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miniDSP Tide16 - Holy Grail with 16 Channel Atmos/DTS:X, high SINAD

Sokel said:
Right gear allover, hideous looks though.
At 4500 euro street price in Europe you have stuff like M66 to compete for looks who literally wipes the floor with it in terms of looks.

If the targeted clients include the audiophile crowd, the first things to scrap is all the clutter of Doldy and BS in the front, these shout AVR not audio.
Complete deal breaker and it's a shame, it looks promising.
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Aesthetic objections are so boring and… subjective… which this forum isn’t supposed to be concerning itself with much.

Especially since this thing isn’t bad at all. It looks very similar to other prosumer type boxes from Storm and Datasat, the kind that are very expensive and sit on an AV rack. That said, I wouldn’t mind at all having this thing visible under my TV. The slimmer height and overall look is way more pro than Denon, for example.
 
rzrike said:
I paid $1398 for the HTx and UMK-1 with shipping with Deer Creek Audio (it was the same price direct through miniDSP at the time once you added tariffs in check-out). Currently it looks like direct through miniDSP it is $1310 with shipping and tariffs, so the tariffs came down a little bit possibly.

If you’re talking about Dirac ART, the HTx isn’t compatible. It’s compatible with normal Dirac; ART is a new feature of the Tide16.
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Base is $949 so that's ~45% increase. $3500 should cost around $5k if the same rate applies.
 
PJR918BMW said:
So I don't want to get into this and maybe misunderstanding your post.. but they subsequently released new firmware which "fixed" this? The conclusion being.. by the thread starter..

"Overall some really nice improvements in performance and love that they reached out and fixed this issue unprompted.

Michael"

...and, frankly, it didn't desperately really need fixing anyway IMHO.

I will stop the bear baiting now ;):D

Need to decide on HTX or this one.... problem is I ain't got anything now - having just sold my Denon!
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If you saw the measurements you will know that they all were pure digital ones through and through, so they all should be at the -140dB THD+N region if everything was in order.
Now, take the penalties you see there and subtract them after you translate the results to the respective analog performance.

I wouldn't return the flex (which is why the OP started the thread) for some inaudible THD+N or some minuscule penalty.

A 30dB hit, is no small for example, people were moaning for ages before this thread about the sub-optimal implementation down low.

And sadly miniDSP was not alone to it, we see such all over lately.
That's where measurements are needed the most.

And yes, the fix (even if partial) is welcome, always.
 
Presumably this will be $4375 in the US with the current tariffs and import fee.

Regarding HDMI 2.0, I was only basing that on the back of the unit photo. It says HDMI 2.0, not 2.1. It could be that it has some specs from 2.1 but not the full specs; I’ve seen that before.
 
welwynnick said:
I think this could have more impact than any other AVP, I think it's an almighty achievement, and still people criticise.

"If it works properly" is an appropriate qualification, but miniDSP always show their homework these days, and ASR etc generally back up their performance claims.
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This is such new territory for them we can’t take anything for granted. Multi-HDMI inputs, switching, and passthrough, and the necessity for a deep, logical on-screen menu system. The Marantz AV30 manual is 334 pages. That’s the sort of sophistication they need to build from scratch.

Heck, has miniDSP ever even shipped a product that doesn’t rely on that same dinky Chinese remote across all their devices? No images of the Tide16 remote yet. These things make or break in home theater (especially with Logitech Harmony dead).
 
Hi

Really looking forward for an @amirm review of this.

From the brief. emphasis is mine:
At its core for speaker processing, miniDSP is once again partnering with Dirac Research by including Dirac Live (RC), Bass Control (BC) and Active Room Treatment (ART) licenses at no extra cost. A flexible matrix mixer, advanced bass management and miniDSP’s full processing suite operate on all sixteen outputs,
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The form factor, is most interesting too. Most AVP are humongous and, allow me that bit of subjectivity, f-ugly.

