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Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

Rate this product:

  • 1. Poor (headless panther)

    Votes: 5 0.8%
  • 2. Not terrible (postman panther)

    Votes: 18 2.8%
  • 3. Fine (happy panther)

    Votes: 127 19.5%
  • 4. Great (golfing panther)

    Votes: 500 76.9%

  • Total voters
    650
If you had 1000 bucks to spend and you want some quality base. Would you:

a)700 for a miniDSP Flex+UMIK1 / 300 for a cheap subwoofer
b)700 for a quality subwoofer / Dirac Suite for PC or miniDSP2x4HD or maybe Arc Studio4 for the rest of bucks
b all day long
 
If you had 1000 bucks to spend and you want some quality base. Would you:

a)700 for a miniDSP Flex+UMIK1 / 300 for a cheap subwoofer
b)700 for a quality subwoofer / Dirac Suite for PC or miniDSP2x4HD or maybe Arc Studio4 for the rest of bucks
Seems odd that anybody shopping a ~$700 DSP unit would also shop ~$300 subwoofers. Kind of unlikely, in my opinion. If you’re considering a $700 DSP, you’re probably more likely looking at subs closer to $1K.
 
If you’re considering a $700 DSP, you’re probably more likely looking at subs closer to $1K
In principle yes, but my listening room is rather small and very "boomy" the walls here are like loudspeakers themselfes, they vibrate due to the entire building having been constructed with prefabricated "concrete wall modules" that are just slot-stacked like Lego. So they swing ever so slightly. I just can't run a beefy sub here. Due to neighbors and due to the problematic room. I have to opt for the "low, but quality output" way. A 1000W+ sub with a 10 inch or bigger cone would be wasted on me. Currently I am looking into:

-Focal Sub One (~700 Euros)
-Eve Audio TS107 or TS108 (550-750 Euro)
-Kali WS-6.2 (600 Euro)
 
Imagine I'm telling you that the pizza at restaurant xy is incredibly tasty and you demand scientific proof for that. Isn't it good enough if a large number of people speaks positively about this restaurant? Isn't this proof enough to get a reservation and find out yourself? Is a measuring microphone the same as your ears? Is an audio wave analyzer the same as your brain? There are no absolutes in a quantum mind.
Imagine I am telling you Earth is not a sphere but instead a flat piece and that some others folks on internet are saying the same. Isn't good enough to convince you ?

What you're claiming goes against what physics, electronics and mathematics tell us...

Nevermind. Most important is that you're enjoying music :)
 
In principle yes, but my listening room is rather small and very "boomy" the walls here are like loudspeakers themselfes, they vibrate due to the entire building having been constructed with prefabricated "concrete wall modules" that are just slot-stacked like Lego. So they swing ever so slightly. I just can't run a beefy sub here. Due to neighbors and due to the problematic room. I have to opt for the "low, but quality output" way. A 1000W+ sub with a 10 inch or bigger cone would be wasted on me. Currently I am looking into:

-Focal Sub One (~700 Euros)
-Eve Audio TS107 or TS108 (550-750 Euro)
-Kali WS-6.2 (600 Euro)
Either way, even those options are far from a $300 toy sub.

How much is an SVS 3000 Micro available for in Europe?
 
How much is an SVS 3000 Micro available for in Europe?
More than a thousand. Besides, I'm sceptical if it will play that much better on low to medium volume compared to the Kali-WS-6.2 or the Focal Sub One. I believe the opposite is more likeley whereas the SVS will be surely more controlled at high output, but I don't need high output. Currently I am leaning towards the small Eve Audio TS107. I could double them up some day to come. There is a user in this forum who has a setup of two TS107 with a pair of LS50M and seemed happy about it. I don't remember his name.

However, there is in any case still the problem of how to apply the crossover. I would like to HP@100-110Hz with a steep slope. From my observations the LS50M play at their best when you cut them rather highly and steeply. Is there a way to use a miniDSP 2x4HD only for the sub-out and would it suffice to just EQ the low range, leaving the speakers range untouched? And how would that integrate with dirac from the PC suite?

PC/USB->DAC with 4 outs (2xRCA/2xXLR)
->2xFull Range->[searching for a non degrading high pass filter]->speakers
->1xFull Range->miniDSP 2x4HD->sub Integration/low Pass

from this the miniDSP 2x4HD seems to be dumped down to a mere subwoofer-DSP which the Eve TS107 already have, at least a very basic one. I wouldn't want my entire frequency range run through it for it would reduce even my amplifiers SINAD. So there really seems to be no alternative to the Flexes. The Motu Mk5 is pretty much the same price region. The Arc Studio 4 cannot do crossovers, only sub integration.
 
A PC and DIRAC DLBC and a multi channel interface will do exactly what you want now and is powerful and flexible for the future.
 
