The All Purpose Advice Thread - Part 2

That level of low volume performance is exactly what I'm after, thank you for confirming and for sharing your experiences.

I do anticipate a significant change with the Lyr, and I welcome it based on what I've been reading so far. My previous amps (Valhalla V1, Grado RA1, Headroom Total Airhead) all had quirks that I was able to live with, so I don't think a product like the Lyr will be difficult to adjust to.

Do you know if the preamp output button on the Lyr will enable preamp output regardless of whether or not something is plugged into the 1/4" jack? I would love to not have to unplug my headphones every time I want to listen to my speakers, and I hope that's how the Lyr works.

 

I only ever use mine as a headphone amplifier, and while I do have active speakers at home they're in a completely different room so I can't easily test with that, though I suppose I could just put the Lyr between my MMB2 and Magni Piety. Either way I'm travelling so won't be able to test for a few days, hopefully someone else can chime in!

 

I was able to find a review which details how the function works. When the preamp light is on, the pre-out is active regardless of what's plugged in elsewhere.

 

Thanks! I got a Syn when owner of schiit listing here hadn't yet replied just now, but second-guessing it.
Maybe they'll respond and I can still get the Piety at least or something...

Perhaps I should have spent an extra $100 or so on the Mimir + Forkbeard instead, with a warranty, (349+tx and shipping)?

I found the bstock page where Schiit has a black Syn for $289 but the one off ebay is like-new from a highly rated seller for $283 after tax and shipped.

I noticed the multibit on last call also and seen that mentioned often.

Halp...

On the Syn, would the surround outs be for side left and right or back left and right by default?

 

Lots of folks do love the MMB2 but it comes with its fair share of caveats, not the least of which being that preferences will always matter. There's already a good comparison between it and the Mimir here (https://www.superbestaudiofriends.o...-and-forkbeard-dac-preview.15060/#post-443670) but I feel like the main distinguishing factor is going to be the quality of life stuff.

Syn ought be a good thing to stick with for a bit though. Usual advice around here is to really get to know what you already have, stick with it for a bit to develop a frame of reference, and then make comparative evaluations with other things if you ever feel the need to change anything out-- path of change informed thereby.

No clue if the surround's side or back left/right, I'm strictly a personal audio nerd who knows nothing about home theatre so hopefully someone else chimes in. Piety is good fun but it's also pretty polarising if you read around, great thing to get a taste of what good imaging and midrange can be like though (and I feel like the way the treble is sizzly might actually complement the zing of Beyers, haven't tested for myself yet).

 

Speakers are beyond my ken for the most part (hell I got the Kali LP-8s for family use and we all know those are the worst of the lot ) but I've got a friend who's asking for advice. Their budget is USD1,500-2k at absolute most, ideally under, and they're based in some midwestern state from what I can tell. They're ridiculously paranoid about personal info so that's the best I got.

The main thing they're wanting is something significantly better than the Yamaha HS-8 at the sub-$2k price point. They're looking for something very flat in frequency response that resolves well and has zero hiss (the latter is a complaint they have with their HS-8). I remember that they have a treated space but nature of treatment and room dimensions escape them just now.

Actives or passive systems okay, no preference for either as long as it sounds "good" and fits the above criteria for sound. Context, they run HFM Sundaras with a THX789 and are perfectly happy with that as far as I can tell. For whatever reason they're capping speakers size at 8in or less, so BWC need not apply sadly.

 

What is the rest of their system...... There are a bunch of options at that price point! B&W, Monitor, KEF, Revel. And those are the name brand slutty choices off the top of my head. Safe to assume bookshelves? Or are they only looking for a "true" studio monitor?
Edited to say: totem also...

 

From memory they're running one of those MOTU M4 interfaces that were pretty well liked here, but besides that and the headphone rig (they also have HD600s I believe, just that they prefer the Sundaras-- eww I know) they just have recording equipment that's not got anything to do with playback. I asked them for room measurements but eh, nothing so far.

Edit, an update from them:

"By rough estimates, 11 x 10 ft.

