Review and Measurements of miniDSP SHD DAC, DSP And Streamer

[Sonnie]

Updated testing is complete: https://www.audiosciencereview.com/...sp-shd-review-updated-dsp-dac-streamer.18681/

 

[Matt S]

Dear SHD users. I'm considering one of these units as the only viable option to fit a unit which currently houses a slimline AVR with the very basic level of Audyssey.

I'd expect the SHD to be my steamer for Spotify and/or Tidal, take a stream from my TV and also Xbox for BluRay. Obviously it'll do the room correction bit very well and improve upon what I have now by some margin.

Once setup, it needs to be fiance proof! She enjoys streaming Spotify and appreciates quality sound too.

Is it all fairly easy to use? Can I switch between inputs without too much hassle? Can you adjust lip sync etc?

Lastly, I'm looking to use my two Adam Audio active speakers and a Kef sub woofer with this unit. Do you forsee any issues?

Thanks for any assistance all.

 

[nothingman]

Very easy to stream Spotify Connect and the SHD even jumps to the LAN input when you start playing something. Beyond that inputs are super easy to switch abe the screen is easy to read. I wish they let us rename the inputs for easier layman usage (eg stop confusing my wife with “spdif” and let me rename it “tv”) but everyone learns.

There’s already a lot on lip sync on the “updated” measurements thread (see link just above). In short, no, the SHD itself can’t help there. It has about 24ms of lag itself but some users like myself don’t notice. It’s too system dependent to tell you if it’ll work since it’s mostly a question of how fast your tv can deliver an audio signal. My old Samsung tv had controls for this sort of thing but my TCL Roku tv doesn’t, but thankfully it spits out 2 channel pcm quickly.

 

[Jukka]

Not sure if it can decode blueray audio formats. But that's not a problem, if your source can output pcm and you use only stereo speakers.

 

[Hayabusa]

Not sure if it can decode blueray audio formats. But that's not a problem, if your source can output pcm and you use only stereo speakers.

It cannot, PCM is indeed the only way .

 

[Worth Davis]

Dear SHD users. I'm considering one of these units as the only viable option to fit a unit which currently houses a slimline AVR with the very basic level of Audyssey.

I'd expect the SHD to be my steamer for Spotify and/or Tidal, take a stream from my TV and also Xbox for BluRay. Obviously it'll do the room correction bit very well and improve upon what I have now by some margin.

Once setup, it needs to be fiance proof! She enjoys streaming Spotify and appreciates quality sound too.

Is it all fairly easy to use? Can I switch between inputs without too much hassle? Can you adjust lip sync etc?

Lastly, I'm looking to use my two Adam Audio active speakers and a Kef sub woofer with this unit. Do you forsee any issues?

Thanks for any assistance all.

The unit is fiancé proof once setup with only a volume up and down. If she needs to do the setup it’s fairly complex and technical. All music control for mine is done from Roon which is super easy.

 

[nothingman]

Yeah I’ll just add that it takes a fluent Win/Mac desktop user for setup. Nothing about any of the software is particularly pretty, but it works.

 

[Matt S]

Thank you both for the responding. Much appreciated! Now to find the funds!

 

[Dj7675]

Dear SHD users. I'm considering one of these units as the only viable option to fit a unit which currently houses a slimline AVR with the very basic level of Audyssey.

I'd expect the SHD to be my steamer for Spotify and/or Tidal, take a stream from my TV and also Xbox for BluRay. Obviously it'll do the room correction bit very well and improve upon what I have now by some margin.

Once setup, it needs to be fiance proof! She enjoys streaming Spotify and appreciates quality sound too.

Is it all fairly easy to use? Can I switch between inputs without too much hassle? Can you adjust lip sync etc?

Lastly, I'm looking to use my two Adam Audio active speakers and a Kef sub woofer with this unit. Do you forsee any issues?

Thanks for any assistance all.

I have the SHD in my main audio room which I love. In our living room, I went with passive speakers and the NAD M10. For the living room setup, I find it really good. It has HDMI/Arc and lip sync adjustment, dirac, amp is based on the hypex nc252 module. It is roon certified and does a nice job for what i need it to do. The screen is nice a well too displaying album art when doing roon. Not to discourage you from the Minidsp in any way, but the M10 is a nice option if you are doing passive speakers.

 

[Matt S]

I have the SHD in my main audio room which I love. In our living room, I went with passive speakers and the NAD M10. For the living room setup, I find it really good. It has HDMI/Arc and lip sync adjustment, dirac, amp is based on the hypex nc252 module. It is roon certified and does a nice job for what i need it to do. The screen is nice a well too displaying album art when doing roon. Not to discourage you from the Minidsp in any way, but the M10 is a nice option if you are doing passive speakers.

