Adam S2V Studio Monitor Review

[Deleted member 12179]

Not sure but this reviewed monitor also has USB input which I suppose can avoid inbuilt ADC.
- - - - - -
Didn't knew some Linn and Naim had external crossover. Had heard about JBL M2 and was my dream system posted here (though I wrote it in jest as I cant afford it )
Best regards

that's what I thought initially, but as already mentioned, that usb port is for "service", I guess firmware updates, or setup or stuff like that. Still they have digital input via that AES protocol.

 

[Deleted member 12179]

What are you driving with said DACs, and what are the differences you hear?

My intuition is that you're actually comparing the analog output stages, not the conversion. If you are driving headphones, the issue may be output impedance.

Well, maybe. I tested that and did the test with my active monitors with matched level of course. Now, if the difference I could tell was because of the analog part of the dac, I really do not know where the difference came from, I do know that there was a clear difference. The DELL monitor DAC and the macbook dac, both sounded like more flat, less airy, less instrument separation. I tested it with several 1411kbs cd quality flac files. Me and a friend not audiophile at all. Over the same part of a track, after several repetitions, the dell monitor dac was better than the macbook 3.5mm output, clearly after several repeated A/B tests. Then the khadas sounded better than the dell monitor dac after same repeated tests. Khadas sounded more clean, the others sounded more like my cheapest pci soundblaster from 2001, playing mp3 files with 100€ 5.1 system from 2001. We noticed the difference. Also, as far as I know/knew, laptop output is generally very bad, not that you can believe anything from the internet nowadays, but we noticed it.

 

[Juhazi]

Lolito, did you measure line output signals? Did you check all settings of soundcards?
You were not comparing only dacs!

 

[Deleted member 12179]

Lolito, did you measure line output signals? Did you check all settings of soundcards?
You were not comparing only dacs!

A bit tired of this already. Used the same speaker system at the same volumen with the same connection for the test. Levels were matched from the dacs, settings checked, both at sample rate well over required. It sounded different when playing the same part of tracks at the same level. But hey, sorry to tell you they sounded different, I apologise. I will get the whip right now and whip myself for the blasphemy. Fucking nerds, it's so hard to understand really? the fucking macbook 3.5mm output, the fucking dell monitor dac and the fucking khadas fucking dac they sound fucking different, no matter if you believe it or not. You gotta pay attention and repeat and then you notice it sounds different, blind tested yes. Fucking jesus nerds.

Why it sounded different, I do not fucking know. Probably the macbook output it's full of electronics inside the macbook and that si why, then the dell dac probably extremely small tiny and not that that good as a khadas.

 

[Juhazi]

So, I read that you "answer" no, you didn't measure the output signal's frequency response, noise level or distortion, only spl level somehow. That means you were comparing devices that have a DACs inside, as well as output buffers and amplifiers. So, there are many other possible sources for different sound than the dac chips.

https://www.soundonsound.com/techniques/testing-pc-soundcard-audio-performance

About active speakers with integrated ADC/DSP/DAC chips and amps, the name and type of dac chip is contributing to maximally a miniscule part of sound. Loudspeaker physical design, driver units, crossover implementation and quality of assembly make the sound. Even having an AB class amp for the tweeter is controversial outside of measurements!

By the way Genelec uses AB amps for tweeters in some models. Chip models or even manufacturer are not revealed, neither do others mention those. Why do they think it is irrelevant?
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/adam-audio-s3v
https://www.soundonsound.com/reviews/genelec-ones

 

[Deleted member 12179]

fucking jesus

 

[BDWoody]

Heh, 2/10, trolling was an art in my days.

Well spotted...

 

[Juhazi]

fucking jesus

I didn't know Jesus was your dad!

 

[Stephan]

Can the driver be rotated by 90 degrees to flip h/v dispersion, so it could be mounted sideways? Thinking about using these as Atmos ceiling speakers and that way, mounting would be easier.

 

[PresbyByrd]

Can the driver be rotated by 90 degrees to flip h/v dispersion, so it could be mounted sideways? Thinking about using these as Atmos ceiling speakers and that way, mounting would be easier.

Sorry, no.

 

[Stephan]

Sorry, no.

Bummer.

Thank you for your answer. So I'll either have to figure out a way to make the mounting work or go somewhere else. Adam just seems to like very deep speakers. Wish they'd offer something with less depth like Genelec.

 

[Deleted member 12179]

Can the driver be rotated by 90 degrees to flip h/v dispersion, so it could be mounted sideways? Thinking about using these as Atmos ceiling speakers and that way, mounting would be easier.

I also wonder how this kind of treeble driver "difusor" works if the speaker is set horizontal. Other older Adam speakers, the more affordble X line has a very horizontal diffusion shape for the treeble driver, these newer models looks more horizontal friendly, but still. Maybe putting the adams horizontally is another blasphemy, probably. Still, for some people who are gonna use them as actual bookshelf speakers, with the cheaper X line or T line, would be good to know a bit about it.

