development team unfortunately doesn’t have the resources to explain the basics of Dirac Live calibration on early release, so we appreciate your understanding on this. Once that beta stage finalized, we will open up to customers free of charge. Your patience is much appreciated. :-) Manual updates - The USBStreamer and MCHStreamer manuals received updates to clarify the various protocols and DSD/PCM enhancement. Make sure to check them out under the product downloads section. End of Life announcements - With more than 6 years on the market, the nanoAVR platform made it easy to introduce Dirac Live into an existing AVR being upstream. We’ve decided to retire the nanoAVR now, as our team is actively working on a replacement that overcomes its key limitations. We're excited at what 2020 will bring!
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