Audioengine A2 with Audioengine D1 DAC and audioengine desktop speaker angled stands

You could fit big speakers on there. Just have to move your phone

Yep. I went passive about five years ago after owning Klipsch Promedia 2.1s for several years. I use an HK 3390 to power the Ascends and then the ODAC.

But you have the D1. Lot of people really like that DAC/headphone amp. Get the best speakers you can now to go with it.

Here's a review of the Airmotiv 5. The review says you need about 1 foot behind them. However if you moved them over near your corners aimed in toward you, with their edges a few inches out from the wall, they you would have a good bit of space behind them because of the corner. And if you can get them up in the air so they are aimed more at ear level, like with these stands (http://www.wood-tech.com/content/fgh-12 but find something cheaper), I think that tends to help, too, because the air has more room to move out and around beneath.

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cel4145 said:

You could fit big speakers on there. Just have to move your phone

Yep. I went passive about five years ago after owning Klipsch Promedia 2.1s for several years. I use an HK 3390 to power the Ascends and then the ODAC.

But you have the D1. Lot of people really like that DAC/headphone amp. Get the best speakers you can now to go with it.

Here's a review of the Airmotiv 5. The review says you need about 1 foot behind them. However if you moved them over near your corners aimed in toward you, with their edges a few inches out from the wall, they you would have a good bit of space behind them because of the corner. And if you can get them up in the air so they are aimed more at ear level, like with these stands (http://www.wood-tech.com/content/fgh-12 but find something cheaper), I think that tends to help, too, because the air has more room to move out and around beneath.

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I too had a 2.1 klipsch. I thought it was great at the time. I did look at innerfidelity's site. Great reviews of many products. I think you are right about the emotiva selection being a great choice. They made a comparison between the bigger A5's (rather than A2's) and the Emotivas beat out the A5's. I have a feeling I am going to return my audioengine products. The emotiva xda-2 got great reviews from innerfidelity and is suppose to work well with their products, offers more options than D1, and offers better quality through USB. I'm thinking the Emotiva 5 are the best choice for the price. The 6's are pushing it too much on size and I really don't plan on "blasting" music out of my little work nice nor do I need the additional power the price increase gets you. I surely wouldn't mind the 6 inch woofer for more range of low end notes but from what I can imagine....the difference between a 5.25 inch emotive 5 woofer and the A2's 2.75 should be night and day. I hate packing up equipment for return but I'm thinking its the smartest choice and a decision that i will thank myself on for years and years to come. The emotiva speakers I read come with a an angled restpad for the speakers which I may try it first. My desk is actually quite high, almost counter height which is unusual and something that one can't determine based on video I uploaded to youtube. Its between table and counter height. I may be able to get away with the simple angle enhancement. If not I'll need to look into the stands you pointed out. Also will have to probably wall mount my phone. I need to pick out which to get first....I can only get the emotiva dac or the speakers...and will to have buy the other after a little saving period.

I hang out a lot on AVS forum, which is more dedicated to home audio and speakers, and the overall sentiment seems to be that the A5s are good desktop speakers. But that community is not nearly as enamored of them as they are here on head-fi elsewhere on the web. The Audioengines do sound better than traditional desktop multimedia speakers, but their SQ value is a little over hyped, IMHO. I think it's just that a lot of people who buy them have never heard any alternatives in the same price range. On the other hand, everything points to the Airmotivs as the real deal, one of the best SQ values at their price point for powered monitors.

And right. Assuming that the Airmotiv 6s are designed as well as the 5s, they would provide a little bit better bass response. But that would be the only advantage if you aren't going to run them very loud. Meanwhile, the 5s definitely should KILL the A2s on bass because of the bigger drivers.

For whatever reason, the XDA-2 doesn't get a lot of love around here. If you are going to up your budget on the DAC/headphone amp to $399, be sure to research other options, too.

If you want a simple way to experiment with whether or not the speakers sound better with stands, use books. In fact that's what I use (I have a lot of books in my house). Partially because I'm being cheap about it, but also because my left and right speaker are on two different surfaces, one about 4 inches higher than the other, and books make it easy to get 'em the same height.

