TOPIC:

Hello, I'm looking for a stereo 4-way active crossover solution. My source is toslink and volume will be controlled via my source which has volume control in the digital domain. I would like the ability to use FIR filtering as well for linear phase.

The two solutions I see are two 2x4HDs ($450) or a Flex Eight ($600). I'd use one 2x4HD per stereo channel. I'm looking for any input on tradeoffs between the two.

Based on literature the Flex seems to have a better analog output stage. Two HDs give double the processing power and double the available FIR taps. Flex FIRs are on input channels and HD FIRs are on output channels, so FIR implementation would be slightly different.

Any thoughts or advice? What would your choice be?

A major difference (to me at least) is that going the 2x4HD route there would be no option to upgrade to using Dirac Live which I have found to be useful in my experimentation so far. My current system under development is a 3-way - I started by cascading a 2X4 Balanced off the LF outputs of the 2X4HD (actually a DDRC-24 now) to split the bass from the mids, but have since replaced the 2X4 Balanced with a 2-way analogue active crossover. This works well but I would much prefer to replace the DDRC/analogue crossover setup with a Flex Eight (with Dirac). The other option for me would be to use the DDRC just for Dirac and EQ and feed one pair of outputs into a 3-way (or possibly in the future, 4-way) analogue crossover.