The S/O is getting into audio of late, particularly vinyl. She fell in love with a pair of Focal Shape 40s. Not my personal choice but she really likes the amount of treble, wide dispersion and classy veneer over monochrome Genelec/Neumann/Kali. No amount of me pontificating about directivity matching, diffraction, smoothness and distortion will change that.
She also bought a Pro-ject Primary E with built-in phono preamp so it has a line output. But the Focal has no gain/volume control. The simplest solution is a RCA to RCA passive preamp. But an unused XLR input on the speaker grates on me a little. Plus, I convinced her that it makes very little sense to get nice speakers only for vinyl (she also listens to Spotify). I suggested an XLR-out DAC with volume control, USB input and Bluetooth so she can stream Spotify from either phone or laptop.
Are there any such DAC/preamps that also have an RCA line input so I can integrate the turntable? Alternatively, are there XLR output DAC/preamps with XLR analog pre input, Bluetooth and USB, so I can use an RCA-XLR cable for the turntable? And can I just confirm that RCA line output to XLR line input with an adaptor cable is unlikely to cause any hum or buzz?
Budget is, say, well-engineered Chinese DAC money - so in the range of something you'd find from Topping/SMSL. I can readily access most Chinese brands, as well as anything from Thomann.
I thought about pro audio interfaces as well, but I'm not sure any from Focusrite/MOTU and their ilk will have Bluetooth input.
Thanks!
She also bought a Pro-ject Primary E with built-in phono preamp so it has a line output. But the Focal has no gain/volume control. The simplest solution is a RCA to RCA passive preamp. But an unused XLR input on the speaker grates on me a little. Plus, I convinced her that it makes very little sense to get nice speakers only for vinyl (she also listens to Spotify). I suggested an XLR-out DAC with volume control, USB input and Bluetooth so she can stream Spotify from either phone or laptop.
Are there any such DAC/preamps that also have an RCA line input so I can integrate the turntable? Alternatively, are there XLR output DAC/preamps with XLR analog pre input, Bluetooth and USB, so I can use an RCA-XLR cable for the turntable? And can I just confirm that RCA line output to XLR line input with an adaptor cable is unlikely to cause any hum or buzz?
Budget is, say, well-engineered Chinese DAC money - so in the range of something you'd find from Topping/SMSL. I can readily access most Chinese brands, as well as anything from Thomann.
I thought about pro audio interfaces as well, but I'm not sure any from Focusrite/MOTU and their ilk will have Bluetooth input.
Thanks!