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cel4145 said:

I hang out a lot on AVS forum, which is more dedicated to home audio and speakers, and the overall sentiment seems to be that the A5s are good desktop speakers. But that community is not nearly as enamored of them as they are here on head-fi elsewhere on the web. The Audioengines do sound better than traditional desktop multimedia speakers, but their SQ value is a little over hyped, IMHO. I think it's just that a lot of people who buy them have never heard any alternatives in the same price range. On the other hand, everything points to the Airmotivs as the real deal, one of the best SQ values at their price point for powered monitors.

And right. Assuming that the Airmotiv 6s are designed as well as the 5s, they would provide a little bit better bass response. But that would be the only advantage if you aren't going to run them very loud. Meanwhile, the 5s definitely should KILL the A2s on bass because of the bigger drivers.

For whatever reason, the XDA-2 doesn't get a lot of love around here. If you are going to up your budget on the DAC/headphone amp to $399, be sure to research other options, too.

If you want a simple way to experiment with whether or not the speakers sound better with stands, use books. In fact that's what I use (I have a lot of books in my house). Partially because I'm being cheap about it, but also because my left and right speaker are on two different surfaces, one about 4 inches higher than the other, and books make it easy to get 'em the same height.

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I did read some questionable reviews about the xda2. Another poster had mentioned their aune x1 was a better sounding dac. I do remember you stating that the jump from non dac to using a dac is pronounced while the actual increase of price in dac there after is...not as significant? I think the xda2 is on the top end of any amount I would like to spend on a dac. If I remember correctly, innerfidelity specifically says to not skimp on the dac and get something along some price standpoint as cost of the emotiva speakers. That being said, there are probably multiple choices that open up available within that bracket. The xda-2 does boast a preamp..which honestly, I don't know what the does or how that works with a set of powered emotiva 5's. The dac part does specify 196/24 bit through USB which is unique since I can't seem to find any other DAC which can do that; others only go to 16 bit through usb. You must use optical toslink or other to reach 24 bit. I think my D1 only does 118/24 (or whatever the next step down) is on USB. My current cpu docking station only has usb 2.0. No additional audio ports. I'm a little surprised that there is not more feedback on the emotiva's. I saw one thread where you were speaking with someone who was using them for HT use and netflix and had plans to expand the pairs for surround sound......
 
I think a self powered dac like xda2 or other should be better on all categories than a usb powered one. Innerfidelity talks about this issue briefly. The xda-2 supposedly has a weak headphone amp too was noteworthy but not a deal breaker for me. Like you said, I have more to read on whats available. It may even be better for me to wait until I can afford to get both DAC and Speakers at same time. Maybe prices will go down at that point or something new will come into the market.

If the DAC sounds good, self-powered doesn't matter. For instance, I'm running the ODAC. Tiny. Half the size of an iPhone (but a little thicker). Very transparent sounding. Here's a thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/611778/brief-odac-impressions

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cel4145 said:

If the DAC sounds good, self-powered doesn't matter. For instance, I'm running the ODAC. Tiny. Half the size of an iPhone (but a little thicker). Very transparent sounding. Here's a thread: http://www.head-fi.org/t/611778/brief-odac-impressions

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Just looked through thread. Nice. Went to product website. I found the standalone which has 3 versions (great prices) and also a headamp/dac version for 285. I didn't see RCA output on the latter. Are you using the standalone with RCA output for your amp and passive speakers? Also, is a preamp, in general or on xda2, useful and if so how does it help? Does it have affects on an already powered speaker or do people only get that or need that if you are using an additional amp(such as what you probably use) and subsequent passive speakers?  thank you.

I use the standalone ODAC and then a switcher box because I have the O2 headphone amp, a Little Dot I+ hybrid tube headphone amp, and then my HK receiver that I use with my speakers. So I just switch to whichever one I want to listen to. There are some headphone amps that have RCA pass through capability so that you can plug your speakers up to the amp, such as the Schiit Asgard 2. In fact, for the money, I would bet on the ODAC and Asgard 2 as being a better SQ setup than the XDA-2, but that's just a guess. Might ask in the ODAC thread how they think the XDA-2s DAC compares.

And that is one thing in favor of getting the DAC separate. Then you can pick out the headphone amp you want. Or if you want to upgrade or change the headphone amp, you don't have to replace everything.

