Minidsp SHD Review Updated (DSP, DAC & Streamer)

[Sonnie]

I reached out the Roon for Developer support. My prayers have been answered and the answer is no

- Rich

Bummer

 

[rickler]

I'm curious about this. Did MiniDSP change the hardware, or was this a software update? There hasn't been an obvious versions of the SHD as far as I know?

 

[Sonnie]

I'm curious about this. Did MiniDSP change the hardware, or was this a software update? There hasn't been an obvious versions of the SHD as far as I know?

Confirmed that there has been a recent hardware change... happened between my order and RichB's order. I ordered my first unit on 12/7/2020. RichB ordered his about a month after I did... so the hardware change has been within the last month or so. I just ordered a second unit to compare the two.

 

[rickler]

Confirmed that there has been a recent hardware change... happened between my order and RichB's order. I ordered my first unit on 12/7/2020. RichB ordered his about a month after I did... so the hardware change has been within the last month or so. I just ordered a second unit to compare the two.

Oh. That's really disappointing. :/ I didn't see anything from MiniDSP go out about this. Or any sort of "SHD v2".

 

[Sonnie]

I want to say this is not the first hardware change from what I've been told by early owners of the first SHD's to be released. So I can't say that miniDSP advertises the v1, v2, v3, etc.

I was not told that this is confidential (as sometimes I am told not to share certain things, which I don't)... but this is from support:

There are current 2 hardware versions in the field for the SHD/SHD Studio based on the onboard streamer. We've started to ship new SHD with the latest version of 1.073 (new streamer) and will shortly update other units in the field with the newer version. (new GUI of Volumio) in the coming few days when we finalize testing. The new hardware supports turning off all IO while the other version doesn't. For that reason, I'm afraid that a firmware version won't solve the 5V USB port here.

 

[whitfc]

I want to say this is not the first hardware change from what I've been told by early owners of the first SHD's to be released. So I can't say that miniDSP advertises the v1, v2, v3, etc.

I was not told that this is confidential (as sometimes I am told not to share certain things, which I don't)... but this is from support:

Could this hardware change be required to get Roon certification?

 

[Staki]

I reached out the Roon for Developer support. My prayers have been answered and the answer is no

- Rich

Same thing happened to me, my request was also denied. OTOH, the Volumio plugin workaround works just fine for me. I've done the test you described earlier, creating a group zone with plugin on LAN and RPi on USB and playing Melanie De Biasio's song. Switching between LAN and USB, my untrained ears could not detect any difference.

 

[Staki]

I want to say this is not the first hardware change from what I've been told by early owners of the first SHD's to be released. So I can't say that miniDSP advertises the v1, v2, v3, etc.

I was not told that this is confidential (as sometimes I am told not to share certain things, which I don't)... but this is from support:

I received mine like 10 days ago, but it seems I got the older version? Ordered straight from miniDSP, not going through a dealer. I'm having none of the issues @RichB describes. I wonder now if they are caused by hw or sw. When new Volumio version arrives, I'll probably wait with the upgrade. They are saying for a few months now that Roon certification is just around the corner, perhaps it is coming with Roon 1.8 which should be arriving shortly.

 

[mgwloka]

I use a lot of single board computer in my projects. For music, I use Logitech Media Server. I tried Volumio but it never finished to index my music files: it's not a question of hardware power but a question of software.

The posting implies that the NanoPi Neo2 in the MiniDSP SHD is not powerful enough to work as a streaming client; this is incorrect, and confusing to prospective buyers. Yes, the Neo2 part only costs $25, but it has an SoC with a quadcore arm A53. The Mali GPU appears to be disabled, and is not needed here. The device is low-power enough to run without fan or cooling fins.

- indexing 1700 albums with 20000 tracks located on a Synology NAS takes 34 minutes; updates are faster
- the SHD has enough bandwidth to stream and process SACD DSF and HD audio files

Volumio will fail to index a music collection if one or more of the tracks have corrupt mp3 tags. Same behavior seen on a Raspberry Pi 3B. The fix is to use a divide-and-conquer algorithm: divide your music into two parts A, B. Scan A, scan B and identify the part where scan fails. Repeat...

 

[tw99]

And if you only use it as a client, with the server elsewhere (LMS or upnp for example) it also works fine.

 

[Sonnie]

Could this hardware change be required to get Roon certification?

I would not think so, or the previous hardware units would not be certified.

I received mine like 10 days ago, but it seems I got the older version? Ordered straight from miniDSP, not going through a dealer. I'm having none of the issues @RichB describes. I wonder now if they are caused by hw or sw. When new Volumio version arrives, I'll probably wait with the upgrade. They are saying for a few months now that Roon certification is just around the corner, perhaps it is coming with Roon 1.8 which should be arriving shortly.

That does seem odd. RichB can confirm, but I'm thinking he ordered his before you did, unless it took a week or longer for your unit to ship.

