MiniDSP Tide16 16 Channel Immersive AV Processor - Pre-order

Contact to pre-order - Limited stock due soon

Every Dirac licence, already in the box

The MiniDSP Tide16 is a sixteen channel immersive processor that decodes Dolby Atmos and DTS:X natively, runs the entire Dirac Live suite including Bass Control and Active Room Treatment at no extra cost, and puts all sixteen outputs on balanced XLR. Processing runs on a quad core ARM platform designed in house, and the measured figures read like a two channel DAC rather than a cinema processor. There is no amplification, so you bring your own.

Why You'll Love It

• The full Dirac suite, not a starter tier. Dirac Live full range room correction, Dirac Live Bass Control for multiple subwoofers and Active Room Treatment are all included, where competing processors sell each of those as a separate paid licence.
• Sixteen balanced outputs and four subwoofers. A 9.1.6 layout with up to four independently managed subwoofer outputs, every one on an XLR, with 20 bands of parametric EQ per output channel on top of Dirac.
• Measurements that hold up. Signal to noise of 127dB A-weighted and THD plus noise at -118dB, which is 0.0001%, from eight ESS ES9017 converters with output relays.

Under the Hood

• Eight ESS ES9017 converters with output relays driving 16 balanced XLR outputs at 4Vrms into 200Ω, with an ESS ES9842QPRO handling the analogue inputs.
• Quad core ARM Cortex-A53 at 1.8GHz running 32-bit floating point processing at a 48kHz internal rate, with a full matrix mixer offering gain and polarity inversion at every crosspoint, bass management, inter-sample peak limiting and unlimited presets.
• Three HDMI 2.0b inputs and one output with 4K60 at 18Gbps, HDCP 2.3, Dolby Vision and VRR, alongside two coaxial and two optical inputs, USB audio, Bluetooth with LDAC and aptX HD, Gigabit Ethernet and WiFi.

CHT Insider Verdict

For a room being built properly this is an unusually strong proposition, because Active Room Treatment on its own is a four figure licence on most platforms and here it is simply included. Four things to be clear on. HDMI is 2.0b at 18Gbps, so 4K60 and Dolby Vision are covered but 8K60 and 4K120 are not. DTS:X is decoded to 12 channels and DTS:X Pro, which would take it to 16, is licensed but not in the initial release. There are no digital audio outputs at all. And there is no amplification, so budget for sixteen channels of it.

Pro Tip: Active Room Treatment works by using the speakers you already have as active absorbers, so the more channels you actually populate the more it has to work with. A full 9.1.6 gets considerably more out of ART than a 5.1.2, which is worth knowing before you decide how many amplifier channels to buy.