What electronic audio products you want tested most

[Audionaut]

Meanwhile, I conclude from the chunk of thread between your post and mine that there are people out there with better Scotch than I have; I have to rectify that pronto.

Sláinte mhaith

I laughed heartily. Thank you for that.

I don't hear any difference with DAC over a SINAD about 90.
With an amplifier I do, because I also test them in extreme situations in practice and at high volumes.

If there are amplifier chips that are load-stable up to 1 Ohm, that can also handle any twisted phase, 1kw of power per channel with a Sinad of 110 at a price of around 100 euros, then I would probably also say that the story of amplifiers is completely told.

At the moment, however, you still need other circuit concepts for extreme power in the PA sector.

 

[EJ3]

I don't understand the connection.
I don't think that I have limitations of space.

View attachment 450315

Very nice! Difficult with audio reflexions, though.
For some reason in the Charleston area, my wife has really bad reactions to the pollen (as in she cannot be in the low country during spring, her face swells until her eyes cannot stay open. But in Guam & Saipan, she's fine & says that she's fine in Hawaii (we've never been there at the same time).
Any outdoor speakers or keeping the music indoors & the natural audio outdoors?

 

[NADKEF listener]

The Teac CG-10M-X is a master clock generator that delivers an extremely accurate clock signal to DACs,
network audio players, and CD players, allowing them to perform at their ultimate best.

 

[digitalfrost]

All that TEAC half 19" stuff is so sexy. I'd love a set of this, but the prices man. It's not totally unreasonable, but you really gotta want it.

 

[NADKEF listener]

 

[digitalfrost]

Inject that right into my veins.

 

[10PSPMemSticksForMiku2007]

I would love to see measurements of the affordable 7.1 USB DACs you can find on Amazon. The Startech one is $40, the Cubilix is $30. I have no idea about their sound quality. Wouldn't it be nice if they turned out to be as good as 4 Apple dongles suck together? They also have line in, mic, headphone output of some kind, but I think the 8 channels output is the most interesting feature. Having extra channels on PC together with EQAPO is extremely useful to connect subwoofers or do other crossovers even for those not interested in surround sound.

 

[dr0ss]

I would love to see measurements of the affordable 7.1 USB DACs you can find on Amazon. The Startech one is $40, the Cubilix is $30. I have no idea about their sound quality. Wouldn't it be nice if they turned out to be as good as 4 Apple dongles suck together?

The Amaz. reviews suggest that these are not true 7.1 DACS, but simulated.

 

[TheKoC]

The Amaz. reviews suggest that these are not true 7.1 DACS, but simulated.

I don't think that's true? SPDIF Passthrough is only stereo, but that's to be expected. Otherwise they are standard 7.1 USB soundcards. You need of course do the decoding to 7.1. (or 5.1.) on the PC.

 

[dr0ss]

I don't think that's true? SPDIF Passthrough is only stereo, but that's to be expected. Otherwise they are standard 7.1 USB soundcards. You need of course do the decoding to 7.1. (or 5.1.) on the PC.

Perhaps; I was just scanning the reviews. The Startech seems to be identical to a sound card that Vantec/Vantech/Vanteq has been selling for at least 10 years, the Nba-200U, that has some teardown videos on youtube. It is based on the C-Media CM6206 chip, which looks very clever, but predates all the high-quality cheap DAC solutions that have been wowing people here. I'm not good enough at searching to see if anyone here has reviewed/tested any of these CM6206 cards.

 

[EERecordist]

While I am waiting for my E1DA 9038D6K to arrive, I think @IVX should send one to @amirm for testing. Thence perhaps E1DA needs a US distributor?

 

[Mort]

I would love a test of a Genelec SAM monitor and subwoofer using GLM. I've never seen one of their subs tested anywhere. We've had this discussion a bit about including DSP in a review and I get that it can be problematic. Still, I think it would be worthwhile and the second most popular answer was DSP! Concurrently testing DiracArt would add a lot of value.

