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Suggestions for configuration hi res / vinyl

pnobrega

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Hey. Probably a stupid question but...
Wanted some suggestions for devices to setup my main sources for music listening. I own a pro-ject E turntable connected to a pro-ject phono box MM/MC. For now it's connected to my AV receiver, which o hate the sound from it.
The other device I have is a Sony Walkman nw-A55 where I listen to his res music. Also have some ripped cds in my computer.
So, I want to make a dedicated room/place to listen to my vinyls or my his res music.
So, new speakers come to mind and want a headphone amp (i have the Sony WH-1000xm4) listen, mainly the vinyl, with headphones from time to time.
The room is small so I don't need amazing speakers. My possible speakers include from the Edifier 1280t /R1700bt to the Kanto yu4 ou yu6.
But I'm lost here since I don't even know if there's a way to use the Sony Walkman as source and not lose quality (ldac is not hi res).

I've been checking topping e30/l30 stack or a LOXJIE A30... But really don't kknow if it makes sense since the analog (vinyl) / digital hi res stuff..

All suggestions and clarifications are welcome.

btw, buying in EU
 

Helicopter

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Hey. Probably a stupid question but...
Wanted some suggestions for devices to setup my main sources for music listening. I own a pro-ject E turntable connected to a pro-ject phono box MM/MC. For now it's connected to my AV receiver, which o hate the sound from it.
The other device I have is a Sony Walkman nw-A55 where I listen to his res music. Also have some ripped cds in my computer.
So, I want to make a dedicated room/place to listen to my vinyls or my his res music.
So, new speakers come to mind and want a headphone amp (i have the Sony WH-1000xm4) listen, mainly the vinyl, with headphones from time to time.
The room is small so I don't need amazing speakers. My possible speakers include from the Edifier 1280t /R1700bt to the Kanto yu4 ou yu6.
But I'm lost here since I don't even know if there's a way to use the Sony Walkman as source and not lose quality (ldac is not hi res).

I've been checking topping e30/l30 stack or a LOXJIE A30... But really don't kknow if it makes sense since the analog (vinyl) / digital hi res stuff..

All suggestions and clarifications are welcome.

btw, buying in EU
What is your budget?

What cartridge do you have?

What is the room like?

What headphones will you be using?
 
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pnobrega

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What is your budget?

What cartridge do you have?

What is the room like?

What headphones will you be using?

Thanks for replying...
1. The cartridge is the default that came with the turntable, i think it's a ortofon OM.

2. The room, tho isn't yet final, should a 16m2 room. Since we're building a new house there's a possibility to make a mixed home theater and music room. That's why the speakers, for the moment aren't going to be final. Either of the mentioned choices in speakers would be a nice addition to my office, next to my computer :) For the speakers I could go up to 400€ , active, if it's worth it. Otherwise, I'd prefer, to first invest in the DAC/hp amp of the system needs them. And then in the speakers.

3. For now I have the Sony wm-x1000mx4. Honestly my ears don't seem to be very picky, tho I wanna try and going to buy the Philips Fidelio X2HR.

4. Budget for the headphone amp would be around 150€. My eyes are on the topping l30, pro-ject head box s2 and schiit heresy.

The budget can go up or down. I don't mind waiting and buy a better solution. My main concern is, since I'm learning and very newbie is to make the right decisions to what a need to use my different music sources. I cannot afford bad calls ;)

My source has been Spotify for the last years. Recently I'm trying and loving making my vinyl collection and got the Sony walkman nw-A55l to experience dsd and hi res music
 

dorirod

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For speakers maybe consider JBL 306P MKII or Kali Audio LP-6.

Do you need remote control for your (pre) amp?
 

Helicopter

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I have, among other things, a Heresy and Modi3 which I like a lot. If I were buying today, I would get IEMagni for its protection circuit. You won't go wrong with Topping either.

I have a Loxjie A30 too. I have been really happy with it. A30 is a great desktop solution or proper amp with reasonable combination of speaker sensitivity and room volume.

Transducers are what really differentiate your sound though. I.e., speakers, headphones, and cartridges.

If you don't need speakers fast, I would hold out for something excellent like Focal Aria 906 or Elac DBR62. Or look at powered speakers. Powered speakers may provide the best sound per dollar if you don't have a way to add parametric equalization.

