[TLN]

Hello.
 
Looking forward to update my setup. Currently I have Audinst MX-1 USB DAC, JBL LSR 305 Speakers, and AKG K271 Studio phones.
I was missing hifi sounds, cause speakers and phones are studio monitors. Recently I've pulled a trigger on nice DALI Zensor 1 speakers. I know some will recommend Zensor 3 or going with floorstanding model, but think this will be fine for now. DALI's are same 5" woofer as my LSR305, but slightly smaller. That gonna save me some space on my desk.
 
What I need:
USB Input.
Nice headphone amp WIll get DT1990 most likely.
Speaker amp output.
Bluetooth - not a requirement, but most of the models have it.
 
What I want:
Network connectivity.
Line in and Line out, sub out - all that not neccessary, but would be nice to have.
 
Candidates:
Sony UDA-1.
Teac AL-301
Teac AL-501
Emotiva TA-100
ELAC Element
PS Audio Sprout.
Peachtree Audio
 
And I always have an option of buying a separate amp and using with my own DAC.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLN /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

DALI's are same 5" woofer as my LSR305, but slightly smaller. That gonna save me some space on my desk.

 

You'll have to put the amp elsewhere on the desk though, which will still take the place of the preamp. 

And just note that you won't be getting the same bi-amp architecture as on studio monitors, even with two amps, since they won't have an active crossover distributing the freqs before the amp, and coupled with the cabinet deisgn, might not have the same kind of bass you might be used to from the monitors. You can't use the separate gain control on the tweeter amps to balance out the sound as you prefer with passive speakers unless it's a car system with a high-tech DSP and one channel for each tweeter, each midwoofer, and the sub.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLN /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

What I need:

USB Input.

Nice headphone amp WIll get DT1990 most likely.

Speaker amp output.

Bluetooth - not a requirement, but most of the models have it.

 

This can be a little bit of a problem. One box systems typically will either be good headphone amps or good speaker amps, not both, until you start spending a lot more and getting something likely too large for a desk set up, like AudioGD's Precision 1 and 2, and the Caying CS-55a. And of those three only the Cayin has a DAC.

 

The 250ohm impedance of the DT1990 would avoid output impedance issues on speaker amp designs though, so as long as you only use 120ohm to 300ohm headphones with high enough efficiency (the high efficiency of the T1 sometimes cannot allow some amps to overcome the 600ohm impedance for example), you shouldn't have any problems.

 

Look into the NAD D7050 - apart from the question of how it will do with low impedance, low efficiency loads (or how much less it is on other headphones vs a good amp in the same price range - it ticks all those boxes.

 

 

 

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLN /img/forum/go_quote.gif

 

What I want:

Network connectivity.

Line in and Line out, sub out - all that not neccessary, but would be nice to have.

 

D7050 has a sub output but not network.

 

If you need the network capability you'd have to go with larger Neetwork Receivers, but I'd trust the headphone amps in those less than the NADs (D7050 and D3020).

 

[TLN]

Since it will be connected to my PC 24/7 I can stream to PC, which is pretty much the same.
I've listed all the devices that hits all the boxes: amp, headphone amp and dac.
If you look the other way: how does USB connection compares to optical? Any advantages/disadvantages?
I can buy network receiver and plug my PC via optical cable. Does it makes any sense with USB connection? Pioneer recently released Sx-n30 receiver which is 85W amp, network receiver and it have optical input.

 

[ProtegeManiac]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLN /img/forum/go_quote.gif

If you look the other way: how does USB connection compares to optical? Any advantages/disadvantages?

 

USB is more problematic for software but it has higher bandwidth, so if you get anything that works with DSD, you can stream that.

 

Quote:

Originally Posted by TLN /img/forum/go_quote.gif

I can buy network receiver and plug my PC via optical cable. Does it makes any sense with USB connection? Pioneer recently released Sx-n30 receiver which is 85W amp, network receiver and it have optical input.

 

I wouldn't really trust the headphone amp in that unless I can listen to it first. Speaker gear manufacturers are notorious for decades of denying that 32ohm Grados exist and are the more likely headphone backups of those with speaker systems.

