Need help choosing a good 2.1 or 2.0 setup with a budget of up to £300
- Thread starter Matson
- Start date
Definatly has to be speakers.
Im still leaning towards the equator D5 as reading around on so many forums everyone seems to rave about them for the price range there in.
Im just wondering if id need to get a DAC or a better sound card to get the best out of monitor speakers like those or they would be good enough without.
Im still leaning towards the equator D5 as reading around on so many forums everyone seems to rave about them for the price range there in.
Im just wondering if id need to get a DAC or a better sound card to get the best out of monitor speakers like those or they would be good enough without.
I need some advice on this reguarding balance and unbalanced...
The Equator D5 active speakers have an XLR and a TRS input which are supposed to be balanced?
The Audioengine D1 Premium 24 Bit DAC Interface Connector Has two RCA Outputs which from what iv read are unbalanced...
What would be the best way to connect those together?
I presume your supposed to get balanced to balanced... so how would you do that with those connections.
The Equator D5 active speakers have an XLR and a TRS input which are supposed to be balanced?
The Audioengine D1 Premium 24 Bit DAC Interface Connector Has two RCA Outputs which from what iv read are unbalanced...
What would be the best way to connect those together?
I presume your supposed to get balanced to balanced... so how would you do that with those connections.
My D5s arrived yesterday, though my XLR cables didn't [bloody courier
], so just to make sure they were working I ran them unbalanced through my motherboard's onboard sound for a bit.Apart from the sound - of which, more in a bit - the most noticable thing was that I was getting RF noise [high pitched squeaks when moving the mouse, moving windows etc]. But that's almost certainly down to the onboard sound being poorly shielded, rather than the connection, so running unbalanced from an external DAC should be fine. In fact, I'll see if I can dig out some RCA>TR cables and test that out with my external DAC.
As for the sound? Well, it's early days and via onboard audio, but so far I'm impressed
To address the concerns I had, in short for now:Does that 53Hz low-end and 5-inch driver mean a thin bass-light sound?
Hell no
Not saying you'll cause earth tremors, but there's a lot of solidity at the low-end considering the relatively small size [I had to dial some out!]Are they loud?
For their size, very much so. Can easily see me getting complaints from neighbouring occupants [block of flats] if I'm not careful.
Are they well built?
Like the proverbial tank. Heavy, solid, with quality controls/connects.
Do they look stupidly huge on my desk?
No, surprisingly. You know they're there, but they don't overwhelm a 27-inch monitor. I'll post pics later if required.
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Thanks man. They sound just as good as what I thought they would from the reviews iv read and im definatly going for them.
My only concern so far was that the DAC I want to get has only RCA outputs and the Equator has XLR and TRS connecters so theres no way to get a balanced single is there with those connections?
I was going to use these cables...HosaTech CPR-202 2m Dual 1/4 inch TS to Dual RCA Stereo Interconnect Cable
which is what one of the review sites was using but of course this will give an unbalanced signal.
Do you think that would be an issue or would you connect them up with something else?
How do they sound compared to none Coaxial monitors and speakers as there quite expensive but from what iv read give the best sound in that price range and even better than monitors much more expensive. especially the midrange sound.
Also do you think the Audioengine D1 Dac would be a good choice?
Would you also be able to do a pic for me of your desk... id love to see how big they look on there.
Im getting a 34 inch ultrawide screen aswell soon so space was always an issue for me which is why I couldn't go for studio monitors that were too huge.
My only concern so far was that the DAC I want to get has only RCA outputs and the Equator has XLR and TRS connecters so theres no way to get a balanced single is there with those connections?
I was going to use these cables...HosaTech CPR-202 2m Dual 1/4 inch TS to Dual RCA Stereo Interconnect Cable
which is what one of the review sites was using but of course this will give an unbalanced signal.
Do you think that would be an issue or would you connect them up with something else?
How do they sound compared to none Coaxial monitors and speakers as there quite expensive but from what iv read give the best sound in that price range and even better than monitors much more expensive. especially the midrange sound.
Also do you think the Audioengine D1 Dac would be a good choice?
Would you also be able to do a pic for me of your desk... id love to see how big they look on there.
Im getting a 34 inch ultrawide screen aswell soon so space was always an issue for me which is why I couldn't go for studio monitors that were too huge.
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Then it would seem like a waste if you didn't get as good quality as you really want the best possible quality if your spending nearly £400 on speakers.
