BobWire XLR1 XLR and RCA Switcher Review

[hansik]

ZX80, 81 or Spectrum? Those were the days for sure.

Tears in my eyes, thinking of my ZX81 with huge RAM expansion module to no less than 16Kbytes.

 

[AaronJ]

Hello ASR community, I am Bob from BobWire. Thank you to Amir for taking the time to test my XLR1! I was an engineer/director of product development at Parasound products for 20 years. I left to start my own business (BobWire) last year. The XLR1 is my newest product but I also do make an RCA only version (model RCA1), speaker level (model SPK1) and some audio sensing device to activate 12V triggers (model AAT1 & DAT1). Keeping signal integrity throughout the audio chain has been a top priority in all of my designs and I'm pleased to see that the XLR1 maintains this tradition! (check out my website bobwireaudio.com for more info).

These are some nice looking products Bob. I have an older Niles SPK-1 and it works great, but nice to see a refresh of their extinct switching products. I never used their RCA switchers because they always either hummed or popped when switching but I’d be very interested to try your RCA switcher some day.

 

[Neddy]

ZX80, 81 or Spectrum? Those were the days for sure.

All three, as I upgraded, and repurposed the first two to run an inhome phone system using some of the very first SLIC DTMF decoding chips from motorala (freebies from a trade show) (also written in Basic).
Definitely the days of 'maximum inventiveness' (and poverty).

 

[pma]

@BobWire , what is the reason of rising LF (1/f) noise floor and some not negligible distortion in the XLR ==> RCA mode?

 

[yo!]

Really? Not negligible distortion?! (-96 dB)
Never and in no way this is audible

 

[pseudoid]

I happily voted for the HappyPanther for this BobWire XLR1.

Product idea for consideration:
XLR switcher
* 3-in-1-out flippable to 1-in-3-out
* remote control switching & auto-sense switching

Similarly, I have been in a desperate search for an active stereo RCA input to dual (stereo) XLR output box:

I need to feed a stereo-pair of RCAs (single-ended) audio simultaneously to two (2) different 2-channel loads that are now XLR inputs (balanced).
A 4-channel Direct Box.
I did not like the idea of a 'y-splitter' cable and/or "2in-4out" transformer-coupling and this [FOSI] PH05 does not match the performance and features I desire.
I am [was] considering the purchase of either the RadialEng'g J+4 or the HenryEng'g Matchbox HD which are more costly than the SMSL D100Pro or FOSI ZD3 and ZA3, that they maybe be used with.

In a desperate act, I ordered gambled on a cheap (<$100) aliexpress generic-box, which lacks any specification but looks to employ quality PCBs/components, designed around TI LM4562s and an LPS.
This is my 2nd attempt at a 'reasonably' priced active converter box that I don't expect miracles from but I hope will be in the league of HappyPanthers.

 

[waynel]

Interesting to compare to this similar device. Measurements look about the same

ARX RS-1 XLR AB Switcher Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the ARX RS-1 Remote Switcher. Strangely the back says "Remote SwitcherAB-19" so not sure what is the right model number. It was kindly purchased and drop shipped to me by a member. The RS-1 costs US $273. The website says "HANDMADE IN MELBOURNE...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[restorer-john]

@BobWire , what is the reason of rising LF (1/f) noise floor and some not negligible distortion in the XLR ==> RCA mode?

There looks to be a SMPS spur at ~15kHz likely from that plugpack supply in Amir's picture. There's gain RCA to XLR and it's clearly not perfectly implemented. The XLR to XLR switching is relay (no active stages), so no SMPS noise.

 

[AnalogSteph]

@BobWire , what is the reason of rising LF (1/f) noise floor and some not negligible distortion in the XLR ==> RCA mode?

That's RCA --> XLR.

And it kinda smells like a TL072 to me.

Really? Not negligible distortion?! (-96 dB)
Never and in no way this is audible

True, but we're spoiled around these parts. Too many devices with distortion at -120, -130 dB or lower.

Besides, it could still get worse at higher frequencies.

 

[enricoclaudio]

Hello ASR community, I am Bob from BobWire. Thank you to Amir for taking the time to test my XLR1! I was an engineer/director of product development at Parasound products for 20 years. I left to start my own business (BobWire) last year. The XLR1 is my newest product but I also do make an RCA only version (model RCA1), speaker level (model SPK1) and some audio sensing device to activate 12V triggers (model AAT1 & DAT1). Keeping signal integrity throughout the audio chain has been a top priority in all of my designs and I'm pleased to see that the XLR1 maintains this tradition! (check out my website bobwireaudio.com for more info).

