Minidsp SHD Review Updated (DSP, DAC & Streamer)

[WillBrink]

That’s exactly how I’m using it (see my signature). I’m very happy with the result.

However, given the choice again, I would buy the miniDSP Flex and a separate streamer. The streamer (Volumio) in the SHD is ok for Spotify and Tidal Connect, but a complete disaster for anything else.

I thought they were Roon ready endpoint too.

 

[Glasvegas]

I thought they were Roon ready endpoint too.

Sorry, didn’t realise you needed Roon. I don’t use it - never will.

I think the SHD supports Roon. but the Flex doesn’t.

 

[withoutsuit]

And the SHD has the higher samplerate, when using dirac (96 vs 48khz)

 

[Docteur Poulet]

For Spotify / Tidal Hifi and cd, is the Flex enough?
I'm still hesitating between the flex and the shd studio (I currently own a Sonos Port & RME adi-2 dac fs)

 

[TabCam]

For Spotify / Tidal Hifi and cd, is the Flex enough?
I'm still hesitating between the flex and the shd studio (I currently own a Sonos Port & RME adi-2 dac fs)

You need a separate streamer, I think the Sonos port has digital out so that should be covered. I consider the Flex a preamp/crossover device. You can get the digital version if you want to keep the RME ADI-2 dac but I highly doubt if it is important.

For bass management I consider the RME ADI-2 dac more than adequate. If you need Dirac, you could opt for the Studio as it is 96k instead of 48k although I do not know if that matters that much.

 

[joshz]

1. Newer minidsp shds shutoff the usb host port when switched off. You can create a usb to 3.5mm mono cable as a trigger. Search the forum to see posts by members who have done it.

has anyone tried if that actually works with the usb port?

 

[ebslo]

has anyone tried if that actually works with the usb port?

Yes.

I have too, and mine is working flawlessly through a bus-powered USB hub, which allows me to keep a thumb drive plugged in at the same time.

 

[ehabheikal]

Whether you use Dirac or not it is the same. Fortunately it is pretty simple.

You need to make sure that the combination of source level + processing + volume control does not exceed 0 dBFS prior to reaching the DAC. For example if you sent a 0 dBFS signal to the SHD, did not use Dirac but had a boost of +15 dB applied across all frequencies in the SHD and had the volume set to -10 dB you would clip as you would be attempting to send 0 + 15 - 10 = +5 dBFS to the DAC.

In general if you use the SHD volume control I wouldn't worry too much about digital clipping unless you are doing something crazy. It is a bit more of an issue if you use downstream volume control.

Michael

Is there a volume limiter on the minidsp?

 

[mdsimon2]

Is there a volume limiter on the minidsp?

What do you mean by limiter?

You can apply permanent attenuation to both the input and output channels.

It also has a compressor which can be used to reduce output at higher levels.

Michael

 

[ehabheikal]

I mean setting what i think is called headroom. I currently use the volume on my dac only to set my upper volume at my max comfort level and change volume in my mobile or streamer

 

[Grangerm]

This is an update to the review of minidsp SHD that I did a couple of years ago. My tests have evolved since then and company has stated that they fixed a few issues I found in that test. The SHD costs US $1,195 and includes a USB DAC, streaming engine (based on Volumio) and of course, DSP functions for crossover, filter and Room EQ using Dirac. The version I have was purchased new and drop shipped to me by a member.

Here is a shot of the unit, albeit with protective plastics still on it:

View attachment 101063

The back panel shows the useful suite of connections:

View attachment 101064

For control you need to download the special software from minidsp. You need to make an account, redeem codes, etc. which is a bit aggravating. I downloaded the latest versions but could not get them to work. Then I saw the notice that said to uninstall old version first. I did that and reinstallation worked the second time. Once there, the user interface is a delight compared to just using the display on just about any multifunction unit.

For my testing I used USB input and XLR output.

Minidsp SHD Measurements
Let's start with our usual dashboard. I had to dial down the output to 4 volts as anything above that would cause clipping and at any rate, 4 volts is our measurement standard anyway:

View attachment 101065

The original unit I tested has the same excellent performance in one channel but lower in the other. Nice to see both matching now, moving the SHD up a few notches in our overall ranking of all DACs:
View attachment 101066

Multifunction products such as AV processors have struggled to break the 100 dB mark and here is minidsp reaching to 112 dB, showing that signal processing and EQ need not be a barrier to excellent performance.

