Ok, headphones are cute. But how do I listen to LOUD music?
Well first things first. I need a source. Historically I’ve had mixing boards on my desk with loads of sources (computer, cdplayer, ipod, guitar, guest ipod). I got rid of all that when I switched to a more audiophile approach. Right now I have only one source, my desktop. It’s clean, it’s simple, it sounds good. Laptops are fine, but if you really want control over your own computer you have to build your own. Thats what I did. A custom built desktop in an Antec Sonota II silent case. Everything is streamlined for low power, therefore low heat, therefore low fan settings. All the fans are 120mm. Larger fans circulate more air at lower RPM. You’ll notice there is a giant aftermarket CPU cooler (the brown fans). Total overkill for my use, but very very quiet. The loudest thing in there right now are the hard drives. If I want to get quieter I need to think about moving to a networked storage solution or a SSD.
I used to always run my source through an EQ in the analog domain. Every speaker + room combination has a few problems that can benefit from a little EQ. However I realized most EQs in my price range are either not precise enough, or convert the signal to digital to do the equalization, then back to analog. I really want to avoid an extra A-D conversion. So I kept looking.
The answer I found was a free windows plug-in called Equalizer APO
http://sourceforge.net/p/equalizerapo/wiki/Documentation/
I use it with Room EQ Wizard to analyze my sound, calculate filters, and EQ everything coming out of windows. This has the advantage of affecting absolutely everything I do. Itunes, movies, games, my DAW. The eq is set just for my speakers and my room. No need to adjust or play with it after its set. I may write a post on EQ later.
You may have noticed there is no sound card. I didn’t see a use for one so I pulled it out. My motherboard has Toslink optical out so I use optical to get out of my machine into my D-A. Optical has the additional advantage of being electronically isolated. There is no metal between my computer and my sound equipment. Makes a lot of audio problems like ground loops impossible, and has no coloration at all on the sound.
The optical cable goes into a Schiit Bifrost Uber digital to analog converter (bottom in the picture below). This a crucial piece of gear that takes the stream of bits from the computer, and converts that to an electrical signal that sound equipment can use. This was one of the last pieces of audio equipment I bought, its extremely hard to tell the difference between different models of these until you have high end speakers.
Next I need to control the volume. A D-A simply puts out a line level signal, no volume control. Which means if I directly attached it to speakers it would be extremely loud. I have a Schiit Asgard 2 (Top in the above picture) headphone amp pulling double duty for this. It is overkill for this purpose, but very necessary when using headphones. I’m paying more for flexibility since I sometimes use headphones, and I dont like connecting and reconnecting gear. It has the added benefit of muting my speakers when headphones are plugged into the front.
Of course the D-A needs to be connected to the volume knob. For this I use unbalanced RCA cables.
But aren’t balanced cables better? Yes, kinda, sometimes. Balanced cables are great for long runs, 25′ or more. For a 6′ run it would be very hard to tell the difference, for 6″ its nigh impossible. While balanced cables cost only slightly more, balanced connectors on audiophile equipment are more expensive to implement. Even my runs out to my speakers at 10′ are unbalanced, and the speakers even have a balanced input. In addition the the speakers I need to get signal to my sub. I do this through a $.50 RCA Y cable on the Asgard outputs. That way whenever I move the volume knob the sub’s volume is adjusted as well.
And finally we get to speakers!
I use Dynaudio BM5A MKIIs. Before you make fun of the “mark 2” let me tell you that yes I orginally had the mark 1s and yes I just had to upgrade. The difference between the two was slight though (and now they are on mk III). I chose these after long and careful consideration. I wanted a speaker with a flat frequency response and detail. I really like reverb tails and sense of space. I got the 5A rather than the 6A because I have no need of extreme volume. Even the 5As at 4′ go louder than I can stand (and I work in live audio). Wait, speakers, loud? I forgot to mention that these are powered speakers. Each are identical and have amps built right into the back so I can run signal from my volume knob straight into them. Self powered speakers have several advantages, no passive crossovers, and manufacturer designed driver amplifier pairings. It keeps things simple and sounds great.
Originally I had the BM5As on my desk. But I could never get them in quite the right spot. I ended up buying stands, and yes, they sound better. There was a not-unsubstantial improvement when I moved the speakers over to a dedicated stand.
Ontoward the subwoofer! Oh wait, whats this in-line with the sub? A ditial EQ!
I’m cheating here. If I dont like how the sub sounds I should move it in the room, then treat the room with sound absorbing products, then EQ the sub. Since I can’t do the first two (rental property) I had to compromise. The global EQ out of my desktop affects everything. This EQ only affects the sub. You can see I pulled down some of the upper bass, and put a big boost at 40hz. I love sub-bass frequencies. Its the first thing I listen for in a system. I’m also cheating with a digital EQ since the sub cannot produce any highs frequencies where artifacts are more audible. The EQ is a discontinued model by Phonic.
And finally, the subwoofer. A HSU Research STF-2.
Much more power than I need in a room this size, but I really want the bass to feel effortless. Subs pushed to their upper limits in volume start sounding different, like they are cutting corners trying to produce frequencies that low and that loud. The STF-2 is like having a sports car on residential streets, I can’t use all that max power, but I still have the acceleration and the fun. While researching this I really fell in love with HSU Research. They are a great company with extremely high value products for the price. The other sub I was considering was three times the price at a very similar sound quality.
And that all gives me this:
Happy listening!