• Welcome to ASR. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

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

thcdru2k said:
Most AVR's analog stages are adequate and minidsp ADC is not noisy at all. Any added distortion is well below what speakers, rooms, and sub introduce. There is an issue of lip-sync latency but that can be managed
Click to expand...
The HTx is not adding anything to the system you described, other than an overkill way to get bass management. Just use the pre-outs from the receiver directly with your amps if you’re fine with the distortion performance and unbalanced connectors.
 
thcdru2k said:
I get it, but gamers can just plug consoles or PC directly into the TV for zero-lag 4K120 / VRR and send audio back over eARC. You don’t lose anything that way, so the passthrough issue isn’t really a deal breaker.
And honestly, if not for Chinese tariffs, there isn’t anything else anywhere near this price that offers this level of deep routing and multi-speaker / multi-sub control. At a $3.5k MSRP the miniDSP Tide16 is kind of absurd value.. you’d have to spend well over double for something like StormAudio or Trinnov to get comparable capability.
Click to expand...

Once you include the full Dirac license ($800), the Denon 6800H offers 13.4 channels (17) vs 16 for the MiniDSP.
It also has DTS:X Pro, Auro 3D, HDMI 2.1, more inputs and amplifiers for 11 channels.

If you get it on sale the prices would essentially be the same.

So really I don't see who would buy this product at this price point.
 
djodars said:
Once you include the full Dirac license ($800), the Denon 6800H offers 13.4 channels (17) vs 16 for the MiniDSP.
It also has DTS:X Pro, Auro 3D, HDMI 2.1, more inputs and amplifiers for 11 channels.

If you get it on sale the prices would essentially be the same.

So really I don't see who would buy this product at this price point.
Click to expand...
I would, over a Denon 6800h. The tools are likely to be better. I don't need all the bells and whistles from the Denon.
You will naturally disagree, but there will be plenty of buyers.
 
rzrike said:
The HTx is not adding anything to the system you described, other than an overkill way to get bass management. Just use the pre-outs from the receiver directly with your amps if you’re fine with the distortion performance and unbalanced connectors.
Click to expand...
External DSP + REW workflow . Can more easily verify summation, phase, impulse response, and decay behavior after each .01ms step change or each 1hz crossover change or each EQ trim. Still get benefit of manually aligning drivers by measuring with microphone than relying solely on automated optimization. It's not better for everyone but its still useful. You are right if setting up longer runs balanced connectors are better. The benefits to me outweigh the .001% distortion added. It's honestly nice to also bypass my AVR when I do want to listen to music. Streamer to minidsp to external amps, AVR off.
 
Last edited:
I was really excited when I saw this product, until I saw the price and limited HDMI feature-set. Nice for those who are willing to pay top-dollar to go from audibly transparent to even more audibly transparent, but for the rest of us who find a $1k-2k AVR purchase already kind of pricey it doesn't really move the needle unfortunately.
 
A little OT but since we're talking speakers and not IEMs here obviously, THD+N has little to no relevance.

Even the biggest, most bad-ass speakers out there don't go near -80dB to -90dB THD+N 20Hz-20kHz, let alone IMD, etc.

BUT a bad rig CAN destroy the low end, big time.
Be it bad drivers, pushed drivers for low-end vs SPL, bad subs, bad DSP, bad filter stacking, bad timing, bad implementation, etc.

There's the meaningful improvements and that's what I would like to see measured.
 
Nice product. But alas no digital outs and them tariffs :(

I am willing to give up on my quest for digital only setup but let's see what this ends up costing in reality.
 
Ultrasonic said:
Yes but there is only one one eARC connection so both the Apple and miniDSP devices can't use this. We somehow need to get an audio signal from the Blu-Ray player to the Apple 4k TV and then on to the miniDSP HT?



Note I use a miniDSP SHD as per my signature, and also have a 2x4 HD I've had for many years too. They have many good products.
Click to expand...
TV is the hub.
 
Sokel said:
A little OT but since we're talking speakers and not IEMs here obviously, THD+N has little to no relevance.

Even the biggest, most bad-ass speakers out there don't go near -80dB to -90dB THD+N 20Hz-20kHz, let alone IMD, etc.

