[mochimon]

So I have a question for everyone running active monitors: How are you controlling volume?
Personally, I've been running BM5A mkII's off an Apogee Duet for a while now, but the duet is starting to crap out, and I need to replace it.  I've had some real trouble finding a suitable dac with preamp capabilities.
 
So far, I've found the following:

1. Benchmark dac1 pre
2. Burson 160d
3. Lavry da 10 and 11
4. a few Grace designs

 
I would love to be able to look at dacs from MHDT labs, Wyred4Sound, Musical Fidelity, Yulong, etc. but by going with any of these designs, I basically need to add a preamp to my system or something like the Audiophilio 1 and I most certainly don't have the budget for either of those options.
So, how do you guys combat this little problem in the active nearfield world?
 
Somnambulist, I see that you're using the TC Electronics Level Pilot.  How is that? I'm personally majorly weary of putting a pot directly in my interconnect chain, but ive heard its supposed to sound pretty transparent.
 
 
tl;dr: any other good dac-pre's we should know about?

 

[Somnambulist]

Recently one of my Focals had a volume issue, and at first I thought it was the Level Pilot so I took it out of the chain to try and figure out what the issue was. I couldn't A/B instantaneously for obvious reasons, but from directly linking the Focals to the DAC (and having to turn the input trim way down!) if there was a difference, it wasn't big enough for me to notice.
 
Obviously there's a little channel imbalance at low volume, but it's well below typical listening level. In future I might look at the more pro-audio solutions as it'd be nice to have something w/a mute button, switches etc so I could A/B different speakers effectively and so on. Right now, it's nice to have a big solid volume knob near my hand so I don't have to reach over to the DAC to change anything.

 

[eugenius]

The standard solution from the same manufacturer is the TC Electronic BMC2. It's cheap, around 300 euro with discount.

 

[El_Doug]

I'm running KRK VXT4s - absolutely remarkable imaging, though the bass rolls off way too high  

 

[Somnambulist]

I was thinking of another passive solution. From what I've read, as long as it's a good implementation and good quality parts, your DAC is going to have far more of an impact on the sound itself. There are things like the Goldpoint passive boxes, for instance, that I was looking at, and I saw a nice one in a horrible brown colour somewhere that had a bit more functionality but was well-received on GearSlutz (where I look at all this stuff).
 
Quote:

The standard solution from the same manufacturer is the TC Electronic BMC2. It's cheap, around 300 euro with discount.

The joys of small woofers eh. My CMS 50's start rolling off at 55hz, I think, which is just about acceptable. The 35hz response of the Opals would be nicer, given that most club PAs sit at about 40hz and they're quite the speaker, I've read. I'd rather not have to add a sub for space reasons, hence I'd like to upgrade eventually rather than getting say, the CMS Sub, but I couldn't fit anything bigger than what I have already in my current abode. Weep.

 
Quote:

I'm running KRK VXT4s - absolutely remarkable imaging, though the bass rolls off way too high  

 

 

[Destroysall]

Quote:

So I have a question for everyone running active monitors: How are you controlling volume?
Personally, I've been running BM5A mkII's off an Apogee Duet for a while now, but the duet is starting to crap out, and I need to replace it.  I've had some real trouble finding a suitable dac with preamp capabilities.
 
So far, I've found the following:

1. Benchmark dac1 pre
2. Burson 160d
3. Lavry da 10 and 11
4. a few Grace designs

 
I would love to be able to look at dacs from MHDT labs, Wyred4Sound, Musical Fidelity, Yulong, etc. but by going with any of these designs, I basically need to add a preamp to my system or something like the Audiophilio 1 and I most certainly don't have the budget for either of those options.
So, how do you guys combat this little problem in the active nearfield world?
 
Somnambulist, I see that you're using the TC Electronics Level Pilot.  How is that? I'm personally majorly weary of putting a pot directly in my interconnect chain, but ive heard its supposed to sound pretty transparent.
 
 
tl;dr: any other good dac-pre's we should know about?

I have heard many great things about this little guy. 
 
http://www.amazon.com/TC-Electronic-Level-Pilot-Computer-Independent/dp/B001PGMNRG/ref=sr_1_49?s=musical-instruments&ie=UTF8&qid=1329583914&sr=1-49
 

 

[FieldEffect]

I run M-Audio BX5a's. To control the volume, I use a Behringer Xenyx502 mixer. It works very well, and also allows me to easily plug in my Sennheiser HD598 headphones.