Bob,

This is a very nice and outstanding device. As a former Parasound P5 and P6 owner, I can see Parasound pedigree on your devices

I would love to see a speaker level to RCA converter from your company that I could fully recommend to customers with vintage integrated amps without pre outs so they could integrate a subwoofer with no speaker level inputs in their systems. You have no idea how many customers I get every week asking for something like that and the only options in the market are from car audio companies like from Kicker, Boss or the LC1 from Audio Control, which is the one I mostly recommend.

 

[DanTheMan]

Bob,

This is a very nice and outstanding device. As a former Parasound P5 and P6 owner, I can see Parasound pedigree on your devices

I would love to see a speaker level to RCA converter from your company that I could fully recommend to customers with vintage integrated amps without pre outs so they could integrate a subwoofer with no speaker level inputs in their systems. You have no idea how many customers I get every week asking for something like that and the only options in the market are from car audio companies like from Kicker, Boss or the LC1 from Audio Control, which is the one I mostly recommend.

I went to his site looking for such a device today.

 

[suttondesign]

For those not necessarily attuned to the idiom, "bob wire" is what we who grew up in the southern U.S. mistakenly called "barbed wire" until about, oh, 6th grade, when a teacher corrected our misapprehension. We blame our mumbling country uncles. I doubt they knew it was wrong. Anyhoo, cute name for a company if you're in on the joke.

 

[Rottmannash]

Could someone explain how this could be used as a HT bypass? I'd be interested if it does what I think it can in my system.

 

[Dougey_Jones]

Gonna need that 2 amp > 1 speaker selector tested ASAP. Been needing that product for years.

 

[Keith_W]

Hello @BobWire this sounds like a great product. May I suggest that instead of using a wall wart with a plug, that you use USB-C to provide power instead? That way it becomes much easier for people outside the USA to use the product. No need to find a US-Europe or US-Australia adapter. I don't like those adapters, it makes power more unreliable. And if I don't want to use an adapter, I have to find a wall wart with the same barrel port that you are using.

I can think of all sorts of uses for my system and it really does solve some real world problems! Well done.

 

[fordiebianco]

All three, as I upgraded, and repurposed the first two to run an inhome phone system using some of the very first SLIC DTMF decoding chips from motorala (freebies from a trade show) (also written in Basic).
Definitely the days of 'maximum inventiveness' (and poverty).

I had the ZX81 (with the wobbly 16k ram extension), a 48k spectrum with voice synthesiser (which degraded the video something terrible) and the first generation QL (which of course was full of bugs).

Good times.

 

[Bob101]

Honest request: can somebody explain to me what this thing does, worded as if I were a little child.
I honest to god do not understand what/who this device is for or what it actually does.

 

[Keith_W]

Honest request: can somebody explain to me what this thing does, worded as if I were a little child.
I honest to god do not understand what/who this device is for or what it actually does.

Here is one use case. Suppose you have a 2 channel system - preamp, power amp, 2 speakers. You want to add a HT to your room. You buy another 3 speakers (centre channel + 2 surrounds) and an AVR. How do you use your 2 channel system with your HT AVR?

Answer 1: hook your 3 new speakers to your AVR. Send the line level out from your HT AVR to your 2 ch preamp. Problem: every time you want to use your system for HT, the preamp needs to be powered up and the input changed to HT. The volume control of the preamp needs to be adjusted to a pre-set level.

Answer 2: Buy one of these devices. Insert the device between the preamp and the power amp. Send the line level output for the 2 front speakers from the HT into this device. Now when you want to use the HT, there is no need to power up the preamp and do all the adjustments. This device automatically senses the input and switches to it.

While both solutions work, one of them is a more seamless experience. It is also less confusing for your family.

I can think of more use cases. For example, you could use it to switch between TV and 2ch audio. Or if your subwoofer has only one input, you could automatically switch between 2ch input and HT input. I have to swap cables between my DAC and my interface every time I want to do a measurement. This device will make that automatic.

 

[Mort]

Honest request: can somebody explain to me what this thing does, worded as if I were a little child.
I honest to god do not understand what/who this device is for or what it actually does.

It's mostly going to be used to have both a 2ch music system and a home theater system together using the same front speakers but different DAC/Amp paths.

 

[Mort]

Could someone explain how this could be used as a HT bypass? I'd be interested if it does what I think it can in my system.

This is a 2 channel automatic bypass. Plug your AVR L/R preouts into the left input and your 2ch music DAC/streamer into the right.
The device autosenses which device, the AVR or DAC/streamer is in use and sends only that content through.

For me, the better way was to buy BobWire RCA1 and SPK1 which together get me the same thing but 2.1 channel.