Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

[RosalieTheDog]

It does not. Not audibly in any case.

It is a digital volume control, and (I believe) executed in the 32 bit DSP pipeline. As such it will be much better performance than the average analogue POT - noise free, and perfectly channel balanced even down low.

The fetish for "superb analogue volume control" is just another piece of audiophile folklore.

Apart from that, it quite literally defeats the purpose of this particular device. You can make 2.1, 2.2 systems with this. How are you going to control the 'analogue' volume then?

 

[mike70]

It does not. Not audibly in any case.

It is a digital volume control, and (I believe) executed in the 32 bit DSP pipeline. As such it will be much better performance than the average analogue POT - noise free, and perfectly channel balanced even down low.

The fetish for "superb analogue volume control" is just another piece of audiophile folklore.

It's 32 bits indeed ... unless you use Dirac, then the the internal processing is 24 bits.
For those who think that 24 bits is an audible improvement over 16 bits, can be something "problematic". In my case, don't care, my digital sources are 16 bits.

 

[antcollinet]

unless you use Dirac, then the the internal processing is 24 bits.

Does that mean Dirac doesn't use the shark DSP? Do you have any links for that? I'd like to read more.

 

[ex audiophile]

It does not. Not audibly in any case.

It is a digital volume control, and (I believe) executed in the 32 bit DSP pipeline. As such it will be much better performance than the average analogue POT - noise free, and perfectly channel balanced even down low.

The fetish for "superb analogue volume control" is just another piece of audiophile folklore.

Thanks for the insight. It's this kind of knowledge sharing that makes ASR such a great resource.

 

[mike70]

Does that mean Dirac doesn't use the shark DSP? Do you have any links for that? I'd like to read more.

You're right ... I confused bit depth with frequency ... Is the frequency that's downgraded in the Dirac DSP processing.

"32 bit/96 kHz (32bit/48 kHz with Dirac Live® license)"

So, forget about lesser quality with volume attenuation.

 

[antcollinet]

You're right ... I confused bit depth with frequency ... Is the frequency that's downgraded in the Dirac DSP processing.

"32 bit/96 kHz (32bit/48 kHz with Dirac Live® license)"

So, forget about lesser quality with volume attenuation.

To be honest 24 bit is perfectly adequate for volume control - even 16 bits would be fine in nearly all cases - but I don't think any digital volume control uses 16 bits.

 

[gilency]

My balanced Flex worked for a couple of days and now no sound will come out of it. Initially would not recognize the USB device, got another cable, now it recognizes it and I am able to see the console but there no is no movement in the meters. Checked all the connections, is not muted. any ideas?

 

[staticV3]

My balanced Flex worked for a couple of days and now no sound will come out of it. Initially would not recognize the USB device, got another cable, now it recognizes it and I am able to see the console but there no is no movement in the meters. Checked all the connections, is not muted. any ideas?

Try resetting to factory defaults: https://www.minidsp.com/images/documents/miniDSP Flex User Manual.pdf

 

[antcollinet]

My balanced Flex worked for a couple of days and now no sound will come out of it. Initially would not recognize the USB device, got another cable, now it recognizes it and I am able to see the console but there no is no movement in the meters. Checked all the connections, is not muted. any ideas?

I would contact support

 

[gilency]

I sent an email. Hopefully they are not too slow.

 

[jeffaegrim]

My balanced Flex worked for a couple of days and now no sound will come out of it. Initially would not recognize the USB device, got another cable, now it recognizes it and I am able to see the console but there no is no movement in the meters. Checked all the connections, is not muted. any ideas?

I assume the channels are properly routed since you said it was working for a few days. I had similar issues with my balanced flex for a while - in my case, it was due to using a 3m usb cable which on rare occasions lost connection to the PC. It wasn’t any defect with the cable itself - frantically changing usb ports would solve the problem - but rather with 3m being a borderline acceptable length for the cable in this application and/or my pc ports not outputting sufficient power. The solution to both was a powered (active) usb cable.

I’ve had the flex for 2 years now or so btw & other than the issue (unrelated to the Flex itself) described above I am very satisfied with the device. I can’t imagine not having the functionality that minidsp provides in any personal audio system anymore - particularly the 20 bands of EQ (if you use the input channels as well), the ease of subwoofer integration and the crossover filters. Today, I would have probably bought the HTx, however, which wasn’t available back then. It has even more channels, after all.

 

[gilency]

I have never used a powered cable. I will look for one

 

[gilency]

Well it took 3 hard resets with the unit unplugged and is now working again. I am concerned the software may somewhat buggy. Will see how long it lasts.

 

[diablo]

I have never used a powered cable. I will look for one

I had problems with my Flex 8 until I started using an active cable, though I need a long cable. This one is very good -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J4XH9BQ/?th=1

I don't remember having the same problems with my standard Flex though due to cable length. But I did have trouble with the connection with several ordinary cables - spmetimes needed a bit of wiggling and WD40 to get proper connection.

 

[Old_School_Brad]

I had problems with my Flex 8 until I started using an active cable, though I need a long cable. This one is very good -

https://www.amazon.co.uk/gp/product/B01J4XH9BQ/?th=1

I don't remember having the same problems with my standard Flex though due to cable length. But I did have trouble with the connection with several ordinary cables - spmetimes needed a bit of wiggling and WD40 to get proper connection.

I experienced issues with my miniDSP DDRC24 when using USB cables longer than 3 meters.

 

[Mort]

I can’t imagine not having the functionality that minidsp provides in any personal audio system anymore

Agreed. Other devices are getting closer but the excellent interface and robust feature set are still the best for me. I own three MiniDsp devices, one for each of my listening areas.

 

[Robocop]

I use a 5 metre standard USB cable to the Flex from a laptop, never had any problems except it was hard to insert Usb connector into Flex for the first time. No problems since.

and WD40 to get proper connection

Not sure what WD40 you used but generally I wouldn't recommend using any lubricants on any HiFi electrical connections including HDMI, Usb, RCA, XLR, and coax.
The only thing I use is Caig's Pro Gold deoxit wipes sparingly. But only good on exposed pins/metal connections.

 

[Deleted member 58670]

Well it took 3 hard resets with the unit unplugged and is now working again. I am concerned the software may somewhat buggy. Will see how long it lasts.

It's been a lot of buggy software releases from MiniDSP, but the latest build seems to have fixed most of the problems, so make sure you have that one.

I've been using 10 meter active USB 2.0 extension cables on my MiniDSP Flex units, and it works very well.

 

[gilency]

i do have the latest updates. Have 2 subwoofers coming in this week and who knows when I’ll have the time for calibration with a busy family life.
If I have more problems I’ll buy an active cable although I think the one that came with the Flex is. I appreciate everyone’s help.

 

[Ultrasonic]

FWIW I've used 5 m (unpowered) USB cables with other miniDSPs for years without an issue so I'd be rather surprised if the Flex was extra sensitive to this. It's not a known issue discussed on the miniDSP forum either.