Guidance for a non-audiophile's first (desktop) sound system

[vaguelyRenewed]

Hello true audiophiles! Strap in, this is a detailed one.

I am not an audiophile nor wish to be, however after getting sick of replacing my headphones every 2-3 years I decided to get headphones with a detachable cable (the fail point for every previous headphone death with attached cable) which lead me to learn what a DAC is too. I now have an audio system setup for my desktop and am looking for guidance on the followings:

contents:
1. Hardware and use
2. Linux PulseAudio config
3. PulseEffects digital filters & (further) amp use


1. Hardware & Use

My newfound audio setup now looks like this:
a) Linux Mint 21 desktop computer (already owned)
b) Ifi Zen DAC Signiture V2 (new)
c) Kenwood Stereo Integrated Amplifier KA-4010 (already owned, used many years ago by family (I had no experience with it before now) & was unused storage for less-than-many years)
d) OneOdio Studio Pro 10 Headphones (new)

This is 'the best' that my budget could take me combined with the research I did before buying. I was awestruck at the difference in audio quality on plug & play; definitely worth it. Both for music and video games (my spatial awareness in Team Fortress 2 is effortlessly godlike compared to before). As someone who doesn't want to be an audiophile, worth it already even if further fixes/improvements I will bring up in this post can't be done!

Now for the problem(s): The amp (being as old as it is no surprise) and the relation between digital volume & amp volume.

The amp: it has a hum to it.

On day one it had a constant hum and rhythmic buzzing which was noticable during any regular use. On day two I took the amp to the hallway where there would be minimal chance of interferance and just listened with no input/connections but the headphones. The constant static is from the amp, the rhythmic buzzing was not. 'Was not' phrase used there because on taking the amp back to the set-up the rhythmic buzzing was gone but the constant static continued (nice I guess?). The static does increase with the volume control. Changing sources doesn't do anything. It is tolerable however compared to the rhythmic buzzing but still unfortunate. Any ideas?

Volume and distortion: (FIXED)

I have read that ideally digital audio putput should be set to 100% (i.e. on the desktop) and control volume as close to the end of the chain as possible (the amp in my case). I assume it is an amp issue that if digital output is set too low or high, it causes distortion in sound quality. Anything outside of the 15-35% (-50/-30 or so db change) output volume in pulseaudio simply distorts no matter how low or high the amp volume knob is.

Is the advice "put digital volume @ 100%" inaccurate/incomplete & the real advice is "as high as possible without causing problems"? Or should I be able to have digital output volume @ 100% but it's the old amp's doing that causes this distortion depending on desktop volume? If so, is there anything that can be done with the amp to cease this?


2. Linux PulseAudio config

I have come across this manjaro forum post:

https://forum.manjaro.org/t/howto-set-up-a-hi-res-audiophile-usb-dac-cambridge-audio/80724

& went through the relevant steps (pulseaudio) with the best of my understanding. The following is what I placed at the end of my config file:

resample-method = speex-float-10
avoid-resampling = yes
default-sample-format = s24le
default-sample-rate = 96000
alternate-sample-rate = 48000

Perhaps I've done it wrong, but it causes a seemingly ignorable error on log-in which I haven't sat down to troubleshoot yet. the log-in error started after this configuration is:

X Error of failed request: BadMatch (invalid parameter attributes)
Major opcode of failed request: 131 (XInputExtension)
Minor opcode of failed request: 57 ()
Serial number of failed request: 31
Current serial number in output stream: 32

I could experiment and troubleshoot this myself I'm sure, but I simply haven't yet so I may as well include it here to potentially save myself time if someone happens to know exactly what I've done wrong in my non-audiophile ignorance.


3. PulseEffects digital filters & (further) amp use

The amp stuff here in a way relates to section 1 too, but I've thought it sensible enough to seperate here. I used PulseEffects digital filters with my older headphones but at least some of that is obsolete with the new setup, particularly the amp. Plug and play quality is so good I don't even know if I need bass boost anymore, and if so the amplifier has a bass intensifier. I'll go over the amp then the digital filters:


The amp: (FIXED)
Phono input only, With a knob to switch from source direct (no amp altering except for volume) and source (activate the knobs and buttons left of the volume control). When source is on, there is a 'tone' button that needs to be on for the 'bass intensifier' to do anything. These activate the treble (tone) and bass (intensifier) respectively. If the treble knob is on 'flat' it (rightfully?) still doesn't do anything even if all else is active. The bass intensifier if set to 'flat' appears to still affect bass positively (as in objective increase). All of these hoops feel weird to me... does this feel weird? Is the amp just weird with having to:
a) set tape monitor to source
b) active tone button before bass intensifier button does anything
c) activate said bass intensifier button
d) bass intensifier works even if bass knob on flat

Further, the amp has a button to switch between moving coil & moving magnet mode. I looked up what the difference & the only two things I understood in my ignorance is that moving coil is more expensive & more sensitive. I agree with this, as the moving coil needs lower volume not to distort in section 1 & my ears get assaulted if I switch to MC without pre-lowering the volume knob. MC also distorts entirely if source is used (not source direct). Is this meant to be? I assume not.

