Gamers, What's Your Audio Set Up?

mrk said:
Video review racked up 25k views :eek:
Click to expand...

Apart from your video being well made, I imagine you're also doing well because other audio channels have got nothing up yet.

On some audio products there doesn't seem to be this rush of reviews as embargos lift, or organised released dates as you get with videogame reviews, for example. You see it with some products where some of the channels like Gadgetry Tech have reviews out alongside other channels. But on others reviews meander out months behind. Even the Fiio K15 only seems to be covered by some channels. I wonder if this is just because it's a niche within a niche, view numbers not being enough for them, or companies being less controlling with release dates, review samples and organisation.
 
Could be a mix of all of the above i guess. Oh the new PL70 power supply is coming soon I've been told, I guess they are aiming for an official window of the xmas break.
 
mrk said:
Could be a mix of all of the above i guess. Oh the new PL70 power supply is coming soon I've been told, I guess they are aiming for an official window of the xmas break.
Click to expand...

Yea it's odd and it doesn't help create launch excitement. Thinking back the original K11 was the same. One small channel had looked at it when I bought it. Took months for reviews to catch up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrk
My Modi 2 in my Schiit stack has developed the USB chip defect (will only work when warm) which gave me the perfect excuse to buy some new gear :D

20251209-201331.jpg
 
mrk said:
Thoughts? :D
Click to expand...
Very happy so far with the limited time I've had with it. The Modi 2 was a capable little device so no chasm in performance on my equipment. The Modi 2 could introduce some background noise on high gain which it needed for decent volume which the K13 doesnt have.

Listened to Ennio Morricone Ecstacy of Gold which was a goosebumps hair raised moment. Not had that on a listening session for a while!

Played a bit of Battlefield 6 which obviously isnt a critical listening exercise but found positional audio still just as good as previously and detail/seperation perfectly fine for gaming.

Only downsides so far is the black is a fingerprint magnet and I have taken the LO button off the remote.

Might need to look at some harder to drive/different cans for some colour beyond the HD650s I'm currently running :D
 
Last edited:
Nice yes I need to block off the LO button too at some point. And yes to the black version being a smudge magnet, hence why I swapped to silver!

I'll whip it out again as soon as the PL70 arrives :D

Should hopefully then have the new tubes for the Warmer too so be a good time to compare.
 
Last edited:
Interesting observation on the A90 Discrete, leaving it on high gain makes the amp ruin hotter by up to 10 degrees at the hotspots. It's powerful enough that low gain can drive even sensitive IEMs no probs. In other amps the manual says to gain more volume etc with higher gain modes or in FiiO's case a different volume curve entirely on each gain mode, on the A90 it's just low or high and purely for headphones that need the full 9.8 watts lol.

Doubly interesting is that the gain mode applies to the rear outputs too which I did not expect. Just cranking the volume a bit higher gets the same loudness and neither gain mode have any noise.
 
mrk said:
Interesting observation on the A90 Discrete, leaving it on high gain makes the amp ruin hotter by up to 10 degrees at the hotspots. It's powerful enough that low gain can drive even sensitive IEMs no probs. In other amps the manual says to gain more volume etc with higher gain modes or in FiiO's case a different volume curve entirely on each gain mode, on the A90 it's just low or high and purely for headphones that need the full 9.8 watts lol.

Doubly interesting is that the gain mode applies to the rear outputs too which I did not expect. Just cranking the volume a bit higher gets the same loudness and neither gain mode have any noise.
Click to expand...

If i understand it correctly setting it to high gain its just running at full power which the relay volume control then has to dissipate as heat to cut the output down.

Edit: think im wrong and the volume control occurs before the gain stage
 
Last edited:
Yeah most likely, complete overkill being in high gain anyway. Kinda amazed how good it performs given it is so compact with an internal power supply.

Edit* So I found a teardown video:


That is actually rather smart. Inside coverage at 7:48.
 
Last edited:
So with all these expensive AMPs, DACs and Quacks how do you get the sound out from the PC, USB/HDMI/Optical or is there any point to a sound card now with onboard audio on high end boards using better quality sound processors?
 
AStaley said:
So with all these expensive AMPs, DACs and Quacks how do you get the sound out from the PC, USB/HDMI/Optical or is there any point to a sound card now with onboard audio on high end boards using better quality sound processors?
Click to expand...

I use soundcard with optical out, into a AVR. Only use a soundcard as motherboard lacks optical.

For my use high quality analogue out isn't used.
 
