I am choosing nearfields: Presonus R80v2, Adam A7V or HEDD Type 07?

[dosifey]

Hello dear friends!

I need nearfield monitors for work with a sub (I do not have it yet, will buy later). The priority is a clear and detailed neutral sound to listen to classical music.

Presonus R80 - I like the price and that they are fully analogue. BUT - I had the first series and vynil delaminated from wood on three separate monitors, very ugly. So in the end I return them for a refund.

HEDD Type 07 - great monitors, but they have a very fragile DSP module, it dies. I had enough of replacing it and return them for a refund. Also, their digital input can not digest anything above 96Khz... What is the purpose of high res recordings then?..

ADAM... It is like a beautiful girl in a nightclub, wanted to approach them for a while but never had a chance, must have been too shy... The budget line is clearly worse than Presonus. S series too expensive. But I found their A7V and got interested. 5 years of warranty is nice. But they have this silly DSP module which does ADC/DAC conversion and downsamples everything to 24/96. Plus, not enough good quality reviews and comparisons.

I am unsure what to choose. May just revert to HEDD again, because they seem better than A7V?..
Thanks for your help.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

No Genelec or Neumann?

Wouldn't worry about the conversion thing, I've experience 8330 and KH80 and those do the same thing, totally transparent.

 

[dosifey]

No Genelec or Neumann?

Wouldn't worry about the conversion thing, I've experience 8330 and KH80 and those do the same thing, totally transparent.

I really like ribbon twitters.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

I really like ribbon twitters.

Well potentially worth noting those speakers you mentioned aren't ribbon, they are AMT which is a different driver tech.

 

[dosifey]

Well potentially worth noting those speakers you mentioned aren't ribbon, they are AMT which is a different driver tech.

I know, but they are called that colloquially.

 

[MadMaxx]

I've got the Adam A7V and the Sub 8 for my desktop PC audio. I'm also using a Topping E70 Velvet dac and absolutely love this setup. I hear details in my music and games I never knew were there when I ran passive speakers + integrated amp systems.

Adam also gives free access to A Control Soundworks software to fine tune your speakers to a greater detail. That DSP module you mentioned is a feature on their S series.

ADAM Audio - A Control Remote Software

The DSP-based functionality of all A Series monitors can be controlled remotely and in real time over ethernet using A Control.

www.adam-audio.com

 

[dosifey]

I've got the Adam A7 and the Sub 8 for my desktop PC audio. I'm also using a Topping E70 Velvet dac and absolutely love this setup. I hear details in my music and games I never knew were there when I ran passive speakers + integrated amp systems.

Adam also gives free access to A Control Soundworks software to fine tune your speakers to a greater detail. That DSP module you mentioned is a feature on their S series.

ADAM Audio - A Control Remote Software

The DSP-based functionality of all A Series monitors can be controlled remotely and in real time over ethernet using A Control.

www.adam-audio.com

Thanks beautiful set up., I think all of the options above provide great sound... I am just trying to establish what's best.

 

[MadMaxx]

Thanks beautiful set up., I think all of the options above provide great sound... I am just trying to establish what's best.

Thanks man! You're doing it right. Learn as much and try to listen to as many as you can. You really can't go wrong with any of those you listed. Good luck with your search!

 

[bodhi]

I really like ribbon twitters.

Why? Can you hear them in blind test?

If you are just trying to get best performance, then look at measurements -> Genelec and Neumann. If you are looking for something that doesn't measure as well but you happen to like the sound better in your room, then recommendations are pretty useless.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

I would argue it's not worth focusing on specific tweeter tech, but the implementation of the tweeter and overall performance. If the goal is to get the best performance for the money, then genelec or neumann are your best bets here. Adam seems to have a bit of trouble with some aspects of their speakers, such as porting. You're also getting far more robust cabinets with gen and neumann (kh80 aside). I think adam and heddare mostly using AMT's as marketing and brand recognition first, and performance second.

