Article: Variations on a Theme: Budget Basement Entertainment System

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[bobfa]

Chris, 

 

This has been a lot of fun, and I am sure it will evolve.  I am waiting for some more Herbie's Fat Dots to put under the speakers and  I am going to play with the Topping D30 Pro vs the S.M.S.L. AO100.  Starting on the TigerFox next week..

 

Bob

[bobfa]

@Rexp  The the Arcam and the Dali Minute SE is a very interesting pair.  The Dali need the power and speed of the Class G Arcam. They may have even wanted better speaker cables that  I was using, the Nordorst Red Dawn..  In some ways the longer room  with the big L off to the side did not favor the smaller Dali speakers, yet up close near-field they are a very sweet speaker, they treat the music very well.  Read the review over at “A British Audiophile”.  

 

I spent a lot of time sitting on the floor of the lobby of the store I go to, listening to them before purchasing them.   Later, I added in a Rel T-5x Subwoofer and things were very good.  I never tried DIRAC that is built into the ARCAM.  

 

What I found is that I was trapping myself into upgrading and upgrading and not simplifying.    I was chasing something.  

 

I reset back to where I started with the little AudioEngine A2+ speakers and the M-Audio BX-5a monitors.   I started looking for 3-way monitors with some DSP control, and for $350 each the Kali Audio IN-5 got some really good press last year.    I ordered a pair from Sweetwater as they are a favorite supplier of mine.  My investment really dropped off and I am feel better.

 

As this settles in the IN-5s  fit “ME” better.  

[bobfa]

The Little SMSL DAC has a problem that is bothering me.  When you switch inputs and switch back to USB something happens to the DAC and it gets out of sync with my Raspberry PI streamer running Roon Bridge.  The DAC shows 512 in the display.  Then I have to go into Roon and re-select the proper output and TURN THE VOLUME way done to avoid a terrible speaker pop.  

 

Also, the bit rate display is nice, but volume is much more important to me.  Somehow I really need to see both!

 

More to come.

[bobfa]

44 minutes ago, Rexp said:

Good to know. Above the $350 price point how much does one have to spend to get a significant upgrade, and in a system building context how much would you allocate to the digital source in say a $10K rig?

All of this is a tough call.  My current server is an Antipodes D-3 that has had most of their upgrades.  I am using a DDC to go from their USB to SPDIF into my Heavenly Soundworks 517 three way speakers.  The D-3 was in the 8K range when it was new??    The speakers are $10K.

 

I have been dialing things back for simplicity and there are some VERY interesting streamers under $5K.  I am super pleased with Genntooplayer on a Raspberry PI. Even with USB out.  Add a Pi2AES or other DDC and things move up a bit more.  I hope to have the new Volumio RIVO one day soon.  

[bobfa]

I have not contacted them yet.  Also it happens when you switch inputs. and come back to USB.

[bobfa]

Very exciting to hear that there was a response.