For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

I had a question about upgrade path. I just recently upgraded my speakers to KEF LS50 Meta and ordered an RSL Speedwoofer to complement them. I currently have Foobar on my computer as the source to a Monoprice THX DAC/Amp to an old Nakamichi AV10 as the amp. This is all nearfield. So for the next upgrade is it worth upgrading the amp or DAC more? I was thinking about SMSL M400 or RME ADI-2 DAC FS as the DAC and either a older NAD Class A amp like a 2200, 2400 or 2700 or a modern Hypex based amp like a NORD for a power amp. Which is worth upgrading first? How much of an audible difference would each make? Or is it not worth upgrading either?

Yuns fucked around with this message at 00:46 on Jan 31, 2021

# ¿ Jan 31, 2021 00:06

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 07:07

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Yuns posted:

I had a question about upgrade path. I just recently upgraded my speakers to KEF LS50 Meta and ordered an RSL Speedwoofer to complement them. I currently have Foobar on my computer as the source to a Monoprice THX DAC/Amp to an old Nakamichi AV10 as the amp. This is all nearfield. So for the next upgrade is it worth upgrading the amp or DAC more? I was thinking about SMSL M400 or RME ADI-2 DAC FS as the DAC and either a older NAD Class A amp like a 2200, 2400 or 2700 or a modern Hypex based amp like a NORD for a power amp. Which is worth upgrading first? How much of an audible difference would each make? Or is it not worth upgrading either?

I ended up removing the Nakamichi receiver from the chain and simplifying my stereo set up.

previously it was PC via USB -> Monoprice Monolith Desktop DAC/AMP -> Nakamichi AV10 -> KEF LS50 Meta and LFE output to Definitive Technologies Prosub 80

Now it is PC via USB -> Monoprice Monolith Desktop DAC/AMP -> y splitter -> NAD 2400THX Stereo Power Amp updated by quirk audio -> KEF LS50 Meta and KEF Kube 12b I also put the LS50 on Isoacoustics desktop isolation stands.

The NAD itself is quieter than the Nakamichi and is also silent unlike the Nakamichi which had a tiny amount of noise if you put your ear to the speaker. I looked at the SVS SB2000 Pro and SB2000, Rythmik L12 and F12 series, Hsu ULS15 and RSL Speedwoofer. I ordered the RSL but they are having supply chain issues and have pushed back delivery to March 20th at earliest. The Kube is a 12" driver with a 300 watt RMS amp. It's not as low or loud as the SVS or Rythmik options but it's a solid and competent sub which seems well suited for music and I got a good deal on it. If I upgrade the sub in the future, I'll likely go with a 15" Rythmik sub.

Yuns fucked around with this message at 03:13 on Feb 16, 2021

# ¿ Feb 16, 2021 00:08

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

qirex posted:

I'm extremely happy with my Rythmik L12, I think they're great value as long as you're cool with setting it up yourself without a remote or apps.

The L12 was definitely one of my top options given all the excellent reviews. How did you integrate it? Did you do it by ear? I ordered a UMIK-1 to use REW for the first time.

# ¿ Feb 16, 2021 02:35

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Oh god, I just got my Kube 12b delivered and I'm so glad I didn't get a bigger sub. I've had very small subs but this is my first real sub. If the relatively small 12b were any bigger it'd be too big for my office so I'm glad I didn't go for a 15" sealed sub let alone some giant ported monster. I was even pondering a good deal on a used Monoprice 15" THX Ultra on ebay but that would have been overwhelming. Now I kinda want those super tiny fashion subs like the KEF KC62 or the B&W PV1D.

Yuns fucked around with this message at 19:15 on Feb 17, 2021

# ¿ Feb 17, 2021 19:10

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

qirex posted:

You can definitely get more performance for the money but I think KEF is being super smart with their new super small KC62, it's only 10" on a side.

Yes you can get way better value for money from SVS, Hsu, Rythmik, RSL but iI agree that it is not meant to compete against those guys. It's move of a competitor to the B&W PV1D. A small sub for music with good power that looks aesthetic and can fit into small places. I'd consider the KC if they'd do one in matte blue to match my LS50 Metas.

# ¿ Feb 17, 2021 20:54

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

The KEF subwoofer standby mode function is too sensitive so you have to use a good amount of current to keep the sub awake. So I have to use the LFE output of my preamp part of my Nakamichi and keep the gain up. If I feed the sub through the DAC it'll go to sleep at the low volumes I need for my power amp. Why don't reviewers ever mentioned crap like this.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2021 02:08

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Ak Gara posted:

Can it be turned from auto to ON?

If so you could get a smart plug? I've been thinking of getting one to turn my amps on and off. I've been looking for some way of using a 12v trigger to wake up my power conditioner but I think I'll end up getting a smart socket.

There's an on/pff switch but it doesn't affect the standby function. I wish I could just bypass the standby function but it's permanently on. I do have the voltage set up now so that it works properly but I'm pretty sure that's why this unit was returned. I got a good deal on it as a result.

# ¿ Feb 18, 2021 02:32

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

evil_bunnY posted:

I need a simple mixer to combine the stereo mini jack outputs of 2 desktop (one PC with split mini jacks, one iMac with a 4 pole minijack combo port for headphones/mic) to a single stereo mini jack for my headphones. It would be nice if I could also combine it with a mic mixer so I can choose where which desktop to send the mic input to.

I guess I'll need a 4 channel mixer, plus a bunch of adapters?

There are a bunch of reasonably priced mixers out there but the one with multi mic input generally are mixing the mic input in with the audio signals for performances and not passing through to a recorder independently.

