setting up edifier m60. 'signal path' question

mattyfez

mattyfez

mattyfez

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Heloo, just want to check something as I'm not entirely sure...

Setting up some edifier m60 active desktop speakers,on a pc but they come with a choice of inputs - USBc from the PC, to USBc on the speakers, or your normal 3.5mm input from the motherboards onboard audio.

Does using USBc bypass the motherboards audio and just use the DAC on the speakers?

Motherboard is MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI (MS-7C95) with : Realtek® ALC892/ALC897 Codec

Its a pain in the butt to rewire behind my desk each time, and I dont have a spare USBc on the back of the PC, only the ususal collection of type A of various specs so I'd have to use a type A to type C adaptor.

I guess what I'm asking is Should I just not bother and use the standard 3.5mm stereo out on the mobo?
 
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Using usb-c will bypass your motherboards audio yes, it’ll be using the DAC in the speakers. I don’t know much about those speakers but their DAC is likely to be better than your motherboard so I’d probably go that route personally.
 
Thanks yeah I was thinking that... I presume using a USB a to c adapter is neither here nor there.

I can't find any decent info on the speakers amp hardware other than it's a Texas instruments something or other.. I've not been able to find a model number or anything.
 
mattyfez said:
Thanks yeah I was thinking that... I presume using a USB a to c adapter is neither here nor there.

I can't find any decent info on the speakers amp hardware other than it's a Texas instruments something or other.. I've not been able to find a model number or anything.
Click to expand...

Common chip used on consumer USB audio is the PCM2900 series which is a step behind half-decent motherboard audio but not bad.
 
Rroff said:
Common chip used on consumer USB audio is the PCM2900 series which is a step behind half-decent motherboard audio but not bad.
Click to expand...

Interesting, so just using 3.5mm from mobop might be better - does that tehn bypass the dac on the speakers internal amp then?

I pulled the back off but I'm non the wiser really.

 
Well got them plumbed in, seem decent so far - the bass is impressive considering the size of them but it really is overcooked and the mids sound really scooped...

Slight annoyance there's no tone knobs but there's an EQ on the smartphone app.. there's 5 or 6 preset EQs too, but they all seem to suffer from scooped mids and is doesn't show the EQ settings for the presets - so I'm going to have to set my own EQ up on the app when I'm more inclined to spend some time on it.
 
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mattyfez said:
Well got them plumbed in, seem decent so far - the bass is impressive considering the size of them but it really is overcooked and the mids sound really scooped...

Slight annoyance there's no tone knobs but there's an EQ on the smartphone app.. there's 5 or 6 preset EQs too, but they all seem to suffer from scooped mids and is doesn't show the EQ settings for the presets - so I'm going to have to set my own EQ up on the app when I'm more inclined to spend some time on it.
Click to expand...

Good idea to find some tests for your speakers, then starting point of PEQ. Although each room is different. Better would be if you got UMIK1 measure speakers then apply PEQ yourself.

I've done that with Wiim Ultra is measurement/correction device and UMIK1, created speaker presets for the two different pairs of stereo speakers I use.

Don't use EQ presets, they're crap.
 
Using RCA cables doesn't bypass the amp in the speakers it just bypasses the DAC. However your speaker may actually convert analogue inputs to digital regardless, so using analogue could be worse as more conversions going on.

If it has digital DSP then it would have to convert analogue to digital, for example a MINIDSP HD has to do that, and so does my av pre amp.
 
Epic fail... I forgot I was using some random internet radio site when initially testing.

It helps when using a better quality source hajaj
I'll see myself out.
 
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Sounding a lot better than the presets or flat eq now... Still need to do some fine tuning with a wider variety but getting closer... Box fresh the treble was detailed but fatigueing, as the bass was boomy and wooly.


I've left the eq flat on the speakers and as I'm running analog from the mobo I used the MSI utility as it has more bands...

 
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Man these speakers are bloody fantastic, they are very much 'near field' desktop speakers, but I suppose that goes without saying given how small they are.

If you buy them to fill a room, you'll be upset, they are the wrong tool for the job... also the preset EQ's are all a load of garbage and sound sheet.

I should really go to bed but i'm working through my FLAC audio archive and I'm not stopping yet.

They absolutley need EQ'ing a bit, though, to tame the overcooked bass and treble, take them from sounding 'meh' to 'WTF' .......................then they really start to sing...
 
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If it's helpful to anyone, I was struggling to EQ out a bit of boominess in the lower mid bass range, I got them sounding good but I couldnt quite nail it, they still sounded a little fatiguing.


So rather tan 3.3mm analog from mobo to speakers I've just set them up with a USB-A 3.0 out, from the pc to USB-C in, on the speakers, disabled the motherboard EQ and just running a flat EQ in the edifier phone app... so I belive I've bypassed the motherboards DAC by doing that.

It sounds better, I guess the speakers have a better DAC than my mobo.

I guess that stands to reason as the speakers are actually more expensive than the mobo in this machine (MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI ), so you'd hope they have a better DAC.. that last bit of boominess has gone and they dont hurt or offend my ears when I pump the volume a bit now.
 
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mattyfez said:
If it's helpful to anyone, I was struggling to EQ out a bit of boominess in the lower mid bass range, I got them sounding good but I couldnt quite nail it, they still sounded a little fatiguing.


I've just set them up with a USB-A 3.0 out from the pc to USB-C in, on the speakers, disabled the motherboard EQ and just running a flat EQ in the edifier phone app... so I belive I've bypassed the motherboards DAC by doing that and it sounds better, I guess teh speakers have a better DAC than my mobo.

I guess that stands to reason as the speakers are actually more expensive than teh mobo in this machine (MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI ), so you'd hope tehy have a better DAC lol
Click to expand...

Be good if you buy measurements microphone and use rew the do calculations then import that into foobar or similar.

I use wiim ultra meausmen and correction
 
mattyfez said:
If it's helpful to anyone, I was struggling to EQ out a bit of boominess in the lower mid bass range, I got them sounding good but I couldnt quite nail it, they still sounded a little fatiguing.


So rather tan 3.3mm analog from mobo to speakers I've just set them up with a USB-A 3.0 out, from the pc to USB-C in, on the speakers, disabled the motherboard EQ and just running a flat EQ in the edifier phone app... so I belive I've bypassed the motherboards DAC by doing that.

It sounds better, I guess the speakers have a better DAC than my mobo.

I guess that stands to reason as the speakers are actually more expensive than the mobo in this machine (MSI B550M PRO-VDH WIFI ), so you'd hope they have a better DAC.. that last bit of boominess has gone and they dont hurt or offend my ears when I pump the volume a bit now.
Click to expand...

It's likely the speaker digitise inputs anyway so even I'd the motherboard dac or even if you had dedicated dac is really high end , then speakers digitise that then use DSP then convert back to analogue

Graphic eq is ok but parameteric eq is slot more powerful. Can set specific frequency , cut and q width, and do specific filters on each channel ie 40hz -5db 16q on left, 55hz -3db 20q on right
 
hornetstinger said:
Be good if you buy measurements microphone and use rew the do calculations then import that into foobar or similar.

I use wiim ultra meausmen and correction
Click to expand...


All looks very technical...I've made a pretty pic though using a cheap USB mic, but ive no idea what im doing lol


 
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