And roughly 2/3rds of the room is treated with producer's choice sound blankets. Top middle as stated earlier, and placed on my desk with isolation pads and a deskmat to reduce reflections"

 

Well, bummer. The eBayer either forgot to or intentionally did not include in their advertisement that it was missing its remote control. Or forgot to include it in package.

Gonna attempt to return it because I have no idea what Schiit will want to charge me to ship a shitty remote, which may be fine because the thing disables speaker output when you plug in headphones, probably due to its debatably useful features for either speakers or headphones depending. And apparently surround left and right is only back left and right as opposed to side left and right. Which makes more sense. I imagine those are added in 7.1 systems.

Don't really care how it sounds at the moment, unfortunately, but gonna listen just to hear the difference from same EQ. It obviously sounds entirely better but that's not all I am looking for. Still have to use the Radial J+4 to get RCA into my 306ps also.

Feeling like just a modi magni or something would have been a better idea. I dunno. The surround sound part and mic port might be nice later but don't really need them. Mimir seems like it would have been a better, more expensive idea, but then I could sell the J+4 or rent it out or something.

The Topping even without its remote at least lets me use both outputs at once in one mode instead of just phones or monitors despite it sounding shitty. I just don't want to constantly be plugging and unplugging. I do enough of this at work. I feel like this is why I got rid of my previous Schiit products. Missing just like the simplest of features.

 

Philharmonic Ceramic Minis got a favorable review from Erin's Audio and are 1/2 that. Upshot of the review is that there have their limitations in terms of output and bass (same as any bookshelf); still a great buy (I have the BMR Monitors which are just about perfect IMO )

Another option is the Totem Loon, similar price. I've heard various Totems and own a Tribe II so I trust they'd do a good job with the Loon.

I have some Vienna Acoustics Waltz (on-walls) that sound very good, "musical" not neutral that I would be happy to send off for way less than that. (I mean, WAY less )

I also own so B&W M2 (not too good) and Fyne F300(?). Those sound ok but a bit muffled - maybe the bigger Fynes sound better?

 

So strict studio monitor! Where is that Satanic Cliff Claven at?

 

@Lyander
Sounds like they have a foot in the recording game. Might as well stick with pro stuff like a Neumann KH120 or Genelec 8030. Maybe they'd be able to find Focal Solo on sale to fit within budget.

 

I've read any number of reviews of the HEDD Type 07 2-way powered studio monitors. They've been around for 7-8 years, now up to Mk2. I don't ever recall reading about hiss in reviews or user comments, so apparently it's not a thing with these powered monitors. They are fairly often described as one of the few true studio monitors that can be enjoyed for music appreciation as well as professional applications.

Here's a demo pair for under your friend's top budget number:
https://vintageking.com/hedd-type-0...HDul6rIBojqMjI9hTUcypF9nPhzmaqxMaAkqrEALw_wcB

And here's a review of them. Notice the highly unusual feature of this monitor being easily convertible from ported to closed (acoustic suspension) -- it's not unheard of, but I've never seen a powered studio monitor that offers it:

https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/hedd-type-07-mk2

Another article that talks about living with these studio monitors in a home/audiophile listening environment:

https://www.klauseulenbach.de/2021/04/11/hedd-type-07-mk2/

The last thing I need is another pair of speakers--but these things really interest me.

Oops ... just reading some user comments about the MK2s and see several comments about noticeable self-noise. So maybe despite all the novel features and nice sound, these might have too much hiss. Damn.

 

Ahh that's crap, definitely wasn't cool of the vendor to do that but wouldn't you have guaranteed recourse if the item arrived not as described? Pretty sure eBay can play intermediary there. Either way the remotes look to be about USD18 each before shipping so depending on whereabouts you are might be something in the neighbourhood of sub-$40 all told to get one, which is hardly great value yeah so seeking that return is likely your best bet.

This came up earlier on in another thread (the WiiM one) but quality of life features can definitely push things one way or the other moreso than absolute sound quality. Either way, hope you get an easy solution that sounds better but mainly is a better ergonomic fit.