A PC and DIRAC DLBC and a multi channel interface will do exactly what you want
How so? Can you do a crossover with DIRAC that is active while doing anything, movies, gaming and so forth? If I use an interface without a DSP like the Motu M4 I would have to do the crossover in the player, f.e. in the Roon DSP. But this will only be active in Roon.
 
How so? Can you do a crossover with DIRAC that is active while doing anything, movies, gaming and so forth? If I use an interface without a DSP like the Motu M4 I would have to do the crossover in the player, f.e. in the Roon DSP. But this will only be active in Roon.
I don’t know about on a PC (DIRAC informed me that it is more complicated), but on a Mac, you can connect 2 DACs to a Mac and create a virtual, multi-channel grouping (Apple calls this aggregating on their Mac OS). This is picked up in DIRAC as multi-channel, so it will be able to perform both, room correction and subwoofer integration for you by directing the exact right signal to each of (4 with 2 DACs) the channels. DLBC requires a 4-channel output device such as two aggregated DACs in Mac OS in order to combine down and even out the bass in the room. DIRAC itself allows you to set the range for the correction. Once done, you simply select the DIRAC Virtual Device in Audio MIDI control on the Mac as the primary output device and any/every app you use on the Mac will output room-corrected audio.
 
How so? Can you do a crossover with DIRAC that is active while doing anything, movies, gaming and so forth? If I use an interface without a DSP like the Motu M4 I would have to do the crossover in the player, f.e. in the Roon DSP. But this will only be active in Roon.
DIRAC DLBC and an interface on a PC acts as a crossover and does EQ... you just point your player or game or browser to the DIRAC virtual device. Not 100% this is what you need but it is pretty powerful and flexible for most use cases.
 
DIRAC DLBC and an interface on a PC acts as a crossover and does EQ
-466 Euro (for DIRAC Full Suite 550$)
-135 Euro (for a UMIK-1)
-289 Euro (for a Motu M4)
=890 Euro

-649 Euro (miniDSP Digital Toslink without DIRAC)
-50 Euro (for a UMIK-1 / bundle price)
=709 Euro
+DIRAC for the Flex
-169 Euro (199$)
=878 Euro

I think I'd rather buy the digital Flex probably without DIRAC at first and upgrade later after I'm done fiddling around with the EQ enough myself. I own two Topping E30 which can be fed digitally by the Flex. One to the amp one to the sub and I'll be (hopefully) good.
 
-466 Euro (for DIRAC Full Suite 550$)
-135 Euro (for a UMIK-1)
-289 Euro (for a Motu M4)
=890 Euro

-649 Euro (miniDSP Digital Toslink without DIRAC)
-50 Euro (for a UMIK-1 / bundle price)
=709 Euro
+DIRAC for the Flex
-169 Euro (199$)
=878 Euro

I think I'd rather buy the digital Flex probably without DIRAC at first and upgrade later after I'm done fiddling around with the EQ enough myself. I own two Topping E30 which can be fed digitally by the Flex. One to the amp one to the sub and I'll be (hopefully) good.
One thing to check and consider is that I have read that the DIRAC on miniDSP is only "DIRAC live" and does not support "DIRAC DLBC" which may be important to you (or not).
 
One thing to check and consider is that I have read that the DIRAC on miniDSP is only "DIRAC live" and does not support "DIRAC DLBC" which may be important to you (or not).
True, but by going with the Flex you are freed from having to operate a computer while listening to music. Also gives the ability to easily switch between inputs.
 
I did end up picking up a miniDSP Flex, installing the DIRAC Live license, and comparing it to running DIRAC off my MacBook Air M1. Based solely on comparing HouseCurve sweep results taken after calibrating from the same exact spot using the same UMIK-1, the results were close enough that I was happy to replace the laptop with the miniDSP Flex (digital in/out version) for DIRAC Live processing so that I may swap the WiiM Ultra back in as source instead of the much more finicky laptop. The unit had worked flawlessly since I’ve put it in and from a subjective standpoint, I couldn’t be happier with my system now.
 
minidsp flex is the best hassle free method ... with a PC sky is the limit, but also it is the tinkering.
if you want to have a preamp with DSP processing (and DIRAC option) integrating many sources ... minidsp is the one.

it isn't a solution to everyone, but certainly for most.
 
I did end up picking up a miniDSP Flex, installing the DIRAC Live license, and comparing it to running DIRAC off my MacBook Air M1. Based solely on comparing HouseCurve sweep results taken after calibrating from the same exact spot using the same UMIK-1, the results were close enough that I was happy to replace the laptop with the miniDSP Flex (digital in/out version) for DIRAC Live processing so that I may swap the WiiM Ultra back in as source instead of the much more finicky laptop. The unit had worked flawlessly since I’ve put it in and from a subjective standpoint, I couldn’t be happier with my system now.
Now just save up for a decent sub (if you need one). Cheap (as in poorly performing as opposed to good value) subs just introduce distortion....
 
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