Sadly, HDMI 2.0 and limited to 4k@60Hz only is pretty much a wet blanket on the Tide 16. It's a non-starter because of it for me. It's a shame because, otherwise, it would of great interest to me. It makes no sense to me why, then I expect the build cost difference to just use current spec HDMI would likely be trivial (a few dollars?), they would handicap what is clearly meant to be a high-end solution.
Sorry. I know this is slightly off topic but this is the first mention of the Tide 16 I've seen mentioned here so far.
Not exactly off topic but you are right about "slightly"..
I agreed it would have been much better if they launch this thing with HDMI2.1 but I also understand there are many people who don't currently need 2.1 and have no plan to change that fact any time soon because to those people, there are no easy way to get 8K contents other than games, so if they have no need to play the latest games, they really won't miss 2.1 and they might appreciate at least miniDSP did manage to include some of the 2.1 features, below is from their FAQ:
There’s quite a bit to unpack:
- Yes, the spec list mixes HDMI 2.0 and HDMI 2.1 features. That’s because HDMI is a bundle of different capabilities, and we support some HDMI 2.1 functions (like eARC and VRR) but not bandwidth‑heavy ones such as 8K60 or 4K120. Those require a different class of chipset.
- The first major challenge was chipset availability. Accessing true HDMI 2.1 switching chipsets is far from straightforward—the supply chain hurdles are real. If we had waited for them, Tide16 wouldn’t exist today. Choosing a mature HDMI 2.0b platform (which still supports select HDMI 2.1 features) allowed us to build something stable and ship it. Rome wasn’t built in a day.
- The second challenge was certification and licensing. HDMI 2.1 is significantly more complex to validate, test, and certify. Rather than delay the entire product, we prioritized delivering a reliable, feature‑rich solution at a price point where nothing comparable exists.
And if you
do have an 8K TV/Projector and want 120Hz, you’re still not out of options.
You can integrate Tide16 into your system and add a single HDMI 2.1 input for as little as $249 using an HDFury Arcana at the front end. If you need four additional 8K HDMI 2.1 ports, pairing with an HDFury Vroom achieves that as well.
Hoping this explanation is a starter and we hope to grow the Tide16 with more features in the future.
If I go ahead and purchase the Tide, I would not bother adding a HDFury, not until I have the need to use one and by that time, the $249 might go down, or up a little, but still affordable, considering people who upgraded from HDMI2.0 to 2.1 typically paid $500 to $600 and most had to send the unit back to their dealer, or manufacturer (e.g. Marantz, Anthem etc.).
So, I think miniDSP might have been smart to resist launching with the HDMI2.1. Many of the early adopters would remember the issues associated with HDMI2.1, from even the likes of D+M/Masimo, and I believe even Yamaha and some of them might still be suffering from certain issues. HDMI2.0 is relatively matured enough to be virtually bug free, and for a small company like miniDSP, they might be smart to focus more heavily on the audio side where they have the expertise, and leave the upper hand on the video side to the likes of D+M, Yamaha, Onkyo etc., who have much more experience and resources who are much more capable in dealing with the potential issues with the highly complex video features of the latest AVP/AVRs.
This new AVP is still going to attract people who want to use their AVP for both HT and what they call "serious" music listening, and believe AVRs/AVPs are only suited for movies and are inferior to separates or integrated amps for music. If they believe in specs and measurements (some obviously don't..) they will eventually realize there won't be too many (always possible to find a handful, I assume) integrated amps, not even the relatively expensive Anthem STR series can compete with the Tide 16 in terms of distortions, SNR/DR, and other audio specs that actually contribute to theoretical sound quality (likely not audible to normal people
).
