The Flex are a new series of devices announced by miniDSP - a company that produces Digital Audio Signal Processors for the home theater, Hi-Fi systems, and headphone setups.
https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex
Some may have already heard of some of their existing products - UMIK-1, 2x4HD, SHD, EARS, etc. I have owned and used their 2x4HD in my home theather system mostly for level and phase matching of subs.
The new Flex seems to be a slim down version of the Streaming HD / SHD series, without the built-in streaming features & in a compact enclosure, and comes in 3 versions:
- Unbalanced RCA - I believe this is an upgraded 2x4HD with 2 analog RCA inputs.
- Balanced TRS (6.35mm aka. 1/4")
- Digital - I think this replaces their discontinued nanoDIGI with multiple digital outputs.
It appears to use the same plugins as the 2x4HD providing an interface for configuring routing of your inputs to the available outputs as well as parametric EQ. Within the UI, you can save profiles of various configs and load/reload between the saved/configured profiles. Thereās also the option of adding a DIRAC license for automated room correction.
Specifications
(slimmed down, see https://www.minidsp.com/products/minidsp-in-a-box/flex for full)
| Unbalanced RCA | Balanced TRS | Digital | |
|---|---|---|---|
| DSP Engine | Analog Devices Floating point DSP SHARC ADSP21489 @ 400MHZ | ||
| I/O Configuration | 2 channels in / 4 channels out | ||
| Digital Inputs | 1 x SPDIF on RCA connector 1 x OPTICAL on Toslink connector 1 x USB 1 x Bluetooth with support for: LDACā¢/aptXā¢HD/aptXā¢/AAC/SBC |
||
| Digital Outputs | 4 x Output channels | 4 x Output channels | 4 x Output channels SPDIF & TOSLINK (duplicated) |
| Analog Inputs | 2 x Unbalanced RCA | 2 x Balanced TRS | 2 x Unbalanced RCA |
| Analog Outputs | 4 x Unbalanced RCA | 4 x Balanced TRS | N/A |
| Filtering Technology | FIR + IIR / Optional Dirac LiveĀ® 3.x | ||
| Dimensions | 150x180x41 mm | ||
| Power Supply | Included external switching PSU 12V/1.6A (US/UK/EU/AU plugs) | ||
| Power Consumption | 9.0 W (idle) 2.5 W (standby) |
10.3 W (idle) 3.1 W (standby) |
7.5 W (idle) 2.5 W (standby) |
| Pricing* | USD475 | USD550 | NYD |
* At the time of writing
Example uses as per the diagram taken from the manual:
For me personally, Iām interested in the Digital version so I could insert it into my headphone chain. That way, I can reuse my existing set up and have separate EQ presets/profiles for the headphones in my collection. Itās an alternative to EQing using Roon, for those without a Roon core.
ASR has a couple of measurements for the SHD and 2x4HD for those interested.