• WANTED: Happy members who like to discuss audio and other topics related to our interest. Desire to learn and share knowledge of science required. There are many reviews of audio hardware and expert members to help answer your questions. Click here to have your audio equipment measured for free!

Which DAC/Player for studio monitors in a "classic" stereo setup

lennyanders

Member
Joined
Oct 16, 2022
Messages
43
Likes
37
Location
Germany
Hey,

I currently have a "classic"/analog stereo setup. I've been thinking of switching to active speakers for a few years now and think the time has finally come. My current setup is a Marantz PM5005, connected to a Marantz CD5005, my TV via aux to cinch cable and the Dynavoice Definition DM-6 speakers.

For new speakers, I pretty much decided to get the Genelec 8340 (RAW) with the GLM-Kit (which hopefully makes the biggest different). I listened to the speakers yesterday in a music store near me, and they sounded pretty good. Sadly I couldn't play music of my choice, but a genre was played that I will listen to most, and they weren't even calibrated, so it hopefully will sound even better in my room, especially since I use completely recalibrated passive speakers now.

I want to use the Genelec's pretty much the same way I use my passive speakers now, so I need some kind of device where I can plug in my TV and my CD-Player and control the volume via a remote. I read a lot about devices probably suited for that here, and on many different sites, and think I probably already found the right thing but to be sure I make this post here.

My max budget for everything is, €3500. The Genelec's cost €1300 each and the GLM-Kit costs an extra €310. I will probably pay €25 or something for cables, so that leaves me around €500 for the preamp or what I will get. Ideally, I would like to pay more in the region of around €300.

Since I currently have my TV and CD-Player connected via cinch, I could use a fully analog preamp, but I think I want to go digital. My TV has one eARC and one Optical option as digital outputs, and my CD-Player can digitally output in Optical and Coaxial. So I will probably need a device with one Optical and one Coaxial input option. I don't really need Bluetooth and do not care about MQA.

My favorite option right now is the Sabaj A10d (2022). I really like the design (even though I would prefer black), the Bluetooth option, the balanced XLR outputs and the USB-C port since. I generally would like to have all my devices have USB-C even though I wouldn't even use it on this device.

Furthermore, I also think the Topping EX5 looks pretty cool, but I kind of like the Sabaj more. I know there are a lot of Toppings, SMSL and Loxje devices in that price area and that is probably the reason why I write this post, so you can tell me if my conclusion is the right one or if there is a clearly better option.

One big thing is maybe that I really have no use for the/a headphone amplifier in that device. Maybe it would be useful a few years in the future when I use it in a desktop setup, but yeah, I don't plan for that case.

I hope everything I wrote is clear, and thanks in advance.
 
Top Bottom