MiniDSP EARs measurement rig

Discussion in 'Measurement Techniques Discussion' started by dBel84, Nov 9, 2017.

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  1. dBel84

    dBel84 Friend

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    I was just reading about the very affordable system on audioeXpress

    thought I would share as I am not sure how many people read the zine.

    ..dB

    miniDSP Announces "EARS" Earphone Audio Response System Calibrated Test Jig for Headphone Measurements
    November 7 2017, 03:00
    Those amazing minds at miniDSP never cease to surprise with a continuous flow of advanced, and affordable audio products. Now miniDSP has turned its attention to the headphone market and introduced "EARS", an Earphone Audio Response System calibrated test jig for headphone measurements. Basically, a plug&play USB audio streaming device, featuring dual low noise calibrated mics with interchangeable silicon ears. Add the new miniDSP HA-DSP DSP headphone amplifier, and users have an accurate way to tune headphones to perfection.

    [​IMG]

    As miniDSP explains, the new EARS brings headphone measurement capability to "the masses." It's an extremely affordable measurement rig for headphones and IEMs, built using the same technology as miniDSP's popular UMIK-1 calibrated measurement microphone, which can be used in multiple ways, including as a binaural microphone with USB audio streaming.

    Each pair of miniDSP EARS has two low noise omni-directional microphone capsules mounted in a minimal "dummy head". Measurement output is via the driverless USB connection. The EARS are powered from the USB so there is no need for an external power supply. To measure headphones, users just need to mount their headphones on the rig and run a measurement sweep using their headphone amp and favorite measurement program (e.g. Room EQ Wizard).

    With each EARS, miniDSP supplies two calibration files - one for large headphones and one for IEM (in ear) - that correct for the response of the microphone capsule and the ear. This makes the miniDSP EARS a perfect tool for creating EQ filters for the also-new miniDSP HA-DSP headphone amplifier or for any other headphone system with EQ capability.

    [​IMG]

    As the company details, combined with the new HA-DSP headphone amplifier, miniDSP allows users to explore headphone equalization and tuning. With the miniDSP EARS users will be able to apply FIR/IIR filters to equalize the response and measure the results, leveraging the amazing DSP capabilities of the HA-DSP headphone amplifier. Available for $325 USD, this new portable device from miniDSP supports PCM and DSD streaming, and features a 500MHz XMOS XCORE200 multicore processor, and a floating point ADSP21489 400MHz SHARC DSP, allowing ten fully programmable parametric EQ bands per channel, and a FIR filtering/cross-feed matrix that allows implementation of extremely sophisticated headphone correction and cross-feed algorithms.

    Providing three inputs (USB/Analog/Toslink), the miniDSP HA-DSP not only supports computers, iOS, and Android devices as audio sources in a lightweight and compact enclosure, with a 3300 mAh battery (ten hours) built-in. The DAC section features a 32-bit ESS ES9018K2M Sabre32 reference chip. This creates a perfect platform to combine with the new Earphone Audio Response System, allowing to measure directly the result of any digital processing applied to its output.

    The EARS system is a simple USB Audio class 1.0 device that doesn't require any interface to be connected with Windows, Mac or Linux computers, allowing the use of any measurement software. EARS is currently on pre-order for just $159 USD and miniDSP confirms shipments of first units to start end of November 2017.
     
  2. Daveheart

    Daveheart Friend

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    There's a measurement rig thread that's discussed this a bit, but I don't think the audioeXpress article has been mentioned there yet.
     
  3. dBel84

    dBel84 Friend

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    Thanks - I looked about for one but didn't see it. Mods feel free to relocate.
     
  4. Daveheart

    Daveheart Friend

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    If enough people are buying them to test, it may warrant its own thread. Seems like a few have already been purchased/preordered.
     
  5. Koth Ganesh

    Koth Ganesh Friend

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    Looks like a simple set up. Just ordered one.
     
  6. cskippy

    cskippy Creamy warmpoo

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    I've got one on preorder. Hopefully it's a good enough that it's an easy and comparable reference system so people can share mods on a standardized system.

    I'm really interested to see how it compares to my flat plate coupler measurements. Hopefully they ship soon!
     
  7. Mayor D

    Mayor D New

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    Seems they Ship to UK for $30, very interested in this as im to lazy/thick to make my own.
     
  8. vampula

    vampula New

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    Excuse me, isnt it 159 USD?
     
  9. HEKTIK

    HEKTIK New

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    I think he means the shipping costs $30, not the whole rig lol.
     
  10. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    Yeah I've just ordered one with UK shipping at $30, which is pretty bloody reasonable as these things go. Really hoping this will be decent enough to give us non-measurebators a standard device to compare measurements with.
     
  11. 100VoltTube

    100VoltTube New

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    If this thing works well, I'm definitely getting one.
     
  12. Cspirou

    Cspirou They call me Sparky

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    It doesn't need to be the best thing out there either. A common reference would be good to be able to compare curves with each other.
     
  13. Lyander

    Lyander Official SBAF Equitable Empathizer

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    Missed discussion of this on the main measurements thread, I'm a Dummkopf. Considering ordering one, but will likely be waiting for impressions by other members (who've more experience measuring junk) to see how it stacks up against DIY rigs around the same price point. Would also be cool to see whether the innards can be easily swapped out for better components.
     
    Last edited: Nov 26, 2017
  14. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    Just hopped on the pre-order. I'm hoping for an easy, user-friendly gateway into HP measurements, and while I've read about some DIY solutions, this just seemed like a terribly easy point of entry.

    If it works out, I'm eager for two things: First get a better understanding of what's occurring in my personal system, and how the data relates to what I hear. Secondly, be able to provide more than just subjective impressions on gear when participating in discussions.

    We'll see how it goes.
     
  15. pedalhead

    pedalhead Friend

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    Yup, this is the big potential win with this unit imho. It's not going to be as accurate nor delve as deep as a good rig like @atomicbob's for example, but through sheer numbers it'll hopefully provide useful, consistent and comparable measurements across different gear from different people.
     
  16. MF_Kitten

    MF_Kitten Banned per own request

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    I just ordered these. I love that we might now have a consumer grade measurement system that is the same between all the users! Sharing measurements makes more sense this way, and we can even simulate other tunings!
     
  17. purr1n

    purr1n Desire for betterer is endless.

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    One should be incoming for SBAF. I have no idea what their compensations are. I do plan to use my own.
     
  18. Hands

    Hands Overzealous Auto Flusher - Measurbator

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    Sounds like their two main reasons for delay are late stage development of their compensation and parts due to higher than expected demand.

    I too plan on using my own compensation.
     
  19. SineDave

    SineDave Friend

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    Just got mine in yesterday. Hope to get some time playing with it using Smaart and REW this weekend.
     
  20. captkirk

    captkirk Khan's BFF

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    Did you receive a shipment notification? Aside from the order confirmation, I've had no follow up from miniDSP.
     
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