[panther005]

Hi,
 
I'm new here, and new to the world of good audio, but have already been trawling the forums for the abundance of info!
 
One thing I noticed is several people proportioning the amount one spends on speakers to the amount one spends on a soundcard/dac. I've recently bought the Edifier R1600T monitors (which I'm very happy with) and I use them mainly for music and some video with a laptop. I was considering buying a dac (particularly looking at the Creative X-Fi HD). My question is this though: would something like that be overkill for the Edifiers (given it costs more) or will the Edifiers benefit the (presumed) increase in quality between a less expensive DAC and something in that price range? If not, what are your recommendations?!
 
Many thanks!

 

[JRG1990]

The dac needs to be of reasonable quality, the Asus U3 DAC will be good enough for a line-out , or the fiio e10 if you want to use headphones aswell.

 

[trog]

+1 for those Fiio E10

 

[panther005]

So the Edifiers would do a DAC justice? Anyone compared the E10 with the Creative X-Fi HD? I was slightly surprised that the E10 only has a 3.5mm line out, as opposed to RCA jacks... does that make much difference? 

 

[firev1]

Crosstalk performance with the E10 will be lower than the X-fi HD. Just so you know, the only DACs I will gladly go for after this one is those in the Summit-Fi level or a Asus Essence One. The X-fi HD going just on the manufacture provided specs, performs much better than the E10(and at least it was engineered with proper instruments aka Audio Precision scopes). 
 
That being said the only gripes I have with it are,
 
-No true 16 bit audio as headphone out is digitally controlled, can be fixed by lining out to a external amp for my case, the O2
-No proper instructions given.
-Creative software cd is annoying but that is optional.
-No ASIO Driver, use ASIO4all(can be a little troublesome to set up if you never used it before)
-Can't break apart the thing without breaking the nob.
 
Most of it are minor issues but at the price, the X-fi HD is a great bargain with multiple inputs, outputs to receivers options and overall better (published) specs than the E10 unless you plan to drive some high impedance/low sensitivity phones.

 

[panther005]

Thanks for the input. I'm fairly convinced by the X-Fi HD now, having looked around at quite a few reviews. My question remains whether the Edifier monitors will do it justice...

 

[firev1]

 
Quote:

Thanks for the input. I'm fairly convinced by the X-Fi HD now, having looked around at quite a few reviews. My question remains whether the Edifier monitors will do it justice...

I think Edifiers make pretty good monitors, especially with the 1600T3(love that bass extension), had a listen with it in my country but can't buy it here. Will be getting a 2000T this month when I head on a roadtrip to the neighbouring country. I feel that you will get a fair bit of improvement with the X-fi HD anyways, it is not a terribly expensive upgrade especially from laptop audio where you are technically double amping, (since the Edifiers are active already). 

 

[nagual]

Quote:

 


I think Edifiers make pretty good monitors, especially with the 1600T3(love that bass extension), had a listen with it in my country but can't buy it here. Will be getting a 2000T this month when I head on a roadtrip to the neighbouring country. I feel that you will get a fair bit of improvement with the X-fi HD anyways, it is not a terribly expensive upgrade especially from laptop audio where you are technically double amping, (since the Edifiers are active already). 

Second time I hear about this Edifier 1600T3 !!!  Is it a R1600T with a sub ? (Google doesn´t know much about it)
 

 

[firev1]

 
Quote:

Second time I hear about this Edifier 1600T3 !!!  Is it a R1600T with a sub ? (Google doesn´t know much about it)
 

 
Yep, sadly outside local distribution, Eddy's do not get much love with the outside community as there is no online distributor that sells the studio line. The 1600T+(I think I had the name wrong) extends pretty low at a real cheap price (should be sub US$100 if sold to the rest of the world). 

 

[nagual]

Quote:

 

 
Yep, sadly outside local distribution, Eddy's do not get much love with the outside community as there is no online distributor that sells the studio line. The 1600T+(I think I had the name wrong) extends pretty low at a real cheap price (should be sub US$100 if sold to the rest of the world). 

You mean the R1600T+  = 1600T3 ?  Because the "R1600Plus"  is sold here.
(excuse my english) 

 

[firev1]

Quote:

You mean the R1600T+  = 1600T3 ?  Because the "R1600Plus"  is sold here.
(excuse my english) 

haha sorry, bout that.