This is a review and detailed measurements of the MINIDSP Adept analog to digital converter and phono equalization/capture. It was sent to me by the company and costs US $299.
The device is rather attractive for its class. User interface though, is unusual. You push the rotary encoder in and then it selects the first option. You keep rotating it and it will then cycle through all the elements you see in the interface. So to change something, you have to cycle through all until you get to option you want to select. It works but did take some effort to figure out how to use it. Strangely, the rotary encoder does not change the input gain. The included remote control does!
As you see, you can use the device just an ADC to capture analog audio or optionally apply RIAA (phono) equalization, and input loading. Latter is limited to using RCA input:
Power is provided externally through a small adapter. I tested using USB but you also have S/PDIF coax and digital output. To set the sample rate of the latter two however, you need to use the USB interface.
I expected an app/control panel to simply interfacing with the unit but found none. I really wish the device had a UI showing digital levels and the rotary control managing it. Without my analyzer, this would be hard although you have some help in the form of clipping indicator. Don't let it come on you risk severe distortion.
Minidsp Adept Measurements
I started the testing by treating the device as an audio interface (sans DAC), using XLR input with medium gain (low gain is not available):
This is excellent result with distortion well below audibility and hence, limited by noise which is also very low. Ranking as a result near the best:
Noise performance impressively remains almost the same even with RCA input:
Frequency response is what you expect (depending on sample rate):
You can see the low level of noise and distortion in our IMD test:
It clips earlier than professional interfaces but up to that point, it produces class leading results.
Testing phono equalization with three different gain settings was challenging so I went for a representative sample.
EDIT: forgot the dashboard:
Here is the frequency response:
I have not seen any analog RIAA equalization to be this good!Yes, a high pass filter would be nice but otherwise, this is textbook perfect. I should have noted that the above is with 96 kHz sampling as otherwise, it will stop earlier. EDIT: there is a high pass filter.
There is not much headroom available at higher frequencies:
Company has an explanation for why you don't need more at higher frequencies due to RIAA equalization. But in above tests, I have the generator go through inverse RIAA equalization.
Note that the above is achieved with low gain. At higher gains you may clip earlier digitally.
Conclusions
If you just need a digitizer and already have a DAC, Adept provides an excellent solution with very low noise and distortion. For RIAA equalization and LP ripping, you have perfect equalization but headroom is not great. So be sure to clean your LPs before capturing.
I am happy to recommend the Minidsp Adept phono preamp and capture "card." It is excellently engineered while having a reasonably low cost.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
The device is rather attractive for its class. User interface though, is unusual. You push the rotary encoder in and then it selects the first option. You keep rotating it and it will then cycle through all the elements you see in the interface. So to change something, you have to cycle through all until you get to option you want to select. It works but did take some effort to figure out how to use it. Strangely, the rotary encoder does not change the input gain. The included remote control does!
As you see, you can use the device just an ADC to capture analog audio or optionally apply RIAA (phono) equalization, and input loading. Latter is limited to using RCA input:
Power is provided externally through a small adapter. I tested using USB but you also have S/PDIF coax and digital output. To set the sample rate of the latter two however, you need to use the USB interface.
I expected an app/control panel to simply interfacing with the unit but found none. I really wish the device had a UI showing digital levels and the rotary control managing it. Without my analyzer, this would be hard although you have some help in the form of clipping indicator. Don't let it come on you risk severe distortion.
Minidsp Adept Measurements
I started the testing by treating the device as an audio interface (sans DAC), using XLR input with medium gain (low gain is not available):
This is excellent result with distortion well below audibility and hence, limited by noise which is also very low. Ranking as a result near the best:
Noise performance impressively remains almost the same even with RCA input:
Frequency response is what you expect (depending on sample rate):
You can see the low level of noise and distortion in our IMD test:
It clips earlier than professional interfaces but up to that point, it produces class leading results.
Testing phono equalization with three different gain settings was challenging so I went for a representative sample.
EDIT: forgot the dashboard:
Here is the frequency response:
I have not seen any analog RIAA equalization to be this good!
There is not much headroom available at higher frequencies:
Company has an explanation for why you don't need more at higher frequencies due to RIAA equalization. But in above tests, I have the generator go through inverse RIAA equalization.
Note that the above is achieved with low gain. At higher gains you may clip earlier digitally.
Conclusions
If you just need a digitizer and already have a DAC, Adept provides an excellent solution with very low noise and distortion. For RIAA equalization and LP ripping, you have perfect equalization but headroom is not great. So be sure to clean your LPs before capturing.
I am happy to recommend the Minidsp Adept phono preamp and capture "card." It is excellently engineered while having a reasonably low cost.
------------
As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.
Any donations are much appreciated using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/
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