 

[obobskivich]

USB connection means the device is a soundcard (more specifically that it's an audio controller), not a DAC; TOSlink means the device is a DAC and needs to source the signal from a soundcard (more specifically from an audio controller). Really just comes down to how you want to do things - usually USB-based solutions are pretty generic in terms of functionality (a lot of them just rely on generic USB Audio drivers), but more consistent in terms of what functionality they do offer (that's the "pro" to relying on generic drivers - they're well tested and well supported). Devices sold as "soundcards" that provide the TOSlink output (e.g. a lot of modern integrated audio solutions, or commercial products like Sound Blaster) generally offer significantly more features in their proprietary driver/software packages, but with that, can potentially offer more headaches too. If you just need basic stereo audio, it probably doesn't matter either way, but if you want more functionality, its worth thinking about this more (the computer involved is also going to play a big part in this discussion - what operating system does it have, what kind of expansion options does it have, etc).

As far as "what's the best way to hook this up" - there's really endless options, as you're running into. Desktop audio solutions are newer and less diverse than more conventional "2 channel" options, but that doesn't mean they're doomed to be bad or anything. A lot of them will rely on switching amplifiers (and some people have an absolute fit about this; for most of us it isn't a problem one way or another), which necessitates the headphone amplifier being a separate circuit (most switching amplifiers (e.g. Class D, Tripath, BASH, etc) won't tolerate being bridged to SE output) - usually an opamp or IC chipamp. Again, not the end of the world, but it may limit your options if you need "lots" of output power (e.g. for insensitive planars or transformer-coupled electrostats) - for conventional dynamic headphones its probably fine enough.

Going the "receiver" route will likely get you into more robust amplification (bigger box lets you have bigger power supply and more cooling), which may or may not be important (your speakers' impedance and sensitivity should be part of this discussion). As far as the headphone jack from these devices, it can go the route of the "desktop audio" boxes (e.g. separate circuit) or it can be run off of the "main" amplifier via a resistor network (to bring the signal down to something safe, and in accordance with the IEC specification for headphone output - it has nothing to do with "denying the existence of Grados" and the whole "rule of 1/8" and other similar arguments are wholly too over-generalized to be of any material value). Both have pros and cons, and manufacturers are generally not very forthcoming with how things are wired up these days. In terms of compatibility it should not have a problem with conventional dynamic headphone headphones, but again may not love being hooked up to really power hungry headphones.

All of the above is looking at things in terms of "will this work if plugged together" - discussions about synergy or component selection along subjective lines ultimately require you to listen to the gear and make up your own mind. I'm not saying this is a "bad" situation - ultimately it's the "fun" part of the hobby imho. But getting things to actually work together is probably the right place to start, especially if you can't go and demo a lot of gear.

 

[god-bluff]

Quad Vena
Cyrus One (Bluetooth only)
Denon PMA50
Marantz HD-AMP1

Edit. By the way these are first and foremost integrated amps (as opposed to 'dac with amp' ?!?) They have features including USB DAC and / or Bluetooth, dedicated headphone amplifiers plus in a couple of cases; phono stages.

All excellent I believe the Denon being the cheap option

 

[FumblingFoo]

You can go for the Schiit Ragnarok @ up to 100w / channel speaker and headphone amp. A bit pricey though.

http://schiit.com/products/ragnarok

 

[TLN]

Quad Vena
Cyrus One (Bluetooth only)
Denon PMA50
Marantz HD-AMP1

Edit. By the way these are first and foremost integrated amps (as opposed to 'dac with amp' ?!?) They have features including USB DAC and / or Bluetooth, dedicated headphone amplifiers plus in a couple of cases; phono stages.

All excellent I believe the Denon being the cheap option

 
You can see many others in same category:
Emotiva TA-100
ELAC Element.
Sony UDA-1
NAD 3020.
PS Audio Sprout
 
Personally, I'm leaning towards NAD D3020: it's small, it have all the features I need. Same for Sony UDA-1. Both can be found for relatively cheap money.
Second is PS Audio Sprout. It might have better quality. 
ELAC and Emotiva are relatively new amps. Emotiva looks very very good, especially with all the features.

 

[god-bluff]

Yes you'd already mentioned those. These were just alternatives you might consider.

Sounds like you have already decided and I'm not quite sure why you posted the question but nevermind

 

[god-bluff]

I'd have the Denon by way.

It's a lovely thing and great value (With matching CD player in my case) Hopefully quite soon

 

[TLN]

I wanted some feeback on those units. And I got a question about optical input/SPDIF. I will have the soundcard in my workstation, Realtek® ALC1150, which is something pretty basic.
Another question is headphone AMP. I don't feel like I want another separate box for headphones.