Minidsp SHD Review Updated (DSP, DAC & Streamer)

[dkinric]

MiniDSP makes innovative products, but their engagement with interested buyers is the worst I've ever seen. On their own forums, their chosen way of dealing with questions on new features or products is to ignore the question. No sorry no information yet, no we'll let you know as soon as we do, no qualified statements, - just pretending like it wasn't asked.
I was trying to determine awhile back if the SHD hardware was capable of Dirac w/ bass control "potentially" if they could work out a software update - crickets. Answered some of my and other unrelated questions. Others have commented on this too.

I don't know if it's a cultural issue or not, but they will completely ignore legitimate questions. Which, since they are already engaged with answering other questions, comes across rude af. Has really turned me off to this company. I am hoping someone else comes out with an affordable SHD type product soon (ie NAD 658).

 

[whitfc]

Tell me about it. I have no idea what miniDSP are up to these days. There’s Roon. There’s the fact that Tidal Connect has been available for Volumio for two months but there’s no sign of it for the SHD series. We can’t even get them to allow for custom input names years after they said they’d work on it. Maybe they‘re working on something big, maybe they aren’t. We’d never know because they offer no information to their community and have just about strangled the life out of their own forum.

Are there many outstanding bugs that need fixing? I think there was one due to the new power supply. How bad is the offer sales service?

 

[nothingman]

Total agreement. Their communication culture towards customers is dismal. Antisocial, rigid, outdated, and short sighted. They could actually create a community around their products with them leading the way on communication, but they simply choose not to in several different ways.

I will give them credit on the functionality itself, with the SHD they have created a device that is unmatched on the market in terms of flexibility and performance. It’s in a different league than the NAD C658 in that regard, and that shows they understand what consumers want.

My SHD (Neo3, only three months old) completely died on me last month and needed the whole main board replaced (a different sort of customer service ordeal with them that I wouldn’t wish on anybody) and I was dying to find myself an alternative to give my business instead, but there just isn’t one out there.

 

[nothingman]

Are there many outstanding bugs that need fixing? I think there was one due to the new power supply. How bad is the offer sales service?

Bugs? I’d say no. I recently helped them solve one with the remote malfunctioning that had been reported by several users for months (on the forums, where they refuse to acknowledge problems), but overall things seem to work as designed. Doesn’t mean the whole matrix/PEQ/crossover UX couldn’t use a redo, but I certainly wouldn’t hold that against them as a bug.

I don’t like the after sales support personally. Like I said, I had mine die just three months after purchase. They eventually got it repaired, but they were ice cold about it. Even after it went back to my dealer and he verified it wasn’t user error, they didn’t take my time into account and authorize a new unit to be sent to me. They burned my time without a working audio system at all — a total of four weeks from reporting the problem to having a working unit arrive back — doing everything they could to not send me a replacement. They were ultimately successful in prioritizing their margins and their time over mine. They even burned extra time sending a board from Hong Kong to Colorado for it to be repaired and tested while I waited around. I’m a little more used to the Crutchfield model of “Oh crap, it broke? Very sorry to hear that, and we won’t leave you hanging. Here’s a prepaid return label and we’re sending you a new one today.”

Before buying into miniDSP you just have to understand they don’t have the margins or the culture to go the extra mile for customers. They do things their way, on their time, and they make no apologies about it. In turn, I make no apologies for criticizing them. They’ve decided this is the way they want to do things and personally I think it means they remain niche and low-volume and with mixed reviews from customers.

 

[MaxBuck]

I'd love to see Schiit come out with a DAC product with Dirac or other room correction capabilities. But until they do, I'm probably locked into miniDSP.

 

[Jimshoe]

I'd love to see Schiit come out with a DAC product with Dirac or other room correction capabilities. But until they do, I'm probably locked into miniDSP.

I'd love to see Schiit Benchmark come out with a DAC product with Dirac or other room correction capabilities. But until they do, I'm probably locked into miniDSP

 

[Dathzo]

MiniDSP makes innovative products, but their engagement with interested buyers is the worst I've ever seen. On their own forums, their chosen way of dealing with questions on new features or products is to ignore the question. No sorry no information yet, no we'll let you know as soon as we do, no qualified statements, - just pretending like it wasn't asked.
I was trying to determine awhile back if the SHD hardware was capable of Dirac w/ bass control "potentially" if they could work out a software update - crickets. Answered some of my and other unrelated questions. Others have commented on this too.

I don't know if it's a cultural issue or not, but they will completely ignore legitimate questions. Which, since they are already engaged with answering other questions, comes across rude af. Has really turned me off to this company. I am hoping someone else comes out with an affordable SHD type product soon (ie NAD 658).