It seems to directly compete with the MonoPrice HT-1.
This AVP is welcome news: The state of mid-tier AVP has been stale , with the biggies (mostly Denon/Marantz, but Yamaha, Onkyo/Pioneer, et al) seemingly content to remove the amplifiers from their TOL AVR, and sell the truncated package at a premium...
Hope the miniDSP AVP, doesn't display the numerous software issues that plagued the Monoprice HT-1.

Also, it would have been good to provide more HDMI input (only 3) and output (just one!!!! :mad: )
 
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nothingman said:
Heck, has miniDSP ever even shipped a product that doesn’t rely on that same dinky Chinese remote across all their devices? No images of the Tide16 remote yet. These things make or break in home theater (especially with Logitech Harmony dead).
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It looks like they use a web interface that runs on a portable device like a tablet.
 
jaakkopetteri said:
Just use a Flex HT with an Apple TV 4K. I'm a sucker for minimalism so I'm not too happy about the size and price of the Tide16, but I don't really see a simpler version being a significant step up from the Flex HT either
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The Flex HT is a flawed product to need this to even have a chance of being useful (which makes me no want to support its existence by buying one), plus I'm not even sure it would achieve what I want. My use includes 4k UHD Blu-ray and PS5/PC audio rather than just streaming.
 
Great news for us Dirac-loving DIY active speaker users. From the product page screenshot of the device console, it looks like it has a matrix mixer and PEQ/xover settings for each channel like the DDRC-88 and others. I’m assuming you can group outputs to individual channels so, for example, outputs 1-3 are all “Left”. If so, I’m buying.
 

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nothingman said:
This is such new territory for them we can’t take anything for granted. Multi-HDMI inputs, switching, and passthrough, and the necessity for a deep, logical on-screen menu system. The Marantz AV30 manual is 334 pages. That’s the sort of sophistication they need to build from scratch.
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My first thoughts were along the same lines...

What will the menus be like for defining speaker layouts etc?

How well will it handle it when the source switches between sound formats?

Will there be a remote, e.g. to allow you to switch between upmixers?

Which upmixers are supported?
 
JohnnyNG said:
Looks like this could also be used as a crossover/processor for multiway active speakers? Any ideas on how capable the "Quad Core ARM processor / 1.8GHz " is in terms of DSP?
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If it has a quad core ARM CPU it would be more than enough to do 16 channels of FIR, at 64k taps, at 48kHz. Probably more!

I missed that bit when I looked at the spec sheet. Now this has me excited. The only thing I would want is to remove all that Dirac BS and let me load my own FIR filters.
 
-Matt- said:
The specific HDMI 2.1 feature that seems to be lacking (and could be a deal breaker for those with current gen gaming systems) is 4k 120Hz.
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I have a PS5, Switch 2, LG 4K BD player, and Apple TV 4K so I've already overshot the inputs by 1. If I wanted to un-retire my Oppo universal player, SOL!

I'm guessing households that have 4k 120Hz gaming won't have the Tide16 on their shortlist anyway.
 
Keith_W said:
If it has a quad core ARM CPU it would be more than enough to do 16 channels of FIR, at 64k taps, at 48kHz. Probably more!

I missed that bit when I looked at the spec sheet. Now this has me excited. The only thing I would want is to remove all that Dirac BS and let me load my own FIR filters.
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Nice. In another spot they specify "Quad Core A53 ARM processor, 1.8GHz".
 
Really nice. I guess "only" thing that it doesn't have are digital outputs. But that is also almost non-existent in products with HDMI audio decoders, probably because of some licensing terms (which I do not know about, just guessing).
 
Good to see some movement in the processor market, I wouldn't be an early adopter though, before I have seen the software fully functional and working reliably.
 
Ultrasonic said:
The Flex HT is a flawed product to need this to even have a chance of being useful (which makes me no want to support its existence by buying one), plus I'm not even sure it would achieve what I want. My use includes 4k UHD Blu-ray and PS5/PC audio rather than just streaming.
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Those uses are not a problem. I agree that an ATV 4K or similar device being necessary feels silly, but if it makes the device half the price, I don't think it's a bad design choice at all.
 
nothingman said:
That’s the sort of sophistication they need to build from scratch.
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It's true that they said the could not do this (add dolby and other formats) to their base code for the flex models.
 
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