You will see a huge improvement if you switch to an advanced nude stylus like AT-VM95ML, or even Ortofon OM30.

I usually try headphones priced a bit higher, so I don't have enough experience to recommend much in the 150 range. Maybe the AKG 271 Amir liked. I have not tried it.
 
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pnobrega

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For speakers maybe consider JBL 306P MKII or Kali Audio LP-6.

Do you need remote control for your (pre) amp?

Thanks for the suggestions. I've seen and considered those JBL. The Kali I've read also about them, but couldn't find them on Amazon, which will be my preferred place to buy (business discounts).
Wife has a thing for white speakers, still, not off the table the JBL ones. Thanks. I don't need a remote. I'm getting the habit of flipping the vinyl already. Lol


I have, among other things, a Heresy and Modi3 which I like a lot. If I were buying today, I would get IEMagni for its protection circuit. You won't go wrong with Topping either.

I have a Loxjie A30 too. I have been really happy with it. A30 is a great desktop solution or proper amp with reasonable combination of speaker sensitivity and room volume.

Transducers are what really differentiate your sound though. I.e., speakers, headphones, and cartridges.

If you don't need speakers fast, I would hold out for something excellent like Focal Aria 906 or Elac DBR62. Or look at powered speakers. Powered speakers may provide the best sound per dollar if you don't have a way to add parametric equalization.

You will see a huge improvement if you switch to an advanced nude stylus like AT-VM95ML, or even Ortofon OM30.

I usually try headphones priced a bit higher, so I don't have enough experience to recommend much in the 150 range. Maybe the AKG 271 Amir liked. I have not tried it.

Thanks for the suggestions. Didn't know or found those speakers on Amazon Spain, but will check them out.
Just today i was checking the IEMagni. But I'm really confused how to connect all the things, specially the turntable. If it makes sense to have mixed solution. So, because of the connections I'm inclined for topping. Just because I see the RCA there. Lol. The Lojxie looked a nice entry solution but I got confused if they turntable connected there was possible or makes sense, since it's also a DAC.

About the cartridge, I've read something about that. It's on standby. My vinyls are new. I read a lot of things about bad vinyl pressing, Bla bla, so I really don't know the differences. My ears can't, yet, tell the difference. And off course, without good stuff it's hard to tell.

My Sony WH-x1000mx4 are the most expensive thing I've bought. They were more expensive than the turntable. So baby steps. I've seen a looot of super expensive (for me) headphones. But I wanna try and see if my ears can spot a difference or learn something with some different type of headphones and those seemed nice according the reviews i saw. Some seinheiser were also on the table, but with the prices I saw and , still, without a headphone amp, there seemed expensive for the try out. :)

As far as I could see i can't really use the NW-A55L as a source.
 
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Helicopter

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Thanks for the suggestions. I've seen and considered those JBL. The Kali I've read also about them, but couldn't find them on Amazon, which will be my preferred place to buy (business discounts).
Wife as a thing for white speakers, still, not off the table the JBL ones. Thanks. I don't need a remote. I'm getting the habit of flipping the vinyl already. Lol




Thanks for the suggestions. Didn't know or found those speakers on Amazon Spain, but will check them out.
Just today i was checking the IEMagni. But I'm really confused how to connect all the things, specially the turntable. If it makes sense to have mixed solution. So, because of the connections I'm inclined for topping. Just because I see the RCA there. Lol. The Lojxie looked a nice entry solution but I got confused if they turntable connected there was possible or makes sense, since it's also a DAC.

About the cartridge, I've read something about that. It's on standby. My vinyls are new. I read a lot of things about bad vinyl pressing, Bla bla, so I really don't know the differences. My ears can't, yet, tell the difference. And off course, without good stuff it's hard to tell.