In regards to the HEDD limiting digital I/O to 96khz, doesn't matter. You can't hear anything beyond 20k (probably lower realistically) and all the info above that in "hi-res" audio is just noise and artifacts.

 

[dosifey]

I would argue it's not worth focusing on specific tweeter tech, but the implementation of the tweeter and overall performance. If the goal is to get the best performance for the money, then genelec or neumann are your best bets here. Adam seems to have a bit of trouble with some aspects of their speakers, such as porting. You're also getting far more robust cabinets with gen and neumann (kh80 aside). I think adam and heddare mostly using AMT's as marketing and brand recognition first, and performance second.

In regards to the HEDD limiting digital I/O to 96khz, doesn't matter. You can't hear anything beyond 20k (probably lower realistically) and all the info above that in "hi-res" audio is just noise and artifacts.

I will not go into debate of whether high res is worth it or wnatever, I mean, does it make the sound worse if it has a higher definition and the monitor is able to reproduce those frequencies? To be honest, I do not really care about the sound definition that much. All I am saying it is super silly to even have anything in high res when your monitor will not bypass that even theoretically. I do not specifically hunt for high res recordings, but a lot of modern classical recordings do come in high res by default... Also, it makes little sense to use 24/96 DACs in the age of 32/768.

Genelecs and Neumans did pop up, apart from outdated and ugly looks did not really catch my attention. Is there any particular Genelecs that you have in mind?

HEDD and ADAM measure really well though. Unsure what you mean by bad measurements.

 

[kongwee]

ADAM because you don't want it to die that affect your income.

 

[dosifey]

ADAM because you don't want it to die that affect your income.

Death of HEDDs doesn't really affect my income as such. They seem to die within warranty period. But it is extremely annoying. New generation of DSPs might fix that problem, but jury is out on this.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

I will not go into debate of whether high res is worth it or wnatever, all I am saying it is super silly to even have anything in high res when your monitor will not bypass that even theoretically. I do not specifically hunt for high res recordings, but a lot of modern classical recordings do come in high res by default... Also, it makes little sense to use 24/96 DACs in the age of 32/768.

Genelecs and Neumans did pop up, apart from outdated and ugly looks did not really catch my attention. Is there any particular Genelecs that you have in mind?

HEDD and ADAM measure really well though. Unsure what you mean by bad measurements.

You have a misunderstanding of a few things my friend. There is no real debate to be had on hi-res audio, you can't hear anything above 20khz, increasing the sample rate allows one to have content above 20khz, all that content is totally inaudible unless you're bat or some other animal, and you wouldn't want to hear it anyway, it's just noise. This site has covered hi-res audio, it's just marketing junk, offers no sonic benefits what so ever.

The additional dynamic range granted with 32bit audio is to provide additional headroom for the processing of audio in the digital realm, it offers no benefit to playback.

You may not prefer the look of neumann or genelec but they are not outdated. The cabinet geometry of these speakers is state of the art, they minimize resonances and diffraction issues.

Go look at the reviews of the adam stuff and hedd speakers here, then compare those with anything from genelec or neumann. They aren't really in the same league. I didn't say bad measurements, I said not as good as gen or nuemann. T series has shelved HF, poorly implemented tweeter. Several of their speakers have cabinet/port resonances that result in nulls in the response. The HEDD reviewed recently seems like a well designed speaker, but problem is it costs more than the KH150 and offers worse performance in comparison.

 

[dosifey]

You have a misunderstanding of a few things my friend. There is no real debate to be had on hi-res audio, you can't hear anything above 20khz, increasing the sample rate allows one to have content above 20khz, all that content is totally inaudible unless you're bat or some other animal, and you wouldn't want to hear it anyway, it's just noise. This site has covered hi-res audio, it's just marketing junk, offers no sonic benefits what so ever.

The additional dynamic range granted with 32bit audio is to provide additional headroom for the processing of audio in the digital realm, it offers no benefit to playback.