BUT a bad rig CAN destroy the low end, big time.
Be it bad drivers, pushed drivers for low-end vs SPL, bad subs, bad DSP, bad filter stacking, bad timing, bad implementation, etc.

There's the meaningful improvements and that's what I would like to see measured.
Click to expand...
Yup or missing a sub inversion that can be easily switched with a press of a button
 
djodars said:
So really I don't see who would buy this product at this price point.
Click to expand...

I would, after they've polished up.

Very impressed how they managed to keep it top secret all this time, didn't hear a whisper of it and was resigned to the idea the best they'll have for surround would be the HTx.
 
Y’all are out of your mind if you don’t think $3500 with ART included is not a highly competitive price for this pretty niche class of product. Honestly when I clicked on the email, I was expecting it to say $5-6k.

Of course the actual quality of the product, not the manufacturer’s promises, remains to be seen. For instance, I do hope they manage to provide a decent remote as mentioned by someone else. The one that came with my HTx is like a $1 Alibaba piece of generic plastic. The pause/play button doesn’t even do anything (I assume it works with their streamer devices).
 
rzrike said:
Y’all are out of your mind if you don’t think $3500 with ART included is not a highly competitive price for this pretty niche class of product.
Click to expand...
By the standards of typical AVP pricing? Sure it's not the worst, and the miniDSP features are quite attractive. But it's still hard to justify for most when you can get something similar, with amplifiers included, for drastically less.

So yes, by nature of its pricing, it's a niche product.
 
djodars said:
Once you include the full Dirac license ($800), the Denon 6800H offers 13.4 channels (17) vs 16 for the MiniDSP.
It also has DTS:X Pro, Auro 3D, HDMI 2.1, more inputs and amplifiers for 11 channels.

If you get it on sale the prices would essentially be the same.

So really I don't see who would buy this product at this price point.
Click to expand...
Denon AVR-X6800H is great product. At any level speakers, room treatment, geometry are going to dominate sound quality more than which pre-pro or which amp you use. There are people who just love to tinker endlessly. Being able to apply delay, gain, independent crossovers unconstrained by an AVR's grouping assumptions. Applying asymmetric crossovers to mismatched subs, speakers, or DIY. Custom bass routing (asymmetrical bass routing - different channel bass to different subs or combination of channels to specific subs at varying trims , directional bass, distributed bass). Granted the AVR-X6800H can do a lot of that too automatically but some people want to do it manually. Non-standard layouts...only a matter of time before we see someone use 8 subs. Not to mention you can save calibration presets. Want to hear with Dirac ART sounds like or what manual calibration sounds like ? Just press preset 1 or 2. Measure each speaker independently and applying a custom crossover based on each speakers specific frequency response. Confirming ideas with REW not just blindly or by ear.
 
Last edited:
rzrike said:
Y’all are out of your mind if you don’t think $3500 with ART included is not a highly competitive price for this pretty niche class of product. Honestly when I clicked on the email, I was expecting it to say $5-6k.

Of course the actual quality of the product, not the manufacturer’s promises, remains to be seen. For instance, I do hope they manage to provide a decent remote as mentioned by someone else. The one that came with my HTx is like a $1 Alibaba piece of generic plastic. The pause/play button doesn’t even do anything (I assume it works with their streamer devices).
Click to expand...
That doesn't include tarrifs or shipping but I can't disagree.

I prefer the diminutive plastic remote to a big AVR style. I kind of hope they stick close to it.
 
Does anyone know if this will be able to connect to a music server (via SMB or similar) or use Qobuz/Tidal Connect like the SHD devices? Is it a Roon endpoint? I see that it has ethernet. Not a big deal, can always just connect a Wiim Ultra, but I’m curious if they put all that in there. Will be nice to control the device on the miniDSP control center over the network rather than with a direct USB connection (I assume this is possible).
 
Mort said:
That doesn't include tarrifs or shipping but I can't disagree.

I prefer the diminutive plastic remote to a big AVR style. I kind of hope they stick close to it.
Click to expand...
I agree with the size; I don’t need many more buttons. So much on my Denon x3700h remote I never touch. But I’d like the miniDSP remote to have a bit more weight and premium feel. It’s strange moving between my Sony A95L remote and the miniDSP remote. They don’t feel like they belong together. If they released a nicer remote for say $50, I’d probably buy it.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom