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Looking for great PC nearfield speakers that can play low-quality sources (Spotify & YouTube)

teashea

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Don't you want the best possible sound? Or are you satisfied with garbage sound?
 

AnalogSteph

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There's actually some half-decent choice in "home" active speakers these days. There's things like Klipsch the Fives / the Sixes, Airpulse A100 / A200 (Edifier's higher-end brand, the A100s seem to be a tad light on bass though, and if memory serves standard US pricing is not that attractive), and even our standard brands over here in .de (e.g. Nubert, Teufel) have some models to offer.

If you want good no-frills performance though, there's a fair amount of choice in the (home) studio scene. It's pretty hard to match the performance of Neumanns, the ruggedness and innovation of Genelecs (both of these brands are used by pros for a reason) or the value of Kalis in a sensible price range. If your DAC has balanced outputs, they are accommodated super easily, otherwise you need to exercise some care in selecting your cables (wiring like these).

Up to $1800 would buy a pair of more than decent 2-way monitors and a matching sub (or two), plus accessories like (desk) stands.

Funnily enough, the more accurate sound reproduction is the better a chance a lossy codec has at working as intended. There are some unfortunate folks who can always spot data reduction due to having massive hearing loss in critical frequency bands - if the codec exploits auditory masking by a signal that is then either not properly reproduced or heard, that'll obviously backfire bigtime. For this reason, you might actually spot compression artifacts more easily with crappy laptop speakers and their massive lack of low end. (That actually goes for both data reduction and dynamic range compression in this case.) Headphones with treble peaks are another classic.
 

fineMen

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Funnily enough, the more accurate sound reproduction is the better a chance a lossy codec ... hearing loss in critical frequency bands - if the codec exploits auditory masking by a signal that is then either not properly reproduced or heard, that'll obviously backfire ... might actually spot compression artifacts more easily with crappy laptop speakers ...
Excellent observation indeed!
I notice all the studio monitors im looking at people use for recording studios. Im just trying to listen to music and youtube videos. ...
Also, how do you like those for just listening to music and YT videos?
A speaker is a speaker with some properties. Today and here on this board so called monitors get rated by the same set of measurements and decidedly very same evaluation of that measurements. Regularly monitors show a wider range of connectivity options, to be payed for, and that was it. If you're actually serious with paying in between preferrably 200 but up to 1800 for a pair(?) you better reveal the whole, sorry, so called signal chain in your house. The YT vs SPTFY vs whatever quality media for randomized playlists thing is an afterthought that you shall not consider too much.

Size matters, and by the way, which color, veneer, listening distance single position and acoustical room cosmetics?
 
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perkyagnostic

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I'm in a similar situation as you are, I love high quality audio and audiophile mixes, however my taste in music often times clashes with that. I listen to a lot of metal for example and the mixes/masters are often compressed to hell and back which sounds absolutely horrible on really good speakers.
I tried so many different speakers in the last 10(?) years, from studio monitors in several price ranges to more premium hifi speakers. My room is acustically treated as well.

So I somehow disagree with the suggestion to buy a neutral high resolution nearfield monitor and "just EQ it" because I think part of the problem is not only the frequency response, but also the transient response, too much detail there exposes a lot of the flaws of bad or crushed mixes.

To my ears the best speakers I have ever owned (and still do) are the (very cheap) Magnat Tempus 33. The boosted treble response took getting used to, but the sub bass extension is superb for bookshelf speakers and everything I throw at it sounds at least decent and enjoyable, even at higher volumes. They are still detailed enough to put a smile on my face when listening to super high quality recordings/mixes, but "bad" enough to gloss over most of the imperfections of bad ones.
They are not small tho, so not suitable for every desk.

I have a second workspace (a small desk in the corner of a room) and just yesterday installed a pair of iLoud micro monitors there and so far I'm impressed by them, the bass extension is crazy for the small footprint (of course amplified by placing them in a corner). However they are more accurate and revealing than my Magnats and therefore are not that kind to bad mixes, but I still quite like them. Time will tell if I can get used to that, it's not my main setup anyway.
 
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murkr

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I'm in a similar situation as you are, I love high quality audio and audiophile mixes, however my taste in music often times clashes with that. I listen to a lot of metal for example and the mixes/masters are often compressed to hell and back which sounds absolutely horrible on really good speakers.
I tried so many different speakers in the last 10(?) years, from studio monitors in several price ranges to more premium hifi speakers. My room is acustically treated as well.

So I somehow disagree with the suggestion to buy a neutral high resolution nearfield monitor and "just EQ it" because I think part of the problem is not only the frequency response, but also the transient response, too much detail there exposes a lot of the flaws of bad or crushed mixes.

To my ears the best speakers I have ever owned (and still do) are the (very cheap) Magnat Tempus 33. The boosted treble response took getting used to, but the sub bass extension is superb for bookshelf speakers and everything I throw at it sounds at least decent and enjoyable, even at higher volumes. They are still detailed enough to put a smile on my face when listening to super high quality recordings/mixes, but "bad" enough to gloss over most of the imperfections of bad ones.
They are not small tho, so not suitable for every desk.

I have a second workspace (a small desk in the corner of a room) and just yesterday installed a pair of iLoud micro monitors there and so far I'm impressed by them, the bass extension is crazy for the small footprint (of course amplified by placing them in a corner). However they are more accurate and revealing than my Magnats and therefore are not that kind to bad mixes, but I still quite like them. Time will tell if I can get used to that, it's not my main setup anyway.
good info. I think im going to go with the KALI AUDIO in-UNF. ill let you know how they are.
 

perkyagnostic

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Nice, looking forward to reading about your experiences with it! I find the concept quite interesting and thought about getting them too.
 

teashea

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So the conclusion is to listen to lousey speakers for lousey music because good quality speakers would make the lousey music sound even worse? Kinda makes sense actually.
 

MadMaxx

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I made the switch to powered studio monitors about 6 months ago. Best audio decision ever for me. I'm strictly a nearfield listener, too. Specs in sig. The Adams A7V were $1600/pair. Added the Adam sub a couple weeks later after my SVS 3000 Micro just sounded too boomy with the A7V.

I know Adams aren't on the same level as Genelec or Neumman, but I've had some friends in the music production business listen to my gear. They all were impressed with what they heard. And these guys ain't the type to politely hold back if they don't like something. In fact, they were the ones who hounded me for years to go the studio monitor path.
 

teashea

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Congrats. Enjoy them.
 

recycle

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You should avoid youtube/spotify like the plague for listening to music, you better use use Tidal/Qobuz in their paid version. Yes, it happens that I randomly find something interesting on youtube: that is the moment I immediately look for it in the flac version
 

teashea

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You should avoid youtube/spotify like the plague for listening to music, you better use use Tidal/Qobuz in their paid version. Yes, it happens that I randomly find something interesting on youtube: that is the moment I immediately look for it in the flac version
Amazon Prime HD Music is excellent ----
 

recycle

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Amazon Prime HD Music is excellent ----
I've never tried Amazon music, but I'm sure it is as you say. The point is that listening to spotify or youtube (due to their unbearable lossy compression) is a torture for music lovers. Low bitrate for audio files is so 2013...
 

teashea

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I've never tried Amazon music, but I'm sure it is as you say. The point is that listening to spotify or youtube (due to their unbearable lossy compression) is a torture for music lovers. Low bitrate for audio files is so 2013...
Yes - Amazon has two levels of service.

Amazon Music HD is a high-definition music streaming service that offers over 90 million songs in lossless audio quality. One of the best things about Amazon Music HD is its sound quality. The service offers two different audio quality options: HD and Ultra HD. HD audio streams at up to
850 kbps, while Ultra HD audio streams at up to 3730 kbps.

It is surprising that YT does not offer a higher quality sound option. That would really be nice for listening to music and music tutorials.
 

b7676

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I appreciate the DT990 for glossing over garbage like mic self noise and room reflection making average live event and older recordings more listenable. An uncut treble lift is its unique bug/feature. Whereas with the 560s (treble crash) the first thing I hear is how good the mic setup is.
I doubt there are even a few well documented powereds intentionally designed with a nice lift after 10k, and passives with a response as such are a clear minority.
 
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So I can EQ low-quality sources to sound better? Like sometimes with my headphones I get a crackling or distortion sound from YT videos that I wouldnt pick up on my Klipsh speakers (since they were lower quality)
Those low quality sources aren't as low quality as you seem to be concerned for.

Sure, lossless sounds a bit louder than youtube, and maybe there's some treble detail missing, but by all means it's not life changing or experience ruining.

Just get the best speakers you can. In your case you can afford Neumann/Genelec. I think either 8030 or kh120 demand a subwoofer or two.
 

Penelinfi

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I use nice speakers for listening to "bad quality" stuff; most lower quality stuff sounds nicer on good speakers. If it's so bad then it's just going to be bad either way; in fact speakers with issues could make it worse.
Someone did recommend kef speakers as being "less harsh" at the desktop as opposed to Neumann.
Maybe you want something with narrower directivity to reduce reflections; perhaps it's your surroundings that's making the audio troublesome.
Beyer dynamic headphones are known for having a bit of a hot treble. I EQ my headphones to create that "warmer" sound while still having good definition.
 

halcek

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I've got the nicely built, all-metal Fiio SP3 near-field speakers on my desk, and they sound very impressive for their price. I listen to metal and they not only have an adjustable volume knob, but also an adjustable bass emphasis, with good detailed rendering of even older recordings from like 2005. Couldn't be happier to recommend these.
 
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