You may not prefer the look of neumann or genelec but they are not outdated. The cabinet geometry of these speakers is state of the art, they minimize resonances and diffraction issues.

Go look at the reviews of the adam stuff and hedd speakers here, then compare those with anything from genelec or neumann. They aren't really in the same league. I didn't say bad measurements, I said not as good as gen or nuemann. T series has shelved HF, poorly implemented tweeter. Several of their speakers have cabinet/port resonances that result in nulls in the response. The HEDD reviewed recently seems like a well designed speaker, but problem is it costs more than the KH150 and offers worse performance in comparison.

Once again. You just misunderstood me. Most likely, I will not hear the difference between the std and high res audio. However, what benefit do I get by std definition recording? None. What benefit do I get by using a DAC that is not high res capable? None. What benefit do I have by using a tweeter that is not capable to reproduce the sound over 20 Khz? None. So why should I chose the equipment that is unable to reproduce high def? Assuming that other characteristics are similar.

So what model of Genelec or Neuman would you recommend?

 

[kongwee]

Death of HEDDs doesn't really affect my income as such. They seem to die within warranty period. But it is extremely annoying. New generation of DSPs might fix that problem, but jury is out on this.

For me, I don't need DRC DSP as it does not improve my income. Some of my work need to be sound great at bluetooth speaker.

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

Genelecs and Neumans did pop up, apart from outdated and ugly looks did not really catch my attention. Is there any particular Genelecs that you have in mind?

That is going to be a major consideration with nearfields since you will be parked in front of them and the Genelecs are, to be honest, some fugly looking speakers. If I were a mixing engineer and my employer supplied them I would not complain, but if I had my own choice maybe trying out something like the KH150s since they did quite well in a recent review, and are easy-ish on the eyes. I would think space will also be a consideration, and if you plan to have coffee or any other food items that the speaker might inadvertently "enjoy" with you, and for a multi-thousand dollar speaker with paper cones that could be a one-way trip. I know I have already dumped an entire cup of coffee on the front of one of my speakers by accident. Fortunately they have polymer domes and cones so they cleaned up easy with distilled water and tissues.

 

[Cars-N-Cans]

I need nearfield monitors for work with a sub (I do not have it yet, will buy later). The priority is a clear and detailed neutral sound to listen to classical music.

Also, maybe not relevant from your listening experience, but with me a single sub in the nearfield is as directional as a speaker if it has to be located off to one side beyond the speakers, with all the bass ending up in the speaker that is nearest to the sub, with none in the opposing channel. Something potentially worth considering if you can't get it under the desk and you plan to run the main speakers in some form of a bass managed system.

 

[badspeakerdesigner]

However, what benefit do I get by std definition recording?

You gain the power of not being scammed by hi-res audio, I think that's the key point your missing here, it's basically a scam. 16bit 44.1khz captures everything we could possibly hear, and there is no point at all in trying to reproduce content above 20khz, you can't hear it, depending on your age and life experiences, it likely rolls off earlier than that even. It's not a "most likely won't hear it", it's a guarantee granted by your physiology.

So what model of Genelec or Neuman would you recommend?

Depends on your budget, but anything from the 8030c/8330 and up for genelec, and anything from neumann is just excellent, the kh120 and 310 don't have DSP while the KH80 and 150 do.

 

[dosifey]

You gain the power of not being scammed by hi-res audio

I just don't see how I am being scammed. The further I get from high res the more expensive it gets (from the options provided here).

Depends on your budget, but anything from the 8030c/8330 and up for genelec, and anything from neumann is just excellent, the kh120 and 310 don't have DSP while the KH80 and 150 do.

Thanks, I had a look, they do look ugly to my taste. I wonder if one can take the mesh off in order to clean the speaker... Similar options from ADAM or HEDD are a lot cheaper, not even mentioning Presonus. In terms of their measurements compared to Presonus HEDD and ADAM - could not find anything easily for Genelec and Neumann in order to compare...