 

[TheRH]

Quote:

I run M-Audio BX5a's. To control the volume, I use a Behringer Xenyx502 mixer. It works very well, and also allows me to easily plug in my Sennheiser HD598 headphones.

How are you getting the audio to you monitors? A DAC, from I saw that mixer is non-usb.

 

[FieldEffect]

Quote:

How are you getting the audio to you monitors? A DAC, from I saw that mixer is non-usb.

An analog audio cable runs from my soundcard to the cd/tape input on the mixer. Then audio cables run from the mixer main outputs to the monitors.
 
I also run a cable from the cd/tape output to the line-in on my soundcard so I can record from turntable if I want (the turntable is connected to the mixer through a couple of the mixer input channels).
 
I really can't complain at all about this mixer. It's a terrific value and it also serves as a headphone amp.
 
Behringer is suppose to be releasing a USB version of this mixer soon, called the Q502USB, but for my purposes, I don't really see a lot of advantage to it. I can get the same functionality with analog cables.

 

[FieldEffect]

 
Quote:

So I have a question for everyone running active monitors: How are you controlling volume?
Personally, I've been running BM5A mkII's off an Apogee Duet for a while now, but the duet is starting to crap out, and I need to replace it.  I've had some real trouble finding a suitable dac with preamp capabilities.
 
So far, I've found the following:

1. Benchmark dac1 pre
2. Burson 160d
3. Lavry da 10 and 11
4. a few Grace designs

 
I would love to be able to look at dacs from MHDT labs, Wyred4Sound, Musical Fidelity, Yulong, etc. but by going with any of these designs, I basically need to add a preamp to my system or something like the Audiophilio 1 and I most certainly don't have the budget for either of those options.
So, how do you guys combat this little problem in the active nearfield world?
 
Somnambulist, I see that you're using the TC Electronics Level Pilot.  How is that? I'm personally majorly weary of putting a pot directly in my interconnect chain, but ive heard its supposed to sound pretty transparent.
 
 
tl;dr: any other good dac-pre's we should know about?

I would recommend the same thing for you that I use, except I'm not sure you'd want to pair a $40 mixer with $1200 monitors. I love dynaudio as I use to run them in my car, but the problem with stuff that high end is it becomes such an insatiable money pit as you'll want all of your gear to be of a similar level of quality. If you've got the money to burn, that's no problem.
 
http://www.amazon.com/Mackie-Big-Knob-Desktop-Monitor/dp/B0006GPYDQ/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1329607359&sr=8-1
 
That's probably what I would use if I ran dynaudio monitors. But I'm not rich and when I get that kind of money these days, I'd rather spend it on a road trip with a beautiful woman =)
 

 

[mochimon]

Quote:

I was thinking of another passive solution. From what I've read, as long as it's a good implementation and good quality parts, your DAC is going to have far more of an impact on the sound itself. There are things like the Goldpoint passive boxes, for instance, that I was looking at, and I saw a nice one in a horrible brown colour somewhere that had a bit more functionality but was well-received on GearSlutz (where I look at all this stuff).
 

wow, the goldpoint is such a simple design! any idea if these ever come up on the secondary market?? could be a fun and simple DIY project...

 

[El_Doug]

if you need a passive preamp box with XLRs, I can sell you a DIY one - shoot me a PM if interested
 
Quote:

wow, the goldpoint is such a simple design! any idea if these ever come up on the secondary market?? could be a fun and simple DIY project...

 

 

[TheRH]

Quote:

An analog audio cable runs from my soundcard to the cd/tape input on the mixer. Then audio cables run from the mixer main outputs to the monitors.
 
I also run a cable from the cd/tape output to the line-in on my soundcard so I can record from turntable if I want (the turntable is connected to the mixer through a couple of the mixer input channels).
 
I really can't complain at all about this mixer. It's a terrific value and it also serves as a headphone amp.
 
Behringer is suppose to be releasing a USB version of this mixer soon, called the Q502USB, but for my purposes, I don't really see a lot of advantage to it. I can get the same functionality with analog cables.

What sound card are you running?
 

 

[FieldEffect]

Quote:

What sound card are you running?
 

Some Soundblaster I picked up at Fry's for 30 bucks.

 

[TheRH]

Oh ok, you may get better audio if you use USB via a DAC  or a mixer with USB so you are not having to use any adapters.