Minidsp SHD Power Amplifier Review

[TimW]

From September 2020 Roon has started to not recognize endpoints that are not officially Roon certified, such as all the SHD units. Those who added an SHD as an endpoint to their Roon core before September 2020 are still able to use it, but if they remove the end point, or re-install Roon, they won't be able to add the SHD back. This is what MiniDSP told me. Apparently, they are working to get full Roon certification but it is a bit tricky, they say.

That is the RoonReady certification. You can also enable Roon a different way in Volumio. It still works but is just missing some features of the full RoonReady version like hardware volume control inside the Roon app.

 

[Helicopter]

Thanks for the review Amir. I am very interested in MiniDSP and Dirac, so I enjoyed this.

Reading along I was thinking, 'I might buy it if it had good powerful amp modules' and also, 'I wonder why no golfing panther...' then I read the conclusion. OK yes. Why a chip amp with Dirac license, good DAC, etc?
Obviously they had a price target in mind, but with all this, they could have stretched the budget a few hundred dollars and used great amps.

 

[Deleted member 2944]

Obviously they had a price target in mind, but with all this, they could have stretched the budget a few hundred dollars and used great amps.

They already have a product essentially the same as this without the amps. I don't think they figure "great amps" are an appropriate option when the starting price is already so high to begin with. Dirac.....uggggh!

Dave.

 

[ahofer]

My wish for minidsp is simple: offer a second unit with a Purifi amplifier module in it. And add Roon streaming.

Second.

 

[Helicopter]

They already have a product essentially the same as this without the amps. I don't think they figure "great amps" are an appropriate option when the starting price is already so high to begin with. Dirac.....uggggh!

Dave.

They have a good lineup, and you can certainly pick your amp and streamer if you don't want everything they bundled in this box.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Oh that is true indeed. Though I still don't think the price is justified (roughly 7times I think)
I think it will be interesting to see MiniDSP perhaps collab with one of the good amp manufacturers to improve the amp performance

Quite frankly I postulate it has 7 times the "audio" power (at least in my mind.)
If you have used miniDsp and the included PEQ/fir/crossover/room correction tools you do have some serious firepower there in a all in one product. Plus I can never go back to before DSP and other electronic goodies, the difference is actually that staggering.
No it is not for someone like myself who is making/playing with 2 and 3 way active speakers plus subs.
It is not even really for someone who is willing to go with seperate amps.
It is however a very nice product for a one box set-up (with some advanced set-up/geek work to be done)
That loxjie certainly is also a very good product at a surprisingly great price just not in the same league prossessing wise nor power wise.
Anyway just my 2 cents here.
Both products shine in their way is what my summary is.

 

[ROOSKIE]

Thanks for the review Amir. I am very interested in MiniDSP and Dirac, so I enjoyed this.

Reading along I was thinking, 'I might buy it if it had good powerful amp modules' and also, 'I wonder why no golfing panther...' then I read the conclusion. OK yes. Why a chip amp with Dirac license, good DAC, etc?
Obviously they had a price target in mind, but with all this, they could have stretched the budget a few hundred dollars and used great amps.

You can stretch the budget for them.
Just buy this for $1200 and add the amps you want.
Plus even more flexibility in the design for more complex set-ups.
https://www.minidsp.com/products/streaming-hd-series/shd
Very decent unit.

 

[Labjr]

Can't wait until Chi-fi companies are making DSP products!

 

[PeteL]

Can't wait until Chi-fi companies are making DSP products!

MiniDSP is chinese

 

[Labjr]

MiniDSP is chinese

They always seem to compromise. Auralic is Chinese too and Topping makes a $99 DAC that's as good as their $3,500 DAC.

 

[PeteL]

They always seem to compromise. Auralic is Chinese too and Topping make a $99 DAC that's as good as their $3,500 DAC.

To me miniDSP makes relatively affordable products. The thing is, to me, the great values of theses dacs and headphone amps we get from Chinese manufacturers, really it's about their surreal production efficiency. But also very little R&D, pretty much chip integration, and design, they are amazing at that, but when compagnies are geared around actual developpment, like miniDSP, the gap in value/performance shrink quite a bit against their western counterpart. Proof is, smsl tried a shot at a network streamers lately and it's not any cheaper than Bluesound or Yamaha's efforts. Also check at thir speaker amps. really pretty much all of them are chip based, but hypothetically bring a purifi module in the box or a technology of their own and all of a sudden you won't get these amazing low prices.

 

[pavuol]

MiniDSP is chinese

Maybe better call them "international", as one of their co-founders is French. Maybe someone can shed some more light on their history.

I take it back, they are HQ-ed in Hong Kong, so they have to be official "Chinese".

 

[Fafnar]

Oh that is true indeed. Though I still don't think the price is justified (roughly 7times I think)
I think it will be interesting to see MiniDSP perhaps collab with one of the good amp manufacturers to improve the amp performance

The Loxjie is an amazing item for what it does. The miniDSP SHD includes Dirac Live and other great DSP equalization plus the amp performance. I think both are great values for what they do.

 

[Tks]

The DAC in use must be ESS as we see a hint of increasing IMD distortion in mid levels

Wish they used a proper filter if that was the case, instead we see AKM-like filter that goes deep, but takes a while to get there.

 

[win]

From September 2020 Roon has started to not recognize endpoints that are not officially Roon certified, such as all the SHD units. Those who added an SHD as an endpoint to their Roon core before September 2020 are still able to use it, but if they remove the end point, or re-install Roon, they won't be able to add the SHD back. This is what MiniDSP told me. Apparently, they are working to get full Roon certification but it is a bit tricky, they say.

i just installed it like 2 weeks ago

 

[win]

MiniDSP is chinese

No they aren't, they're Hong Kong.

 

[trl]

I must be blind. The only analog RCA out I see is named Sub Out (Out 1 and Out 2). Do they carry the full range signal?

It should be al here: https://www.minidsp.com/applications/audio-streaming/sub-integration-with-shd.

​

Probably by disabling the LPF you can easily achieve a regular RCA output port.

 

[Universal Cereal Bus]

No they aren't, they're Hong Kong.

Please no geopolitics.

 

[Mike-48]

As noted, the statement about limited streaming is incorrect. The unit runs Volumio, which can do UPnP/DNLA and connect with many streaming services, though it needs a subscription to connect to some directly. (I do it indirectly on the plain SHD by using BubbleUPnP.)

To me, the big drawback of the miniDSP units is poor ergonomics. Assuming it's like the plain SHD, the network connection is used for streaming ONLY. To upload firmware and software requires a bunch of downloads, then hooking the thing to a PC via the USB port, which may mean disconnecting your sources and so on. Then, try to find the directions! It's all rather tweaky and irritating to use compared to other products I've owned. However, IMO the SHD line offers a lot of features and good sound quality at a price lower than those easier-to-use products.

 

[arnold1013]

Great review as always. BTW, it seems using TPA3255 can possibly build solid yet budget amps. Is there any well designed power/integ amp based on TPA3255 in the market yet?