 

[Frank Dernie]

I would love a test of a Genelec SAM monitor and subwoofer using GLM. I've never seen one of their subs tested anywhere. We've had this discussion a bit about including DSP in a review and I get that it can be problematic. Still, I think it would be worthwhile and the second most popular answer was DSP! Concurrently testing DiracArt would add a lot of value.

Well the DSP in the Genelecs is used during final inspection to set them all to a reference flat response, so just playing any of the DSP enabled Genelec speakers you are experiencing DSP, what GLM does is replace the factory reference DSP response to a room compensated DSP response

 

[EERecordist]

Entrepreneur Dirk Ulrich, Manley Labs, Apogee, etc. makes a mix of enthusiast and pro gear. Sure he can afford his own Audio Precision. He is going a new direction in signal processing with ARM chips in contrast to SHARC and the like for DSP. I don't think that will change the straight through sound, which is mostly influenced by off-the-shelf AD/DA, but it could change plugin development.

I think it would be nice to get him on ASR as a vendor, and sending in new gear like AD/DA and other equipment to @amirm for testing.

 

[prerich]

Speakers and prepros.

 

[EJ3]

Speakers and prepros.

Yes, prepros!

 

[10PSPMemSticksForMiku2007]

Perhaps; I was just scanning the reviews. The Startech seems to be identical to a sound card that Vantech

The Amaz. reviews suggest that these are not true 7.1 DACS, but simulated.

I got the Vantech. It is a true 8ch/7.1 DAC. (I did not check yet whether the sub channel is low passed). Just plug it in, and 7.1 layout is available in Windows sound settings. It does only 48khz 16 bit. I did not install the drivers. Without them, it seems like the TOSLINK in/out do not work.

It seems ok for a $30 device and is ok for my application. An 8 channel USB can be useful sometimes.

My main complaint is that the line out is only 1 volt. A 8ch USB sound card with 2 volts output seems to cost over $140 (the Sound Blaster x4). The Topping is $500-600. Does anyone know of a cheaper option?

There should be a cheap DAC with 8 channels at 4 to 8 volts for connecting to power amps. Even for 2 volts, I'm surprised there are no better options around $60 or so. It seems to me it wouldn't be THAT niche of a product.

 

[Sal1950]

My main complaint is that the line out is only 1 volt. A 8ch USB sound card with 2 volts output seems to cost over $140 (the Sound Blaster x4). The Topping is $500-600. Does anyone know of a cheaper option?

There should be a cheap DAC with 8 channels at 4 to 8 volts for connecting to power amps. Even for 2 volts, I'm surprised there are no better options around $60 or so. It seems to me it wouldn't be THAT niche of a product.

Your asking a lot for that kind of money, IMHO all you'd get for that would be garbage.
The Toppings are normally the best around for something with reasonable reliability and good measurements, below that what you get is mainly landfill.

 

[xanalog]

Yes, prepros!

ADC><PEQ><DAC but both ways, using just multiple XLRs+USB-Cs.
An 'AiO' pre/pro, if you will... without the video/hdmi/wireless/SPDIF and no software updates!

My Topping E2x2-OTG is still waiting shipment.
I'd be willing to dump all the new but separate hardware I have amassed since getting rid of my Rotel RSP-1576+RMB1565 combo.

 

[10PSPMemSticksForMiku2007]

Your asking a lot for that kind of money, IMHO all you'd get for that would be garbage.
The Toppings are normally the best around for something with reasonable reliability and good measurements, below that what you get is mainly landfill.

The Sound Blaster is good and reasonably priced, but some costs could be cut there. Get rid of the DSP, software-related expenses, TOSLINK, ADCs, headphone amp, volume knob, Dolby and DTS license. I wonder how much the price could be lowered then. The world needs a simple, decent quality 8 channel DAC with similar pricing per channel to the 2-channel dongles widely available now.