I need help with going digital (Genelec 9320a)

[ilikesound]

Hello folks. Hope all is well.

I curently own a Universal audio Apollo twin mk2 which has only analog outs. I want to go full digital (usb to aes ebu). I was eyeballing Genelecs 9320a controller but i cant find any reviews of its quality (although i suppose it has to be top notch). Does anyone have any experience with it? Also please feel free to recommend me other solutions- 9320a has alot of nice functions but i dont want to put money into anything other than audio quality so they are not the selling point here.

I also dont need no inputs (mic etc.) Just a good USB to AES audio solution.

Also, will i even notice any significant improvements with going digital vs my current Apollo outs?

Thank you very much!

 

[staticV3]

I also dont need no inputs (mic etc.) Just a good USB to AES audio solution.

If all you care about is audio quality, then even one of these generic converters should do the job:


You're working with digital audio after all: You either get stutter and drop-outs, or the complete audio fidelity.

Subtly degraded sound quality is just not a thing here.

 

[MTZ]

Hello folks. Hope all is well.

I curently own a Universal audio Apollo twin mk2 which has only analog outs. I want to go full digital (usb to aes ebu). I was eyeballing Genelecs 9320a controller but i cant find any reviews of its quality (although i suppose it has to be top notch). Does anyone have any experience with it? Also please feel free to recommend me other solutions- 9320a has alot of nice functions but i dont want to put money into anything other than audio quality so they are not the selling point here.

I also dont need no inputs (mic etc.) Just a good USB to AES audio solution.

Also, will i even notice any significant improvements with going digital vs my current Apollo outs?

Thank you very much!

I do have the 9320 in my home setup.
Use the usb in for the computer and digital (aes) in for the Wiim ultra.
It is built like a tank. The benefits are the GLM and measurement integration.
I am very happy with it because its a one box solution for a fully digital setup.

 

[ilikesound]

If all you care about is audio quality, then even one of these generic converters should do the job:
View attachment 393139

You're working with digital audio after all: You either get stutter and drop-outs, or the complete audio fidelity.

Subtly degraded sound quality is just not a thing here.

Thanks! So the audio quality from that converter does not differ from audio quality from a 9320a controller? Im confused because on forums there is alot of talk of measurements, dynamic range, jitter etc. They should differ a bit right?

 

[ilikesound]

I do have the 9320 in my home setup.
Use the usb in for the computer and digital (aes) in for the Wiim ultra.
It is built like a tank. The benefits are the GLM and measurement integration.
I am very happy with it because its a one box solution for a fully digital setup.

Thanks.
And I guess you dont really find anything bad about the audio quality from aes.

 

[staticV3]

Thanks! So the audio quality from that converter does not differ from audio quality from a 9320a controller? Im confused because on forums there is alot of talk of measurements, dynamic range, jitter etc. They should differ a bit right?

Unless you hear stutter and audio drop-outs, it is safe to assume identical audio quality to the 9320a.

Frequency response, dynamic range, THD etc is dictated purely by the audio format and won't change between converters.

Jitter is often discussed, but pretty much a non-issue in practice:
https://youtu.be/f_r33B4jptA

 

[MTZ]

Thanks.
And I guess you dont really find anything bad about the audio quality from aes.

I really don't find anything bad about it. For me there's no difference with the usb input.
I use a 110 ohm RCA to AES digital coax cable for the RCA coax output on the Wiim ultra and that works great.

 

[ilikesound]

Thank you very much

 

[darth]

Can one use analog in for genelecs sub, but then use digital out from the sub to the speakers? So a mix of analog and digital?

 

[Behrelec 37]

darth.


It doesn't work. Genelec analog subwoofer and Genelec digital speaker don't work together, but only analoc.

I have worked around the problem myself by sending the signal from a digital source, for example a TV, out in toslink format to a separate device, which is (Linkfor - toslink splitter), from which the sound is split into two branches using toslink cables, one of which goes to a (HOSA model ODL-312 optical - AES/EBU) converter where it is converted to aes ebu format. And from there it goes to aes/ebu 110 ohm cable to the Genelec 9320a volume control converter, so that only the volume levels of the main speakers are controlled digitally from the 9320a control.

But the other separate toslink cable goes to the eversolo dmp 6 master edition toslink head and then from the eversolo an analog XLR output cable goes to my analog genelec 7071a subwoofer, so the eversolo has become a digital editing device that can be used to adjust the volume level and equalizer and peq of my subwoofer, which allows a lot of sound adjustment for the subwoofer.

Now the genelec digital speakers from the same TV source work just as well with my analog subwoofer, where the eversolo handles the volume adjustment of my subwoofer. And the digital genelecs are handled by the 9320a volume controls.

This is a very good and functional compromise if you want to combine the digital genelecs with an analog subwoofer, for example when watching YouTube or Apple TV while watching movies or music via the TV output.