Compact Home Theatre Processing With Dirac Live The MiniDSP Flex HT DSP Processor packs a full eight-channel home theatre processor with HDMI eARC into a genuinely pocket-sized box. Feed it from a modern TV or Apple TV over eARC, run every channel through bass management, crossovers and EQ, and send eight channels out to your amplifiers, with an optional Dirac Live upgrade for full room correction. Why You'll Love It eARC into a full processing chain. Take multichannel audio straight off a modern TV or streamer over HDMI eARC and shape it with bass management, crossovers, EQ and delay before it reaches your amps. Multichannel Dirac Live ready. Add the optional multichannel Dirac Live licence for full-range room correction across all eight channels, the same platform used in high-end processors. Compact and affordable. It delivers the same eARC processing as the larger Flex HTx from a much smaller box and at a lower price, ideal where space and budget matter. Under the Hood Serious processing. A 400 MHz Analog Devices SHARC floating-point DSP with the full miniDSP toolbox: routing, bass management, parametric EQ, crossovers and delay. Flexible connectivity. Eight-channel input over HDMI eARC or USB, plus stereo SPDIF and optical, with eight channels out on unbalanced RCA. Clean and controllable. Class-leading 125 dB(A) SNR and -111 dB THD+N, controlled from the OLED front panel or by your TV remote via HDMI CEC. CHT Insider Verdict The Flex HT is the compact, more affordable way into modern eARC home theatre processing. It does what the Flex HTx does through its RCA outputs, just in a smaller box without the balanced connections and rack mounting. Paired with an Apple TV 4K and an eARC TV, it becomes a full multichannel Dirac Live processor for a fraction of the cost of a traditional processor. Just remember it is a processor, not a decoder, so it is at its best in a streaming-first, PCM setup. Pro Tip: The Flex HT does not decode Dolby or DTS, so set your TV or streamer to output PCM rather than bitstream. An Apple TV 4K into an eARC TV is the cleanest way to feed it multichannel audio and get the most from Dirac Live. If you need balanced outputs or rack mounting, step up to the Flex HTx. Specifications Processing DSP Engine Analog Devices SHARC ADSP21489 floating-point, 400 MHz Processing Resolution 32-bit / 48 kHz DSP Structure 8ch in (USB / HDMI) or 2ch in (optical / SPDIF) to DSP to 8ch out (RCA) Filtering Routing, bass management, parametric EQ, crossovers, gain/delay Room Correction Optional multichannel Dirac Live 3.x licence, full range 20 Hz - 20 kHz (8ch) DSP Presets Up to 4 Inputs HDMI ARC / eARC, up to 8ch LPCM (20-96 kHz). No onboard Dolby/DTS decoding USB Audio Multichannel 8ch up to 7.1, 32-bit, 44.1-96 kHz Digital Stereo SPDIF (RCA) + Optical (TOSLINK), 20-216 kHz Outputs Analog 8x unbalanced RCA Output Impedance / Max Level 200 Ω / 2 Vrms Measured Performance (Digital to Analog) SNR 125 dB(A) THD+N -111 dB (0.0003%) Frequency Response 20 Hz - 20 kHz ±0.05 dB Control & General Control OLED front panel, IR remote, HDMI CEC (mute/volume/standby), miniDSP Device Console Trigger Out 12V Power 12V / 1.6A external PSU; 4.8 W idle Dimensions 150 x 180 x 41 mm In the Box Flex HT processor, IR remote, 12V power supply, USB cable