AStaley said:
So with all these expensive AMPs, DACs and Quacks how do you get the sound out from the PC, USB/HDMI/Optical or is there any point to a sound card now with onboard audio on high end boards using better quality sound processors?
Click to expand...

From my Mac I simply uses the USB-C out. But I also use the built in speakers in my Mac Mini too an awful lot. It's fine for things like YouTube or Twitch.
 
hornetstinger said:
I use soundcard with optical out, into a AVR. Only use a soundcard as motherboard lacks optical.

For my use high quality analogue out isn't used.
Click to expand...
Any reason for the Optical, I was looking at this recently as I was thinking of using an Optical from my AE-5 into Ruark MR1 MK2's (the AE-5 is using Direct Mode) but was told using the 3.5mm was better otherwise I'm using the DAC in the speakers and not the AE-5..........I guess that might be the answer, I'm guessing you want to use the AVR DAC for better sound quality.
 
AStaley said:
Any reason for the Optical, I was looking at this recently as I was thinking of using an Optical from my AE-5 into Ruark MR1 MK2's (the AE-5 is using Direct Mode) but was told using the 3.5mm was better otherwise I'm using the DAC in the speakers and not the AE-5..........I guess that might be the answer, I'm guessing you want to use the AVR DAC for better sound quality.
Click to expand...

Because with a AVR it's best to send digital audio to it, bypasses the noisy components inside of a PC, the AVR will digitise inputs anyway.

AVR because it does surround sound decoding, bass management, speaker room EQ correction, also has HDMI inputs. Granted I'm only using 2.1 so a Wiim Amp pro would be ok,. and use a bit less desk space.

Tried using HDMI from the PC to AVR but I had problems, it thought the AVR was a display so the only way of getting it to work was dual screen, which causes problems because it's a 1080p AVR, so it'll drop to 1080p for primary as well, or if I did use extend then mouse keeps on moving over the non existent monitor
 
I use USB out from the mobo via an iDefender to mitigate any chance of power noise.

You can bypass USB noise by using something like a iDefender USB isolator which decouples the power lines going out from the USB. Not all DACs have their USB port power inputs decoupled on device so this is the best way to do it at source. You should not have any USB noise issues otherwise unless something is actually wrong with the mobo.
 
mrk said:
I use USB out from the mobo via an iDefender to mitigate any chance of power noise.

You can bypass USB noise by using something like a iDefender USB isolator which decouples the power lines going out from the USB. Not all DACs have their USB port power inputs decoupled on device so this is the best way to do it at source. You should not have any USB noise issues otherwise unless something is actually wrong with the mobo.
Click to expand...
I defender is a god send. When I first got the Asgard 3 and modius, the feedback was insane as the GPU ramped up.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrk
Grimley said:
I thought I'd post here as I would like an opinion/advice on a planned upgrade before the end of the year.

I currently have a pair of Bose Companion II powered speakers which I bought over 10 years ago, I've been happy with them up until now. Since the upgrade to B650/AM5 I've had to turn the volume up a fair bit to get them to play at the level I had them at on my previous B45/AM4 rig, I put it down to the lower output on the newer sound chip on the B650. Needless to say I'm not happy with what I have right now. As an alternative I've got the SPDIF from the board going into my Denon AV receiver, I don't really want to do that full time.

My question is, do I buy a small Digital amp such as Fosi or a Wiim and sacrifice a couple of my satellite speakers from my AV system (Velodyne Deco which I've owned for over 20 years), which I've hardly used the last couple of years, or buy a slightly bigger pair of powered/Active speakers to replace the Bose. Space is limited on my desk, said Bose speakers sit either side of the monitor and are not obstructed. Buy or use bigger speakers and they will be obstructed.

Budget? South of £250. Ive read some of the previous posts in this thread. Use will be for media day to day, possibly gaming at some point in the future.

Not really interested in Headphones.
Click to expand...
Well in the end I've now got my sound upgrade, Thanks to @mrk and his advice I'm now the owner of a pair of Edifier M60's. My little sister kindly bought me a pair for Xmas/Special birthday. I've tested them & I'm impressed, they should slot in nicely. Question is do i use the analogue of usb input?
 
Grimley said:
Well in the end I've now got my sound upgrade, Thanks to @mrk and his advice I'm now the owner of a pair of Edifier M60's. My little sister kindly bought me a pair for Xmas/Special birthday. I've tested them & I'm impressed, they should slot in nicely. Question is do i use the analogue of usb input?
Click to expand...

Most likely analogue sources are digitized anyway, if has DSP it would have to convert to digital before it does all that, so I'd use digital inputs if possible.
 
  • Like
Reactions: mrk
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom