Geronimo.USMC
Active Member
- Joined
- Jun 24, 2021
- Messages
- 102
- Likes
- 59
Just picked mine up. Yes, they send you a shipping notice. In my experience it will probably be DHL.
Can anyone tell me if the flex will automatically come out of standby or do any auto input switching when it senses a signal on one of its inputs?
Considering using the digital i/o version as a preamp/volume control for a dual Neumann 310/750 setup.
Sounds like a good solution. I've experimented with a few options in my current setup including a power strip with a master outlet that turns on the others when the preamp/streamer turns on. Also tried one of my subs as the master which has an auto wake function. Most reliable/current solution is using a 5v trigger switch in front of the power strip that is turned on by the streamer's usb port when it wakes up. I can start streaming music either from my phone or alexa, and the streamer, two monitors, and two subs all click on and start playing immediately. Could go on about this subject at length but don't want to derail this thread. Happy to continue over pm if anyone has input/questions.In regards to auto turn on and off, the best way in my opinion is to use a smart power board that talks to Home Assistant (software automation).
I have a Volumio (raspberry pi) that is always on a different outlet as the power board, and when Volumio is not idle, it will tell Home Assistant, which I automated to turn on the power board, so it turns on my amp, flex, and sub.
I could have used the Raspberry Pi GPIO to trigger the amp/sub, but then the flex would be left out or always on, so this is definitely better, but requires more software and config. which I am fine with it.
Care to share what hardware you're using?Most reliable/current solution is using a 5v trigger switch in front of the power strip that is turned on by the streamer's usb port when it wakes up.
Got around to setting up my Flex with Dirac this week. So far, so good. It sounds dramatically better than my old 2x4 with manual eq/filter settings. Soundstage is improved, I can pick out & follow individual instruments better and I have reduced some bass nulls.Yes you do. Unless the input is Bluetooth - in which case it will randomly switch to bluetooth while you are listening to something else if a device makes a connection - or remakes a connection. The only solution to this seems to be to disable the flex BT connection on your devices.
The flex is a great device - but this particular aspect of it is a huge fail.
Yes, I've resorted to re-pairing my phone everytime I want to use the bluetooth.Got around to setting up my Flex with Dirac this week. So far, so good. It sounds dramatically better than my old 2x4 with manual eq/filter settings. Soundstage is improved, I can pick out & follow individual instruments better and I have reduced some bass nulls.
However, this Bluetooth auto-switching "feature" is driving me crazy! I can be listening to a record on my turntable and someone will message me on WhatsApp. The Flex will automatically switch from Analog input to Bluetooth. Aarrgghh! Happens all the time. None of the other inputs are auto sensing / switching, so why Bluetooth? I'm going to have to unpair my mobile phone until this is fixed. Which is a shame, because I like listening to music on YouTube every now and again.
A couple of other annoyances....
1) I power down all of my audio equipment every night (not stand-by). When I turn on the power, the Flex has remembered my last input and preset (according to the display), but I don't get any sound until I manually select the desired preset on the remote. This does not happen when switching in and out of stand-by.
2) Not sure I like the display going completely blank after 1 minute or so. Wish this feature was optional.
Apart from these 3 niggles, it's great!
I've just posted there - thanks for the suggestion.Yes, I've resorted to re-pairing my phone everytime I want to use the bluetooth.
If you want to give some feedback, here is a good place:
Bluetooth Auto-switching Is Driving Me Crazy
Hi all, I love my Flex, but this new feature "Adding new feature of autosource selection to BlueTooth when Bluetooth source is paired and play button started on...www.minidsp.com
I don't have to toggle on/off when switching presets. Just goes quiet for a second or two when loading the new preset. I honestly don't know which firmware I'm running. I received my Flex 10 days ago.I received my Flex digital a few days ago and so far enjoying it.
The Bluetooth auto switching is a little annoying for me too. I just turn off "media" instead of unpairing when I'm done.
I can't remember if it was this thread or the review thread and I can't find that post anymore, but someone mentioned when switching presets, Dirac turns off even though it's displaying as on. Dirac must then be toggled off then on to get it working.
