Any small DAC's that can play 4 studio monitors?

[Joeyd33]

Soooo I just bought a pair of JBL 306s..I loved the 305s but returned them...bought the Kali 8v2's loved them but they are cold sounding..I found a great deal for 250 for some new JBL 306's and I couldn't pass that up.

I am looking at a DAC with volume for my Kalis right now, leaning towards the ZD3, but I was wondering, are there any DACS that can hook up 4 studio monitors? As I've mentioned 10000 tines in this forum I do movie nights with the nephews and do all sorts of sound setups (just bought the LED Ambilight for movies to see how they like it).

But I always wondered how movies would sound with Kali fronts and JBL rears. If I can't do this with a DAC that's fine, I am not looking into buying a reciever but just wanted to see if there was anything out there.

Also DAC wise, I'd love to find something warm sounding for the Kali (I've heard the ZD3 is warm sounding). Any suggestions, new or used I'd like to find something under 500 if its possible.

Also, would going all XLR eliminate a lot of the noise, especially with the JBL's?

Forgot to add, MUST have remote!

 

[DWPress]

Your best bet would be to use a 4ch interface like one from Motu, Focusrite, etc. Plenty of used ones out there and they use the same DAC chips as home audio typically.

Biggest concern might be how you do volume control.

 

[DVDdoug]

with Kali fronts and JBL rears

You can connect multiple active monitors with Y-splitters but very few stand alone DACs can decode surround sound, so the front and rear sound would be the same. (It's also helpful to have a center for the dialog, plus a subwoofer but that's another topic...)

But you can get 5.1 and 7.1 channel soundcards and your movie/video software should take care of the surround decoding. (But make sure the soundcard as actual separate connections... There are some cheap USB soundcards falsely advertised as "7.1 channel" but they just have one stereo output and the channels are downmixed to stereo.)

I'm not sure if you can use a multi-channel interface for regular "consumer surround". They are designed for audio production where routing is done through a DAW application.

And a "soundcard" won't usually have remote.

Also, would going all XLR eliminate a lot of the noise, especially with the JBL's?

It depends on what's causing the noise. If the noise doesn't go-away when you turn-down the volume on the monitor, that means it's being generated internally and different connections won't help. If you have ground-loop noise, or if noise is picked-up through the RCA wiring, yes, balanced connections should help.

 

[MAB]

Soooo I just bought a pair of JBL 306s..I loved the 305s but returned them...bought the Kali 8v2's loved them but they are cold sounding..I found a great deal for 250 for some new JBL 306's and I couldn't pass that up.

I am looking at a DAC with volume for my Kalis right now, leaning towards the ZD3, but I was wondering, are there any DACS that can hook up 4 studio monitors? As I've mentioned 10000 tines in this forum I do movie nights with the nephews and do all sorts of sound setups (just bought the LED Ambilight for movies to see how they like it).

But I always wondered how movies would sound with Kali fronts and JBL rears. If I can't do this with a DAC that's fine, I am not looking into buying a reciever but just wanted to see if there was anything out there.

Also DAC wise, I'd love to find something warm sounding for the Kali (I've heard the ZD3 is warm sounding). Any suggestions, new or used I'd like to find something under 500 if its possible.

Also, would going all XLR eliminate a lot of the noise, especially with the JBL's?

Forgot to add, MUST have remote!

If your Kali 8v2 have a particular sound, no DAC will change that unless it has EQ built in. The idea that DACs have a sound, and that they can compliment or somehow fix the sound of speakers and make them better is one of the big lies that the industry has profited from. Amir reviewed the ZD3, it is utterly transparent with razor flat frequency response, whoever told you it has a warm sound is wrong. You really should read the review rather than fall for the 'warm-DAC' trick.

If you want to play multiple speakers in stereo simultaneously just get a Y-splitter cable. Two pair per channel isn't to low impedance for most devices' output, but listen for distortion since I can't find the Kali's input impedance.

 

[Joeyd33]

Your best bet would be to use a 4ch interface like one from Motu, Focusrite, etc. Plenty of used ones out there and they use the same DAC chips as home audio typically.

Biggest concern might be how you do volume control.

Yeah volume control is the big problem. Like when I hook it up to the tv I used a converter box but the volume was still cranking out 100%. I even put a volume slider on the 3.5mm output and I still had the same problem.

 

[Roland68]

Soooo I just bought a pair of JBL 306s..I loved the 305s but returned them...bought the Kali 8v2's loved them but they are cold sounding..I found a great deal for 250 for some new JBL 306's and I couldn't pass that up.

I am looking at a DAC with volume for my Kalis right now, leaning towards the ZD3, but I was wondering, are there any DACS that can hook up 4 studio monitors? As I've mentioned 10000 tines in this forum I do movie nights with the nephews and do all sorts of sound setups (just bought the LED Ambilight for movies to see how they like it).

But I always wondered how movies would sound with Kali fronts and JBL rears. If I can't do this with a DAC that's fine, I am not looking into buying a reciever but just wanted to see if there was anything out there.