My Sony WH-x1000mx4 are the most expensive thing I've bought. They were more expensive than the turntable. So baby steps. I've seen a looot of super expensive (for me) headphones. But I wanna try and see if my ears can spot a difference or learn something with some different type of headphones and those seemed nice according the reviews i saw. Some seinheiser were also on the table, but with the prices I saw and , still, without a headphone amp, there seemed expensive for the try out. :)

As far as I could see i can't really use the NW-A55L as a source.
An IEMagni can serve as a preamp for one source on its own. Of course you could put a Schiit Sys before the IEMagni and plug your phono preamp and DAC into the SYS. With a setup like this, you could run RCAs from the headpbome amp to powered speakers.

With the Loxjie, you could plug the phono preamp into the RCAs and plug a digital source into the optical input or the USB input. If you set up like that you'd probably want to use the Loxjie headphone amp too for a clean desktop setup, but you'd be limited in headphone choices to the ones with more reasonable amplification requirements. With this, you could run speaker cables to passive speakers.
 
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pnobrega

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An IEMagni can serve as a preamp for one source on its own. Of course you could put a Schiit Sys before the IEMagni and plug your phono preamp and DAC into the SYS. With a setup like this, you could run RCAs from the headpbome amp to powered speakers.

With the Loxjie, you could plug the phono preamp into the RCAs and plug a digital source into the optical input or the USB input. If you set up like that you'd probably want to use the Loxjie headphone amp too for a clean desktop setup, but you'd be limited in headphone choices to the ones with more reasonable amplification requirements. With this, you could run speaker cables to passive speakers.


Would I gain more options if I use a dac/hp amp like the topping e30/l30? Does it make sense to connect the phono amp to the dac and then to to the hp amp? Will the dac mess with the turntable, analog or it will not interfere?
Does this make sense?

Cause then I would have headphones in my turntable, that can give me more hp options, and still connect digital sources to the dac...


Or just forget about this, cause it will mess with the analog purpose of the vinyl, and do 2 setups? get just a Lojxie to connect it to the turntable and the stack for digital sources?
 
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Helicopter

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Would I gain more options if I use a dac/hp amp like the topping e30/l30? Does it make sense to connect the phono amp to the dac and then to to the hp amp? Will the dac mess with the turntable, analog or it will not interfere?
Does this make sense?

Cause then I would have headphones in my turntable, that can give me more hp options, and still connect digital sources to the dac...


Or just forget about this, cause it will mess with the analog purpose of the vinyl, and do 2 setups? get just a Lojxie to connect it to the turntable and the stack for digital sources?

I can't find anything confirming if the Sony DAP has digital audio output through USB, so make sure it does if you are planning to use it as a source with an external DAC. If it only has analog out then you will need an external preamp or switch to go from the DAP to phono with any of this gear.

The RCAs on E30 and Modi are inputs, so they cannot be used with the phono source. For that, you would need an A30 with a digital source for the digital audio, or an external preamp to switch from phono to DAC on the way to the amp.

An all analog chain will not be audibly different compared to going from analog to digital to analog with an A30, but there is nothing wrong with wanting an analog chain in itself. I would consider it an aesthetic choice. You can't have that woth the A30 though; it comverts the analog input to digital, processes it converts back to analog and amplifies.

With a Sys, and IEMagni, you could tie the analog outputs of your phono pre and DAC together with a headphone stage and analog line outs to powered speakers or amp. Some options with this are:

Phono and DAP to Sys to IEMagni to powered speakers. This is an excellent option, and might be the cheapest.

Same but change powered speakers to A30 and passive speakers. This is what I would probably do. Would work with any amp. You could use something cheaper than A30 with less features.

If the DAP has USB digital output, same as either of the above but with DAP to DAC to one end of Sys in place of just DAP. This would not make an audible difference.
 

Helicopter

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If you are going to use separate DAC, preamp, headphone amp, Sabaj A10 might make more sense than full featured Loxjie A30.
 
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pnobrega

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I can't find anything confirming if the Sony DAP has digital audio output through USB, so make sure it does if you are planning to use it as a source with an external DAC. If it only has analog out then you will need an external preamp or switch to go from the DAP to phono with any of this gear.

The RCAs on E30 and Modi are inputs, so they cannot be used with the phono source. For that, you would need an A30 with a digital source for the digital audio, or an external preamp to switch from phono to DAC on the way to the amp.

An all analog chain will not be audibly different compared to going from analog to digital to analog with an A30, but there is nothing wrong with wanting an analog chain in itself. I would consider it an aesthetic choice. You can't have that woth the A30 though; it comverts the analog input to digital, processes it converts back to analog and amplifies.

