Sub,sound card or dac?

MrKennedy

MrKennedy

MrKennedy

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Joined
20 Mar 2011
Posts
60
I am looking for a upgrade to my sound system, i currently have;

Wharfedale VR 400 speakers

Onkyo A-9155 amp

Asus Xonar DG sound card

I have got around £150 to spending with my Flac collection growing, I dont think my current setup is doing it Justice.I listen to mainly rap music but I enjoy I bit or everything. What would be best? Wharfedale sw150 sub, Asus Xonar Essence STX or saving up some more and get an external dac like the ARCAM RDAC.

Thanks for reading
 
Sub probably :)

I picked up an ex display Mordaunt Short MS309i from Richer Sounds for £100 a few years ago. Bargain.

I don't think you'll hear the difference of a better DAC/source on those speakers/amp.
 
IMHO, the speakers are the weakest point. They are £200 multi woofer floorstanding speakers, which is no money really. A £150 pair of bookshelf speakers would sound far superior. £200 is too cheap a price for decent floorstanding speakers, when you take into account the size of the cabinets, the quality of the materials used, and how many woofers there are, £200 is being stretched too far. Also, the Vardus range are probably best for 5.1, and wont really excel at stereo. For decent budget floorstanding multi woofer speakers, you probably would be looking at £350+.

You mention the possibility of a subwoofer. do you find the VR400's aren't providing enough bass?
 
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Personally, I don't know how the Vardus speakers sound. I'm sure they are not bad speakers, but £200 is very cheap when you consider they have 3 woofers in each cabinet. Really, for a good budget pair of floorstanders, you would expect to pay £250 at least for ones with 1 woofer and 1 tweeter in each cabinet. The more drivers there are for the same money, the lesser quality they are going to be. I've got some 9.1's myself, and they are fantastic speakers for what they cost. When you consider the 9.1's originally cost £180 when they first came out, they should have the Vardus range easily beat.

I don't know if you can return the Vardus'. Depends where you got them I guess. You might be able to return them for something else. I would have thought some speakers such as the 9.1's and the SW150 sub would be a good combination. I've considered getting the SW150 sub myself, but it would annoy family members with the bass, plus for me, I find the 9.1's have enough bass. Depends on the person using them though, some will find they want a sub as well.
 
I might be able to trade for something else however the reason I bought them in the first play over the diamond was someone over at avforum( dont know if I can mention them) done a side by side compass en and said that the vardus where slightly better. The vardus only has two active woofers the third is passive if that makes a difference. I have heard the diamonds and they souded very good how ever that was with a £300 amp which mines costs half that. I think it would be too hard to return to items if I didn't like the diamonds compared to the vardus. The only way to be sure would be side by side comparacing and I dont think I could do that soon enough.
 
That's interesting. I can't discredit someone's comparison of both the Diamond's and the Vardus', as I've not heard the Vardus', and he/she has heard both. Let's forget about returning or exchanging the Vardus' for a moment. You said in your OP, your kit is not doing your music justice. In what way to you feel the sound is lacking? Do you find the VR400's haven't got enough bass, or is it just the overall sound quality?
 
Well the bass is fine for music but is a bit lacking in movies however I don't watch too many. To me they sound good, it just I think they could give more. Music is so much clearer in flac compared to a iTunes download. I have just read a lot and people recommend sound card to people who have spent a lot less than me. As this is almost £300 of kit. Say I did buy that sound card from overclocker would I be able to return it if I did think it made £150 difference to my music?
 
No, you can only return it if it's unopened, or faulty for a replacement. Maybe there are sites where you could buy it and return it for a refund if you were not happy.
 
You guys need to learn about using paragraphs.

I haven't done any serious testing of DACs, but my hunch is that the DG will be fine for a good few upgrades of amp/speakers. Therefore, a sub would make the biggest difference by filling in the spectrum at the low end (as long as it's half decent).

At the very least, the STX is overkill. If you can pick up a cheap D2 or other mid range xonar (I'm out of the loop) you could try it and not be too much out of pocket.
 
Ah i thought that would prob be the best option,however my amp doesn't have a sub pre out so i guess that i would be best to use the sub out on my sound card instead out using the speaker level connection on the sub?
 
It depends on the sub. My Mordaunt Short I mentioned above can take either a single RCA from a pre-amp, or stereo RCA line level and do its own filtering. The back of the amp seems to have a line out, so the latter could work for you.
 
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