I‘m considering buying Minirigs for traveling, but they have been out of stock for ages now. Does anybody have an idea what is going on with the company?
They seem to be preparing the Minirig 4…
Minirig 4 is due to drop any day so I’d think the MR3 will be out of stock. I think juno records stocks them in the UK, they might have some left?
Might be worth waiting for the MR4 to come out. I love mine but the addition of proper volume controls, non proprietary charging cable, and hopefully better wireless stereo would be a massive improvement. Also pick up a sub if you can, they sound superb with the sub added.
I’m hoping they’ll go USB-C as the law should cover this in the EU now. The switch will make most companies abide by the USB-C standard just because it’s not worth making different versions.
Let’s hope they do.
Yep. New ones are usb c which is definitely better than having to cart round loads of different cables. Glad the EU is on the case, if only we were part of it too .
I do hope any new denon gear gets usb c, but it would be great if they found a way to clip the cable in so it doesn’t get pulled out accidentally, it’s a bit flimsy for larger electronics.
I was a remainer and felt these kinda things were the best part of being in a continent-wide union. That’s a totally different thread though! Working in and around Europe was so much easier and so was importing/exporting.
The good thing about the EU demanding USB-C is that it benefits everyone worldwide as companies will only develop the USB-C version. The next portable versions of Prime/Numark gear will most probably have PD 45W too so that’s a massive bonus.
Solutions do exist, but maybe too expensive for them, or they don’t know about it.
Controversial opinion… is USB-C the wrong choice of standard over Lightning?
When i compare the 2 formats, i find it hard to see why USB-C became the chosen standard, that flimsy piece of metal strip in the USB-C connection is surely a weak point in comparison to how Lightning was implemented?
Agreed that lightning was a better choice although those exposed pins freak me out as it brushes against the metal legs of the sofa .
As Apple are a gatekeeper of that tech, I just couldn’t see them opening it up for all to use as they already take a royalty for each lightning item. They’d want more money. Lightning just isn’t an international standard but had they given the tech away royalty-free it could have swayed it.
Also, I’m not sure of the maximum power you can send down a lightning cable. Can 45W+ be sent down it? Would it require a redesign with those exposed pins?
I wonder who owns the rights to USB-C and if they are paid licensing fees for usage?
Its a fair point on the charging.
Something like this would certainly make it more usable for controllers and other larger equipment.
I had to have a quick search and it’s an IEC international standard. Apple and Intel originally specced it (as Thunderbolt) but was adopted by the USB standards guys two years later.
Apple knew themselves it was a standard that they needed when pumping out the iPad Pros and MacBooks but refused to let lightning die from phones as they reap some serious money in licensing via MFi.
Apple built their (modern) empire by having proprietary cables, App Store fees of (mostly) 30% and being a gatekeeper to services most regard as unfair. It’s how they becomes the biggest tech company. The EU said they had to open their phones to other app stores and all they did was make developers choose a worse deal and still take 27%.
Full disclosure: I use all Apple products but I don’t like their business practices!
It honestly surprises me how these cables/ports are capable of delivering the power they do without melting. Some fast chargers push a sizable voltage down a thin little cable without any issues. Not that I know the first thing about electronics. Science
Off-topic but this never worked and will never be. Different discussion.
Curious, what are your issues with wireless stereo? And do you think/know, will there be a new sub with USB-C as well?
I can only speak from my own experience, but if you check out any forums discussing minirigs you’ll definitely come across a few complaints about wireless stereo.
For context, I’m using a pair of minirig 3 and a pair of sub 3’s. I mostly connect using cables but use bluetooth when casually listening using a phone.
Don’t get me wrong, it works well 80% of the time, but sometimes the pairing process just doesn’t happen or the connection flakes out if they are more than a metre apart. Usually you can fix it by doing a reset and unpairing them from your phone. Then connect only one speaker to the phone and try keep the second speaker wirelessly connected to the other minirig.
For djing with you want to use the jack input anyway as there is zero latency, bluetooth is horrible to dj with because of the latency.
They get surprisingly loud and bassy when you get a couple and well placed sub (room corners definitely add to the sub’s bass response). Obviously they’re not the cheapest option but they’re the only thing I’ve found that allows you carry a whole festival in a bag when paired with a prime go. They also sound really nice for casual listening.
The beauty is they have an input and output so if your mates have one you can just daisychain them together to make a megarig!
I would suspect the sub would get an update soon to match the new input, also the sub 3 is not bluetooth so you need to have a cable between it and the main speaker, hopefully they make it totally wireless on the sub 4.
Ideally, I think denon, mining, and soundboks should all work together to incorporate Skaa wireless into their next devices. Totally wire free, latency free djing would be amazing, and the company team up would help each brand fight against alpha theta and their obvious push into prime go and soundboks territory. Anyway, bit off topic.
Thankfully you put it as a question. USB-C is better in almost every way in comparison to lightning when you are talking about what the cable is used for. Data transfer (C is magnitudes faster), power (C can deliver more power, faster). There are some other benefits to C. The only argument that could be made for Lightning is the design, but that has flaws in different ways to C.
I am not technical enough to know whether the design of lightning could have taken on the capabilities that C offers.
As for the minirigs. I am excited to see them with USBC. I have been holding off buying portable speakers in the hope that this happens. Good news!
And that is why we potentially can never answer the question… i will say though, did anyone ever have a problem transferring data at speed to their iOS device over lightning or did they ever have issues fast charging them? the answer in both cases is no.
Wake up babe. Minirig 4 dropped.
Thanks for the hint. But I had ordered one two months ago already - the Royal Mail shipment first went to Thailand accidentally instead of Germany … and then got lost in the UK after all. So I got one 2nd hand here (odd for a brand new product, but I found one). I am quiet happy with it, only adjusting the levels harmoniously with the Subwoofer 3 is tricky. On its own it is great, nice sound for its size, great battery, sturdy finish. Will most likely get a second one, when it becomes available in Germany.