Minidsp Flex Review (Audio DSP)

[wask]

It is unclear to me from your picture what you would be connecting to each of the two inputs on the Flex, or why you would want the LFE and anything else connected to a subwoofer. I'm about 99% sure what you have in mind is not a good idea but I can't say I fully understand you right now!

 

[Ultrasonic]

View attachment 186076

What would the two signals going from your AVR to the Flex be, and why do you want to add anything other than the LFE signal going to your sub.

I'm sure the two options that I and @MingChops have described for you are the two worth considering, not whatever you are trying to explain.

 

[wask]

Yes, of course. That image was my first idea, send the fronts in large to the flex on one side and LFE to the sub on the other. Then @MingChops suggested something that seems preferable. Send Main+LFE together to the Flex. I hoped I had understood correctly. Thank you.

 

[MingChops]

@wask your pictures wouldn't make any sense to do that - essentially it would be a hardware form of 'double bass'. In that what your are proposing is feeding one of the sub inputs with raw uncorrected LFE, and the other side with corrected LFE+mains bass. = zero sense

Stick with the suggestions of myself and Ultrasonic, that way the only bass that reaches the sub, is properly corrected (either manually with PEQ, or Dirac).

Cheers

 

[KMO]

Even worse, all 44.1KHz CD content (which I'd assume is the majority of our library for most people) will be upsampled to a non-integer scale.

Citation for this claim?

In practice, most (dedicated) audio devices claiming to support 48kHz will also do 44.1kHz as necessary. Sure, PCs and other non-dedicated devices sometimes have a fixed output rate, but I would not expect that to be the case here.

 

[thulle]

Citation for this claim?

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex :

Processing resolution / Sample rate

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

 

[miero]

I believe some DACs may work this way but it's far from all. I don't know whether a Flex connected directly to a PS5 via USB would work or not.

Sorry, should have been clearer Apple TV 4K and PS5, both of which are HDMI only, so I need to extract audio from the HDMI stream for digital room correction and DAC. I wondered if a HDFury unit plus this Flex might be a neat two-box way of doing that

PS5 do not work with miniDSP Flex for me.

I'm using an HDMI audio extractor for this purpose:
- 3D 60Hz 4k HDMI 2.0 Splitter Switch HDMI 2 in 2 Out Splitter Switcher & Audio
- https://www.ebay.com/itm/353559537695

I chose this one, because it is capable of switching two sources and it has HDCP 2.2 support (for Netflix HD). However its remote is bad (low quality and it requires direct visibility), so I'm using button on the device and sometimes an incorrect colors are displayed on the first switch attempt (and requires switch to another input and back to fix).

 

[Ultrasonic]

It's perhaps worth just noting that the cheaper 2x4 HD and DDRC-24 products are currently still available. For situations like the AV one above where master volume control will remain with an AVR then the benefits of a Flex are reduced although the higher audio quality remains. When we move to situations where the Flex will be used for source selection and volume adjustment then from personal experience I'd say the addition of the screen on the Flex model makes it much more obviously the way to go.

 

[TheBatsEar]

Why would you want to send a 'left - right' signal to a center speaker?

Not sure how to get the signal, but i mean to create a channel that contains the part that is the same in left and right, in the hopes to pin the stereo image a bit more down when i switch seats at home.

You could absolutely do this with a Flex via the plugin options but I don't believe it's something you'd actually want to do...

Cheers, found the Plugin: https://www.minidsp.com/products/plugins/rear-center-channel-detail
Cheap enough to give it a test and see if it helps, if only i had a Flex right now, the plugin isn't available for the 2x4HD that i have in my hand.

I believe some DACs may work this way but it's far from all. I don't know whether a Flex connected directly to a PS5 via USB would work or not.

I think the Xbox One X has toslink out, if you have one. One could install VLC or any other player on it and use that to feed the Flex (toslink) and Projector (HDMI).

 

[voodooless]

Not sure how to get the signal, but i mean to create a channel that contains the part that is the same in left and right, in the hopes to pin the stereo image a bit more down when i switch seats at home.

I doubt this will be very satisfying. You can do this with the Plex with a bit of trickery. For this you’ll need to swap the hot and cold of one of the stereo channels, the combined channel will then be the center. You’ll need to swap the phase of the swapped channel in the MiniDSP software again to correct the polarity again. Only drawback: for the subwoofer channel you can only use the R or L.

Actually no! A-B gives the difference, so the exact opposite of a center channel.

 

[Ultrasonic]

Not sure how to get the signal, but i mean to create a channel that contains the part that is the same in left and right, in the hopes to pin the stereo image a bit more down when i switch seats at home.

I think the best you could do would be to add the left and right channels together (and then adjust the overall signal level as needed), rather than to subtract one from the other. I have no idea how well this would work but my gut feeling here is that you'd be better off going down the route of a proper multi-channel AV source if center channel performance is a priority for your.

Cheers, found the Plugin: https://www.minidsp.com/products/plugins/rear-center-channel-detail
Cheap enough to give it a test and see if it helps, if only i had a Flex right now, the plugin isn't available for the 2x4HD that i have in my hand.

I'd not come across that plugin before. My guess is it would send L+R to the center and L-R to the rear.

I think the Xbox One X has toslink out, if you have one. One could install VLC or any other player on it and use that to feed the Flex (toslink) and Projector (HDMI).

I have a PS5 but the Toslink out from my TV works perfectly, and I also use this for multiple other sources too.

If I wanted to improve gaming audio I'd do so by moving to a proper multi-channel setup, which I may at some point.

 

[Ultrasonic]

Thinking about it, one feature of the Flex is something that I do make use of for gaming. This is the option to have different EQ presets for different uses that can be easily switched between. I apply quite a significant bass-boost for gaming that I would not want for music.

 

[Jaimo]

I'm sure someone more knowledgeable will chime in, but the MiniDSP 2x4HD software looks like this. Should be similar.

You can route audio from any input to any output, and perform processes on them there:

View attachment 185991View attachment 185992

Hope that helps.

This does help…. Another question,

Is it possible to route the analog input to a digital RIAA equalizer and be rid of old school phono equalizers?

 

[Ultrasonic]

This does help…. Another question,

Is it possible to route the analog input to a digital RIAA equalizer and be rid of old school phono equalizers?

No.

 

[Jaimo]

No.

Too bad, this is a Dealbreaker for me… I’ve been looking for this functionality for a while…

 

[Mnyb]

Voted fine , instead of great . Due to the weird imd behaviour.

That said i’m Very interested in the SHD range .

FWIW . What I’ve read the” sample at integer rates “is mostly mythology these days . Modern resamplers does it transparent anyway these days , so I should not worry . Logically your still sampling up so done rigth you should not loose anything .

 

[voodooless]

Too bad, this is a Dealbreaker for me… I’ve been looking for this functionality for a while…

The eq is not the problem here. The phono cartridge just has to little output for a normal line level I put. It needs massive amplification before it’s usable. You could do that in the digital domain, but you’ll have a large noise penalty.

 

[creed]

I understand on the TRS version, if an analog input used of TRS-RCA will degrade the sound (don't have an issue as I am not using this, will plan to use the USB input).

But what about using TRS to RCA on the output, is the same degraded performance will be applied?

 

[Jaimo]

As a lefty, it’s great that the control knob is on the Left hand side. Very unusual.

 

[KMO]

https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex :

Processing resolution / Sample rate

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

No, I need a citation for the claim that it can't do 44.1kHz.

Most stuff that says 48kHz really means "44.1 or 48".

(Do you think it can't do 48kHz unless you have Dirac Live?)