Im willing to pay up to £200 for a good DAC but from what iv read that Audioengine D1 seems like one of the best in that price range but its impossible to get a balanced connection but im just wondering if that will make any noticible difference and the best way for me to hook it up to the XLR or TRS inputs on the equator d5's.
Im willing to pay up to £200 for a good DAC but from what iv read that Audioengine D1 seems like one of the best in that price range but its impossible to get a balanced connection but im just wondering if that will make any noticible difference and the best way for me to hook it up to the XLR or TRS inputs on the equator d5's.
No there isn't, but I really wouldn't worry about it. Balanced cables are all about eliminating noise, particularly over long distances [which is why they're used in studio/live engineering]; there's no difference in the 'information' bit of the audio signal. For the distance between your DAC and the speakers, a balanced output wouldn't make any perceptible difference.
To be honest, I've only gone for balanced XLRs because a) my DAC has those outputs, and b) it reminds me of my sound engineering days
As I said, the RF noise I heard when testing my D5s was almost certainly down to the onboard sound chip's poor shielding, not the connection to the monitors. An outboard DAC, due to it being shielded and not surrounded by other microelectronics, won't get this interference.
Ultimately, unbalanced outs from a DAC will be totally fine
I've got no non-coaxials to A/B them against [they're going to be replacing an old Acoustic Energy Aego P5 5.1 system], and I don't have any recent experience with monitors in studios to compare, sorry. All I know is that from my brief test, the soundstage was wide and precise, and there was the clarity and neutrality in the mids that I was expecting from all that I've read. I didn't mention it earlier, because I thought it was taken as read that these are excellent in this area.
For what it's worth, I've been a long-time fan of Aego 5.1 / 2.1 systems, and was thinking of keeping mine to use alongside the D5s, but as soon as I switched back to the Aegos I knew I'd never use them once my D5s were properly hooked up and running. The difference was surprising; really noticable.
No experience of it, but it seems to review well.
If you don't need the headphone amp, then the little Epiphany Audio E-DAC that Overclockers sell might be worth a look and save you a few quid. I bought one a couple of weeks ago for my old Headroom headphone amp, and I can't fault it.
Aye, will do once they're properly set up and on their isolation stands.
Last thing: it's best NOT to use headphone out to connect to powered monitors. You run the risk of impedance mismatches [potentially damaging], which seems silly when there'll be a perfectly good set of line-level RCA outs available too
Those will be fine, connection-wise.
The other thing to take into consideration is that your speakers will be at least 1m apart, and your cables need to accommodate that. So you either want:
2 totally separate cables
or
1 joined pair of cables that you can peel/split apart to form the Y-shape that you'll need.
Unfortunately, it's not easy to tell from the pictures whether those are joined and/or splittable.
The other thing to take into consideration is that your speakers will be at least 1m apart, and your cables need to accommodate that. So you either want:
2 totally separate cables
or
1 joined pair of cables that you can peel/split apart to form the Y-shape that you'll need.
Unfortunately, it's not easy to tell from the pictures whether those are joined and/or splittable.
Yeah the problem is I could only find the dual ones...for some reason its hard to find single ones. I would imagine ill need to buy 2 of those and just use one connector from each as I cant imagine they will reach otherwise.
I did find a single but its a TRS cable and it still has dual RCA connectors on the other end.
I did find a single but its a TRS cable and it still has dual RCA connectors on the other end.
I can't do fast balls anymore ... to old lol
Yeah some dacs on receivers can be quite good
Any updates on the speakers...think ill be ordering mine this week. Still cant decide on how to run them though... sound card...external DAC or just an Interface. Most Dacs only seem to have unbalanced connections but since the speakers will be close that shouldn't make a difference hopefully.
I'm taking delivery of the remaining bits I need tomorrow [unless the courier ballses up again], so tomorrow evening.
Don't get hung up on unbalanced, it's served the audiophile hi-fi world perfectly well for decades
What do you think would get the best quality sound out of these then when hooked up to the computer... a DAC... a better soundcard... an amp? Or is an amp pointless since they have an inbuild amp anyway... or something else...
I figured if im spending so much on speakers id spend a little more to get the best sound possible from them lol.
Also do you actually do recording and mixing or are these just for listening to music and gaming ect?
Guys on another forum are saying if your not recording and programming and mixing and there more for general listening then studio monitors arnt the best way to go.
I figured if im spending so much on speakers id spend a little more to get the best sound possible from them lol.
Also do you actually do recording and mixing or are these just for listening to music and gaming ect?
Guys on another forum are saying if your not recording and programming and mixing and there more for general listening then studio monitors arnt the best way to go.
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