How to get best sound with my situation?

[Wiseben]

Hello there!

Im new here, i saw the nice vibes around. So i decided to join in.

well, i got the disease recently, i bought KEF LS50 and Denon AVR-X3000 (Reciever)

Now i got my Laptop connected to the Reciever with HDMI.

I got JRIVER now with no special settings.

any idea how to get the best sound with this setup? meybe another sofware? some settings to change?

 

Thanks alot!

[Melvin]

Welcome Wiseben. Looks like some nice gear you're starting with. I think it would be a good idea to just listen for a while and really get to know your new gear. Burn-in takes a while (especially speakers) anyhow. In the meantime get to know JRiver (there's a bit of a learning curve). BTW what OS are you using? Windows? Mac? Linux? What's your listening space like? More details please. Best.

[Wiseben]

Welcome Wiseben. Looks like some nice gear you're starting with. I think it would be a good idea to just listen for a while and really get to know your new gear. Burn-in takes a while (especially speakers) anyhow. In the meantime get to know JRiver (there's a bit of a learning curve). BTW what OS are you using? Windows? Mac? Linux? What's your listening space like? More details please. Best.

Hello!

I got these speakers for 3 months now so they are quite great and all.

I got a small living room, good enviroment , the sounding is pretty great overall.

But i sure i can do few moves to make it even better.

I also got Surround, so 5.1 music its cool also here.

[YashN]

Get REW and try to do some diagnosis with a good mic and see if there are issues with the room response first. If so, try and treat the bigger ones with some acoustic treatment.

 

From there, there's a lot you could do:

 

1. Try HQ Player

 

2. Try real-time up-conversion to DSD 2x (provided your AVR has a DAC implementation which allows it)

 

3. Try different filter settings on HQ Player

 

4. If you have some additional room response issues, you could produce the filters in REW and import them in HQ Player (not tried this with HQ Player but did with Audirvana's AU Units and Apple's Graphic EQ plugin for PCM)

 

5. Compare to native DSD files, DSD64, DSD128, DSD256 versus PCM up to DXD rates.

 

Enjoy.

[hifial]

Welcome Wiseben.Those are great speakers you have there. You say you have a 5.1 setup. Do you have a sub too? If so make sure it can keep up with the LS50 as they are very fast.

 

Though YashN gave you good advice some of that will not work with your setup at this time as I believe the Denon does not do DSD.

 

IMHO if funds permit get a DAC that can do DSD and PCM. You can go from around $200 for a iFi Nano or a ifi Micro for $400 or a Teac 501 for under $1000 to get your feet wet.These are just some of your choices as there are others. Then use the HQ Player to up-sample your PCM files to DSD. You still should be able to use the Denon and J River.

 

Well good luck and I am sure others will soon offer more advice/suggestions.

[esimms86]

Hello there!

Im new here, i saw the nice vibes around. So i decided to join in.

well, i got the disease recently, i bought KEF LS50 and Denon AVR-X3000 (Reciever)

Now i got my Laptop connected to the Reciever with HDMI.

I got JRIVER now with no special settings.

any idea how to get the best sound with this setup? meybe another sofware? some settings to change?

 

Thanks alot!

 

With all due respect to previous posters on this thread, I believe the key term by the OP(original poster) is "with this setup." With that in mind I would first suggest getting to know and then optimize Audyssey Gold, which your receiver has. My second suggestion would be to check out Jim Smith's website, http://www.getbettersound.com

 

Esau

[hifial]

With all due respect to previous posters on this thread, I believe the key term by the OP(original poster) is "with this setup." With that in mind I would first suggest getting to know and then optimize Audyssey Gold, which your receiver has. My second suggestion would be to check out Jim Smith's website, http://www.getbettersound.com

 

Esau

 

Hello there!

Im new here, i saw the nice vibes around. So i decided to join in.

well, i got the disease recently, i bought KEF LS50 and Denon AVR-X3000 (Reciever)

Now i got my Laptop connected to the Reciever with HDMI.

