Review and Measurements of miniDSP SHD DAC, DSP And Streamer

[Azookey]

Hey all,

I went ahead and picked up an SHD recently. Loving it so far, but I have a problem. I cannot get Dirac to find the SHD, and it's driving me nuts. Basically when i launch Dirac from the miniDSP plug-in, Dirac indeed launches, but then i get "no devices found."

I've gone through every troubleshooting thing I can find, miniDSP forums, made sure I followed every instruction, updated software and firmware, all of that... no luck. I've tried both a Macbook Pro and a Windows 10 Laptop. USB hub on Macbook, straight USB in on the windows laptop.

I've posted on a few threads at miniDSP and reached out to support but have not heard anything back... so I turn to this motley crew

Anyone have similar problem and any possible solutions?

Thanks

 

[Azookey]

Quick question, are you opening Dirac through the SHD program? You can't use Dirac on its own.

Yes, I am opening it through the SHD program.

 

[Azookey]

Hmm. It should show you a clickable miniDSP logo when the program loads. Just to double check everything, did you download the appropriate SHD program version? There is a version for Dirac 1.0 and another for Dirac 2.0 that also works with Dirac 3.0.

Also, can you adjust things on your SHD through the SHD program?

Also is your SHD unit set to USB?

Yes, I actually tried v3.0 and a couple of the v2 versions of Dirac just to see. They all have the same problem.
And yes, connecting to the SHD plugin and messing PEQ and crossovers, etc, has been great. Also connecting to Volumio and using it has been no problem at all.

I have tried various input settings on the SHD while trying to connect Dirac. Lan, USB, spdif etc. I read some random forum post saying that you cannot be on LAN for some reason or another, so I tried all the others.

 

[alont]

Make sure that your computer hostname is resolvable and reachable. I had a similar issue with my macbook and pointing my hostname to localhost in /etc/hosts solved it for me.

 

[Azookey]

Make sure that your computer hostname is resolvable and reachable. I had a similar issue with my macbook and pointing my hostname to localhost in /etc/hosts solved it for me.

Ok interesting, this is something I have not tried, but you went past my technical knowledge. Could you guide me a bit on this?

 

[Alexanderc]

Connected to the internet?

I assume since Volumio is working you are, but just in case…

 

[Worth Davis]

Disable firewall’s and try again , could be blocking it

 

[Azookey]

Yes, definitely connected to the internet. When I do disconnect it warns me up front that Dirac cannot start.

I'm looking at that troubleshooting for the ports, not sure i totally understand the directions in the manual about checking for other applications that may use the ports. I ran the netstat commands and some lines do come up, but nothing referencing any specific programs.

 

[Azookey]

Disable firewall’s and try again , could be blocking it

Yup, just disabled firewall on both private and public networks. Same problem.

 

[Alexanderc]

I assume you’ve read the Dirac manual for MiniDSP SHD? That’s as far as my troubleshooting skill goes. Please report back if you discover what the issue is.

 

[Azookey]

I've scoured it...

So for everyone else with an SHD, you run the plugin, launch dirac (v3?) and all is fine?

 

[Azookey]

Yeah, this is driving me bonkers. I really want to like this unit.
I've been using a Windows 10 laptop for most of my testing now, I know Mac's sometimes have hiccups like this, so I've tried to focus on Windows.

I have this funny feeling like Dirac is not engaging inside the unit, and in turn not being recognized by the software. I have nothing to prove this, just a weird feeling. I know I have not even been able to take measurements with Dirac, but when I enable Dirac on the unit absolutely nothing happens. No clicks or volume pops or levels changing or anything... I don't mean like I'm expecting room correction, but something similar when you change presets in the SHD plugin... there is a physical sound in the unit of something happening and a pause in the music. Is it normal when you turn Dirac on and off with the remote that its basically instantaneous with no pause?

Also in the SHD plugin what is "refresh DSP program?" Nothing in the manual references it. I have not done it yet... would it help?

Thanks

 

[alont]

Ok interesting, this is something I have not tried, but you went past my technical knowledge. Could you guide me a bit on this?

On your macbook, find your hostname by opening the terminal and running the 'hostname' command. Then, make sure that this hostname appears in /etc/hosts and is resolved to 127.0.0.1.

For more help, you can follow a guide such as this: https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

 

[Azookey]

On your macbook, find your hostname by opening the terminal and running the 'hostname' command. Then, make sure that this hostname appears in /etc/hosts and is resolved to 127.0.0.1.

For more help, you can follow a guide such as this: https://linuxize.com/post/how-to-edit-your-hosts-file/

Thanks for the info, unfortunately it did not work. SHD still not found on the Dirac screen.

Thanks

 

[carlob]

Is the SHD reachable on your network? Does it work with Volumio? Do you have web servers running? Ports 8080 and 5000 (TCP) need to be open. Can you describe your lan and port forwarding rules if any.

 

[Azookey]

Is the SHD reachable on your network? Does it work with Volumio? Do you have web servers running? Ports 8080 and 5000 (TCP) need to be open. Can you describe your lan and port forwarding rules if any.

Yes, the SHD is reachable on the network. The SHD plugin connects, i can adjust xover's, peq, etc. Volumio also works, i've streamed music from spotify, tidal and my NAS, including Roon.

It's when launching Dirac that the software on the laptop does not find the SHD unit.

No web servers running.

My router a Ubiquiti Edgerouter-X running on standard config, I've never messed with port forwarding or anything like that. Router is hardwired to a Netgear ex8000 access point, and the SHD is hardwired into that. I've also tried hooking up the SHd directly to the edgerouter to troubleshoot, no luck.

Question, does the SHD actually need to be on the network to run Dirac, or just the computer with the software? I've tried both ways, with the SHD on and off the network just to troubleshoot. I've also connected my laptop to hotspot with my mobile phone just to take my home network out of the equation... but, I am not able to get the SHD to connect to my mobile phone's wifi hotspot, so I have not tried that. BUT, if the SHD doesn't actually need to be connected to the internet itself, this wouldn't matter anyway.

Thanks

 

[carlob]

To my knowledge the SHD needs to be connected to the internet. You connect the SHD to the Mac with a USB cable, run the shd plugin, start Dirac from the plugin, a finder window opens and you start Dirac from there. Also it asks for some permissions the first time it runs. If you can post your router conf and nat rules, I suspect that there is something wrong with the router configuration.

 

[TimW]

@Azookey I had the exact same problem. Followed the instructions to a T and no luck. Did everything exactly the same way on a new computer with a fresh Windows 10 install and it just worked. I suspect other miniDSP plugins installed on my old computer may have been causing the issue.

 

[Azookey]

@Azookey I had the exact same problem. Followed the instructions to a T and no luck. Did everything exactly the same way on a new computer with a fresh Windows 10 install and it just worked. I suspect other miniDSP plugins installed on my old computer may have been causing the issue.

Holy crap @TimW it worked!
I grabbed and empty hdd I had around (cuzz that's how i do) and installed a fresh install of Win10. Followed the same instructions and sure enough it found the SHD.

Problem is, this was on my desktop in the wrong room and i'm not in a position to wipe out my laptop at the moment. But, this does indeed make it seem like there's some random dll or registry entry that messing things up from an old Dirac install. Or perhaps just some other program that's complicating matters.

I'll see if minidsp tech support gets back to me and see if they can help identify anything specific.

Thanks

 

[Azookey]

Side note, the SHD does NOT need to be connected to the internet itself to work with Dirac... just the computer with the software.