miniDSP Flex integration - rather analog or digital?

[Eddy]

Dear ASR community, may I ask you your opinon.

I am planning to add the miniDSP Flex to my setup so that I can a) better integrate my subwoofer and b) use Dirac Live room correction.

I see two ways to incorporate the miniDSP Flex into my Current Setup: Alternativ Setup 1 and Alternative Setup 2

Alternative Setup 1 uses the version miniDSP Flex / Balanced (released but currently out of stock) and is placed in the analog domain.
Alternative Setup 2 uses the version miniDSP Flex / Digital (not released yet) and is placed in the analog domain.

I see the following disadvantages of Alternative Setup 1:
a) AD/DA conversion (but according to Amir's measurements still SINAD of ~ 105 dB)

I see the following disadvantages of Alternative Setup 2:
a) Additional DAC necessary
b) No pure analog chain TT -> STAX anymore (maybe a bit nostagic?)

I tend more to Alternative Setup 1. Do you think SINAD of ~ 105 dB is enough? Alternative Setup 2 would probably have a higher SINAD.

What would you prefer?

 

[Keened]

You are probably one of the few people who would truly benefit from the SHD instead of the Flex. Sell the RME (and maybe the Bluesound, idk, ask the SHD people how they like the built in streamer) to offset the cost

 

[f1shb0n3]

Alternative 1 has an additional DAC+ADC in the chain as you know, but it should be sonically transparent. I myself used a similar setup with MiniDSP SHD for awhile. Benefits compared to Alternative 2 is that you can use ADI-2's Loudness and Tone controls and have a single button to switch between speakers and headphones. This is huge in my book, so I would pick Alternative 1 if the two were the only options.

Where I went from your "Alternative 1" setup is this: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...esk-audiophile-setup.24652/page-2#post-922293 - essentially using ADI-2 to switch sources, headphones and feed a digital signal to MiniDSP for speakers and subs. Did it for some wrong reasons - avoiding the essentially transparent ADC of SHD - just couldn't get over it "psychologically" so I had to imagine that no ADC sounds better so I can get ADI-2 Pro ;P

 

[Eddy]

You are probably one of the few people who would truly benefit from the SHD instead of the Flex. Sell the RME (and maybe the Bluesound, idk, ask the SHD people how they like the built in streamer) to offset the cost

Thank you for your comment.

The streaming function of the SHS is based on Volumio. I used to use Volumio on a Raspberry Pi. Unfortunately it wasn't very reliable, so I switched to the Bluesound. I'm quite happy with it now, so I don't necessarily want to replace it again.

The RME also has a few nice functions, such as crossfeed, which I don't want to miss again. So I would like to keep this one too.

 

[deercreekaudio]

You are probably one of the few people who would truly benefit from the SHD instead of the Flex. Sell the RME (and maybe the Bluesound, idk, ask the SHD people how they like the built in streamer) to offset the cost

The SHD would be my suggestion also, it would give you all the I/O you need, and allow you to keep you Bluesound Node and you external DAC for your mains if desired.

You would need to have two saved configurations, one for headphone and one for room listening.

Here are our thoughts on doing a double D/A/D/A conversion, please see our blog "The Double Conversion Conundrum"

Deer Creek Audio is an authorized miniDSP dealer.