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help finding some active speakers with S/PDIF input

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mkarikom

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Right at limit of OP's price range and certainly easier to use (and find, in light of recent shortages) than a Motu M2/pro monitor combo.
Thanks, I'm tempted to go with this for all reasons listed above.
Any reason to get one of the Kanto offerings (all seem to have DAC) over these Vanatoos? I noticed that both companies offer a sub (which I would def consider) but I did not see a crossover freq adjustment on the vanatoo
 

Dialectic

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Thanks, I'm tempted to go with this for all reasons listed above.
Any reason to get one of the Kanto offerings (all seem to have DAC) over these Vanatoos? I noticed that both companies offer a sub (which I would def consider) but I did not see a crossover freq adjustment on the vanatoo
I am not at all familiar with Kanto speakers. They may be very good, but it's difficult to know without independent measurements. They do look nice.

EDIT: I see Amir measured them. There are probably better options in your price range.
 
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GGroch

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The Amazon Echo Studio is a single smart speaker with Optical inputs. Nearly all of the Edifiers have optical but they are stereo pairs. Same with the Klipsch R-41pm and R-51pm, both recently discontinued but available at good prices.
 

WesParker

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Thanks, I'm tempted to go with this for all reasons listed above.
Any reason to get one of the Kanto offerings (all seem to have DAC) over these Vanatoos? I noticed that both companies offer a sub (which I would def consider) but I did not see a crossover freq adjustment on the vanatoo

The Vanatoo have a full digital dsp/EQ network for woofer and tweeter (4 amp channels) for the stereo pair. The speakers come with 2 different eq profiles depending on if connected to a subwoofer. There is no freq cutoff adjustment, but there is level control for the sub channel (within the speakers). I don’t have anything super nice to compare them to, but I’ve heard Kantu YU6s w/o a sub in a different environment (so take it with a grain of salt), but I would never trade my Vanatoo T1Es for them. There are B-stock T1Es ($500) usually readily available from Vanatoo. I bought mine from Amazon warehouse for even less than B-stock. Mine were indistinguishable from new but YMMV.
 

Mynice

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Thanks, I'm tempted to go with this for all reasons listed above.
Any reason to get one of the Kanto offerings (all seem to have DAC) over these Vanatoos? I noticed that both companies offer a sub (which I would def consider) but I did not see a crossover freq adjustment on the vanatoo

I have Kantos but not Vanatoos.

The Kantos are very, very transparent - they really disappear. That's my favourite feature. They are also very fully featured and you have lots of options with them, which is very handy. They are just really nice speakers. There are different models in different price ranges and I imagine overall performance is relative to the price, like everything else in the audio world. I haven't heard them all. I am sure you can find something you like in their range of options.

Plus, they come in lots of colours and are pretty to look at.
 
OP
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mkarikom

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Monkey Banana (DE) Turbo 4, 5, 6, 8 and Baboon 6 all have SPDIF input + pass-through.

Detailbild_Turbo4_3.jpg


Depends on your country’s pricing but maybe you can find one out of those 5 options.

- Turbo 4
- Turbo 5
- Turbo 6
- Turbo 8

- Baboon 6
wow, how did i miss this? not only do they have input for my digital transport (my real focus here is to turn my apt into a live-in lab for homebrew dsp), but also balanced analog inputs, and at a price comparable to the vanatoos!

why have these not been measured here!?!
 

mononoaware

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wow, how did i miss this? not only do they have input for my digital transport (my real focus here is to turn my apt into a live-in lab for homebrew dsp), but also balanced analog inputs, and at a price comparable to the vanatoos!

why have these not been measured here!?!

The flashy colors, naming and marketing maybe turns customers away.
(Possibly they prefer something with more “professional” aesthetic).
Very little feedback (good or bad) on any of the models, usually just means they are an unpopular product.
 

Zooqu1ko

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A "pair" of second hand Genelec 2029 would be in the desired price range - but that's actually a 2029 with a builtin 2 channel DAC, 1 analog out and a 1029 connected via its analog in.
 
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