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Whitenoise61
6
Jul 18, 2017
So now we wait. This is my first drop, I joined a week ago. Waiting another 3 weeks for them to make my monitors and then send them to me seems like a looong time. My Audio-gd NFB-15.32 dac/amp came in the mail yesterday. I'm ready to rock. If I would've bought the stock 305's from Amazon I would have them already. These better sound good. If they hiss too much I'll have to sell them and sell my new preamp and get the Studio 220's and figure out what amp I'll want use. I would've liked to have gotten a pair of Studio 530's that were selling on the Harmon website for $600 but they're gone now and going for $1000+ on eBay which I refuse to chase. Everyone says the LSR305's punch above their weight so I hope they're right. Don't let me down JBL!
Freik
48
Jul 18, 2017
Whitenoise61Welcome to Massdrop. I waited just under a year for the first ErgoDox Infiinity keyboard drop. Some stuff ships fast, some stuff takes *forever* (and I've had 1 thing cancel altogether). Hang in there. Here's my grumpy old man response: Back in my day, we had to wait for the catalog, then you'd put your money in the mail, and hope that 8-10 weeks later, the underwear you bought fit you right! And if you didn't, well, though luck, because you'd have to mail it back and then you'd get your money back, minus the cost of shipping. And a phone call cost $.40/minute! And I wanted to school in snow, uphill, both ways! :D
Ascalon
7
Jul 18, 2017
Whitenoise61I'm in a similar boat as you, my first drop, thought about going the Amazon route. But i'm not prepared like you with a dac/amp, it says that it's coming with a split TRS cable so that you can run it straight from your computer when you get it. As these are meant to replace my desktop computer speakers, Klipsch Promedia 2.1, the 530 would be a little too big, but i've heard good things about it, though i didn't want to deal with passive speakers for computer speakers if possible.
Whitenoise61
6
Jul 19, 2017
AscalonYeah, you can absolutely run these straight out of your computer but I do a lot of headphone listening at night when the toddler is asleep and I wanted an easy way to have my headphones plugged in right in front of me and be able to toggle back and forth between HP's and speakers at will without having to unplug stuff.
Currently my headphones get plugged into the 1/8th" jack on my left speaker that's coming straight out of my soundcard but my little Cerwin Vega 5" speakers are in desperate need of an upgrade. I've had them 2 or 3 years and they're in good condition but I regretted the purchase right from the beginning they are underpowered and sound thin and lack bass.
If you read enough reviews around the net you start to realize that having a decent DAC/amp will improve the headphone experience and I made sure to pick one I can use as a pre-amp for my monitors and has a switch to toggle from RCA out to headphone out. I'm just hoping it's clean with a nice low noise floor.
I thought about getting an integrated amplifier (NAD D-3020) and some passive bookshelves but I believe they are generally better "midfield" when you sit a little farther back and they have a narrower "sweet spot." I wanted nearfield speakers for my desktop that sound best from 18" - 24" away and have a wide sweet spot so they'll also sound good anywhere in the room and I think these will fit the bill. I've heard the tweeters have an audible hiss but just how much can vary depending on your set-up. I'll start with rca out to dual TS 1/4" (don't get TRS) and if it hisses too loudly then I'll try sticking a GoRack in between so I can see if grounded XLR cables make a difference.
Ascalon
7
Jul 19, 2017
Whitenoise61definitely seems like a solid plan, i'd love to go with a DAC someday, just for easy of switching. As of right now, my keyboard connects to my mobo and it has my headphone and mic jacks. So when i switch from speakers to headsets (which i do very often) i just switch plugs on my keyboard right in front of me.
DAC would be cleaner looking i'm sure, but my issue stems from the fact that A) i bought a motherboard that comes with pretty good onboard audio already, and B) i honestly am not researched up in these things. I wouldn't want to waste money buying some amp/DAC combo when the Speakers have an amp built in already, if that makes any sense and C) they're not cheap, and due to B)'s issues, i wouldn't wanna waste money on something i don't if i'm getting what's really needed.
Whitenoise61
6
Jul 19, 2017
AscalonFrom what I understand the problem with onboard audio and internal soundcards is not the quality of the audio itself but rather just that computers are jam packed with a lot of electronics that generate noise, static and interference and you have to contend with ground loops and such. But if you like the sound you are hearing from your mobo and it sounds clear and clean then by all means skip the dac and just enjoy.
The amps in the DAC/AMP combos are primarily headphone amps, some of them can be used as preamps but not all of them. There are hundreds of different ones and I think a lot of them bypass the amp stage and just use the DAC when sending signal out to the monitors.
But if you have low impedance headphones and you're happy with the volume and the sound you're hearing then there's really no need for an external headphone amp. Your computer has a built in basic grade headphone amp anyway. These audiophile types with their $1000 high impedance 300 - 600 ohm planar headphones actually need a more powerful amp to drive their phones to a reasonable volume level but most of us really don't. My headphones (Beyerdynamic DT770 Pro) are about 32 ohms and get plenty loud even right out of my Cowon Plenue D Digital Audio Player (I'm old so I don't have any music on my phone I just use it for phoning)
Some people will tell you that an external Dac/amp will always improve the sound of a pair of headphones but I can't really confirm or deny that as I'm one of those guys that doesn't bother with FLAC files and for the little bit I've heard I can't really tell the difference in sound quality with the DAC or without it.
I'll see how I feel about it once I connect my new DAC and my new headphones come in the mail hopefully tomorrow.
Ascalon
7
Jul 19, 2017
Whitenoise61All true statements
Yeah, the better built in sound card, as i understand it, is supposed to be better isolated and more powerful (??)
I've used my Sennheiser HD598s with great success and the Sennheiser ones for gaming, both work great.
I do like the idea of having something for having a physical volume knob for control (since controlling from your computer can become tedious and i'm definitely not going to turn each jbl knob every time). a good clean sound would be a nice bonus (not sure if i'd notice it or not). Also i want something that i can eventually plug a standard sub into i'm not going to get the JBL 310, but might get some dayton or another sub some day.
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