Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

[abdo123]

I think it's been demonstrated a lot that there is no benefit to MQA over High res pcm, even a degradation. It is natural, it's a lossy CODEC, there is no debate there, that's to be expected, but this comparison is useless to me.

In Canada we have no Qobuz, at the moment MQA is the only high res format that can be streamed trough online services, it being Tidal. Comparing it to High Res is not useful since it isn't available, what would be useful is to compare it to the 16/44 format because that's all there is available if you rely on subscription based services. I have not find blind test results on this. On Tidal, MQAs sound a bit different than the regular versions, the fact that they sound a bit better to me may be a Bias, it's possible, but not the fact that they sound different.
Personally I tend to forget about the politics, I do play MQA and enjoy them, understanding that the format itself as flaws but there is some really good sounding MQA, there is an audible difference, might be the mastering that is different and not a benefit of the format but this doesn't matter. I don't get into the whole conspiration, record labels allows these file to be out there, do you really feel that they wouldn't pull them out if they felt that there work is being corrupted and degraded and that MQA make their song worst compared to Redbook CD format? If we forget for a minute that it's lossy, the last letter in MQA stands for authenticated. Labels agree with these masters, I do not care much about how it's been manipulated, that's the end result that matter, and most sound very good.

I’m pretty sure Apple music would be available in Canada.

 

[muslhead]

Don't tempt me - I promised my wife this would be Frugal February.

Frugal February is the precursor to March Mayhem.
Be patient

 

[Morpheus]

Order directly from the MiniDSP site and it will be 620 euro.

Plus taxes, they ship from Hong Kong afaik. ..

 

[abdo123]

Plus taxes, they ship from Hong Kong afaik. ..

Nope that price includes taxes.

 

[Blew]

I think it's been demonstrated a lot that there is no benefit to MQA over High res pcm, even a degradation. It is natural, it's a lossy CODEC, there is no debate there, that's to be expected, but this comparison is useless to me.

I'm not so sure about that. Subjectively speaking, I feel a slight preference for hi-res MQA releases over the same hi-res lossless releases. I can't say for certain whether they are from the same masters or there some tweaking has been done for the MQA releases but I usually feel the MQA sounds ever so slightly better. That may be pure cognitive bias, but it's interesting to me nonetheless.

The lossless point is moot when you look at how it's done and why we listen to hi-res in the first place. I don't think anyone actually wants to hear what's above 22KHz.

On Tidal, MQAs sound a bit different than the regular versions, the fact that they sound a bit better to me may be a Bias, it's possible, but not the fact that they sound different.

This is my main reason for wanting MQA support. There are plenty of 44.1KHz "Master" releases on Tidal that definitely sound better than the CD versions to me when played on a MQA enabled DAC. So I'd rather be able to listen to them in MQA than not.

 

[Ultrasonic]

For clarity, the prices on the miniDSP website do not include local import taxes.

Will I have to pay import duty?

It depends on your country. You the customer are responsible for paying all taxes and duties, including country, provincial, government, state, and local sales, use, goods and services, value-added, privilege, and similar levies/taxes. Please con...

support.minidsp.com

 

[Ultrasonic]

This is my main reason for wanting MQA support. There are plenty of 44.1KHz "Master" releases on Tidal that definitely sound better than the CD versions to me when played on a MQA enabled DAC. So I'd rather be able to listen to them in MQA than not.

Personally I'm glad that miniDSP aren't forcing people to pay inflated prices to cover the cost of MQA licensing, and that they aren't supporting the con that is MQA by doing so.

 

[voodooless]

we can all do a bit of browsing to see what interest us and discriminate...

Many people really cannot.

Besides, the current list just isn’t consistent. Why SHD power, but not SHD, for instance?

 

[PeteL]

I’m pretty sure Apple music would be available in Canada.

Forgot about this one. It doesn't integrate with my BluOS streamer unfortunately.

 

[Kuppenbender]

Frugal February is the precursor to March Mayhem.
Be patient

Not to mention ‘Anything-goes April’!

 

[vicenzo_del_paris]

Plus taxes, they ship from Hong Kong afaik. ..

As @abdo123 and I said multiple times, the 560€ (for Europe delivery) price is ALL INCLUDED (unbalanced version): unit price, delivery, import fees (VAT and custom) !

Edit : 560€ not 650€ !!

 

[RHO]

Guys,
From your understanfing the futur (mid-Q1) digital version, will it have 2 usb ports (1x input + 1x output) ?
And basically have the functionality to act as close-to-destination (close to the dac) processing(peq...) ?
It would be amazing to forgo eq on the sources( dap, phone desktop, friends phone....)

That would be exactly what I am looking for.

 

[Dennis_FL]

Why should it support proprietary lossy formats that aren't industry standard or at least widely used? I do see the value of the BT codecs, but MQA has really no good usecase if you can simply play regular lossless formats.


Good! MQA should not raise cost for devices like that, unless proven beneficial.

I’m not sure, but I think it also doesn’t support DSD.

 

[capslock]

Can you do a four channel XO with two boxes, either using one for left and one for right or by routing sub and midbass through one and midrange and highs through the other?

 

[Steve Dallas]

If this was available 1 year ago, before I bought my Dirac Live Standalone license, I would own one. Excellent coverage of my current setup and future proof for anything I might add.

Great looking product.

 

[Blew]

Personally I'm glad that miniDSP aren't forcing people to pay inflated prices to cover the cost of MQA licensing, and that they aren't supporting the con that is MQA by doing so.

They're just forcing people to pay inflated prices for LDAC/aptX HD/aptX/AAC/SBC

 

[Ultrasonic]

They're just forcing people to pay inflated prices for LDAC/aptX HD/aptX/AAC/SBC

Cheaper is still cheaper .

 

[Dennis_FL]

Can you do a four channel XO with two boxes, either using one for left and one for right or by routing sub and midbass through one and midrange and highs through the other?

See p 10-11 … there are 4 channels out…

 

[TheBatsEar]

DAC rendered MQA sounds better than CD at 44.1KHz

No evidence for that.

There are many "Master" quality MQA releases on Tidal that are not available in a format better than CD.

I don't even know what "Master" quality is supposed to be. Nor do i appreciate what a "MQA release" is. I don't have Tidal either. If i had, i would buy a player for the MQA format.

So I'd rather have it than not, and the extra cost of it is negligible in context.

Why should everyone pay licensing for what only few use? Don't they give you software to play their snowflake format?

Would you say the same about support for lossy codecs MP3, AAC, Dolby Digital, DTS etc support in an AV receiver?

Point is moot, we aren't discussing AV-receivers but the MiniDSP Flex.
If you want to play MQA files, simply get a MQA player.

I personally have no use for BT codecs either.

Ok.

 

[sarumbear]

Excellent device but why so small? I can’t imagine it staying in place when most connectors are plugged in.