I guess the XDA-2 would be useful if you had multiple digital devices to hook up to it.

D1 does 24/96 through the USB. 24/192 through toslink. But my ears really can't hear a difference between the two. Toslink is annoying on my Mac, because it clicks on and off all of the time. It doesn't on the airport express, but AirPlay is limited to 16/44, which isn't awful, but I CAN hear the difference between that and 24/96.

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cel4145 said:

I use the standalone ODAC and then a switcher box because I have the O2 headphone amp, a Little Dot I+ hybrid tube headphone amp, and then my HK receiver that I use with my speakers. So I just switch to whichever one I want to listen to. There are some headphone amps that have RCA pass through capability so that you can plug your speakers up to the amp, such as the Schiit Asgard 2. In fact, for the money, I would bet on the ODAC and Asgard 2 as being a better SQ setup than the XDA-2, but that's just a guess. Might ask in the ODAC thread how they think the XDA-2s DAC compares.

And that is one thing in favor of getting the DAC separate. Then you can pick out the headphone amp you want. Or if you want to upgrade or change the headphone amp, you don't have to replace everything.

I guess the XDA-2 would be useful if you had multiple digital devices to hook up to it.

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Well, I just ordered the emotiva airmotiv 5's from emotiva pro. I went into my local best buy magnolia av store yesterday and I was looking around and I saw they amazing looking speakers called martin logan motion4. Ribbon tweeter is simply amazing. Vocals sounded outstanding. They were 500 for pair and I felt like buying them then and there. They are passive and the salesman showed me a marantz cd/amp/network player which can connect to them .699 for that. A powered sub can be added to amp unit and then have full spectrum of sound. Ultimately that marantz unit is too big for my desk, the martin logans are limited on bass with their 4 inch woofer alone so the added expense of even the cheapest power sub would take things way way over the top. Sales guy told me I need to buy an 80 dollar power wire and that bass should respond a little better. I told him that day I would be back the next day but I ended up calling saying that I didn't think it was a good fit b/c of marantz unit. Anyway, I came back to my senses and back on track with the recommendations of the emotiva line. I'm really looking forward to hearing them. I think the combo of a ribbon tweeter they have and a 5.25 inch woofer along with a good amount of power is going to be perfect. I'll be sure to let you know how they are. I'm keeping my D1 just a bit longer so I can actually use speakers when they arive. I still need to make decision on what DAC to use. Do you think the xlr connections are worth using or is the single rca runs going to be pretty similar? I'm not sure what balanced/unbalanced is referring to.

Yeah. For $1200 for speakers and receiver, there are other choices than the ML Motion 4s. You'd need to restart your research all over again

If XLR is implemented correctly (and I've read that it isn't always at this tier of equipment), then it helps to eliminate noise caused by electromagnetic interference, and it is helpful in recording studios where there is a lot of electronic equipment and long cable runs. So it is more likely it would do absolutely nothing for you.

Well, I'm set to get the emotiva 5's on wednesday. I've returned the audioengine a2's today and their rubber feet. I've kept the D1 dac so I can use with the emotivas. I'll just have to purchase some basic rca singles. I'm thinking maybe 4 ft each.

Awesome! I'll be curious to hear what you think

Does the consensus seem to be that a d1 with the A2 speakers is not going to make a big difference?
 
90% of my music on my macbook is ripped in FLAC and I play through Fidelia (which upsamples if I want). I just bought a pair of A2s, and can get a great deal on a D1. I have been running the A2s directly from the 3.5 jack on my Mac, but I don't want to spend money on a DAC if it isn't going to make a pretty perceptible difference in the sound. Any thoughts?

night and day!. I am in heaven with my emotiva's. I unfortunately had some obligations keeping me from setting them up until tonight. I now have them connnected to the D1 dac and am listening to some of the flacs I downloaded. I have simple gold plated RCA singles coming from each speaker. I cannot even turn them up much since my better half is sleeping and they sound wonderful with bass notes that simple were not there with the A2's. I am so happy I returned the A2's and that you gave me some great advice and a superb recommendation.
 
Thank you.

That's awesome! Bigger drivers make a difference

Sounds like you don't need a new DAC, either. Upgrading the D1 would provide only a very small increase in SQ.