[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Very excited of this active version of the Buchardt S400. Of which adds much much more...The A500

John Darko upped his review in YT



Manufacturer Website: https://www.buchardtaudio.com/

 

[ScornDefeat]

Very excited of this active version of the Buchardt S400. Of which adds much much more...The A500

John Darko upped his review in YT



Manufacturer Website: https://www.buchardtaudio.com/

One of my friends own these, pre-ordered in March and took delivery in late-July. I helped set them up and after dialing 'em in (which wasn't too hard)....damn, these are GOOD. Absolutely, very good. Especially for those with small listening rooms, lower-to-medium level listening volumes, and those who like to dabble in DSP.

They are worth the money so far from the sessions I've had with them .

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Precisely! Saving, for mine...

 

[ScornDefeat]

Q1q

Precisely! Saving, for mine...

I'm really contemplating it myself

I have a significantly more (traditionally speaking) robust 2-channel speaker set-up right now, which is overkill and not well-served in my current listening environment; I've really given strong consideration to selling it all off for A500s. There really aren't many better options than these if you desire a simple, sleek, room-friendly solution.

 

[expatcortona]

Q1q


I'm really contemplating it myself

I have a significantly more (traditionally speaking) robust 2-channel speaker set-up right now, which is overkill and not well-served in my current listening environment; I've really given strong consideration to selling it all off for A500s. There really aren't many better options than these if you desire a simple, sleek, room-friendly solution.

I have both the S400 SE and, now, the A500 system (with the hub).

The system that I use to power the S400 SE is not lightweight: MacMini/Audirvana > Chord MScaler > Chord Dave > to Crayon CIA 1T > S400 SE. This system sounds really good to me.


But, the A500/hub system sounds even better... more clarity, better timbres, especially in the bass... which is very important to me (Instruments, in my opinion, should sound like themselves)... plus the bass is deeper and tighter... thus, more musical and easier to follow.

I tried out using my Chord/Crayon CIA 1T with the A500 by hardwiring the CIA 1T's preamp outputs to the hubs line-in inputs (thus Macmini > Chord MScaler > to Crayon CIA 1T) and the result is that I do not hear any improvement whatsoever over using the A500's preamp and the A500's DACs.
To me that says a lot.

I can say, without any doubt, that to me, this is the most musically satisfying system I have ever had!
Which, is both great but also kind of sucks.... because now I have a very expensive DAC system (Chord) and I pretty expensive and great sounding integrated amp (CIA 1T) that I don't really want to get rid of.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Don't tell I'll be like you having an expensive streamer/DAC/Preamp that will have NO impact, whatsoever???....

Ha ha ha....tried directy hooking your preamp to A500's XLR input??

 

[Jon L]

Ha ha ha....tried directy hooking your preamp to A500's XLR input??

I believe all analogue inputs to A500, into speaker or into hub, go through AD conversion in order to go through all the DSP processing before being fed to onboard DA conversion. This may have some effect of "equalizing" the sound quality of something like outboard DAVE DAC and internal CS4398 DAC.

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Yeah that was the more or less the specs i have read. In the speaker, all digital signals (xlr input is converted by a ADC) are fed to a DSP and then converted by two CS4398.

Well from my streamer then...

 

[expatcortona]

Don't tell I'll be like you having an expensive streamer/DAC/Preamp that will have NO impact, whatsoever???....

Ha ha ha....tried directy hooking your preamp to A500's XLR input??

I don't know what your gear is and even if I did I wouldn't know if it would have any impact or not. I only know that the MacMini/Audirvana > Chord MScaler > Chord Dave > Crayon CIA IT preamp > A500 hub > A500 speakers (via WiSA) sound no better than the A500 system by itself.
In the ''big rig'' configuration I have the MacMIni USB hardwired to the MScaler. I have not XLR connected the speaker to the hub because in that configuration you lose the DSP room correction. And, as far as I am concerned that correction if VERY good.

But, I would like to know what your experience is when you have tried all the options.

What is your system comprised of?

 

[m-i-c-k-e-y]

Well definitely not as excellent as yours (the term "expensive" was correlated to my subjective value of what I was willing to spend to my system).

My system is in my "spoiler" sig. Still saving though... .

 

[expatcortona]

I don't know what your gear is and even if I did I wouldn't know if it would have any impact or not. I only know that the MacMini/Audirvana > Chord MScaler > Chord Dave > Crayon CIA IT preamp > A500 hub > A500 speakers (via WiSA) sound no better than the A500 system by itself.
In the ''big rig'' configuration I have the MacMIni USB hardwired to the MScaler. I have not XLR connected the speaker to the hub because in that configuration you lose the DSP room correction. And, as far as I am concerned that correction if VERY good.

But, I would like to know what your experience is when you have tried all the options.

What is your system comprised of?

I want to qualify my po

Don't tell I'll be like you having an expensive streamer/DAC/Preamp that will have NO impact, whatsoever???....

Ha ha ha....tried directy hooking your preamp to A500's XLR input??

The A500 system by itself sounds every bit as good as the Chord/Crayon/hub configuration.
And this remains true after the room correction. Both configurations sound equally as good after the room correction... and much better than they did without it.
The room correction... with the iPhone... is done in the hub.
If you XLR hardwire an external preamp directly to the speakers, you bypass the hub completely and the room correction is no longer available.
So, if I were to XLR connect the speakers, I am sure that the resulting sound would not be as good as the A500 system by itself.

After hearing what the room
correction can do, I won't be without it.

I can still use the master tunings, however, because they are loaded directly onto the speakers. But while they change the character of the speakers significantly, the do not correct for room anomalies.

An analogue signal from an external DAC going into the hub, gets AD converted and then DA converted again by the A500 DACs.
Mads told me that when doing this the sound charactistics of the external DAC are preserved.

Logic tells me that this can't be true... that the characteristics of the last DAC in the chain are the ones that we would hear.
But in the audio game logic doesn't doesn't always prevail.
Mads explained why it is true, but I can't remember the explanation, so you will have to ask him if you are interested in knowing.

The fact that I hear no difference in sound quality when using my MScaler/Dave or the A500's internal conversion, indicates, to me, either that I am hearing the A500 DAC in both configurations or that the DA conversion in the A500 system is every bit as good as that of the Dave.... which is pretty amazing when you consider the HUGE price difference between the Chord MScaler/Dave combination and the entire price of the A500 and hub.

 

[433521]

Perhaps Mads was simply saying that if you have a high quality vs low quality dac the resolution of their ad/da is good enough to allow you to hear the difference ... maybe.