With a Sys, and IEMagni, you could tie the analog outputs of your phono pre and DAC together with a headphone stage and analog line outs to powered speakers or amp. Some options with this are:

Phono and DAP to Sys to IEMagni to powered speakers. This is an excellent option, and might be the cheapest.

Same but change powered speakers to A30 and passive speakers. This is what I would probably do. Would work with any amp. You could use something cheaper than A30 with less features.

If the DAP has USB digital output, same as either of the above but with DAP to DAC to one end of Sys in place of just DAP. This would not make an audible difference.

I'm sorry man... with English not being my main language and specially the lack of knowledge i already read this a dozen times... And still missed it. Really sorry.

1 - This is what i get from the first option you gave. And when you say dap with analog it's a cable that comes out from the headphones jack to the Sys right? With this option the only way to ear high res files is from the DAP, correct?


1.png


2 - The second option, that i have doubts if i understood: instead of Sys and IEmagni i use Loxjie A30 connected to passive speakers? Or the sys / IEMagni are needed? And why passive instead of active?

3 - If i understood correctly, i think this is the best option. Again, if i understood:

3.png



So, i would create two lines, one for analog and another for digital. I could connect any digital source to the DAC and just use the SYS do change it. Then would listen with headphones or speakers...

Again, thanks for the help and bearing with me :)
 
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pnobrega

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I was re reading all the thread again, and thinking of a simplier way and less devices...

when you wrote this:

With the Loxjie, you could plug the phono preamp into the RCAs and plug a digital source into the optical input or the USB input. If you set up like that you'd probably want to use the Loxjie headphone amp too for a clean desktop setup, but you'd be limited in headphone choices to the ones with more reasonable amplification requirements. With this, you could run speaker cables to passive speakers.

isn't it the same as my option 3, except that i have limitations with headphones? just like u wrote?
 

Helicopter

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Looks like you got it. I couldn't tell If the Sony DAP has digital output, or if it only has analog output.

Option 2 is option 1 witj passive speakers so you need a speaker amp between the headphone amp and the speakers.
 
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pnobrega

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Looks like you got it. I couldn't tell If the Sony DAP has digital output, or if it only has analog output.

Option 2 is option 1 witj passive speakers so you need a speaker amp between the headphone amp and the speakers.


Nice.. I think I'm getting the hang of it :)

my researches found this: https://www.amazon.com/Sony-WMC-NWH10-Conversion-Cable-Output/dp/B00FF086HE

Yet another problem to find in the EU.

Same as the Schiit devices.. All out of stock. Much easier to find the Loxjie or the Topping...
 

MCH

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Hola paisano,
Did you have a look at the JDS Atom Amp+?
It's super cheap, measures excellent, and has two line inputs (one for your turntable and another one for your Sony or whatever) also has line out if later on you want to connect a power amp with speakers and still use the Atom volume control.
I think for your use case it is an ideal solution to start with...
PS: if still lost and prefer to express yourself in spanish, send me a pm
 
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pnobrega

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Hola paisano,
Did you have a look at the JDS Atom Amp+?
It's super cheap, measures excellent, and has two line inputs (one for your turntable and another one for your Sony or whatever) also has line out if later on you want to connect a power amp with speakers and still use the Atom volume control.
I think for your use case it is an ideal solution to start with...
PS: if still lost and prefer to express yourself in spanish, send me a pm

Unless it's Portuguese, I'm better with English :)

I've seen that device. But it's the same issue as schiit. Finding a good store in EU that has them and don't charge me twice of the recommend cost.

This last days I've learned a few more things with Helicopter explanations and just today I'm checking the new Sabaj A10 lineup... And I'm liking it.... Lol
 

MCH

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Great, the a10 seems to be a killer one.
 
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pnobrega

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Ok. Now that I understood this part... Can I make more stupid questions? :rolleyes:
 
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pnobrega

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1 - is it stupid to use active speakers connected to the Loxjie A30?

2 - Is the Loxjie A30able to work fine with Wharfedale DIAMOND 12.1 ? They're on my top list now..
 
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