Guenselmann
Member
- Joined
- Nov 23, 2020
- Messages
- 31
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- 31
Hey all,
for a while now I am using the following chain in my living room, from source to speakers:
Chromecast (Deezer, Spotify, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, ...)
HDMI into TV
Optical from TV into Topping E30 in pre-amp mode
RCA into AUDIOPHONICS MPA-S250NC (Hypex Ncore NC252MP)
2x Focal Aria 926
I like the usabillity of the Chromecast and want to keep it. The E30 volume is controlled via the Chromecast remote. Still, there are some points I want to improve in my setup:
1. There are annoying pops/crackles when the Chromecast is turned on/off/goes to sleep. I think these are caused by the E30 and quite loud because they get amplified by the amp. Thus, I want to move the E30 back to its original purpose on my desk for headphone use and find a different DAC. The amp has a trigger input, would using this be beneficial?
2. Listening to music is very enjoyable even though I notice some flaws likely related to the room and placement. I think I am sitting too close to the back wall and bass feels a bit exaggerated sometimes as the Arias are also relatively close to the wall, see the attached photos. I have never measured the speaker response in the room, but should probably do so to improve the setup both by tweaking the placement and by applying room EQ.
3. I have a hard time understanding dialogues even at - what I feel are - medium volume and have to adjust it all the time as I don't want to bother my neighbours with explosions at 11 pm. Admittedly, this is my first real speaker system, but I have never had this problem with headphones, which I usually used for watching things. Is this a consequence of how movies are mixed combined with not having a center speaker? I didn't really plan to add additional speakers for now. That's something I would like to do when I move into a bigger place, which could take more than a few years though. I see that most AVRs have some kind of automatic loudness adaptation. Audiophile sacrilege, I know, but does this work well and could help me?
I looked around a bit and found some devices which might solve some of my issues.
The most obvious would be an AVR with room EQ running in pre-amp mode. I might even be able to sell the power amp if the AVR has enough power and doesn't combust due to the Aria's low impedance. However, is this a good investment considering I only need 2 channels (for now), room EQ and some kind of adaptive loudness? AVRs are also really bulky and don't fit into the TV cabinet I bought without thinking ahead. Are there cheaper and more compact solutions for my use case?
I'm a bit lost what to do, so appreciate any tips and pointers you may have. Thanks for reading my long post!
for a while now I am using the following chain in my living room, from source to speakers:
Chromecast (Deezer, Spotify, Netflix, Disney+, YouTube, ...)
HDMI into TV
Optical from TV into Topping E30 in pre-amp mode
RCA into AUDIOPHONICS MPA-S250NC (Hypex Ncore NC252MP)
2x Focal Aria 926
I like the usabillity of the Chromecast and want to keep it. The E30 volume is controlled via the Chromecast remote. Still, there are some points I want to improve in my setup:
1. There are annoying pops/crackles when the Chromecast is turned on/off/goes to sleep. I think these are caused by the E30 and quite loud because they get amplified by the amp. Thus, I want to move the E30 back to its original purpose on my desk for headphone use and find a different DAC. The amp has a trigger input, would using this be beneficial?
2. Listening to music is very enjoyable even though I notice some flaws likely related to the room and placement. I think I am sitting too close to the back wall and bass feels a bit exaggerated sometimes as the Arias are also relatively close to the wall, see the attached photos. I have never measured the speaker response in the room, but should probably do so to improve the setup both by tweaking the placement and by applying room EQ.
3. I have a hard time understanding dialogues even at - what I feel are - medium volume and have to adjust it all the time as I don't want to bother my neighbours with explosions at 11 pm. Admittedly, this is my first real speaker system, but I have never had this problem with headphones, which I usually used for watching things. Is this a consequence of how movies are mixed combined with not having a center speaker? I didn't really plan to add additional speakers for now. That's something I would like to do when I move into a bigger place, which could take more than a few years though. I see that most AVRs have some kind of automatic loudness adaptation. Audiophile sacrilege, I know, but does this work well and could help me?
I looked around a bit and found some devices which might solve some of my issues.
The most obvious would be an AVR with room EQ running in pre-amp mode. I might even be able to sell the power amp if the AVR has enough power and doesn't combust due to the Aria's low impedance. However, is this a good investment considering I only need 2 channels (for now), room EQ and some kind of adaptive loudness? AVRs are also really bulky and don't fit into the TV cabinet I bought without thinking ahead. Are there cheaper and more compact solutions for my use case?
I'm a bit lost what to do, so appreciate any tips and pointers you may have. Thanks for reading my long post!