My guess is the issue RichB is having can be addressed with software, unless his unit is defective for some reason.

 

[RichB]

I would not think so, or the previous hardware units would not be certified.


That does seem odd. RichB can confirm, but I'm thinking he ordered his before you did, unless it took a week or longer for your unit to ship.

My guess is the issue RichB is having can be addressed with software, unless his unit is defective for some reason.

My SHD was ordered and shipped on 1/11/2021. I PM'ed @Staki my serial number for comparison.
A ruckus was created by simply testing the SHD USB Host port

- Rich

 

[Sonnie]

My SHD was ordered and shipped on 1/11/2021. I PM'ed @Staki my serial number for comparison.
A ruckus was created by simply testing the SHD USB Host port

- Rich

Yep... this is ALL your fault Rich.

 

[renaudrenaud]

The posting implies that the NanoPi Neo2 in the MiniDSP SHD is not powerful enough to work as a streaming client; this is incorrect, and confusing to prospective buyers. Yes, the Neo2 part only costs $25, but it has an SoC with a quadcore arm A53. The Mali GPU appears to be disabled, and is not needed here. The device is low-power enough to run without fan or cooling fins.

- indexing 1700 albums with 20000 tracks located on a Synology NAS takes 34 minutes; updates are faster
- the SHD has enough bandwidth to stream and process SACD DSF and HD audio files

Volumio will fail to index a music collection if one or more of the tracks have corrupt mp3 tags. Same behavior seen on a Raspberry Pi 3B. The fix is to use a divide-and-conquer algorithm: divide your music into two parts A, B. Scan A, scan B and identify the part where scan fails. Repeat...

Thanks for your information. I talked about my experience. In one side it works for me, in the other it doe not work. That's what I've experimented. Did not search to much, I one side it was working flawless and I am so laaazzzyyy...

 

[mulderX]

Hallo! Would you prefer the studio version over the shd for some reason?
I don't know witch to choose.

 

[Sonnie]

Hallo! Would you prefer the studio version over the shd for some reason?
I don't know witch to choose.

If you have an external DAC that you prefer over what is in the SHD, the Studio would be better for you, as it removes the DAC.

 

[mulderX]

If you have an external DAC that you prefer over what is in the SHD, the Studio would be better for you, as it removes the DAC.

I don't have. And i'm wondering if you can get better result with a better dac with let's say 500euro max.

 

[RichB]

You could deliberately invert one input in the plugin to fix this if it were true.

I tried that and I don't think it was conclusive. I suppose the only thing to do is to use the RPI2 DietPi Roon Bridge while I wait for the Roon Ready.

Here is a reply received yesterday from Roon concerning the SHD:

... I'd check in with MiniDSP on the status of their certification, I'm sure they'll have good news for you soon so you can enjoy a properly certified SHD.

I'd like "properly certified" Roon Ready

Edit: I found this post on the Roon site concerning the MiniDSP and Roon Bridge:
Distortion through Roon Bridge plugin on miniDSP - Support - Roon Labs Community

The clipping indicator never blinked red. BUT, I did track down the issue. The only DSP I had turned on anywhere in the chain was invert phase in speaker setup. When I turned if off, the distortion went away completely. Turn it back on and I get the same crackling distortion on the left channel during specific peak on the track, so seems like there may be an issue with the phase inversion piece of the DSP in Roon. If you want to try replicating it, here’s a track on Tidal that will cause the issue: Artist: Up Bustle and Out, Album: Master session vol 2, track 3 at 0:09 (right at the horn and drum hit).

So I’m all good now, just patiently waiting the Roon endpoint certification!

Interesting phase shift and the crackling sound very similar to my observation using the SHD Roon Bridge with high bit-rate material.

- Rich

 

[mulderX]

I tried that and I don't think it was conclusive. I suppose the only thing to do is to use the RPI2 DietPi Roon Bridge while I wait for the Roon Ready.

Here is a reply received yesterday from Roon concerning the SHD:


I'd like "properly certified" Roon Ready

- Rich

So you can or not have Roon with the new shd?

 

[RichB]

So you can or not have Roon with the new shd?

You can have Roon using the Roon Bridge over LAN or using a RPI3 (DietPI) running the Roon bridge.

Roon Ready is better integrated and permits volume control from the Roon client. It now requires certification to make sure it meets Roon performance standards. I don't know why it would not but here is the thread:

https://www.minidsp.com/forum/shd-series/17805-roon-stop-support-for-uncertified-devices

and from Roon:

Important Changes to How Roon Interacts with Uncertified Roon Ready Network Players - Roon Software - Roon Labs Community

Roon Partner Program | Interested in Becoming a Partner? (roonlabs.com)

I think Roon Ready certification is good. Roon does not charge for certification but wants to verification that products branded "Roon Ready" meet its performance standards and Roon users to have that certainty. I suspect this change on Roon's part was put in place because some devices had issues (not necessarily the SHD).

- Rich