[SilverBlade]

After reading the forums over a few times looking for solutions, I think I have a very good idea what of what my next computer speaker system will be.

Here's how the sound would go with my upgrade:

Computer > USB > Dacmagic > Behringer MON800 (For volume control/headphones) > KRK RP-5 G2 Powered Monitors.

Is this a good setup? Or can I improve somewhere?

My budget is about $1000 before taxes (canadian). The hardware listed above would cost $905 (before taxes) $1014 (after) taxes. So that's $100 to play around with.

 

[jonhapimp]

Wow canadian prices suck that set up in the US is around 800 with tax
the speakers are good haven't heard the others thought

 

[SilverBlade]

only one person?

 

[logwed]

DACMagic is well-regarded here. I hope to be purchasing one in the not-so-distant future, but school has me in a bit of a bind at the moment.

 

[tfarney]

I haven't heard those little KRKs, but the company has a good rep and I'm a big believer in active speakers. If they're properly designed and executed, you'll get much better driver control, resulting in lower distortion, greater clarity, faster response, tighter bass, etc. Some small studio monitors deliberately exaggerate the highs to simulate "detail" and/or the mid bass to create the illusion of extension that their small midbass drivers aren't capable of. Those that that don't, and use quality components can be very difficult to equal in their price range.

p

 

[Pepsi]

Quote:

Originally Posted by logwed /img/forum/go_quote.gif DACMagic is well-regarded here. I hope to be purchasing one in the not-so-distant future, but school has me in a bit of a bind at the moment.

I used to own this, it's a great dac. For my tastes i did like how it sounded, but i am firm believer in only your ears can tell what you like, so that's as far as i'll go with how it sounds. Unfortunately i can only help you thus far since i haven't auditioned the other equipment yet. Good Luck.

 

[SilverBlade]

will the MON800 have enough power to drive the KRK's as a preamp/volume control?

 

[Kaizor]

I am not personally familiar with the sound of the specific products you mentioned but I've had a setup similar in spirit to yours for a couple years. I have a benchmark dac1 feeding a pair of mackie hr824s. I think this kind of setup does a lot of things really well. Some things that it does not do well in my experience is sound staging (sound stage is I think limited by the fact that the monitors are near-field) and my setup in particular can get quite fatiguing after a couple hours. I think that might be due to the tendency of the dac1 to be a harsh and analytic though so maybe you won't run into that.