# ¿ Feb 23, 2021 16:00

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

LRADIKAL posted:

Hey all, I made an impulse purchase on a Dayton APA102BT open box deal. My plan is to add it to my existing system in bridge mode. I realize now that this is kind of over complicated and stupid, but I want to do it anyway, cause why not, learning experience. I do have some questions though.

Firstly, my existing setup is my TV outputting stereo RCA to my existing APA102 with the main stereo RCA output on said amplifier connected to my powered subwoofer. The amp of course powers my pair of tower speakers. Sub and stereo amp and TV are all at fixed volume levels with volume controlled through my Nvidia Shield.

If I stack a new, identical amp on top, I'll need to choose one to be left and one to be right channel, so I'll simple get two RCA splitters, one connected to the left channel output, and the other to the right channel output and connect the resulting dual mono outputs to each amp, right? There's also an obvious switch that I would set to "BRIDGE" mode. Or do I use the existing stereo RCA and put one to the left amp's left input and right to right? I'm also a little confused about the speaker output labeling in regards to the bridge mode. Finally, what is the best way to hook up to the subwoofer? Do I connect the amplifier output from both amps (one left, one right) to the sub?

Ugh, I hope this is understandable, I can draw a diagram if this isn't clear enough. Thanks for the help, I feel like such a noob all of a sudden.

Here's the manual
https://www.parts-express.com/pedocs/manuals/300-593--dayton-audio-apa102bt-user-manual.pdf

Based on the manual, it appears your plan to split the RCA output of your TV to feed a mono signal into both the L and R main input of each bridged amp appears correct. (Not all bridged amp are like this. My RCA amp only uses the L RCA input when bridged). Your lpan to get the RCA out feed for each side from each amp to your sub sounds ok to me. Also for speaker connections it looks like you use just the red terminals in one Zone (the ones connected by the bridge line) with the red positive line from the speaker going to the left side red and the black negative line going to the right side red terminal.

Yuns fucked around with this message at 09:18 on Mar 3, 2021

# ¿ Mar 3, 2021 08:47

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Hope my diagram makes sense.

# ¿ Mar 3, 2021 09:18

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

edited to post it in the dumb audiophile thread.

Yuns fucked around with this message at 17:21 on Mar 3, 2021

# ¿ Mar 3, 2021 17:15

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

I think there may be a difference if you're playing multichannel encoded stuff like Dolby Digital since I believe that LFE is it's own channel. If you're playing regular stereo music or a soundtrack that doesn't have a separate channel like that it probably doesn't make a difference.

# ¿ Mar 13, 2021 04:23

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

https://www.walmart.com/ip/OEM-Onkyo-Remote-Control-Originally-Shipped-With-tx-nr676-txnr676/316674084

https://www.amazon.com/Receiver-TX-NR555-TX-NR656-TX-NR757-TX-RZ610/dp/B07M6LP2PF/ref=asc_df_B07M6LP2PF/

# ¿ Mar 16, 2021 11:24

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

I've been pulling old audio gear out of storage and trying to get it fixed but the cost is higher than buying new stuff. The authorized NAD repair center wanted about $500 to fix my NAD D1050 DAC.

$250 for a new PCB
$150 labor
$55 freight (for a tiny DAC that I shipped to them for $11?)
$15 material (they are charging me $15 for a box on top of the $55 for freight?)
$31 tax

$500 is the brand new price I paid Crutchfield in 2013 for it. I could buy 2 D1050 on ebay and have change left over for $500. So I'm having them scrap it but I'm out my $65 diagnosis fee.

I wanted to ship my broken active speakers B&W MM-1 and KEF LSX for repair but I'm now not sure I want to pay for shipping because the cost of repairing the power supply/amp may dwarf their value. Having both the B&W and KEF die just out of warranty has me totally sworn off active speakers other than subs.

Yuns fucked around with this message at 01:39 on Mar 17, 2021

# ¿ Mar 17, 2021 01:25

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Dante looks pretty interesting. I have been using Roon and just installed an Intel NUC 10 running windows 10 pro for Roon Core and other server duties.

# ¿ Mar 25, 2021 12:31

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Interesting, my miniDSP SHD only applies PEQ on the output side but it's 10 independent PEQ settings per channel for each of the 4 channels. The input side is where DIRAC correction and any DIRAC gain/balance adjustments are applied.

# ¿ Apr 14, 2021 02:03

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# ¿ Apr 19, 2024 07:07

Yuns: Aug 19, 2000; There is an idea of a Yuns, some kind of abstraction, but there is no real me, only an entity, something illusory, and though I can hide my cold gaze and you can shake my hand and feel flesh gripping yours and maybe you can even sense our lifestyles are probably comparable: I simply am not there.

Ok Comboomer posted:

I wish companies made it easier to do stereo subs. Even a lot of the receivers that have 2 sub outs don�t actually do stereo.

I know, blah blah blah bass is too big to be perceived directionally in a room, etc, but if you listen to music with lots of ping pong-y bass that moves right and left, you can absolutely tell.

Stereo subs gets you much closer to the �big speaker� sound with bookshelf speakers than a single sub.

If you have stereo pre-outs and they don�t cut your main speakers you can kind of do it that way.

If you don't need home theater, MiniDSP SHD will do it. It has 4 outputs so you can apply low pass filter independently to L and R channels and pass them to 2 different subs and still have separate outputs to your mains.

# ¿ Dec 28, 2021 23:24

The Something Awful Forums > Discussion > Inspect Your Gadgets > For your listening pleasure: The quick audio questions megathread!