Also DAC wise, I'd love to find something warm sounding for the Kali (I've heard the ZD3 is warm sounding). Any suggestions, new or used I'd like to find something under 500 if its possible.

Also, would going all XLR eliminate a lot of the noise, especially with the JBL's?

Forgot to add, MUST have remote!

Without an AVR, you can't properly control the front and rear speakers. When watching movies with surround sound, the AVR distributes the signals to the different speakers with the correct time delay and volume. With standard DACs or multi-channel audio interfaces, you only have a stereo signal without the appropriate decoders, which you then distribute to the rear speakers. This is far from the sound quality of true surround sound.

With a standard DAC, you can simply use Y-cables to split each channel between two speakers.

 

[Joeyd33]

You can connect multiple active monitors with Y-splitters but very few stand alone DACs can decode surround sound, so the front and rear sound would be the same. (It's also helpful to have a center for the dialog, plus a subwoofer but that's another topic...)

But you can get 5.1 and 7.1 channel soundcards and your movie/video software should take care of the surround decoding. (But make sure the soundcard as actual separate connections... There are some cheap USB soundcards falsely advertised as "7.1 channel" but they just have one stereo output and the channels are downmixed to stereo.)

I'm not sure if you can use a multi-channel interface for regular "consumer surround". They are designed for audio production where routing is done through a DAW application.

And a "soundcard" won't usually have remote.


It depends on what's causing the noise. If the noise doesn't go-away when you turn-down the volume on the monitor, that means it's being generated internally and different connections won't help. If you have ground-loop noise, or if noise is picked-up through the RCA wiring, yes, balanced connections should help.

As far as subwoofer goes, I do not need a subwoofer, the Kalis and JBLs have all the bass I want. I also have tinnitus (not from hearing loss) so I am way more sensitive to certain sounds and bass is one of them. Hell, the 305p's had enough bass of me.

I know my post is a bit difficult cause I am trying to get some multi uses so I may have to buy 2 products,etc. Maybe this will help.

Setup 1 my Windows 11 PC
When the GPU kicks in noise kicks in on the speakers so I leave them at 5% volume and its just enough volume for me but 10% would be really nice. I tried an optical to converter and it made it worse. It does get slight noises when moving my mouse or when the computer does anything, almost like a static noise? I also use RCA cables and have tried different ones with no luck. I also have connected the speakers to my monitor sound output too but I get the same problem although its much better than when I connect it to the PC. So I'm wondering if the Fosi ZD3 with XLR cables will help fix the GPU noise issue.

Setup 2 My room use with Macbook or Ipad Pro
Noise isn't an issue, I just get that little bit of electrical noise that you can hear if you are literally 1 inch from the speaker and its very faint, so it's not a problem for me. This is the fun for movies/music setup. I can either go with 2 speakers or now 4. These aren't always setup, I grab them when I need to and just take the minute to hook up everything. I don't know if using splitters would introduce sound if I use 4 studio monitors? Should I just a certain type of splitter cable and not even bother with a DAC since I'm not getting any sound from my macbook or ipad?

Setup 3 LG TV

Optical or HDMI out. HDMI has been dreadful. I got a converter box for optical that helped and did optical from tv to 3.5mm split rca's to speakers. I also added in a volume control slider at the 3.5mm output and I still had the same problem with volume being 100% no matter what I did. Would the Fosi ZD3 solve something like this where I could finally adjust the sound? Or I just thought of this..if LG has any other movie playing apps, if any of them control the volume would that maybe control the output from the TV? I should try and look for that today!

I always see that you should go with XLR for less noise, but for the tv setup, lets say I wanted to use 4 monitors,are there certain splitters to get or will I still get all the noise? In this case I just want a bubble of sound. I used to have that with my Mirage setup and miss that.

Sorry,sorry,sorry guys..I realize I'm a pain in the ass. But I want to ask here since there are so many bunk and cheap products out I want to know which ones are good and I wanted to ask here instead of google.

 

[MAB]

Would the Fosi ZD3 solve something like this where I could finally adjust the sound?

Yes it will.
You can hook it up to your setup with optical or with the HDMI inputs, see which one works better. You can even have additional source from the USB input.
You can drive the JBL with the XLR outs, and simultaneously the Kali with the RCA outs, no splitter even needed, just the cables. You can make front/back adjustments with the individual volume controls on each speaker, and use the ZD3 for overall system control.

Sorry,sorry,sorry guys..I realize I'm a pain in the ass.

Naw dawg, you doin' movie night.

 

[Joeyd33]

Yes it will.
You can hook it up to your setup with optical or with the HDMI inputs, see which one works better. You can even have additional source from the USB input.
You can drive the JBL with the XLR outs, and simultaneously the Kali with the RCA outs, no splitter even needed, just the cables. You can make front/back adjustments with the individual volume controls on each speaker, and use the ZD3 for overall system control.

Naw dawg, you doin' movie night.

Hahah thanks for understanding! I'm so used to negativity I always apologize a lot.

