Hello there everybody! I was searching the net for plugins that will allow me to play a litle with foobar and I came across a plug in publish by wave ars that is called tube saturator and it claims that it can add a ''tube flavor'' very close to the original (hardware) but of course its very cpu demanding.I know that using this it is no longer bitperfect and I alter the original form of the song.What is your oppinion for those plugins? This one is pretty expenisve (for a plugin) to aquire and I would like to have some opinions maby from someone who have used it...thanx in advance...cheers. :cheers:
Tube preamp sounding dsp?
- Thread starter maxpain
- Start date
Why not buy real tubes, sorry I mean valves.
Try a nice dac preamp as a 'soundcard' for your computer, doesn't have to be expensive, try this.....
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tube_magic_d1
Prices start at US$199 and they ship direct to UK/EUR. Just pick the model that suits (usb, bit rates etc)
I fancy one, as a headphone amp primarily.
Try a nice dac preamp as a 'soundcard' for your computer, doesn't have to be expensive, try this.....
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tube_magic_d1
Prices start at US$199 and they ship direct to UK/EUR. Just pick the model that suits (usb, bit rates etc)
I fancy one, as a headphone amp primarily.
Unfortunately I am in the search for amp/speakers and my budget is very limited so right now 200$ more is out of the picture. I just want to play a litle...experiment with new stuff...thats why I am asking...I defenately cant buy a 100$ dsp...
maxpain said:
Understand entirely.
However, this is the point where I suggest buying the Maverick and a nice pair of active speakers........
Cheap as chips, and ticks an awful lot of boxes. Bit perfect usb dac (if needed), SPDIF inputs, full pre-amp with analogue inputs too, good headphone amp and of course, that all important valve stage.
Add a nice pair of Presonus Eris5, stands and cables and a very nice systen that does the lot for about £500.
Edit Sorry, that is probably not helpful. I'm kind of old fahioned and usually look for hardware rather that software solutions.
No I like the idea of pre amp and active speakers too...I live in Greece...we dont have a very large market for audio equipment so I cant really audition every speaker and amp I want tf course I am not going to by something that I haven't heard with my own ears. And even if I am going to do that...if I order something to be shipped from somewhere outside the EU...I am going to have to pay customs...wich they are not only very expensive but they also dont have a fixed value to match the price and the weigh of the product.They can easily mark it as ''luxury item'' and I am going to pay more that 200$ just to get it in to the country.. :cheers: to the free economy
f course I am not going to by something that I haven't heard with my own ears. And even if I am going to do that...if I order something to be shipped from somewhere outside the EU...I am going to have to pay customs...wich they are not only very expensive but they also dont have a fixed value to match the price and the weigh of the product.They can easily mark it as ''luxury item'' and I am going to pay more that 200$ just to get it in to the country.. :cheers: to the free economy But I have heared that active speakers (monitors) are meant to be used for studios and mixing music...not plain listening.They say that they are flat and revieling and sometimes harsh...as it has to be for someone to hear every litle detail on a track. Do you agree with that? Is the valve preamp going to eliminate those features? I would love to hear my music with a sertain amound of colour and musicality in it...thats why I was seeking the dsp in the first place.
davedotco said:Why not buy real tubes, sorry I mean valves.
Try a nice dac preamp as a 'soundcard' for your computer, doesn't have to be expensive, try this.....
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tube_magic_d1
Prices start at US$199 and they ship direct to UK/EUR. Just pick the model that suits (usb, bit rates etc)
I fancy one, as a headphone amp primarily.
Apologies for a slight derail of the thread, but have you heard their products davedotco? I came across this and was thinking of it as a desktop unit to hook up some active speakers and use as a headphone amp. I currently use a NuForce Icon HDP which I also really enjoy, but I just fancied trying a bit of valve flavour and this seemed like an easy way to go about it. Either this or a tube buffer.
maxpain said:
Waves plugins are used extensively in studios and are pretty much one of the de facto creators that most studios use. They aren't cheap mind. These plugins (vst and rtas) are geneally used with Protools, logix, cakewalk and the like and have come a long way in replacing a lot of the outboard equipment that used to sit in a studio. Some are good, some great, some not so.
