Feedback to first audio setup - Q Acoustics M20

[Amplifly]

Hello,

I'm fairly new to the audiophile hobby and thought about starting with following setup:

• Q Acoustics M20 Active Speakers (Sadly no HDMI ARC and only 1x Toslink)
• Tindie Toslink Switch (Required since 2x Toslink inputs needed for TV and Chromecast Audio):
  
  

  Automatic SPDIF (Optical/RCA) Audio Switch by Beni_Skate on Tindie

  Automatic Optical/RCA SPDIF Audio Switch with Optical/RCA SPDIF Output and additional high quality Audio DAC

  www.tindie.com

The Toslink switch can be purchased with an in-built Sabre ES9023DAC, I'm not sure if this would bring any benefit.

Could someone rate this setup and tell me if this is a good fit?
Would you recommend to purchase the Tindie switch with or without the Sabre DAC?

Thanks so much, really excited about your feedback!

 

[staticV3]

Hi @Amplifly! Welcome to ASR.

From what I can tell, this is the only measurement we have of the M20:

Source

This is really not enough to judge the speaker's quality.

I suspect that you may be able to get more bang for your buck with an external DAC and a pair of active studio monitors.

Are you looking for a particularly compact set of speakers? If so, what are your size constraints? And which country are you in?

The DAC inside the Tindie switch only has a purpose if you use the switch's analog output.
If you just want to do Toslink in->Toslink out, then the DAC is completely useless.

 

[Amplifly]

Hi @staticV3, thanks so much for the warm welcome and a happy new year!

I'm looking for bookshelf speakers of any size for my bedroom and thought about a price between 500-1000€.
Main focus is a good audio quality and the option to connect the speakers to my TV and a streaming device (Like Chromecast Audio).
The speakers should be purchasable in germany.

Good to know the DAC would be useless in this case with the M20 speakers.
Another setup I'm thinking about would be an KEF 50 Meta Speakers + SMSL AO300 / Bluesound Node N130 or Nubert SP-200 active speakers.

Really unsure right now which direction would be the best, I'm a little afraid of making something wrong with the passthrough of the audio signal (Like skipping a DSP which would improve sound quality) with a passive speaker setup which might impact the overall sound quality.

 

[ZolaIII]

@staticV3 now you do.

Q Acoustics 3020i Bookshelf Speaker Review

This is a review and detailed measurements of the Q Acoustics 3020i bookshelf speaker. It was kindly purchased new by a member and drop shipped to me. It costs US $315 from Amazon including free shipping. It is so hard for companies to differentiate themselves with budget speakers but Q...

www.audiosciencereview.com

 

[ZolaIII]

How big is the room and to what listening distance you intend to use them?

 

[Amplifly]

20m² and 4m listening distance

 

[staticV3]

@Amplifly are you considering adding a subwoofer later on? Or should the two speakers provide the best possible sound on their own?

 

[Amplifly]

A subwoofer is not considered, would be great if two speakers alone could produce a great sound!
I'm open for passive and active solutions

 

[ZolaIII]

20m² and 4m listening distance

Then try with budget 8" monitors and ones with unbalanced inputs and let's say WiiM Pro Plus or wait to see how WiiM Pro would behave for the sub out. You will need a sub so when you are comfortable in the future that's the way to go. For a current budget focus on large monitors and WiiM.

 

[Amplifly]

Good that Wiim is mentioned, I'm totally against it for privacy reasons. It has an in-built Mic which I absolutely don't want.
I know the vendor tells it's only used during multi-room setup, but I don't trust the vendor with this.

That's why I looked for alternatives and discovered Bluesound Node and SMSL AO300, but I'm not sure about these.

 

[Amplifly]

I could get a pair of KEF LS50 Meta right now for 800€ incl. VAT, I guess this is my prefered solution.
Would this be recommended and which AMP should be used instead Wiim?
HDMI ARC would be great!

Edit:
Also could get KEF LS50 Wireless II for 1500€ incl. VAT, but I'm not sure about these since many Wireless I speakers seemed to have technical defects and it's over my budget.
But maybe LS50 Meta + AMP cost the same in the end or there are much better options instead KEF.

TOO MANY OPTIONS

 

[staticV3]

Good that Wiim is mentioned, I'm totally against it for privacy reasons. It has an in-built Mic which I absolutely don't want.

Understandable.

Another ASR has supposedly checked its network traffic with Wireshark and found no issues:

Using Tidal Connect on a raspberry pi without Volumio

Hmm... maybe you're having trouble installing and configuring it correctly? Because I can confirm once again - here and now it works for me without any problems! (RPi 3 and Digi+ Pro with System Software 20230404) WiiM idea seems good. But are you sure it's not "messing" with your network in a...

www.audiosciencereview.com

I'd also consider just filling the microphone hole with glue.

 

[Amplifly]

Glueing, thought about it but microphones today are really sensitive and this might not be enough. Opening the case and de-soldering it is already too much hassle and might fail. I had some experience with Alexa systems rooms away from myself when I was whispering and they fully understood me.
Mics make me really nervous these days.

Considered Volumio, my problem was it doesn't replace the AMP and just adds streaming capability.
I guess for the streaming part I'm fine for now, since I can still use my Chromecast Audio (In case the AMP offers streaming functions I will replace it).

If you guys convince me to go with KEF (LS50 Meta or Wireless II) I might do this, the question would be which AMP is recommended and might add HDMI ARC functionality.
But I'm still open for any solution

Also still thinking about the Q Acoustics M20, the review above shows 3020i that didn't seem good? (I really just barely understand the summary of these awesome reviews)
Are they similar to M20?

 

[ZolaIII]

@staticV3 bubblegum does the trick. @Amplifly you need big speakers at 4 m and smaller ones won't cut it so forget about 5" one's. Take a look at Kali range with 8" woffer's for starters.

A collection of loudspeakers measurements

www.spinorama.org

Dig in and search!

 

[ZolaIII]

I mean really which privacy? You go every with your phone and it does geolocation and tap in in what you write or speak. Last phones which can cut it out (basically working only as future phone) where Sonys in ultra stamina mode.

 

[Amplifly]

That's why I use GrapheneOS on my smartphone (Google Pixel) which i trust

GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

grapheneos.org

If the software can be trusted, which I do in this case since it's open source and well audited, I'm fine with a microphone.
Not with a closed source software though where nobody has insights.

 

[staticV3]

@Amplifly I would have suggested a WiiM Amp (350€) plus the Wharfedale Linton (880€ New, 700€ Retoure), especially considering your listening distance.

The WiiM Amp replaces your Chromecast, has a Toslink input for your TV, and DSP on board for room correction.

 

[Amplifly]

Just measured my room again and indeed 8" might be too big, even if the Linton look great I can't place them on my TV lowboard.
5" of any size should fit but I see the issues based on the listening distance.

Would KEF Q350 for example be "good enough" and similar to / better than LS50 Meta?

 

[ZolaIII]

That's why I use GrapheneOS on my smartphone (Google Pixel) which i trust

GrapheneOS: the private and secure mobile OS

GrapheneOS is a security and privacy focused mobile OS with Android app compatibility.

grapheneos.org

If the software can be trusted, which I do in this case since it's open source and well audited, I'm fine with a microphone.
Not with a closed source software though where nobody has insights.

I am talking about embedded API's which apps use so Android fork won't help you there. F-Droid had apps with striped down analithic API but then again that's a bit too much. Whose a developer while back.

 

[ZolaIII]

Either lower the distance or find the way to fit larger speakers and anyway you need to make proper placement to have good reception.