So last thing, are there any other DACs that may be better than the ZD3 or maybe just other ones that I should look at? I love how small the ZD3 is and it has a remote, now I just need to go price hunting. But I'm open to checking out other DACS if theres something out there that has any added features or something that may be cool?

 

[MAB]

Hahah thanks for understanding! I'm so used to negativity I always apologize a lot.

So last thing, are there any other DACs that may be better than the ZD3 or maybe just other ones that I should look at? I love how small the ZD3 is and it has a remote, now I just need to go price hunting. But I'm open to checking out other DACS if theres something out there that has any added features or something that may be cool?

The ZD3 is one among many good DACs. It has great performance. And it is useful for many other setups with multiple inputs and XLR + RCA outs. If you ever get an AVR, the ZD3 will be a useful DAC/preamp for another system if that is your desire.

 

[DVDdoug]

P.S.
An AVR gives you a lot for your money and they "just work" for home theater BUT not all AVRs have preamp outputs for active speakers/monitors.

As far as subwoofer goes, I do not need a subwoofer

That's fine, but you should be aware that without a surround decoder and a separate sub you only get the "regular bass" and the "point one" LFE channel is lost.

Setup 1 my Windows 11 PC
When the GPU kicks in noise kicks in on the speakers so I leave them at 5% volume and its just enough volume for me but 10% would be really nice. I tried an optical to converter and it made it worse.

That should go-away with a separate DAC, except in some cases some with a USB powered soundcard/DAC, noise can get into the analog-side from the USB power. If the DAC has its own power supply, that possibility goes away but you can still get ground loop noise, and XLR or optical connections should prevent that.

A "direct" optical connection should also be OK unless your "optical converter" is converting an already-noisy analog signal to optical digital.

Setup 2 My room use with Macbook or Ipad Pro
Noise isn't an issue, I just get that little bit of electrical noise that you can hear if you are literally 1 inch from the speaker and its very faint, so it's not a problem for me. This is the fun for movies/music setup. I can either go with 2 speakers or now 4. These aren't always setup, I grab them when I need to and just take the minute to hook up everything. I don't know if using splitters would introduce sound if I use 4 studio monitors? Should I just a certain type of splitter cable and not even bother with a DAC since I'm not getting any sound from my macbook or ipad?

Of course you'll need an adapter to get RCA connections, then a pair of regular RCA splitters should work fine.

 

[Joeyd33]

P.S.
An AVR gives you a lot for your money and they "just work" for home theater BUT not all AVRs have preamp outputs for active speakers/monitors.


That's fine, but you should be aware that without a surround decoder and a separate sub you only get the "regular bass" and the "point one" LFE channel is lost.


That should go-away with a separate DAC, except in some cases some with a USB powered soundcard/DAC, noise can get into the analog-side from the USB power. If the DAC has its own power supply, that possibility goes away but you can still get ground loop noise, and XLR or optical connections should prevent that.

A "direct" optical connection should also be OK unless your "optical converter" is converting an already-noisy analog signal to optical digital.



Of course you'll need an adapter to get RCA connections, then a pair of regular RCA splitters should work fine.

Awesome,thanks!!

If you want, I can record the sound my speakers make, maybe that will help clear up where the problem in my system is, if I do that do you think you might be able to figure out whats going on?

 

[Joeyd33]

P.S.
An AVR gives you a lot for your money and they "just work" for home theater BUT not all AVRs have preamp outputs for active speakers/monitors.


That's fine, but you should be aware that without a surround decoder and a separate sub you only get the "regular bass" and the "point one" LFE channel is lost.


That should go-away with a separate DAC, except in some cases some with a USB powered soundcard/DAC, noise can get into the analog-side from the USB power. If the DAC has its own power supply, that possibility goes away but you can still get ground loop noise, and XLR or optical connections should prevent that.

A "direct" optical connection should also be OK unless your "optical converter" is converting an already-noisy analog signal to optical digital.



Of course you'll need an adapter to get RCA connections, then a pair of regular RCA splitters should work fine.

@DVDdoug

Are you my good luck charm???

So I went to go record the sound and it's gone. Like straight up gone. Maybe moving the PC did something and jolted something back into place or something ?? I'm going to try it again later but either way I just bought the FOSI ZD3 they were having a sale on.

Just got my 306p's since I found them new for 250 shipped and couldn't pass it up, I miss the JBL 305s so much..and same thing..WHERE IS ALL THE HORRIBLE NOISE!??!? All I get is the noise floor sound just a tiny bit but once I get my XLR and Fosi that should maybe take care of it but I use it with my MacBook spaced apart where I don't hear it anyways.

Is this a Christmas miracle lol? Like the noises were SOOOOO bad and loud. If the Fosi ZD3 works magic on the LG Tv I'll be in love.

Now I just need to figure out how to setup my room right, get some clean wiring, make it minimal and great looking..but what the heck..the noise went from 8/10 annoyance to a 1/10 annoyance.

I find it almost too good too believe, might do video gaming later and see if it comes back since I re-arranged my room.

But uhm..if you have some crazy voodoo ,thank you lol it was much needed!