Tech Fan
2025-09-03 15:48:55
This review is specifically for the miniDSP 2X4 HD.This is the best price you can get for a 4-channel DSP that has digital inputs and uses an Analog Devices Sharc 400MHz sound processing chip. Along with the supplied software, there is no other product like it at anything like this price.The unit allows for custom generated IIR filters for room equalization or crossover design. But its the only unit at this price that also offers custom FIR filters, allowing for development of zero phase or minimum phase speaker correction filters.The only downside is it takes some technical knowledge to use it at its full potential, along with some filter design software to generate the necessary filters. But its loads of fun to learn on if you're interested! MiniDSP has very good introductions on their website on various software packages you can use to develop these types of filters, which form an excellent introduction.My only concern is that it won't be available much longer -- the manufacturer has discontinued other great devices that had these features and more, and has recently come out with a new product with similar features to this product, plus a few extra bells and whistles, which is double the price. Logically, they may well discontinue the 2X4 HD at some point, so get one now if you're considering it!
Eugene
2025-07-13 13:14:40
This is a very useful product that allowed me to do so many cool setups. First of all the DAC quality is very well. I think it's the same XMOS chip that's used in many more expensive products. This unit has two digital inputs miniUSB and toslink and two aux inputs an 4 aux outputs. This allowed me to connect two pairs of loudspeakers. You can control all the presets with a remote control, big help!The unit itself is pretty cheap for this functionality. It allows to do room correction using many open source solutions. Although I went with proprietary Dirac Live software. To get it working on this miniDSP you need to pay extra $240 for a license at minidsp.com site. When you need to update firmware and then Dirac Live software will be activated. Dirac is a lot more user friendly than most DIY room corrections, I was able to easily setup house curve. That said you need to buy a UMIK mic to do any room measurements.It feels that the manufacturer strongly supports DIY and open source communities. That is a big ideological plus. Their software was easy to use and I haven't got any bugs along the way. The box doesn't look very awesome from design standpoint, so you maybe want to hide it under desk. Well, if it would have cool design, they would sell it for over $500, so I like it as is.
Anthony Maisano
2025-03-19 17:30:29
This allows me to set digital crossovers as well as have bass management for my preamp that lacks a dedicated subwoofer output. I use it to set an lpf on my subs and a hpf on my mains and eq my dual subs. Well worth the price. I also purchased the Dirac upgrade but found I got better results with REW and Rephase. MiniDsp support is fantastic and answered any questions I had.
Chris Chavis
2024-11-23 14:03:15
I have 6 subs in my living room theater and I needed to be able to control them. I’ve had one for years in my dedicated theater. A must own if you have multiple subwoofers.
Michael Johnson
2024-11-18 10:18:12
The miniDSP is an amazing audio device that has allowed my Jamo S808 subwoofers to play in tandem with my Kali IN-5 studio monitors. After experimenting with multiple crossover filters and slopes, I finally settled on the mellow roll-off 24db/octave Linkwitz-Riley crossover filters. The revised filter settings allow my Jamo subs to blend perfectly with the Kali's without drawing attention to themselves. The miniDSP offers four presets that can be instantly reconfigured as desired, and once saved to the internal memory of the miniDSP, the presets are available via the (included) remote control. I have used the miniDSP both as a dedicated subwoofer crossover and as a high pass crossover for the Kali's. I did notice a slight loss of resolution with the miniDSP in the signal path vs. running the Kali's directly from the balanced outputs of the Fiio K9 AKM dac/preamp. This is largely due to the superior power supply, dac and analog section in the Fiio. I began to wonder if there was untapped potential waiting to be unleashed from the miniDSP. After doing some research I concluded a high quality linear power supply would be the most logical upgrade path to pursue. I purchased a Fiio/Jade Audio PL-50 (2023 version) linear power supply and aftermarket OCC copper dc umbilical cable. After just a few hours of use, I was stunned at the improvement in sound I was hearing from the miniDSP. I hear increased resolution with a deeper soundstage and zero noise of any kind. Bass impact is amazing now. EDM tracks have never sounded this good on the Kali's. It seems the Fiio PL-50 is the key to unlock the full potential of the miniDSP. You can clearly see in the picture I uploaded how massive the PL-50 linear power supply is vs. the miniDSP's stock wall-wart ac power adapter (sitting inside the copper umbilical cable). I am totally happy now and no longer perceive a slight loss of resolution when running the Kali's directly from the miniDSP's rca analog outputs. The extra $160.00 cost of the PL-50 and OCC umbilical cable is a no-brainer if you seriously want to elevate the performance of the miniDSP 2x4HD.