 

[Juhazi]

If one puts a 2-way loudspeaker on it's side vertical off-axis response turns to horizontal - that's it! The problem then is summation/lobing of woofer and tweeter becoming more noticable. Tweeter driver's radiation pattern is practically the same, when it is square like in Adam. Two-way with dome tweeter has exactly same problem.

 

[andreasmaaan]

If one puts a 2-way loudspeaker on it's side vertical off-axis response turns to horizontal - that's it! The problem then is summation/lobing of woofer and tweeter becoming more noticable. Tweeter driver's radiation pattern is practically the same, when it is square like in Adam. Two-way with dome tweeter has exactly same problem.

Although the driver is square, the horn it is in is rectangular, so the vertical pattern is significantly narrower (and then there's the lobing, as you mentioned).

 

[Stephan]

Tweeter driver's radiation pattern is practically the same, when it is square like in Adam.

As pointed out above, it isn't. Vertically it's significantly narrower between ~1.8 kHz and 5kHz and and again above ~7kHz. The plots are on Adams website. I'm not sure how accurate they are, but it's what they supply. This probably isn't an issue when using them as monitors for a single person. But in a multichannel system as ceiling or height speakers, it could be problematic for mounting.

Other speaker manufacturers allow to rotate the tweeter or waveguide to compensate for it. And while the tweeter is removable on the S2V, on pictures it looks tiny bit asymmetrical (slightly more curvature on top and bottom?), which would prevent to rotate it 90 degrees, that's why I asked.

I'll have to put the data into a CAD software and see how much coverage of listening positions I can get either way and if it doesn't work, maybe look at dedicated ceiling speakers (Genelec AIC25?).

 

[andreasmaaan]

As pointed out above, it isn't. Vertically it's significantly narrower between ~1.8 kHz and 5kHz and and again above ~7kHz. The plots are on Adams website. I'm not sure how accurate they are, but it's what they supply. This probably isn't an issue when using them as monitors for a single person. But in a multichannel system as ceiling or height speakers, it could be problematic for mounting.

Other speaker manufacturers allow to rotate the tweeter or waveguide to compensate for it. And while the tweeter is removable on the S2V, on pictures it looks tiny bit asymmetrical (slightly more curvature on top and bottom?), which would prevent to rotate it 90 degrees, that's why I asked.

I'll have to put the data into a CAD software and see how much coverage of listening positions I can get either way and if it doesn't work, maybe look at dedicated ceiling speakers (Genelec AIC25?).

Wouldn't the lobing alone be a great enough concern to not try to do this, given there are coaxial options available of similar quality/price?

 

[Stephan]

Wouldn't the lobing alone be a great enough concern to not try to do this, given there are coaxial options available of similar quality/price?

Good question... I don't know. But I know that other manufacturers recommend doing it and Klaus Heinz said it would work for the S3A. Sure the S3A is a different speaker and I assume "work" means without causing any problems. But in the end, I don't know.

Though about coax, yes. Genelec 8331, but it's more expensive. Maybe KS Digital C5, maybe a non-active Ascendo CCM5 or CCRM6.

 

[andreasmaaan]

Good question... I don't know. But I know that other manufacturers recommend doing it and Klaus Heinz said it would work for the S3A. Sure the S3A is a different speaker and I assume "work" means without causing any problems. But in the end, I don't know.

Though about coax, yes. Genelec 8331, but it's more expensive. Maybe KS Digital C5, maybe a non-active Ascendo CCM5 or CCRM6.

KEF R3 I'd also put on the list for passives. And maybe to give a better picture you could draw a diagram illustrating what exactly you're aiming for?

 

[Senior NEET Engineer]

Hey @Ilkka Rissanen, send @amirm a pair of Genelec DSP speakers for testing, like for example 8341. Lets do this!?

Review coming soon

 

[Ilkless]

Good question... I don't know. But I know that other manufacturers recommend doing it and Klaus Heinz said it would work for the S3A. Sure the S3A is a different speaker and I assume "work" means without causing any problems. But in the end, I don't know.

Though about coax, yes. Genelec 8331, but it's more expensive. Maybe KS Digital C5, maybe a non-active Ascendo CCM5 or CCRM6.

The KSD C5-Reference is a good relatively cheap (now not so much with the Kali IN-8) active coax option but they tuned in a +4dB bass bump deliberately. I asked them about making a flat version but their reply was that it could be EQ'd out. Shame, because they took the SEAS coax as far as it would go otherwise, +/-1.5dB with time alignment and linear phase from 250Hz to 9kHz, and even higher if you ignore the 10kHz null.