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Rhamnetin
172
Sep 4, 2018
Active or passive? Do you already have a dedicated DAC? And if you're looking into passive speakers, do you already have an amplifier setup?
Senpai-sama
93
Sep 4, 2018
RhamnetinI want to lean towards active. However, I am open to good passive speaker + amp combination suggestions as well. If I go the passive route, would I need a preamp as well? I do already have a dedicated DAC. I only have a headphone set up currently, so just the DAC and a headphone amp.
Rhamnetin
172
Sep 4, 2018
Senpai-samaWhat DAC do you have? Just to determine whether or not it should be upgraded.
A preamp would be needed just to achieve volume control unless your DAC can do it. But I'll start tossing some names out now for active speakers: Adam Audio (F5 or A3X), Vanatoo Transparent One which even has its own DAC built in and it sounds impressive when using it.
Rhamnetin
172
Sep 5, 2018
Senpai-samaI see. Considering that, I would heavily consider Adam Audio, the best ones you can afford and fit (so A3X vs A5X if you want to go all out).
A passive alternative to the A3X would be the Ascend Acoustics CBM-170SE which I use as my front channel speakers. Very nice, neutral sounding speakers. The Audioengine N22 is a nice little Class A/B amp for it, but I would rather get the Amp Camp Amp kit which is very easy to build and just can't be beat for the price (~$300 class A monoblock amp designed by Nelson Pass who makes hands down the best speaker amps). You may be able to eventually replace the switching power supplies for a linear one that may improve the sound like a Sigma22.
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