Sweeping the output level shows that 4 volts is the optimal setting:

View attachment 101067

Dynamic range is very good:

View attachment 101068

Intermodulation distortion is nice as well:
View attachment 101069

Filter response is not as good as I like:
View attachment 101070

Would want to see that attenuation down in -100 dB range or so. I thought this would cause problems for THD+N vs frequency and its wide bandwidth but it was not:
View attachment 101071

Linearity is perfect showing good accuracy:

View attachment 101072

Multitone test signal is well behaved:
View attachment 101073

We now get to the one test that gave the previous SHD some heartburn: jitter. This is the original results:

Here are the new:

View attachment 101075

We see faint signs of the original problem but they are now very nicely attenuated and at -130 dB and lower, not remotely an audible concern.

Conclusions
The Minidsp SHD could have had ordinary measurements like many other multifunction devices and not hurt its marketability. Yet, someone there thought no, they need to do better and better they did. With distortion and noise at or below threshold of human hearing, the Minidsp provides competitive performance to some of the best desktop and high-fi DACs yet provides a ton of extra functionality they do not. And across four channels, not just two. Yes, you pay for that but for a top class system where the SHD would get deployed, I think the cost can be justified.

Kudos to the company for taking our criticism to heart and revising the design. As such, it is my pleasure to strongly recommend the Minidsp SHD.

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As always, questions, comments, recommendations, etc. are welcome.

Appreciate any donations using: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/how-to-support-audio-science-review.8150/

Given how good the dac seems to be, I wonder how much benefit there would be from using a top end external dac given the possible losses from connectors. In other words, would my RME dac become redundant?

 

[RichB]

Given how good the dac seems to be, I wonder how much benefit there would be from using a top end external dac given the possible losses from connectors. In other words, would my RME dac become redundant?

Perhaps not, I have been A/B comparing (level matched) comparing the MiniDSP SHD DAC and the MiniDSP SHD digital out to the Benchmark DAC3.
The DAC3 sounds clearer to me. I can't do this blind (sorry Stanford ) yet. I am working on a setup using an ARX SR1 XLR switch with w WiFi enabled relay.
Once that works, I write a C# program to blind it using a random starting point and 10 tries.
This will create a audibly transparent test for DACs.

- Rich

 

[EJ3]

Perhaps not, I have been A/B comparing (level matched) comparing the MiniDSP SHD DAC and the MiniDSP SHD digital out to the Benchmark DAC3.
The DAC3 sounds clearer to me. I can't do this blind (sorry Stanford ) yet. I am working on a setup using an ARX SR1 XLR switch with w WiFi enabled relay.
Once that works, I write a C# program to blind it using a random starting point and 10 tries.
This will create a audibly transparent test for DACs.

- Rich

Yes, we need tis to be sure!

 

[nothingman]

This “updated” review is no longer current at all. Per users on miniDSP’s forum, it’s just been learned that miniDSP silently switched to using ESS ES9028Q2M DACs. The SHD was only ever an AKM device since its debut. I get that the ESS models could perform identical or even better than the AKM ones, but that really needs to be proven. miniDSP made this change without notifying their community (something they’ve done for updates to the Pi component), nor even updating their website spec sheet almost a year after making this change. PCBs with the ESS DACs are marked with March 7, 2022 (or July 3, 2022 at the latest if they are using that formatting). Not telling the community is one thing, selling for months and months with an outdated spec sheet is another.

 

[ehabheikal]

This “updated” review is no longer current at all. Per users on miniDSP’s forum, it’s just been learned that miniDSP silently switched to using ESS ES9028Q2M DACs. The SHD was only ever an AKM device since its debut. I get that the ESS models could perform identical or even better than the AKM ones, but that really needs to be proven. miniDSP made this change without notifying their community (something they’ve done for updates to the Pi component), nor even updating their website spec sheet almost a year after making this change. PCBs with the ESS DACs are marked with March 7, 2022 (or July 3, 2022 at the latest if they are using that formatting). Not telling the community is one thing, selling for months and months with an outdated spec sheet is another.

you are totally right

 

[dwkdnvr]

Interesting that they didn't notify of the changes. Seems like it would be easy-ish to spin an 'upgrade' to ESS DACs.

