• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Integrated AMP and advice for some active desktop speakers

psynsleep

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2022
Messages
8
Likes
0
Heya, another noob in need for advice. :)
I'm currently looking for new active desktop speakers and kinda lost. When searching for speakers on reddit, I got the information that all speakers with an optical input have a built-in amp. Is that true or can't you say that in general? Or do all active speakers have an amplifier built in, regardless of opt in or not? Also, would I even need that in my very basic desktop scenario? If it doesn't make too big of a difference, I don't want to narrow down the options I can get even more.
I want to connect them directly to my mainboard, no extra soundcards, no additional stuff like an extra subwoofer (I'd like to keep it 2.0 at least for now) or like external amps or anything, preferably also no adapters.

I don't want or need much and don't want to spend very much on speakers, already streched what I'd pay to 200€ - I was ok with my 30€ speakers from creative, as you can see I got pretty low needs. I know 200€ isn't much, but getting something decent when not being too much of an audiophile is hopefully possible.
I want a balanced sound with no distortion in low or higher volume (not too high, I don't like loud noise) and not too bass heavy, I like bass but not to the point where you can feel it. :D
Since I have no idea what to look out for, I can't really search for what to get - tests and reviews and top lists all over the place with some recommending Logitech and others bashing on it, it's all just confusing. I tried getting info but I only understand half of it.

I was about to get the Edifier MR4 but now I'm not sure because of the missing optical. I got a bunch of cables here so maybe the optical input would be good?
I read the review here on them and they look good, I guess? heard flat = good (very basic)? Maybe some Edifier R1850DB for the opt in instead (money for the bluetooth option would be wasted for me though)? I'll probably wait until Black Friday in hope to get some great deals, but in advance I'd like to have one or two options I can get when nothing else gets in my price range. The first link leads to my reddit post, got some info on my mainboard and what I listen to there as well as an image of my desk if needed. Don't want to clutter this post here even more by copy pasting. :D
Hope this was the correct place to put my questions in. :)
 

JSmith

Master Contributor
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
5,152
Likes
13,211
Location
Algol Perseus
Heya, another noob in need for advice. :)
Hey, welcome to ASR. :)
Correct... that's what active means, otherwise they're passive.
The ones with optical in have an onboard DAC, the ones that don't have analogue in so any digital source needs a conversion to analogue first (i.e. DAC).

Amir has measured and reviewed a few Edifier speakers, the MR4 is pretty good for the price;
May be of interest too as these have digital optical input;


JSmith
 
Last edited:
OP
P

psynsleep

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2022
Messages
8
Likes
0
The ones with optical in have an onboard DAC, the ones that don't have analogue in so any digital source needs a conversion to analogue first (i.e. DAC).
could my mainboard do that? B550 Aorus Pro v2, Realtek® ALC1220-VB codec. Google says 10 DAC Channels. If I get speakers without an opt in, can I make use of my onboard DAC easily? Does that happen automatically whenever I use the speakers or what would I need to do?
 

JSmith

Master Contributor
Joined
Feb 8, 2021
Messages
5,152
Likes
13,211
Location
Algol Perseus
could my mainboard do that?
Yes, you would use a 3.5mm to L/R RCA cable from the "line out";
Gigabyte%20B550%20Aorus%20Pro%20AC%20Rear%20panel.jpg

Page 12;
Line Out/Front Speaker Out The line out jack. This jack supports audio amplifying function. For better sound quality, it is recommended that you connect your headphone/speaker to this jack (actual effects may vary by the device being used).
If I get speakers without an opt in, can I make use of my onboard DAC easily?
In this case you won't be using the DAC in the PC, you will be using the DAC in the active speakers.


JSmith
 
OP
P

psynsleep

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2022
Messages
8
Likes
0
Yes, you would use a 3.5mm to L/R RCA cable from the "line out";
Gigabyte%20B550%20Aorus%20Pro%20AC%20Rear%20panel.jpg


In this case you won't be using the DAC in the PC, you will be using the DAC in the active speakers.
thank you!
torn between the R1855DB and MR4.
I got my headphones plugged in the front panel atm, but if the line out on the back is actually better, I'd like to make use of that by pluggin them in there. I don't want to crawl down and switch headphones and speakers everytime though, so a good option would be to have speakers using the optical input, so I can use both. Either that, or speakers I plug my headphones into.
I didn't want to mess with equalizers (question would be also, I probably need the EQ running all the time?), but I checked out some presets for fixed EQ for my headphones (beyerdynamic DT770 Pro 80 Ohm) and dang, it sounds so much better! I've never realized certain frequencies are kinda meh until I did that. Considering this.... what would be the better speaker for me? Since there's no review about them here, I'm unsure if they're any better or not. Some claim they have harsher sound, some the opposite..
I'm listening to audio demos but I couldn't find one comparing the both against each other. And since they also rely on my settings, only a technical review can actually tell me that. On this one for example, I could barely hear a difference
 
OP
P

psynsleep

Member
Joined
Oct 28, 2022
Messages
8
Likes
0
so, anyone got an idea about the 1850/1855DB and MR4 in comparison? I'm tending towards the 1855 because of the optical input to have my headphones plugged in on the back, but if it doesn't make much of a difference or if the speakers are worse than the MR4, I'll reconsider that. It's hard to decide between options without the knowledge
 
Top Bottom