Try asking Apple what are going to be the features from their next iPad to see what they reply… I am not trying to be a jackass here, but from a company´s perspective, it does make sense to keep their innovation pipeline outside of public domain. Many things can go wrong in the process and that is much worst than getting complaints for being silent

 

[Dathzo]

Bugs? I’d say no. I recently helped them solve one with the remote malfunctioning that had been reported by several users for months (on the forums, where they refuse to acknowledge problems), but overall things seem to work as designed. Doesn’t mean the whole matrix/PEQ/crossover UX couldn’t use a redo, but I certainly wouldn’t hold that against them as a bug.

I don’t like the after sales support personally. Like I said, I had mine die just three months after purchase. They eventually got it repaired, but they were ice cold about it. Even after it went back to my dealer and he verified it wasn’t user error, they didn’t take my time into account and authorize a new unit to be sent to me. They burned my time without a working audio system at all — a total of four weeks from reporting the problem to having a working unit arrive back — doing everything they could to not send me a replacement. They were ultimately successful in prioritizing their margins and their time over mine. They even burned extra time sending a board from Hong Kong to Colorado for it to be repaired and tested while I waited around. I’m a little more used to the Crutchfield model of “Oh crap, it broke? Very sorry to hear that, and we won’t leave you hanging. Here’s a prepaid return label and we’re sending you a new one today.”

Before buying into miniDSP you just have to understand they don’t have the margins or the culture to go the extra mile for customers. They do things their way, on their time, and they make no apologies about it. In turn, I make no apologies for criticizing them. They’ve decided this is the way they want to do things and personally I think it means they remain niche and low-volume and with mixed reviews from customers.

This is another story than being silent on new features. And 100% agree this is terrible customer support. In that sense, instead of buying directly from them, probably worthwhile to spend a couple of hundreds more and use a local reseller. At least in Europe, they need to comply with certain warranty rules (starting with bypassing the ridiculous term “All sales are final, No exchange, No Refund, No return policy.”). Probably in USA customer service is expected to be even better

 

[Dathzo]

I will give them credit on the functionality itself, with the SHD they have created a device that is unmatched on the market in terms of flexibility and performance. It’s in a different league than the NAD C658 in that regard, and that shows they understand what consumers want.

On this point, why do You think the SHD is in a different league compared to the C658? I have been reading a lot of both units and indeed seem pretty similar, with pros and cons for both, so happy to read your perspective

 

[amper42]

Try asking Apple what are going to be the features from their next iPad to see what they reply… I am not trying to be a jackass here, but from a company´s perspective, it does make sense to keep their innovation pipeline outside of public domain. Many things can go wrong in the process and that is much worst than getting complaints for being silent

If you want to get a good look at what kind of company miniDSP is - read the return policy. It's the worst I have ever seen for a customer. Apple doesn't do that. And when I sent them an email it took 4 days to answer. I would definitely look for another solution before jumping on that train.

 

[nothingman]

Try asking Apple what are going to be the features from their next iPad to see what they reply… I am not trying to be a jackass here, but from a company´s perspective, it does make sense to keep their innovation pipeline outside of public domain. Many things can go wrong in the process and that is much worst than getting complaints for being silent

You’re not replying to me, but I’d just chime in to say I get the analogy, but those are two very different companies in a million different ways. And the criticism of miniDSP isn’t that they won’t promise us things way in the future or show us their roadmap, it’s that they totally ignore repeated direct questions to their handle on their own forum, refuse to offer technical help that would benefit everyone instead of one person making a ticket, and refuse to offer any insight or sense of conversation around their products. It’s entirely their prerogative, but they have to take the criticism when so many other companies actually engage with their customers.

This is another story than being silent on new features. And 100% agree this is terrible customer support. In that sense, instead of buying directly from them, probably worthwhile to spend a couple of hundreds more and use a local reseller. At least in Europe, they need to comply with certain warranty rules (starting with bypassing the ridiculous term “All sales are final, No exchange, No Refund, No return policy.”). Probably in USA customer service is expected to be even better

I did pay more to buy from a dealer! The only dealer of the SHD series in the US! His hands are tied because miniDSP won’t reimburse him for stock he has on hand so that he can quickly ship out a replacement to a customer (not even after four days of us going back and forth via email with me sending videos to show exactly how the unit is throughly broken). So even though they had the ability to take responsibility for the failure and get me a new device in a couple days from available stock at their only authorized dealer in my country, they made me go through layers of me troubleshooting remotely, then me sending it in at my expense, the dealer troubleshooting, and even then opting for sending a repair part from Hong Kong, that to be installed and verified, and then my unit finally coming back to me. Their time and their margins are their first priority. They don’t care if you go a month without an audio system because their component failed three months after delivery.

