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Hello Jon, 

Hoping you''re doing well and staying healthy!

We''re excited to give you a short update on what we''ve been up to for the past few months. Two new products for our Acoustic Measurement product line, one more for the Car Audio Series and no less than six new application notes will hopefully keep you entertained.

We look forward to hearing back from you so feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

DevTeam

 UMIK-2

Introducing the UMIK-2, miniDSP''s second-generation omni-directional acoustic measurement microphone. The UMIK-2 has everything that made the first-generation UMIK-1 one of our best selling products, including a convenient plug-and-play USB connection and a unique calibration file for each microphone to ensure accuracy.

The UMIK-2 is a substantial upgrade in performance and functionality. A larger 1/2-inch microphone capsule provides lower noise and lower distortion, which is preserved by the 32-bit ADC (analog-to-digital converter) built into the microphone shell. Furthermore, sample rates are selectable from 44.1 to 192 kHz for compatibility with the widest possible range of measurement and recording software. The UMIK-2 is of course fully compatible with REW (Room EQ Wizard) and Dirac Live (version 3 and later). Driverless operation with macOS, Linux, Android and iOS, and a supplied ASIO driver for Windows ensure simple integration into many other measurement and recording applications.

Priced at $195 US, this new reference measurement microphone represents an incredible value for an all in one low noise, high SPL, high bit rate microphone. You can pre-order it on our webshop and learn more from our datasheet and UMIK-2 user manual. Shipments are expected to start first week of November. Stay tuned!

 UMIK-X

Ever tried to tune a large room or a car while moving your microphone around? 1)Measure a few positions 2)Tweak EQ 3)Measure...
We always thought that there ought to be a more efficient and low cost way to achieve this tedious task!

Introducing the miniDSP UMIK-X, a distributed microphone array containing up to 16 microphone capsules for multichannel measurement. Four capsules are mounted onto a UMA4 microphone module, and up to four UMA4 microphone modules are daisy-chained with a single twisted-pair cable carrying the Analog Devices A2B protocol for multichannel audio transport. The chain can be up to 40 meters long so more than enough for your Home Theater! The UMA4 modules are interfaced to the computer with the included USB-A2B interface, which provides 16 channels at 24-bit/44.1 or 48 kHz. The USB-A2B is a UAC-2 compliant interface.

Furthermore, the UMIK-X is compatible with the new multi-channel measurement capability of the Room EQ Wizard measurement software. We''re excited to partner with REW and package the cost of the Multichannel license with your UMIK-X purchase so you''re up and running with software&hardware as a combo!

Starting at $550 US, this complete measurement kit even includes everything you need to get started: USB interface, Mic arrays, REW Multichannel license & adjustable 1.2m stands. The UMIK-X is now available on our webshop. Check out the the datasheet and UMIK-X user manual for more info.

 New Applications Notes

As usual, we work hard to bring new learning material to our community on how to use our platforms to their full potential. Each application note takes a lot of energy so we hope that you find them useful! Here are the new app notes for this month:

- Using the UMIK-1 or UMIK-2 and REW with HDMI output / Windows and Mac: Here are two application notes on how to setup REW+HDMI with your Window or Mac computer. We hope you find it useful for your next Home Theater tuning!

- Using the UMIK-X with MultiSub Optimizer: Here is an extensive step by step application note using the UMIK-X + MSO, our favorite tuning software for multi-sub. Check out the predicted MSO response vs multipoint UMIK-X measurement, strikingly close results by this powerful platform.
- Dual Subwoofer Integration with miniDSP and MultiSUB Optimizer: Thanks to the combination of miniDSP''s toolbox + MSO + REW, tuning dual subs can be achieved with a bit of patience. Check out this step by step application note for more details.

- AutoEQ with UMIK-1/2 + REW: This application note needed a little update to keep up to date with REW''s new GUI. It''s now available in our app note library and we hope it will help your next project!

- UMIK-1 or UMIK-2 Setup with REW: We wanted to make sure you have a complete step by step summary on how to start REW with both UMIK-1 and UMIK-2. Check out this updated application note.

Have an idea for a new application note? Make sure to share it with our team!

 News from the LAB

Here is a new section called "News from the Lab" where we hope to share what engineers are working on behind the scenes but aren''t ready to ship yet. Hoping you''ll enjoy the reading!

- Introducing Harmony 8x12: This new amplifier is very exciting as we''ve worked for quite a few months to combine a 12 channel Class D amplifier with USB Audio/Toslink & A2B connectivity. Loaded with miniDSP''s flexible toolbox + Dirac Live, the Harmony 8x12 pushes the boundaries of your typical multichannel amplifier. The firmware is being finalized and we expect shipments to start by mid-November. Stay Tuned for more details on our Car Audio space!