Since this was bumped, I actually have a couple SHD questions:

- I have an original SHD purchased shortly after this review. I've never upgraded any software/firmware since it 'just works'. Can I jump straight to the latest, or do I need to be aware of some intermediate versions?
- Is anyone using a single SHD across multiple systems? I have our TV system in the same room as my Desktop, and I only just realized (DUH!) that I can probably re-use the SHD and subs by using pre-sets and powering off the unused high-pass amps. Anyone tried this and run into any unexpected complications?

 

[Ultrasonic]

- I have an original SHD purchased shortly after this review. I've never upgraded any software/firmware since it 'just works'. Can I jump straight to the latest, or do I need to be aware of some intermediate versions?

You should just be able to jump to the latest, which came out this week. Depending what you're currently running be aware that on the latest version the screen will automatically switch off after a fixed period of time. The Dirac logo will probably also change from what you have right now, which depending on current OLED 'burn-in' may look a little unsightly if viewed close up.

The two main advantages of the latest Device Control software are that future firmware and software upgrades will be easier, and that you can now give each preset a meaningful name.

 

[Ultrasonic]

- Is anyone using a single SHD across multiple systems? I have our TV system in the same room as my Desktop, and I only just realized (DUH!) that I can probably re-use the SHD and subs by using pre-sets and powering off the unused high-pass amps. Anyone tried this and run into any unexpected complications?

I'd expect this will be fine although without better understanding your system I'm not 100% sure what you mean.

For movie use I send left and right front signals from my blu-ray player to the analogue inputs on my SHD, and have a preset that runs my main speakers full range for this. The subwoofer signal goes from my blu-ray player, via a miniDSP 2x4 HD and on to the sub. I have a line-level switch that changes whether my sub gets this signal, or a signal from my SHD when used for music. Not a standard setup at all but just giving an example of an SHD being used in more than one setup.

 

[dwkdnvr]

You should just be able to jump to the latest, which came out this week. Depending what you're currently running be aware that on the latest version the screen will automatically switch off after a fixed period of time. The Dirac logo will probably also change from what you have right now, which depending on current OLED 'burn-in' may look a little unsightly if viewed close up.

The two main advantages of the latest Device Control software are that future firmware and software upgrades will be easier, and that you can now give each preset a meaningful name.

Thanks. I hadn't seen any indication to the contrary, but figured it was worth asking.

My OLED screen is pretty shot already (since dimming/auto-off wasn't present in the initial firmware), so I guess we'll see how bad it is.

 

[dwkdnvr]

I'd expect this will be fine although without better understanding your system I'm not 100% sure what you mean.

For movie use I send left and right front signals from my blu-ray player to the analogue inputs on my SHD, and have a preset that runs my main speakers full range for this. The subwoofer signal goes from my blu-ray player, via a miniDSP 2x4 HD and on to the sub. I have a line-level switch that changes whether my sub gets this signal, or a signal from my SHD when used for music. Not a standard setup at all but just giving an example of an SHD being used in more than one setup.

Similar enough to my use-case. I'd be looking to 'switch' the mains rather than the subs, but similar-ish.

I think the biggest 'problem' I have in designing my solution is that I'm currently running my mains via spdif out (since I had a spare DAC and it makes balancing levels easier), and was planning to also use a DAC on the desktop (since I have other casual sources for the desktop speakers). This would mean either
a) an spdif switcher to select which DAC to route the ch1/ch2 signal to
b) reverting to using analog out from the SHD for for the main setup and spdif for the desktop
c) have DAC1 connected to ch1/ch2 and DAC2 connected to ch3/ch4, and then switch the analog connections to the subs based on setup: ch3/ch4 for the 'main rig' and ch1/ch2 for 'desktop'. this is probably easier than switching spdif

In all cases I'd have to ensure that the 'unused' mains are shut off which is a manual step, but minor.