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What comes first dac or amp?

Redwolf1526

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I have a set of powered speakers that have wifi, bluetooth and aux inputs. They pair together thru wifi but not wired or bluetooth. They are GGMM M3 speakers rated at 40 watts and i believe 8 ohms. Looking for best dac, amp or AIO to run them. I am looking for a stack but cannot buy them together, so which comes first? Budget is $500 for first piece and the least expensive for the second that matches the first. Looking at A90,A30, and possible Dx7 pro.. I have connected them through aux and bluetooth with a FIIO x5 gen 3 but i want to get better and cleaner sound.
 

DVDdoug

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Powered speakers have the amp built-in and your speakers also have a built-in DAC which will be used with any of the digital connections.

An external DAC could be used with the analog Aux inputs but it's unlikely to improve the sound. The built-in DAC is probably fine. The weak link is probably the actual speaker (drivers & cabinet)

and i believe 8 ohms.
With powered speakers we don't care about the driver impedance. The Aux input is high-impedance.
 

Webninja

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These are lifestyle speakers and they look pretty good. My suggestion is better speakers if you want to improve the quality of sound. Are you looking for a desktop system?
 
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Redwolf1526

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These are lifestyle speakers and they look pretty good. My suggestion is better speakers if you want to improve the quality of sound. Are you looking for a desktop system?
more like a bedroom set speakers on night stands or on stands.
 

linuxfan

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DVDdoug's advice in post #2 is generally correct, but let me add some additional info -
portable amp/speakers such as your M3 usually have a digital amplifier, which is a great idea because they include DSP circuitry to do digital crossover for the woofer/tweeters. Also this means the connection from wifi/bluetooth receiver unit is pure digital - there's a saying the best DAC is no DAC.
There's just one downside - the "AUX" input is analogue, and it must go through an ADC chip before the amplifier, and usually these ADC circuits are cheap and nasty ...
so for best quality with portable amp/speakers you need to utilise the inbuilt wifi receiver, not the AUX input.

OK, so the question is how to get audio from your FiiO X5 III to the GGMM M3 via wifi?
First connect both the X5 and M3 to the same wifi router. If you don't have a wifi router in range, set the M3 in "access point" mode by pressing the RESET button for 5 seconds, then connect the X5 to this wifi network.

then option 1: on the X5 install the "GGMM-M Series" app on your X5. It should provide some form of wifi connectivity for your music library to the M3.

or option 2: the M3 can act as a DLNA endpoint, so on the X5 install "BubbleUPnP" and configure it as a server. Basic instructions here -
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/turn-old-android-device-media-server/
 
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Redwolf1526

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DVDdoug's advice in post #2 is generally correct, but let me add some additional info -
portable amp/speakers such as your M3 usually have a digital amplifier, which is a great idea because they include DSP circuitry to do digital crossover for the woofer/tweeters. Also this means the connection from wifi/bluetooth receiver unit is pure digital - there's a saying the best DAC is no DAC.
There's just one downside - the "AUX" input is analogue, and it must go through an ADC chip before the amplifier, and usually these ADC circuits are cheap and nasty ...
so for best quality with portable amp/speakers you need to utilise the inbuilt wifi receiver, not the AUX input.

OK, so the question is how to get audio from your FiiO X5 III to the GGMM M3 via wifi?
First connect both the X5 and M3 to the same wifi router. If you don't have a wifi router in range, set the M3 in "access point" mode by pressing the RESET button for 5 seconds, then connect the X5 to this wifi network.

then option 1: on the X5 install the "GGMM-M Series" app on your X5. It should provide some form of wifi connectivity for your music library to the M3.

or option 2: the M3 can act as a DLNA endpoint, so on the X5 install "BubbleUPnP" and configure it as a server. Basic instructions here -
https://www.makeuseof.com/tag/turn-old-android-device-media-server/
i have been using what you describe to access my music stored on my NAS but was having issues with using both speakers as a left and right two speaker system. Have software from speaker manufacturer but is not very stable.
 

linuxfan

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... but was having issues with using both speakers as a left and right two speaker system. Have software from speaker manufacturer but is not very stable.
Can you be more specific? What software? The GGMM-M Series app? Running on an Android phone, or tablet?
What NAS do you have? Is this NAS running a DLNA server? What type of audio files are on the NAS - MP3, FLAC?
What do you mean by "both speakers as a left and right two speaker system" - seems like a complicated way of saying "stereo". What issues?
 

linuxfan

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On second thought, forget my last post, there's little point trying to troubleshoot the GGMM software.
Try my 2nd option - make sure your NAS is running a DLNA server, install BubbleUPnP on a phone or tablet, then BubbleUPnP should see your NAS as a DLNA music source, and see your M3 as an endpoint.
 

linuxfan

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Since this topic has gone quiet, let me just reiterate that the addition of a DAC is not the solution to getting better sound out of a portable speaker/amp, such as the GGMM M3.
And as DVDdoug mentioned in post #2 the way to get a nicer sounding system is to replace the M3 with something else.
 

MaxBuck

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Since this topic has gone quiet, let me just reiterate that the addition of a DAC is not the solution to getting better sound out of a portable speaker/amp, such as the GGMM M3.
And as DVDdoug mentioned in post #2 the way to get a nicer sounding system is to replace the M3 with something else.
Actually, it's probably getting a better speaker or headphone set.
 
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