miniDSP - Q4 2021 Newsletter

Hello Visitor,

We hope you're doing well and staying healthy!

We're excited to give you a short update on what we've been up to for the past few months. While supply chain woes continue to affect our roadmap, we still have some major product announcements! From a new product line to a major streaming partner, we hope that you'll enjoy this update.

As usual, feel free to contact us if you have any questions or feedback.

DevTeam

Introducing miniDSP Flex

We're pleased to announce a new product we've been working on for the past few months. Introducing the miniDSP Flex, the 3rd generation of our popular line of compact 2-in, 4-out audio processors. It retains the powerful floating-point processor but re-thinks the I/O architecture so we can provide our customers with different input-output versions in this compact 150x41x180 mm chassis (approx 6 x 1.6 x 7 inches).

All I/O versions of the Flex include a set of digital inputs: USB audio, 2 x S/PDIF (RCA and optical) and Bluetooth aptX/LDAC™. Initially, two I/O versions will ship: one with single-ended analog I/O (RCA) and one with balanced analog I/O (TRS). Both have superb audiophile specifications for your enjoyment. An OLED front panel display and volume control/encoder knob provides easy control. As always, the Flex is jam-packed with miniDSP’s tried and proven audio processing: flexible parametric EQ, IIR & FIR filters, crossovers, advanced biquad programming and delay on each output channel. Last but not least, it's easily software-upgradable with Dirac Live®, the world’s premiere room correction system for full range (20~20kHz) tuning. The miniDSP Flex will find a myriad uses in applications ranging from a compact digital stereo preamp through subwoofer integration and optimization to active speakers, home theater and recording studios. You just need to let your creativity do the rest!

The miniDSP Flex is available for pre-order on our webshop for 475USD with optional full range Dirac Live license available for 199USD. We expect shipments to start mid January 2022. Check out the preliminary datasheet and user manual and feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

SHD Series is now Roon Ready

We're extremely happy to announce that the miniDSP SHD Series (SHD, SHD Studio and SHD Power) are all certified Roon Ready players! While certification has been subject to delays due to the complexity of the SHD architecture, this major update is free to all SHD users and we feel it is a testament to our continuous support for the SHD platform. We're excited to be part of the Roon Ready family and look forward to working with RoonLabs on future projects. Thanks to Roonlabs, Volumio and miniDSP engineers to make it reality!

If you're already a Roon subscriber, check out our latest user manual. Be sure to update your Volumio Build to the latest version (v1.111) and your SHD Series unit will become available for selection as a Roon Ready device inside Roon within today.

If you haven't tried Roon before and want to learn more about it, this video is a great starting point. We will be giving away a free 2-month trial to use with your SHD! Existing customers will shortly be able to request their trial code from a landing page in the coming 2weeks. In the mean time, new owners will receive a trial code cards along with their unit. Enjoy! 

Application Notes

Here is a new application note worth reading!

- Binaural Recording with EARS: While the miniDSP EARS was designed for headphone measurement, a number of customers have asked how it could be used for binaural recording. We decided to investigate a little and do some experiments. Our results are summarized in this application note. Please try this for yourself and share some recordings with our community!

Have an idea for a new application note? Make sure to share it with our team.

Understanding LDAC™ Wireless audio

As a new licensee of LDAC™, Sony's High Quality wireless audio streaming, we at miniDSP thought it would be great to showcase its benefits in this newsletter. By nature, Bluetooth audio streaming is very convenient but it's not without its limitations and until recently has not been an audiophile experience. LDAC is a new CODEC enabling 3 x the data to improve your enjoyment. You can read more on the Sony LDAC™ page.

These pretty graphics are great but how about some measurements? We used our Audio Precision APx555 to compare AAC Bluetooth (standard BT) against Sony's LDAC™. Shown below are our measured results with a 24-bit 96 kHz source file. The lower distortion and noise of LDAC™ is clearly evident, with the SINAD metric being over 50 dB better! In plain english, an audiophile experience... 

News from the LAB

So what else have we been up to in the miniDSP LAB? 

- Even though the miniDSP Flex has only just been announced, we're already working on a new digital-output version. The Flex/Digital will sport analog and digital inputs together with four channels of digital output. We hope to start shipment middle Q1 2022. Stay tuned for an exciting new year!

- When it comes to volume control of your favorite Hifi system, you may be looking for something more advanced than an IR remote. We've created a plugin for the SHD Series that leverages the sleek aluminum rotary encoder from the Microsoft Surface dial to give you wireless volume control. Whether from the comfort of your sofa or your Studio Mastering desk, the new feature gives you better wireless control of your SHD system. This is currently in beta test and we hope to release it to the whole community soon but we already documented an application note to give you an idea of how it works. Do you have a Surface Dial and an SHD Series processor? Do you want to become a beta tester? Get in touch with us, we'd be happy to help.