- Roon Ready Certification: The final touches are ongoing but with a slight delay as can happen for complex implementations. Customers of SHD/SHD Studio/SHD Power platforms will soon receive a free upgrade in coming weeks. Thanks again for your patience!

 REW Multichannel Measurement

We''re very excited to see the release of the paid multichannel option for Room EQ Wizard. Yet another breakthrough by John for this powerful measurement software. While 1 x multichanel license is already included with a UMIK-X purchase, standalone licenses are also available for purchase on the REW website if you already have access to multiple microphones. As for those of us not into multichannel but still finding REW as powerful as we do, please make sure to support his effort with a small donation. :-)

Hello Jon, 

Hoping you''re doing well and staying healthy in these challenging times..

While the COVID-19 crisis has had an impact on all of us including our hectic release schedule, we’re pleased to be able to announce two new products in this newsletter, available now for pre-order on our webshop. We''re also excited to provide some major updates for existing products.

We look forward to hearing back from you so feel free to contact us if you have any questions.

DevTeam

 SHD Power 

Like all SHD Series processors, the SHD Power includes Dirac Live room correction, multiple digital inputs including USB, network streaming, and a suite of powerful DSP functions. However, this one also includes a low-distortion 2x120W power amplifier. We’ve spec’ed and tuned the amp for true high-fidelity performance, with less than 0.005% THD from 1 Watt all the way up to 100 Watts of output power. Two separate analog outputs can drive up to two subwoofers with independent DSP control of each.

All of this is packaged in a solid yet remarkably compact enclosure. Priced at $1499 US, we feel this new feature-packed product represents an incredible value in delivering transparent sound with almost any speaker and room combination. You can pre-order it on our webshop here and learn more from the datasheet and updated SHD Series user manual.

While working on the SHD Power, we’ve also been developing features that benefit all SHD Series processors. As a result, we have a new remote control with play and skip buttons for Volumio. The new remote ships with all SHD Series processors starting in June, and you can also buy it separately on our webshop.

 Dirac Live for headphones

Want to give it a try? We''ve put together an application note showing how to do with this EARS and a DDRC-24 or SHD Series processor. (The DDRC-22D won''t work as you need an onboard matrix mixer.) Note that this is a non-conformant application of Dirac Live (which is designed for speaker tuning). Still, we found the results very convincing. What did you think? Share with us your feedback on the forum!

 Introducing ambiMIK-1

The capsules feed an on-board 4-channel microphone preamp and A/D convertor with 120 dB dynamic range. The microphone has its own XMOS processor providing audio recording support at sample rates up to 32-bit 192 kHz. To complete this brilliant package, miniDSP partnered with our long time friends @ Dirac to include a VST plugin for A to B format & Binaural conversion. An exciting new partnership for an exciting new product!

Priced at an unprecedented $349 US, the ambiMIK-1 is up on our webshop for pre-order here. We’re looking forward to seeing the uses that our creative customers come up with!

 Other News

Firmware/Plugin updates
- SHD Series: A major update was released for the Volumio build under v1.052. Please make sure to update to benefit from the great improvements.
- SHD Series: A new plugin/firmware update is also available for better control of display settings, selectable sources and IR control for standby mode.
- Dirac 2.0: An update from Dirac Live to v2.5.3 was also released. You can grab it directly from Dirac''s website.

Dirac Live 2.0 multichannel beta test program

Our development team has also been working hard on the multichannel version of Dirac Live 2.0 for our platforms. We’re nearly there and would like to hear from advanced DDRC-88A users who would be interested in participating in a beta test program. Please register with a support ticket to express interest.

Please note: as this is still a test build, there may be bugs and issues. So we’d like to limit this to users with lots of experience already in Dirac Live tuning with the DDRC-88A and who can help us identify issues with the underlying software. Our development team unfortunately doesn’t have the resources to explain the basics of Dirac Live calibration on early release, so we appreciate your understanding on this. Once that beta stage finalized, we will open up to customers free of charge. Your patience is much appreciated. :-)

Manual updates

- The USBStreamer and MCHStreamer manuals received updates to clarify the various protocols and DSD/PCM enhancement. Make sure to check them out under the product downloads section.
- The SPK-4P/NDAC-2/NPW-2 manual also received an update under the new AVB Endpoints User Manual, with the release of DSP support for all our AVB platforms. Building a multichannel speaker network with distributed DSP processing has never been easier and cheaper.

End of Life announcements

- With more than 6 years on the market, the nanoAVR platform made it easy to introduce Dirac Live into an existing AVR being upstream. We’ve decided to retire the nanoAVR now, as our team is actively working on a replacement that overcomes its key limitations. We''re excited at what 2020 will bring!