Today I spent hours with a miniDSP-HD, UMIK-1 Microphone and REW....with the Pensil speakers. I bought this miniDSP-HD two years ago and never used it. My lord, this thing is amazing! After about a thousand sweeps and a few hours of figuring out how to use it, the difference is subtle, but night and day if critically listening. The Pensils didn't need much. A few nips and tucks here and there. My listening room is extremely well damped....wall to wall thick carpet, over stuffed furniture and heavy drapes.....it eats highs and female voices. The miniDSP restored these frequencies to the exact same as my good headphones.....Once you dial it in to relatively flat, then you can sit in your favorite listening chair with your laptop and a USB extension cord and gently tweak it to your preference. I was concerned it would add noise or some other negative attribute to the system. But I can't hear anything negative. I'm a fan!
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UPDATE...I have my Node2i coax out into the DAC on the Sound Artist Sa200ia amplifier and the analog out of the Node2i to the miniDSP and miniDSP to the Aux input of the amplifier. Then with the remote for the Sound Artist amplifier I can switch back and forth....DSP vs no DSP......The DSP has MUCH better sound stage and imaging. I can't explain how adjusting frequency response can have such an effect on this. Because the DSP has a remote volume control, I can balance volume between the two sources with the UMIK-1 microphone to get it perfect. The stereo imaging is amazingly better with the DSP. This is the first thing I noticed. There are ZERO negative artifacts with the DSP in the circuit. Quite amazing!
with the miniDSP HD, it is best to use the USB input.
Using the analogue I/O adds another layer of coding and decoding AD-DA and it does degrade the sound a bit. It is noticeable.
Using the analogue I/O adds another layer of coding and decoding AD-DA and it does degrade the sound a bit. It is noticeable.
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I'm listening through my miniDSP-HD right now. Have to agree, it's a superb tool. It doesn't disappoint.
Just need to figure oiut how to do this with a Node2i as the source and a Gustard X16 DAC into a Freya preamplifier???
Node2i optical out to miniDSP optical in, no DAC, miniDSP outputs to the Freya.