anything i can do to improve my sound??

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Hey guys,

so after around 5 years of using logitech z-5500 5.1 i decided to upgrade and go for a kick ass 2.0/2.1 system...

Im a total newbie at this stuff and all i do is play music (FLAC/lossless) and am VERY into my music (all types from dnb to classical), anyway after a while of researching i noticed many people resorting to studio monitors for this type of thing, i wanted clarity coupled with power... monitors, from what i understand, give you good sound for bang for buck, and my budget was around 600euro.

so i narrowed my search down to yamaha hs80m vs rokit rp8.

the local store who imports these (i live in a tiny country called Malta :) so not many distributors here) woudln't let me have a listen to them, pity i know, anyway i took the plunge and went for the yammies based on all the rave reviews praising them. i knew i was in for a flat sounding, less sparkly speaker and what i was after most of all was clarity.

so i bought them and as an interface the guy recommended the NI audio 2 (traktor), it was pretty cheap at 95euro, so i took his word and got that with the speakers, all to hook up to my 2011 27' imac.

Anyway, my initial impression was so and so, they are REALLY clear and crisp (slightly fatiguing) but they sounded different to what i was expecting. They do a great job of presenting the sound without any bells and whistles thats for sure and i was hoping that there is some way i can make them "sparkle" a bit more if you know what i mean. (kind of like my friend's m-audio av 40's which seem to make everything sound damn good) (i believe 'warmer' is the term im looking for ;p)

Anyway, basically my question to you is this.....will getting a DAC over my currrent audio interface (ni audio 2) make any difference and give me what im looking for?

Dont get me wrong im happy with them, they are a massive improvement over the logitechs, I'm just looking for a way to improve them even further as im such a newb and maybe you guys could offer some insight :)

playing everything through itunes/decibel on mac osx at the moment.

remember i wont be mixing/producing anything at all....Just listening to high quality audio for pleasure. what do you suggest?
 

fr0g

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What is the space like where they are located? Have you lots of marble/wood/glas exposed? It's possible some soft furnishing will help a lot.

I wouldn't worry about the DAC personally. I don't know the one you speak of but unless it's faulty it isn't likely that changing it will yield a huge amount.

Also, I don't own a Mac or use iTunes but make sure iTunes isn't intefering with the signal in any way. Maybe ask over at [LINK REMOVED - house rules] (the Avi / hdd audio forum) for more advice on that (there are A LOT of Apple fanatics and active speakers are the order of the day)...and studio monitors are massively underrated for music playback IMO.

I haven't personally heard the Yammys but a friend has them and loves them (studio based).

Also, the recording itself is the main thing. If the recording is bad, then through a revealing speaker, it will sound bad...that's the disadvantage (if you view it that way) of neutral sounding speakers, personally I love it that way.
 

fr0g

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Agree with Steve, but I would start by making sure the equaliser is off and nothing else is bodging the sound first.
 

Overdose

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fr0g said:
Agree with Steve, but I would start by making sure the equaliser is off and nothing else is bodging the sound first.

+1. Also go into the Audio MIDI setup within the Utilities folder and make sure that the input/output settings, match your music files, so 16bit/44100Hz for CD rips.
 

Overdose

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fr0g said:
Agree with Steve, but I would start by making sure the equaliser is off and nothing else is bodging the sound first.

+1. Also go into the Audio MIDI setup within the Utilities folder and make sure that the input/output settings, match your music files, so 16bit/44100Hz for CD rips.

+1 also for the addition of a rug or two and some other soft furnishings, if your room has mainly bare hard surfaces. Have a read up on room acoustics, it's a rather under estimated component in a hifi system.
 

steve_1979

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kimcordina said:
Anyway, my initial impression was so and so, they are REALLY clear and crisp (slightly fatiguing) but they sounded different to what i was expecting. They do a great job of presenting the sound without any bells and whistles thats for sure and i was hoping that there is some way i can make them "sparkle" a bit more if you know what i mean. (kind of like my friend's m-audio av 40's which seem to make everything sound damn good) (i believe 'warmer' is the term im looking for ;p)

Hi kimcordina. Welcome to the forum. :)

If you're using a Mac as a source you'll be able to adjust the sound by using the graphic equaliser that can be found in iTunes.

If you want a warmer sound I suggest that you try increasing the bass frequencies by 1 or 2 dB at 125Hz and/or reduce the treble frequencies by 1 or 2 dB at 16kHz. This is only a suggestion though and it's worth experimenting with the graphic equaliser settings a bit to see what works best for you.

There are also some switches on the back of your Yamaha speakers which change the way they sound. Try setting the 'High Trim' switch to '-2dB' and see how that sounds to you.
 

steve_1979

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kimcordina said:
basically my question to you is this.....will getting a DAC over my currrent audio interface (ni audio 2) make any difference and give me what im looking for?

The Native Instruments Komplete Audio 6 audio interface that you're using has a perfectly good DAC built into it already and getting a new DAC would probably make very little (if any) difference to the sound quality.

IMO you're better off trying the other suggestions in this thread first rather than spending any money on a new DAC.
 
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Anonymous

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Its an audio 2... Not 6..... Guessing its also good enough or?
 
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Anonymous

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Ye getting a carpet was one of the things on my list since the room is all pretty much hard furnishings and the floor is parche (wood) which im guessing makes things worse... Also was going to ask whether i shoukd grab a pair of auralex monitor pads ( the foam ones) or save the money if there is something similar and cheaper of a diy nature that you guys might be aware of...?
 

fr0g

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kimcordina said:
Ye getting a carpet was one of the things on my list since the room is all pretty much hard furnishings and the floor is parche (wood) which im guessing makes things worse... Also was going to ask whether i shoukd grab a pair of auralex monitor pads ( the foam ones) or save the money if there is something similar and cheaper of a diy nature that you guys might be aware of...?

You should post some pictures of your setup. Pads may help if your speakers are sitting on a flat desk or something as you'll be getting instant reflections from the surface.

I had a carpenter friend of a friend build me some mini stands for my desk. The Yams are pretty big and maybe something like this would do...

465410_m.jpg


These are about 23 Euros from the Studiospares site.
 

steve_1979

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kimcordina said:
Its an audio 2... Not 6..... Guessing its also good enough

I've never actually seen one of those before but my guess is that it probably has a perfectly good quality DAC and pre-amp. In my experience all of the studio monitor controllers that I've heard have all sounded the same. If there is any difference in the sound then it's usually down to either the audio settings in the software that you're using or it depends on what monitors you're using and how they're set up.

It would certainly be worth trying the other suggestions in this thread first as they won't cost anything. You can always buy another DAC later on if you want to, though I doubt that it's necessary.
 
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moved my setup to another room that has curtains and a huge book case and the difference was obvious straight away, pretty happy now dont even need to cut the high trim....getting a pair of monitor pads and all should be perfect, cheers again
 

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