This leaves me, I think, with the ability to use MC in source direct only (good for sound-intense video games akin to FPS like TF2 in my few days of experimentation), and if I want to alter the sound with the amp I have to switch to MM and source, lowering/increasing the volume accordingly for both actual volume and the avoiding distortions both ways. Does this sound like a good idea or should this work otherwise and be fixable (i.e. MC on source not distorting with amp bass & treble active)?


PulseEffects filters:
I use the following digital filters in PulseEffects: Equaliser, Crystaliser, & maximiser; with bass enhancer now disabled as, in theory, I can use the amp for that now (even though it distorts with MC thus only MM... is it worth to digitally bass enhance for MC?)

I use Ziyad's 'pefect EQ' (understanding there is no such universal thing) by default + the boosted version rarely.
The Crystaliser might be on PulseEffects default, I can't remember and unless someone asks I'm not typing each Hz + alter (ask if you want it & I will)
Maximiser I used @ -7 with my old headphones but now @ -3 which I think is still good with the new set-up.

Also, is there any good reason to test out auto gain, crossfeed and limiter in PulseEffects? These are all the effects I would consider using.

Thank you to all who read and respond to any part, even helping with one point will be invaluable.

 

[BDWoody]

Welcome!

Further, the amp has a button to switch between moving coil & moving magnet mode. I looked up what the difference & the only two things I understood in my ignorance is that moving coil is more expensive & more sensitive. I agree with this, as the moving coil needs lower volume not to distort in section 1 & my ears get assaulted if I switch to MC without pre-lowering the volume knob. MC also distorts entirely if source is used (not source direct). Is this meant to be? I assume not.

Those inputs are for a turntable, not regular sources. Moving Magnet (MM) cartridges generate a stronger signal than Moving Coil (MC) cartridges, so have different gain settings before it gets to your actual preamp/amp. If you aren't using a turntable, you don't want to use those inputs.

 

[vaguelyRenewed]

Those inputs are for a turntable, not regular sources. Moving Magnet (MM) cartridges generator a stronger signal than Moving Coil (MC) cartridges, so have different gain settings before it gets to your actual preamp/amp. If you aren't using a turntable, you don't want to use those inputs.

Makes sense in theory, thank you. The question that then comes to my mind then is about it being an either-or switch (inwards for MC & outwards for MM). One's first thought to that may be "Well the amp wasn't made for desktop use but turntables, so tough luck on that front!" but when it was setup those years ago it was used as 1 of 3 pieces with the other two being the Kenwood CD DP-2010 and Kenwood cassette KX-3010 players, not a turntable (even if Kenwood had turntables available).

Would those two pieces simply used MM (I assume outwards switch is considered 'default' and so I should stick to MM)? Or could there be reason to use MC, or both, with a make-shift desktop setup?

 

[BDWoody]

Can you take a picture of the inputs on the rear of the amp?

There should be inputs other than phono inputs. Dedicated phono inputs will also include RIAA equalization to make records sound like they should, along with the previously mentioned gain added (roughly 40dB for MM, 60dB for MC) so really aren't usable for anything other than TTs.

Is this your amp?

Use the CD, Tuner or AUX inputs.

 

[Fred H]

Here's a link to a picture of the back: https://www.springair.de/media/image/5a/cb/26/76218c.jpg
The CD input is next to the Phone input.

 

[vaguelyRenewed]

I confirm both of those images are the amp's back. I guess I defaulted to phono due to a) the left-most input (despite not being labelled under 'line in') and b) aside from aux, didn't sound right to me (not like I claim to know much of this).

I'll experiment with the 'line in' inputs anyway while more replies may come in. Ta.

 

[vaguelyRenewed]

Oh yeah, that did wonders. All 'line in' inputs produce the same output quality: a quality that fixes all the amp problems (except its hum). The cartridge MC/MM button now does nothing (makes sense), and the treble/bass knobs if in-use works wonders without poor distortion.

Tested, music, videos, and video games. All great! I also directly connected the headphones to the desktop to compare and yep -- still better. You 'feel' the difference, not just hearing. Which I'll point out: that's amazing that I incorrectly used the amp (wrong input) and yet it was still better than direct connection to the desktop. I'm just amazed that you can use a sound system wrong and still get a better result than no sound system!

This leaves: the amp's hum, Linux pulseAudio config file, & pulseEffects filters still open. That one change has fixed all else!

Many thanks already!