On this point, why do You think the SHD is in a different league compared to the C658? I have been reading a lot of both units and indeed seem pretty similar, with pros and cons for both, so happy to read your perspective

I’ve said this elsewhere, but the main thing is the functionality, and the secondary reason is the SHD’s measured performance which saves me from getting a separate DAC. The 2x4, PEQ, crossover control, customization on gain, output meters, etc. C658 doesn’t let you get under the hood anywhere near as much. For example, the C658 dual sub out is really a duplication of the same signal, and people complain it’s a weak signal with no ability to increase the output. I don’t have time for that nonsense either. Wish we had better options.

 

[Dathzo]

You’re not replying to me, but I’d just chime in to say I get the analogy, but those are two very different companies in a million different ways. And the criticism of miniDSP isn’t that they won’t promise us things way in the future or show us their roadmap, it’s that they totally ignore repeated direct questions to their handle on their own forum, refuse to offer technical help that would benefit everyone instead of one person making a ticket, and refuse to offer any insight or sense of conversation around their products. It’s entirely their prerogative, but they have to take the criticism when so many other companies actually engage with their customers.

I know it is unfair the Apple comparison in many ways, but just trying to be the devil’s advocate here and standing from minidsp perspective. Just to be clear: I’m fully with you regarding customer support, I was just referring to being silent about future upgrades

I did pay more to buy from a dealer! The only dealer of the SHD series in the US! His hands are tied because miniDSP won’t reimburse him for stock he has on hand so that he can quickly ship out a replacement to a customer (not even after four days of us going back and forth via email with me sending videos to show exactly how the unit is throughly broken). So even though they had the ability to take responsibility for the failure and get me a new device in a couple days from available stock at their only authorized dealer in my country, they made me go through layers of me troubleshooting remotely, then me sending it in at my expense, the dealer troubleshooting, and even then opting for sending a repair part from Hong Kong, that to be installed and verified, and then my unit finally coming back to me. Their time and their margins are their first priority. They don’t care if you go a month without an audio system because their component failed three months after delivery.

Sorry to read this. This is not cool. Not sure how it is handled in other places, but the dealer in the Netherlands is very responsive and solves the issues at hand. Luckily I have not had those bad experiences. But at least you managed to get it back as I know their return policy is medieval…

I’ve said this elsewhere, but the main thing is the functionality, and the secondary reason is the SHD’s measured performance which saves me from getting a separate DAC. The 2x4, PEQ, crossover control, customization on gain, output meters, etc. C658 doesn’t let you get under the hood anywhere near as much. For example, the C658 dual sub out is really a duplication of the same signal, and people complain it’s a weak signal with no ability to increase the output. I don’t have time for that nonsense either. Wish we had better options.

you are fully right, one cannot find the versatility of the SHD in the C658 (and probably not on any other product within the same price range).
From a sound perspective, however, and after running Dirac, I would argue it is not possible to distinguish both systems on an A/B blind test. On top of that, I personally don’t think the SINAD of 90 is an audible concern.
Having said that, I ultimately decided for the NAD C658, but I’m dying to test the SHD

 

[nothingman]

Sorry to read this. This is not cool. Not sure how it is handled in other places, but the dealer in the Netherlands is very responsive and solves the issues at hand. Luckily I have not had those bad experiences. But at least you managed to get it back as I know their return policy is medieval…

The problem lies with miniDSP. Our SHD dealer here in the US is a really good guy, but he can’t just absorb a $1000 loss by giving away a unit, so he needs miniDSP to green light a replacement to solve things quickly and they refused at every step.

 

[Dathzo]

The problem lies with miniDSP. Our SHD dealer here in the US is a really good guy, but he can’t just absorb a $1000 loss by giving away a unit, so he needs miniDSP to green light a replacement to solve things quickly and they refused at every step.

These type of issues make me think that going NAD was not a bad thing. They offer a 5-year warranty. I bought a used device for 1100eur with 3-year warranty still, which at the end, it is a cheaper device with better support compared to the SHD.

 

[Dathzo]

…and people complain it’s a weak signal with no ability to increase the output. I don’t have time for that nonsense either. Wish we had better options.