 

I met them in a recording-oriented online space yeah, but they don't actually use their recording gear for anything mission critical, just something they have that's nice. I've been trying to get them into the audio playback nerd rabbit hole just to kick up some chaos ergo me personally hoping for passive speakers to trigger nervosa

I suggested some of those Fostex DIY kits cuz I still remain baffled (ha ha) at how good they sound, plus the lower cost leaves a lot of headroom for nice amplification. No clue if they measure flat (probably not), though; the Neumann thing is ridiculously linear.

The wall-mounts are a no go, they need desk mount, but now I'm curious to see if I can't demo a pair of those myself cuz I don't think I've ever really listened to in-wall speakers before. The Philharmonic Ceramic Minis, I'm suggesting as something for them to demo as able, just need to pair with a sub I suppose to fill in the bottom octave?

Ahh damn they look perfect elsewise! Shame. I do wonder at why active monitors seem often plagued with hiss issues.

 

Hi all, I would like input on adding nearfields to my desk I have a wife now, and a baby on the way, and so it's time to dip my toes in the 2-channel world.

This will involve two upgrades:
A) replacing MJ3 with an amp that has speaker taps
B) buying the nearfields

In terms of my goals here, I want transparency, resolution, dynamics above all else. Then second to that, all the holography category: imaging, layering, presence etc. Wetness, liquidity and other "intangibles" are all nice-to-haves, but no must-haves for me here.

For the amp, I am eyeing mostly EC amps in the 2k to 3k range that will play nice with my modded HD800 and my Yggdrasil GS. I am very capable of tuning the HD800 and have lots of experience modding it, so the "FR" of the amp is not a priority, hence why I am not simply asking in the "Amps for the HD800" thread. Mostly I only care about the technicalities of the amp. Right now, my MJ3 feels dynamically compressed, slightly dark, and slightly slow. I would love to see if I can lift a veil off the music with an endgame tube amp. For this reason I would not necessarily choose the 2a3 mkIV over the 4-45, for example. Or the Studio-M over the Studio-T. I can easily imagine myself liking the dry and transparent presentations instead.

I have a second point of concern with the amp, which revolves around having balanced inputs instead of just SE inputs for use with Yggdrasil. Should I factor this in? I think the Balancing Act and Aficionado have the necessary input transformers? A third query I have is whether amps like the ZDT actually have balanced headphone drive, or if it's just a connector for convenience. I would love to know what you all recommend. (ZDT and Studio B currently available here on sbaf)

For the nearfields I am considering the GR-Research LGK 2.0 or a pair of Omega Super Alnico Monitors, for example. Though, something smaller would work too. I have very little experience with speakers, and almost no points of comparison, but would love to have the transparency, detail and clarity of my HD800 in a single-wideband-driver speaker form factor so I can listen with my wife and child sometimes.

Many thanks

 

My new work PC (Lenovo ThinkStation P3) - does not have a traditional Coaxial or Optical output.

Any suggestions for a usb to optical/coax ? I've been looking at the S.M.S.L PO100, but I don't know what's all out there.

https://www.amazon.com/PO100-Optica...l-shoppingads-lpcontext&ref_=fplfs&gQT=1&th=1

Ninja Edit - Don't say Eitr or other out of production items please.

 

Haven't tried this one myself, but it's been mentioned by a couple of people here:

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B08HN3VSF8

 

@darmok posted some positive stuff about the ddHiFi TC100S a few months ago on his profile

 

What do y'all think of this?

https://www.canuckaudiomart.com/details/650050902-triad-cinema-reference-series-lcr-2-pair/

more info: https://www.snapav.com/shop/en/snapav/TC-CIN-91006-4002-1

On paper, I like all the aspects of it. Ribbon on a waveguide, dual MTM 8's for mids, sealed 15 for bass that rolls below 80Hz so I'd assume it's optimized for upper bass and assumes a sub will be added for the low end. Very high sensitivity at 98dB and max 127 dB so it's got headroom to spare.