Review - MiniDSP SHD + Turntable = ?

Is the MiniDSP SHD any good with a turntable? In this video, I cover the phono adventures I've had so far with the MiniDSP! If you haven't watched my initial review of the MiniDSP SHD, here's the link:
• Review - MiniDSP SHD
MiniDSP SHD: www.minidsp.co...
Reference Analog- / @referenceanalog
Records I Tested:
Act One by Marian Hill - Republic Records - 2017
Born to Die by Lana Del Rey - Interscope Records - 2012
Breakfast in America by Supertramp - A&M Records - SP-3708 - 1979
Saudade by Thievery Corporation - ESL Music - ESL 2201 - 2014
Ella Fitzgerald Sings the Irving Berlin Song Book - WaxTime Records - 772192 - 2017
The Seasons by Joseph Haydn - Deutsche Grammophon
Capriccio Espagnol by Rimsky-Korsakov - Hi-Q Records - HIQLP055 - 1960
The Sorcerer's Apprentice by Dukas - Capitol Records, Inc - S-60177
Brothers in Arms by Dire Straits - RCA - R-114734 - 1985
Tales of Mystery and Imagination by The Alan Parsons Project - 20th Century Records - CRC
Abraxas by Santana - Half-Speed - CBS - 1981
La La Land - Interscope Records - 2016
Die Walkure by Wagner - Eurodisc (Ariola) - 301 143-465
Desde Andalucia by Isabella Pantoja - RCA - 923-1135 1988
Patreon: / theaudiobelle
Any support helps!
A little from multiple people helps pay for improving video and audio equipment, video editing software, and my ability to attend audio events to cover the shows.

[@TheAudioBelle]

I am on my way to Axpona! Let me know if there is anything particularly you all would like to see, and I will try to cover it!

[@PietjePuk181]

First adjust peq, relay, crossover before dirac and you can have all the base you want with a surplus of lowshelfvariation in your wanted targetcurve. In my setting the phono sound is best if handled by the dsp shd. Took a while to get this right though.

[@ronkindel9734]

I have a Schiit Loki Max. It acts in a much more general wide sweeping way as it is a purely analog product. But the general idea of adjusting your sound for the particular recording remains the same. It’s a fascinating subject. In a perfect world we would be neighbors and we could compare notes.

[@epg2501]

I tried the Max but it imparted an “analog” tone to the signal, and it sounded like I was losing clarity so I returned it. Really wish I could have kept it. I stayed with the Lokius since it sounded (to me) cleaner but the ultimate so far seems to be just straight. Idk. I just really like having an EQ. I swapped in pure silver interconnects and that gave me back the voices and more “clarity.” The miniDSP stuff is intriguing but I didn’t want to put analog through a digital conversion stage. Maybe the thinking is wrong…idk.

[@saardean4481]

The reason why you find listening with it weird is because you high likelly are used to listening using coloring devices you have tailored to your taste and this device plays exactly the way the recording was printed. The way the engineers and the musicians decided it sounds best, making these decisions in heavily acoustically treated spaces and through perfectly linear reproduction systems. With the minidsp you hear through a super clean device that ads basically nothing. This is what you are probably missing. The additions you are used to. Regarding the singer position it depends on the mix decision and basically … well on the mix decision. If you decide to pull everything to the center , there are ways to do this . If the guitar sounds aggressive it might simply be a bad mix decision or bad engineering. However adding so much color you are rebalancing -Remastering the music. The resolution of digital nowadays is infinitely higher than vinyl and you can store vinyl as an indistinguishable digital copy but you cannot cut a digital hi resolution file on vinyl without altering it gravely. Dont get me wrong i love and own vinyl cause i grew up with it but at some point one needs to realise that vinyl is reference audio quality ,,, for the 70’s . An extreme way of putting it would be “People like vinyl cause it mushes every record to a pleasant ear friendly colored happy place” But i am just a random voice on the internet

[@johnsimpson8187]

Regarding accounting for variations of EQ per album, get used to it. I rely on Dirac for a general setting, and a Schiit Loki Max to assist with EQ adjustments at a finer level while I am listening.

[@TheMirolab]

I have a studio mastering broadband eq that lives between my JC3 phono pre and main preamp. It has a hardwire bypass for great pressings,. But for non-audiophile pressings, I can, in about 10 seconds, rebalance the playback of a record and greatly improve its tonal balance. Check out the Vintage Audio M3D Skyline EQ. I'll never go back to suffering with bass-less 70's pressings, or too-bright 80's pressings. You lament about re-eqing for each album.... well I do that all the time. It takes no time at all, and it's actually fun to do.

[@epg2501]

I have the 3.7’s as well. The question I’ve always wondered is… is it bad to run an analog chain thru a digital conversion (using the mini DSP with vinyl)? Does it still “sound like vinyl?” Currently I use a NOS tube dac (Lab12) for my digital side for example because I didn’t like my previous delta sigma dac because it was too “digital” sounding. I do like having the option of EQ though!

[@TheAudioBelle]

@epg2501, It's a great question. I'd have to listen again or re-listen to my own video to recall haha. I don't think the vinyl qualities were lost though from what I remember. I just had some issues with the sound in my own setup listening with the turntable. Will have to revisit this for sure at some point. ---Cynthia, The Audio Belle

[@nattaphoomtewarun9978]

Hi This topic is interesting. When you measuring the Dirac which tent to use with Turntable and Phono stage. How DIRAC send the test tone to Microphone? Or test tone is come from Digital source? Are there possible to send test tone through Vinyl go along analog path to phono stage and minidsp while doing DIRAC? Which I believe result will be totally different as source become important along the Path of system.... And Dirac room correction consider not only room gain correction. But complete setup including DAC. AND SOUND bring the different on measurement. Otherwise better no room correction apply to analog source then consider manual PEQ preset a little bit to familiar to your taste on the old analog preamp.... But that take experiment of your own Target curve..... resulting of APPLY Dirac target curve which initial measuring by digital generated test tone will not be perfect result for Analog playback input source..... Am I correct?

[@TheAudioBelle]

@nattaphoomtewarun9978, The test tone has to come from a digital source. In this scenario, it comes from the DIRAC tool itself. The source (DIRAC) plays a sweep of tones and the software knows the microphone should be picking up the frequencies it is playing. You could do this kind of manually with REW as well. The manual part about REW is having to load the config file manually, but the process of performing sweeps is similar to DIRAC. If you wanted to use analog test tones, there are test records out there that play sweeps, white noise, pink noise, etc. that you could use instead. You'd need to use REW or a similar software to analyze the tones and push a config to a digital EQ. Either that, or use an analog EQ (which I haven't played with). If you are doing it totally analog/manually, you'd adjust for bumps and dips as needed. ---Cynthia, The Audio Belle

[@lydiapawlak8564]

Records with bass extension is just not going to be like a high quality CD or SACD. Just not going to happen. I think records high a little bright highs than expected. Maybe cartridge or phono stage might correct this. Get a Carver sunfire sub woofer can make a difference...

[@tomwolniewicz]

You're better off keeping the signal path purely analog. Getting a test LP (ie The Ultimate Analogue Test LP) for your equalization. Use a parametric analog equalizer for each channel like an Orban 672 (swap out/upgrade opamps as needed for more modern ones...) and a laptop with a calibrated microphone and REW software (free). Otherwise going from analog to digital and then back to analog you're losing a lot of the purity of the sound.

[@electricwhiterabbit]

As long as the DAC is good, you really aren’t losing much at all. The benefits of room correction outweigh the negatives of putting a turntable through a dac. The specs of the dac are better than the specs of an LP.