The same is happening with me. Was this fixed with a firmware update? My firmware says 1.24 but the latest online is 1.23 if I remember correctly.
That's why most don't bother and have separate 2.x systems. I have a separate 2.2 system along side my HT setup. I'm sharing the front L/R speakers and subs between the two systems and that is it. The AVR (and TV) is off when music is being played.Seems difficult to circumvent mediocre AVR performance in a combined multichannel/stereo system.
X32 does full bass management. The Flex doesn't so I would say X32 wins here.The Audyssey XT32 is probably pretty close to the performance of MiniDSP room correction.
If you've compared the "bass management" performance of XT32 vs MiniDSP (even without plain Dirac on top) I don't think you would be saying the Flex is the loser.That's why most don't bother and have separate 2.x systems. I have a separate 2.2 system along side my HT setup. I'm sharing the front L/R speakers and subs between the two systems and that is it. The AVR (and TV) is off when music is being played.
X32 does full bass management. The Flex doesn't so I would say X32 wins here.
When there are multiple subs (and especially more than two), yes. But you do realize people aren't using the flex for that right? And the AVR is still using Audyssey to correct the bass. Only difference to the AVR is it just sees one sub (the minidsp) on it's output even though there are multiple attached to the minidsp. That said I got three subs in my HT and was able to get them all to play nicely together without a minidsp so that is what I did and Audyssey did a great job correcting their bass. And there is nothing basic about XT32. You are confusing it with the non-XT32 flavors of Audyssey which actually are very basic. XT32 provides some of the best bass management (maybe only bested by full Dirac Live?) you can get on an AVR.If you've compared the "bass management" performance of XT32 vs MiniDSP (even without plain Dirac on top) I don't think you would be saying the Flex is the loser.
It's not automatic, but the control and quality level is orders of magnitude higher, Audyssey is extremely basic. Many people pick up a minidsp to greatly improve the quality of bass from Audyssey XT32 systems.
I have a Denon X3700h which has the latest XT32, so I know XT32s "bass management". I'm using a 2x4HD on my two subs to feed a single virtual sub to Audyssey. I'm also using a Flex on my desktop 2.1 setup and using its EQ and delay features to get everything integrated properly. So I'm extremely familiar with the capabilities of all of these components.When there are multiple subs (and especially more than two), yes. But you do realize people aren't using the flex for that right? And the AVR is still using Audyssey to correct the bass. Only difference to the AVR is it just sees one sub (the minidsp) on it's output even though there are multiple attached to the minidsp. That said I got three subs in my HT and was able to get them all to play nicely together without a minidsp so that is what I did and Audyssey did a great job correcting their bass. And there is nothing basic about XT32. You are confusing it with the non-XT32 flavors of Audyssey which actually are very basic. XT32 provides some of the best bass management (maybe only bested by full Dirac Live?) you can get on an AVR.
All of this is beside the point anyway since the user I initially replied to was thinking about getting an XT32-based AVR (for stereo and multi-channel and for a big step up in correction) or trying to use a Flex for 2.x with an existing AVR. The best option here is to build out a dedicated 2.x system (and use the Flex or any other desired separates) or just use the AVR for double duty and live with it's ADC/DAC performance when listening to music. What you are referring to is people using the 2x4 models in addition to an AVR to get a jump on multisub integration before Audyssey is even run.
These are issues that no correction system will be able to fix without proper sub placement. And in a lot of environments (especially with multiple subs) this will require the use of REW and the sub crawl method. You use whatever tools you need (sub controls, minidsp hanging off an AVR, etc.) to get you to a point where room correction will be successful. The more issues that you are asking correction to deal with the more likely it won't be able too and you will get a less than stellar result.Audyssey does little more than volume match, a super simplistic time alignment, and doing a little bit to reduce overly large peaks. It doesn't do any optimization of delay between the subs to reduce nulls or even out the frequency response, which is a HUGE strike against it. The improvements in how even it makes the bass frequency response are very lacking and the only benefit its actually good at is volume matching and that it is automatic.