Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

I kind of agree that simpler is better, my marantz amp has spotify integration and bluetooth support etc. I don't use spotify anymore and now the bluetooth on it has gone funny and I cant get it to pair anymore. Its the same with smart tv's, i just want a dumb tv that i can plug what i want into without its slow "smart" interface getting in the way of my life.
 
I'm also a fan of keeping things simple, I've had my fill recently with amp/dac combos with built-in displays and OS having software glitches and waiting on FW updates etc, last one being the Topping A70 Pro, we were basically beta testers for that amp and then they released a revised version of the amp in the end as FW updates failed to fix all the issues, if you're getting one for free for reviewing purposes then obviously you can't complain, just enjoy it.
 
For my home office / occasional gaming I'm using the following.

Yamaha CD-S2100 used as external ASIO DAC, sitting on ISO Acoustics platform.
Adam Audio S2X studio monitors on Gear4Music stands
Audioquest Mackenzie 3m XLR cables. I first tried some Audioquest Red Rivers, and some Roland Gold XLR's returned both of those as did not like them.

I don't use any digital correction, just the analogue adjustments on the Adam Audio's and speaker placement. The sound that's coming from the Adam Audio's it's enough for me, don't need anything else, if the Adam's ever break I'll just get them repaired.

My mains HFi system downstairs I'm using Fyne Audio F502SP's, this setup is possibly more transparent.

I also have Vicoustic acoustic panels but there not installed yet.

There is some photos in the photo HiFi thread, but will post in here once the Viscostic acoustic panels are installed.

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mrk said:
The Powernode has USB input right? Which means you won't need a DAC as it already is a DAC as well as amp/streamer. Just connect a USB-A to A cable from PC to the node and Windows will see it as a DAC, you then bypass any mobo audio chain and you can disable it in the BIOS. You are not losing anything by using the mobo's optical out though, it's isolated from any electrical noise with it being optical and offers the same level of sound as USB. As long as you are not enabling some mobo audio features like spatial sound or EQ etc then the optical out will be pure. Just keep Windows master volume at max and control master volume from the node if it has volume control (never used one so no idea lol).
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I don't believe the USB is for connecting to a PC. I think it is more for accessing audio on a USB key. Yeah no Mobo specific audio features activate. I've done as you say and put windows master to 100% and lowered the volume via the powernode. :)
Timber said:
You could, but what's the driver here? i.e. just to remove the requirement for on-board audio, or to improve audio quality in some way (i.e. use nice headphones with a headphone DAC/AMP?)

It looks like the Powernode is a multi-room streaming box/system that includes Optical Inputs?
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Was just thinking if it would improve audio quality if that was possible. Yeah it takes an optical input (tos-link mini adapter).
 
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Firegod said:
Was just thinking if it would improve audio quality if that was possible. Yeah it takes an optical input (tos-link mini adapter).
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I don't think so although I know there are some discussions around jitter, or quality of the optical port etc. As I understand in theory you're just passing the digital signal from the motherboard optical out for the DAC & AMP inside the Powernode to do the conversion to analog & amplification for the speakers. But if the Powernode allows for an analog input then you could in theory have a seperate DAC, however this is where the question might be better for someone that knows the Powernode better. I feel like speakers used with the Powernode will probably have the biggest inpact on sound. Although it looks like it has a headphone out and I'm not sure how strong that is.
 
I'll take it! :p

Review of the X9 goes live tomorrow, it's a bit big...

WKbVVC1.png
 
I've literally been using it day and night but yes it's not a complex device to get up and go with, unlike the Topping and FiiO devices with a fully app based PEQ system that has a learning curve, the PEQ on this is geared for ease of use and I picked up on it within moments and noted all the quirks along the way with the rest of it.

So yes, it's not really difficult, especially listening to my hifi playlist that I know like the back of my hand.
 
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My reviews are always direct observations and comparisons, I don't care about measurement graphs and all that. That saves a lot of time I suppose and the brilliance of multi-tasking is that you can write and listen at the same time lol.
 
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Don't take this sarcastically but if you can really evaluate a product like that in just a few days and kick out a review of that size you could be paid a lot more at some of the bigger audio review sites like Stereophile, their top editors usually takes weeks to achieve that with back logged products.
 
They take weeks because every week they have tens of devices in for review so have to manage it all somehow. I do this on a choice basis, I can pick what I want to review and my own timing, there is no queue so to speak so can put all focus on one product over the course of a few days when it comes to things like this. Other things takes weeks like a phone as it simply has to in order to gauge aspects like battery life or software updates post-release etc.
 
Raymond Lin said:
I want to know how many times these words were said

1 - Soundstage - 3 times
2 - Harman - Once, then 3 times in the lines following as a description of what it actually is.
3 - Presence - Zero
4 - Separation - Once
5 - Tight - Zero
6 - Breath/Airy - Zero
7 - Texture - Zero
8 - Crisp - Zero
9 - Deep - Zero
10 - Revealing - Zero

:p
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There we go
 
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