# MiniDSP 10x10 HD vs. nanoAVR-HD



## pmd918 (Jan 27, 2010)

I'm trying to determine which of these devices is better for my home theater.

I want to improve bass response in my room and am considering both of these devices. The MiniDSP 10x10 HD clearly would be a more flexible approach since it would be applied after the AVP and would thus apply to all sources. My concern is that this naturally demands two additional processing steps (the A/D and D/A conversions) that could introduce inaccuracies. Should this be a real concern?

I could live with the nanoAVR-HD and just use it for my HTPC source, which I use for all BluRay and music playback. I have an Integra DHC-40.1 and could use direct mode for the output from the nanoAVR-HD, and then use Audyssey for the other sources.

So I see two problems with the MiniDSP 10x10. The obvious one is the price. The second is the additional processing, which I don't even know if I should consider it a real problem. The advantage is it would be applied to all of my sources.

All comments are welcome.


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## Wayne A. Pflughaupt (Apr 13, 2006)

Converters have advanced to the point that they are generally not a problem. I’ve been using a first-class digital equalizer in my system for a number of years and it’s cleaner than analog models I previously used that were of comparable quality. Some people claim they can hear the extra conversion though, but typically only those with long years of listening experience and super expensive systems.

Regards,
Wayne


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## HifiZine (Feb 7, 2013)

As noted the nanoAVR HD does have the advantage of being half the price... it also has a fairly sophisticated bass management. But, HDMI only and your sources need to be able to produce linear PCM. My writeup on it is here (when it was named just "nanoAVR"): http://www.hifizine.com/2014/05/minidsp-nanoavr-case-study/

I assume you're aware but there's also Dirac implementations of both hardware units now (HDMI, analog).


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## pmd918 (Jan 27, 2010)

Thanks for the responses.

I decided to go with the nanoAVR HD, mostly because of price. I was very tempted to try the Dirac implementation, but I like to tweak so I figured I'd start there first for less money.

I can live with the HDMI input. My main source for critical listening is my HTPC which can deliver eight channels of LPCM over HDMI.

And thanks to the link to the write-up. Hadn't seen that one yet, although I have read other related articles on Hifi Zine.


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