And on this topic: I shared this concern before buying the unit, but I tested it before doing so. No problem at all with my subs; plenty of low frequencies there even when Dirac attenuated the signal few db

 

[whitfc]

Bugs? I’d say no. I recently helped them solve one with the remote malfunctioning that had been reported by several users for months (on the forums, where they refuse to acknowledge problems), but overall things seem to work as designed. Doesn’t mean the whole matrix/PEQ/crossover UX couldn’t use a redo, but I certainly wouldn’t hold that against them as a bug.

I don’t like the after sales support personally. Like I said, I had mine die just three months after purchase. They eventually got it repaired, but they were ice cold about it. Even after it went back to my dealer and he verified it wasn’t user error, they didn’t take my time into account and authorize a new unit to be sent to me. They burned my time without a working audio system at all — a total of four weeks from reporting the problem to having a working unit arrive back — doing everything they could to not send me a replacement. They were ultimately successful in prioritizing their margins and their time over mine. They even burned extra time sending a board from Hong Kong to Colorado for it to be repaired and tested while I waited around. I’m a little more used to the Crutchfield model of “Oh crap, it broke? Very sorry to hear that, and we won’t leave you hanging. Here’s a prepaid return label and we’re sending you a new one today.”

Before buying into miniDSP you just have to understand they don’t have the margins or the culture to go the extra mile for customers. They do things their way, on their time, and they make no apologies about it. In turn, I make no apologies for criticizing them. They’ve decided this is the way they want to do things and personally I think it means they remain niche and low-volume and with mixed reviews from customers.

And things are a little unsettled in Kong Kong, that can’t help either. Thanks for the clarifying this. Sounds like it might be worth while to purchase from a local dealer.

 

[mdsimon2]

The miniDSP forum and the devteam support are certainly a bit odd. It seems to me that they were much more active, provided much better support and actively worked with the community to implement new features in their early days which were much more DIY oriented. It seems that in recent years they have shifted from DIY towards more expensive consumer oriented solutions like the SHD.

I cannot say I blame them given the amount basic questions they receive on their forum. It never ceases to amaze me that people will buy (or are considering buying) a miniDSP product but have no idea of how the basic functionality works. So many of the questions are "I am not getting any sound" or "this sounds weird" from people that have not read the manual and have no idea how input selection or the routing matrix works. That being said it seems like it would make sense for them to have someone solely devoted to answering these basic questions, at least it would provide a much better public image than leaving questions unanswered.

I sympathize with SHD users waiting for Roon support given the hardware seems to be in place but they have not implemented a software solution. I hope this is in the not the case with the SHD / Roon situation but there were several improvements discussed years ago related to the miniSHARC that never came to fruition and would have been really great improvements. Things like a new firmware for the DDRC-88D hardware which would allow the use of the miniSHARC plugin (ability to implement user defined FIR filters) and relocation of FIR taps on the miniSHARC plugin so that they are assigned to input channels instead of output channels allowing much more efficient use of FIR taps. There were also hardware improvements discussed such as a miniSHARC fanout buffer for I2S MCLK, LRCLK and BCLK signals to allow for easy integration with I2S DACs and displays for volume indication (one of the biggest drawbacks IMHO currently for their non-SHD platforms). Thankfully there are some solutions to these problems but they have not come from miniDSP (IanCanada's McFIFO/McDualXO and community develop Arduino based displays) but it is frustrating that these did not come from miniDSP themselves.

At the end of the day I agree with others that the crux of the issue is that there really isn't anyone else offering similar functionality to miniDSP and certainly not for miniDSP prices.

Michael

 

[Jim Matthews]

Is the Dev team based in Hong Kong?

Things are rough, there.

 

[carlob]

Seems to me that with the Covid situation things went downhill for them. BTW I have a SHD since about two years ago and very happy with the device (also got grandfathered by Roon so not a problem with that).

 

[SinaHakman]

I had a very similar experience with miniDSP support and forums. For some reason the Roonbridge plugin on my SHD Studio stopped working. The error messages clearly indicate that it is not installed properly. I asked miniDSP support to provide me ssh access so that I can remove it (I am a computer engineer and very familiar with linux). They ignored it and suggested to disconnect and reconnect cables, etc, which was ridiculous as I clearly sent detailed log messages and was suggesting to remove it manually using ssh. After a few more tries and weeks, they finally said that they cannot resolve it now and as Roon certification will come soon, I should be OK without Roonbridge for the time being! This was roughly two months ago. Still no news as you know.

It is unbelievable for an electronics company to have such a unique and performant product and with the possibility of dominating Room Correction market can piss off customers this way. If they paid a little more attention to customer service, they could become a stellar audio electronics company.

Sad to see that opportunity is being missed.
Sina.