I got JRIVER now with no special settings.

any idea how to get the best sound with this setup? meybe another sofware? some settings to change?

 

Thanks alot!

 

Esau, with all due respect, read the the whole last line "meybe another sofware?". In order to use HQ Player to its best he would need a DSD DAC, preferable a Quad DSD DAC so that is why the suggestion.

 

Of course yours make perfect sense from a starting point.

[esimms86]

Esau, with all due respect, read the the whole last line "meybe another sofware?". In order to use HQ Player to its best he would need a DSD DAC, preferable a Quad DSD DAC so that is why the suggestion.

 

Of course yours make perfect sense from a starting point.

 

Point taken hifial. If I were looking to make any hardware additions to the above listed system I would have the ifi micro on the top of my list. It fits comfortably within the price of components already in the system and it punches way above its price category. A brilliant suggestion.

 

Esau

[esldude]

Familiar with your LS50's. Nice speakers. Need more power than you might think, though the Denon probably has enough. Your Denon has Audyssey. Learn to use it effectively. Other than that, your best improvements are going to be speaker positioning, and some room treatment.

 

Don't know you situation in the room, but get some good speaker stands, get the speakers at least 3 feet from the rear and side walls, get some sound absorption on the first reflection points of the side walls and the primary listening position. Experiment with the positioning of the speakers. That will be your biggest difference.

[Wiseben]

Wow, thanks for the great and helpful comments above. Ill look into this.

One thing i herd from a few people, is that i should use the Denon in PURE mode while listening to music, that means no Audyssey.

So you guys saying its better to setup and configure it AND use it for music as well beside movies and tv shows?

 

BTW, it seems my reciever does support dsd.

(

)

 

[audiventory]

With any setup need check first hardware aspects:

 

1. Correct impedance settings in receiver

 

2. Right phase for speaker's cables.

 

3. Try different speaker's placings.

 

 

I used Audissey some time in past, but now preffer listen without room correction. Correcting only via speaker placement.

[hifial]

Wow, thanks for the great and helpful comments above. Ill look into this.

One thing i herd from a few people, is that i should use the Denon in PURE mode while listening to music, that means no Audyssey.

So you guys saying its better to setup and configure it AND use it for music as well beside movies and tv shows?

 

BTW, it seems my reciever does support dsd.

(

)

 

 

It only supports DSD through HDMI. I would expect it also only supports only up to DSD64. This is different then what some of us are talking about. Do a search here on CA for HQ Player, upsampling, PCM to DSD, DoP. But TAKE YOUR TIME. Start off with the below.

 

But start with the suggestions form Esau " I would first suggest getting to know and then optimize Audyssey Gold, which your receiver has. My second suggestion would be to check out Jim Smith's website, www.getbettersound.com"

 

The "Get Better Sound" is a great place to start. It will help you get your speakers placed right and help in setting up your room for better sound as best as you can with your budget and using your room for living in it.

 

It also has MANY other useful tips.

 

There is NO clear answer with Audyssey. Some love it and others can do without it. You should learn about it and try it in you setting and decide if you like what it does for you.

 

Good Luck.

 

PS I had the Kef LS50 for a few months and they are great speakers and punch WAY above their price. All they are missing is the last bit of firm base area. I have said to many friends that if they get the LS50 and add a great Sub (better with two and does not need to be expensive) that can compliment them they would have a great sounding pair of speakers that would beat out most speakers costing MANY times the price. I gave them to my nephew who is special needs and loves music.

[mayhem13]

Yes... would also agree to add a subwoofer for the tiny drivers in the LS-50's. The lower they are asked to play such, the more the midwoofer cone has to move. Since these are coincident drivers and the midwoofer IS the tweeter's waveguide, reducing cone movement is of the utmost priority to reduce distortion and high frequency diffraction. Crossing the LS 50's to a quality subwoofer is the single best improvement you could make to your system at this time.

 

Pure Direct bypasses any processing in the AVR other than the DAC functions. I see no need to use it unless you're using a high end external DAC.