(help) Speakers not sounding as good on my computer as when auditioning them
Jan 21, 2015 at 11:06 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 19
eiouwa

eiouwa

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Hi.
My Audioengine A5+ speakers don't sound as good when listening to them through my computer as they should. All connections are fine, I'm using a good USB cable going to the DAC and I'm using Kernel Streaming on foobar. What could be the cause of this? It's not the speakers, they don't sound awful or have any 'big problem' soundwise, just sound worse than they could. I had this problem with other speakers, as well.
 
Jan 21, 2015 at 11:21 PM Post #2 of 19
What is your room like? Is it big? How far the speakers from the wall, and how far are you sitting from them?

What do you mean by "not as good"? What is different? Bass? Treble?

Could there have been a subwoofer also connected to the system when you heard them in the store?
 
Jan 21, 2015 at 11:28 PM Post #3 of 19
No, there never was a subwoofer. The room is about medium, I'd say. Sounds reverberate in this room. But they sound bad when having your head 50 cm away, too. Speakers are directly at the wall, but were when auditioning, too.
 
It's difficult for me to describe what's worse. They have less 'power' and 'thickness' than they should. It's almost as like the sound 'flickers' a little. They are less open.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 12:06 AM Post #5 of 19
You are using the USB connection in the A5? But when you heard them in the store they were not using the USB? How were they connected in the store - were they using the RCA input jacks?
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 12:10 AM Post #6 of 19
No I'm using the USB into an external DAC. And what I didn't say is that I didn't audition the A5+, only some other speakers. But they suffer from the same problem. When buying those other speakers, I bought and used exactly the same equipment, just not the same source (was a receiver and I am using a computer). With those speakers, the sound was less open and thick and somehow 'flickery', and the A5+ seem to have the same problem.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 12:24 AM Post #7 of 19
I'm confused. So, when you were using the receiver, you were also using an external DAC? What DAC are you using? What about the music itself? Where was the music coming from for the receiver? Was there a CD player or something attached to the receiver?
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 12:31 AM Post #8 of 19
When I was auditioning the older pair of speakers, the source was a receiver. We streamed my own music to it, which then sent it to a DAC/amp using USB and then to the speakers. I bought exactly the same equipment, safe the receiver and used my computer.
With my A5+ now I'm using USB into an external DAC, then into the active speakers.
I can't be 100 percent sure that the A5+ are sounding worse than they could, but I have the strong impression. And the other speakers certainly did. I think it has to do with my computer. To me the question is if the noisy signal from a computer can make such a big difference.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 1:48 AM Post #9 of 19
OK, that's what was confusing me. Around here "source" means where the music is first being accessed. So, if you were streaming your music to the receiver, then the receiver was not the source, whatever was streaming the music to the receiver was the source.

I'm thinking there are a couple of possibilities. One is that your music files might not have been ripped very well, or perhaps the original recordings were simply not very high quality. There are also some known issues with streaming audio on some computers - especially computers with WiFi connections. Google "DPC Latency" for more info.

I would start eliminating things in the chain one item at a time. Start at the speakers and work backwards. Unplug the speakers from the DAC and plug-in headphones. Then take the DAC out of the equation and plug the computer directly into the USB port of the A5+. Then unplug the USB from the computer and feed the headphone jack on the PC directly into the RCA input jacks of the A5+. Try feeding your phone's headphone jack directly into the A5+ RCA jacks. Try music files that you *know* are good and have no issues when played on headphones connected directly to your phone.

You see what I'm getting at? Assume nothing, and test each component, one change at a time. Write each test down so you don't get confused, and when something changes (good becomes bad, or bad becomes good), then back-up and repeat the previous test to make sure the previous results are repeatable, then repeat the test where the change occurred.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 2:07 AM Post #10 of 19
Though this may be fixed. Check your dac/amp. I have the audioengine A5+ and I forgot to switch my to the line output. I have a Fiios andes E07k so it was a small switch but the sound level/power of the speakers appeared. As Billybob said check everything, if you have a phone or a mp3 player try playing those through the speakers. I've been quite happy with mine, though I have a small apartment and the walls aren't that great, I still can get what I would consider a great sound at decent volumes.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 2:42 AM Post #11 of 19
I hate to to be the bearer of bad news but if you auditioned the speakers in some kind of show room, chances are they had the room at least modestly treated.  Your room is probably not conducive for speakers and therefore the same issue keeps popping up even with different speakers.  You can try changing the positioning of the speakers further/closer to the wall.  General rule is to keep speakers at least two feet from the rear wall and don't put them in a corner.  Your listeneing position should be closer than the distance to the walls if you're using them as near fields.
 
Poor room acoustics are one of the reasons I got into headphones in the first place.  Good luck.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 2:43 AM Post #12 of 19
No I won't try all this as I'm fairly certain that it's not the speakers or the DAC. As I said with the other speakers - where I bought the whole equipment - I had the same problem. And the DAC works fine with other equipment. It's also not the file quality.
 
Jan 22, 2015 at 11:44 AM Post #14 of 19
eiouwa said:
No I won't try all this as I'm fairly certain that it's not the speakers or the DAC. As I said with the other speakers - where I bought the whole equipment - I had the same problem. And the DAC works fine with other equipment. It's also not the file quality.
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I think you missed what cskippy was trying to explain to you. The room and the placement of speakers within a room relative to the listening position can have a profound effect on how the speakers sound. Since you had the same problem with other speakers, this could easily be the issue.

Do you have an MP3 player that sounds good that you can plug up to your speakers? That would allow you to eliminate (or not) if the problem is your computer.
 
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