Stereodude
Not really a
Previously, I wanted better audio from my laptop at work for headphone since I was not happy with the headphone output from my Lenovo T410. There is a thread about it.
More recently I decided I wanted some speakers to put on my desk at work for music listening without headphones when staying late plus the ability to have decent volume and clarity for those times you've got a few people crowded around the PC checking something out instead of using crappy laptop speakers. Not being someone who does things halfheartedly or on the cheap I set out on a quest to find a very good quality small pair of passive speakers that are optimized for nearfield listening without a subwoofer. I hoped to use a small amplifier I already had that was collecting dust with the Aune Mini USB DAC / Headphone Amp I bought last go around (since it has a line-out). Unfortunately, I had forgotten that the amplifier was collecting dust because it is a piece of crap. That minor detail was brought back to light during my speaker search.
Based on recommendations and reviews, and in contrast to some of my original criteria, I decided to get the Emotiva Pro Airmotiv 4 speakers.
As you can see from the picture they've active speakers rather than passive speakers. Unlike typical 2.0 PC speakers where there is an amplifier module in one speaker and a connected passive 2nd speaker each Airmotiv 4 has a 2 channel amplifier in it (powering the midwoofer and tweeter separately) and an active crossover. Unfortunately, this means that each speaker has its own volume/gain knob and there's no way to link them. Since the Aune Mini USB DAC / Headphone Amp has a fixed level line output this leaves me without a unified way to control the volume. The Windows mixer wasn't an option because it mangles the audio plus relying on the PC to control volume is risky if an application spikes the volume on you. I wasn't going to plug the speakers into the headphone output so that meant I needed another piece of equipment. I could have gotten a pre-amp of some sort, but nothing jumped out at me in my brief search, and it didn't really tickle my fancy to further clutter my desk with another piece of audio gear.
Instead, I decided to get a USB DAC / Heaphone Amp with a variable line-out. That makes it a USB DAC + Pre-amp / Headphone Amp. I took a look at the newer Aune X1 Mini DAC which had the right features, but I had concerns it would hiss like the previous one and need modification(s). Since I was very happy with the Audio-gd NFB-10SE I got for home listening (there's a thread for that), I decided to check out what Audio-gd had that might fit the bill in a smaller package and at a lower cost than the NFB-10SE. I found the NFB-15.1 and liked what I saw.
It had all the features I wanted and even uses Asynchronous USB audio transfer mode instead of the more common synchronous mode. Basically it means the USB device doesn't rely on any clocks from the PC, but rather uses only the clock in the DAC to control how quickly data is sent from the PC to the USB chip. This is supposed to mean lower jitter and better sound.
Over the last two days I received the NFB-15.1 and the Airmotiv 4 speakers. Friday I brought them both to work and set them up on my desk. My coworkers were very impressed with the sound of the Airmotiv 4 speakers. One of them wanted to know where the subwoofer was. :scratch: I must say that sitting nearfield the Airmotiv speakers sound very very good. Even I was a little surprised by the sound quality. The folded ribbon tweeter is fantastic. The Audio-gd NFB-15.1 is also very slick. There's no background hiss even with very sensitive IEMs. It sounds very good. The leftmost switch changes whether the headphones get audio via the internal amp or whether the speakers get sound via the RCA jacks on the back so you can switch on the fly (only one output is active at the time). Everything I wanted in a small fairly simple with box with great sound quality.
Overall, I'd call this "project" a success. :mrgrn:
Cliffs:
More recently I decided I wanted some speakers to put on my desk at work for music listening without headphones when staying late plus the ability to have decent volume and clarity for those times you've got a few people crowded around the PC checking something out instead of using crappy laptop speakers. Not being someone who does things halfheartedly or on the cheap I set out on a quest to find a very good quality small pair of passive speakers that are optimized for nearfield listening without a subwoofer. I hoped to use a small amplifier I already had that was collecting dust with the Aune Mini USB DAC / Headphone Amp I bought last go around (since it has a line-out). Unfortunately, I had forgotten that the amplifier was collecting dust because it is a piece of crap. That minor detail was brought back to light during my speaker search.
Based on recommendations and reviews, and in contrast to some of my original criteria, I decided to get the Emotiva Pro Airmotiv 4 speakers.
As you can see from the picture they've active speakers rather than passive speakers. Unlike typical 2.0 PC speakers where there is an amplifier module in one speaker and a connected passive 2nd speaker each Airmotiv 4 has a 2 channel amplifier in it (powering the midwoofer and tweeter separately) and an active crossover. Unfortunately, this means that each speaker has its own volume/gain knob and there's no way to link them. Since the Aune Mini USB DAC / Headphone Amp has a fixed level line output this leaves me without a unified way to control the volume. The Windows mixer wasn't an option because it mangles the audio plus relying on the PC to control volume is risky if an application spikes the volume on you. I wasn't going to plug the speakers into the headphone output so that meant I needed another piece of equipment. I could have gotten a pre-amp of some sort, but nothing jumped out at me in my brief search, and it didn't really tickle my fancy to further clutter my desk with another piece of audio gear.
Instead, I decided to get a USB DAC / Heaphone Amp with a variable line-out. That makes it a USB DAC + Pre-amp / Headphone Amp. I took a look at the newer Aune X1 Mini DAC which had the right features, but I had concerns it would hiss like the previous one and need modification(s). Since I was very happy with the Audio-gd NFB-10SE I got for home listening (there's a thread for that), I decided to check out what Audio-gd had that might fit the bill in a smaller package and at a lower cost than the NFB-10SE. I found the NFB-15.1 and liked what I saw.
It had all the features I wanted and even uses Asynchronous USB audio transfer mode instead of the more common synchronous mode. Basically it means the USB device doesn't rely on any clocks from the PC, but rather uses only the clock in the DAC to control how quickly data is sent from the PC to the USB chip. This is supposed to mean lower jitter and better sound.
Over the last two days I received the NFB-15.1 and the Airmotiv 4 speakers. Friday I brought them both to work and set them up on my desk. My coworkers were very impressed with the sound of the Airmotiv 4 speakers. One of them wanted to know where the subwoofer was. :scratch: I must say that sitting nearfield the Airmotiv speakers sound very very good. Even I was a little surprised by the sound quality. The folded ribbon tweeter is fantastic. The Audio-gd NFB-15.1 is also very slick. There's no background hiss even with very sensitive IEMs. It sounds very good. The leftmost switch changes whether the headphones get audio via the internal amp or whether the speakers get sound via the RCA jacks on the back so you can switch on the fly (only one output is active at the time). Everything I wanted in a small fairly simple with box with great sound quality.
Overall, I'd call this "project" a success. :mrgrn:
Cliffs:
- Spent $619 on audio gear for my desk at work because I'm nuts
- Enjoying it