Appreciate your thoughts, thanks. Currently using active speakers and unlikely to change them any time soon.

 

[SSA]

Hi guys, long-time lurker here.

I'm very interested in using the SHD to replace my CCA, Topping DAC, and Parasound preamp. This will be for a 2.2 setup.

I'd like to use the SHD outputs 1&2 for my speakers (Magnepans) and outputs 3&4 for the subwoofers (TBD). However, I'd also like to biamp my speakers which would be an alternative use for outputs 3&4.

How do you suggest I use the SHD to accomplish ".2" subwoofer integration AND active biamping of my speakers? Ideally I'd need an SHD with 6 outputs instead of 4 but I don't believe such a product exists at this level of transparency.

Any thoughts would be appreciated and I apologize if this is somewhat off-topic!

I am also interested in bi-amping speakers and running two subwoofers. Excuse my ignorance but why can't the 1&2 and 3&4 XLR go to power amplifiers for bi-amping and the RCAs to be used for two subwoofers? Can you still use crossover and all features with this set up? Many thanks

 

[kokoon]

I am also interested in bi-amping speakers and running two subwoofers. Excuse my ignorance but why can't the 1&2 and 3&4 XLR go to power amplifiers for bi-amping and the RCAs to be used for two subwoofers? Can you still use crossover and all features with this set up? Many thanks

You can absolutely do that, but you have the same signal on the 4 XLRs as on the 4 RCAs - only 4 output channels to do crossovers on.

But in your case, if you're willing to feed your mains full-range (their woofers not low pass filtered), then you can use those same two channels (say 3 and 4) off the RCAs to also feed the subs. The mains' woofers lows will roll off naturally and you can then try to match that with subs' own crossover setting, assuming they have one. No control over subs delay with SHD this way tho. Mid/highs (say 1 and 2 XLR) on mains would get proper treatment on the SHD, you could high-pass them since they'd be on non-shared outputs.

I guess it would work, but ideally you'd want another pair of channels to really tweak the low end.

 

[Kervel]

You can absolutely do that, but you have the same signal on the 4 XLRs as on the 4 RCAs - only 4 output channels to do crossovers on.

But in your case, if you're willing to feed your mains full-range (their woofers not low pass filtered), then you can use those same two channels (say 3 and 4) off the RCAs to also feed the subs. The mains' woofers lows will roll off naturally and you can then try to match that with subs' own crossover setting, assuming they have one. No control over subs delay with SHD this way tho. Mid/highs (say 1 and 2 XLR) on mains would get proper treatment on the SHD, you could high-pass them since they'd be on non-shared outputs.

I guess it would work, but ideally you'd want another pair of channels to really tweak the low end.

This all seems very tricky. Much cleaner to add another MiniDSP 2x4 after the SHD. It would take full analog RCA signal in, and output to sub 1 and 2 and main left and main right woofer.

 

[kokoon]

This all seems very tricky. Much cleaner to add another MiniDSP 2x4 after the SHD. It would take full analog RCA signal in, and output to sub 1 and 2 and main left and main right woofer.

I'd say your suggestion is more tricky but you're right that it would give full eq and delay control over the 6 stereo pairs.

 

[SSA]

Thanks both for those two suggestions, I realised the XLR/RCA had the same signal after posting. I'm probably leaning more towards the 2x4 HD solution... but good to be aware of another option.

 

[mamsterla]

Happy owner here, I’ve removed everything from my system and won’t go back (DACs, preamps etc)

roon to Shd to ati amps to Linkwitz 521s/subs

Running Dirac 2

happy to answer questions

Late to see this, but I have the exact same setup. My subs are dual Rythmik F15HP. Wondering what you chose and whether you are still liking this setup.

 

[Worth Davis]

Late to see this, but I have the exact same setup. My subs are dual Rythmik F15HP. Wondering what you chose and whether you are still liking this setup.

Love it, everyday driver for music

 

[mamsterla]

Love it, everyday driver for music

Followed AudioJunkie's initial setup on Dirac and it is a really good system. I have my expensive phono stage on the analog side (Herron VTPH-2A) and it is just super transparent. I think most people worry about the wrong things - the ADC is quieter than the phono and the benefit of Dirac on my 2 channel is without saying. I can see keep this configuration for a while and maybe doing a few configs for different types of music and preference curves.