Given the price and how I planned to use it, I bought a Monitor1 after reading some the discussion in threads here. My planned use is a different story (probably moot now), so I'll cut to the chase. I've been testing the Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 that will be paired with the Fosi V3 Mono for use in amp and (primarily) speaker testing. I wanted to test and characterize them for a baseline. The Scarlett is covered in other threads, not needed here other than reference. What bothers me is the Monitor1. It's cheap, yeah, though it looks and feels like decent quality. It's only a passive attenuator, not a real pre-amp, so I expected typical attenuation without much else, maybe a bit of additional distortion. It hasn't turned out that way.
There's a focus on distortion in so many threads here that seem to have overlooked one aspect. Either that or I just didn't find a thread on what to me is #1, bandwidth linearity. #2 is distortion, but I expected a passive attenuator to be close to benign. After all it's only connectors, a few short conductors and in this case a single, stereo balanced pot. But unless I've done something wrong (don't see how, it's just balanced cabling), the Monitor1 is a disappointment.
I've got a few REW measurements to post. These will be just the Scarlett loopback or the Scarlett with the Monitor1 in the loopback. I eventually made a cal file of the Scarlett loopback with the Monitor1 in the loop, but not until after a number of distortion tests.
There's a focus on distortion in so many threads here that seem to have overlooked one aspect. Either that or I just didn't find a thread on what to me is #1, bandwidth linearity. #2 is distortion, but I expected a passive attenuator to be close to benign. After all it's only connectors, a few short conductors and in this case a single, stereo balanced pot. But unless I've done something wrong (don't see how, it's just balanced cabling), the Monitor1 is a disappointment.
I've got a few REW measurements to post. These will be just the Scarlett loopback or the Scarlett with the Monitor1 in the loopback. I eventually made a cal file of the Scarlett loopback with the Monitor1 in the loop, but not until after a number of distortion tests.