If it works for you and you like the sound, then go for it. No point in running everything bit perfect and stuff if you don't like the sound you are getting.
ID. said:davedotco said:Why not buy real tubes, sorry I mean valves.
Try a nice dac preamp as a 'soundcard' for your computer, doesn't have to be expensive, try this.....
http://www.mav-audio.com/base/product/tube_magic_d1
Prices start at US$199 and they ship direct to UK/EUR. Just pick the model that suits (usb, bit rates etc)
I fancy one, as a headphone amp primarily.
Apologies for a slight derail of the thread, but have you heard their products davedotco? I came across this and was thinking of it as a desktop unit to hook up some active speakers and use as a headphone amp. I currently use a NuForce Icon HDP which I also really enjoy, but I just fancied trying a bit of valve flavour and this seemed like an easy way to go about it. Either this or a tube buffer.
The Maverick product is built by Xiangshen, I heard the original Xiangshen Dac 01, some years ago and though interesting did not really stand out as anything that special, though used as a headphone amp it put the music at a slightly greater distance from my ears which I rather liked. Since then it has been refined with input from Maverick and Grant audio in canada and the current product is reputed to be pretty good, excellent for the money in fact.
There are many variations on the basic design, Mavericks range seems better thought out in terms of features and performance options and their back up is supposed to be pretty decent. If you are brave, the latest Xiangshen Dac 01A(/B) can be bought for about £100, inc shipping out of China, probably the most basic spec for that price but if you do not use usb or analogue, that might suit.
Something like this....
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/XiangSheng-24Bit-192Khz-DAC-01A-DAC-Tube-Decoders-Headphone-PreAmplifier/121267937176?_trksid=p2045573.c100033.m2042&_trkparms=aid%3D111000%26algo%3DREC.RVI%26ao%3D1%26asc%3D22048%26meid%3D6753187563139208270%26pid%3D100033%26prg%3D9537%26rk%3D2%26rkt%3D4%26sd%3D270860657818
Yes that is true...the personal prefference is everything. Well right now I am listening music through the logitech z5500 so I was planing to upgrade my gear eitherway.With the logitech's everything sound dull and somewhat...without life...no colour...and no spirit in the sould.That is what I am looking for and that is why I am looking up tube pre amps (and dsp's).That is also why I am afraid of the active monitors as I have heared that they dont really colour the sound as they are designed to do that. I would like oppinions on that,I personally have never listened to a monitor hooked up with a tube pre amp so I wouldn't now.
maxpain said:
Given your current setup, virtually any active speaker will be a big upgrade on where you are now, it can be remarkably cheap too.
Assuming you want speakers set up in the normal way and plan to listen at a normal distance then these will get you started.
http://www.studiospares.com/studio-monitors/studiospares-seiwin-powered-monitors-pair/invt/248030
Prices have risen slightly in recent times, but this remains an awful lot of speaker for £160pr. Greece is in the EU, so no duty or tax to pay, just shipping. Check out offerings from Thomann and Music Store in Germany, both ship free on orders over €200.
If you have a half decent soundcard, use that for the time being, look to add a dac/pre-amp at a later date. At the end of the day these are just speakers with built in amps, forget the 'pro monitor' tag, they will sound excellent, far better than separates at comparable prices.
Thank you very much for your feedback.My soundcard wasn't very cheap and according to views is a very good soundcard with a very decent dac. My budget for amplifier (or preamp) and speakers is around 800-1000$. I was thinking about integrated amp with passive speakers becaouse you can allways upgrade in the feature. But I do have some problem with my listening position so thats why active monitors are very apealing right now. My listening position will be in front of the screen so the distance from the speakers to me would be 1 -1.5 meters tops. Most passive speakers I think they are not designed for that kind of listening. Now with that budget I can go for better monitors I think,I was thinking about focal's actives (they say the best about them).But I dont really now anything about tube pre amps...in the price range of 500$-600$....do you think that I could be getting a decent quality pre amp?
maxpain said:
OK.
Speaker positioning will be crucial here, large speakers like the one recomended above are too much for a desktop, a lot depends where you can put them. Given your budget, something like the Equator D5 at €469 inc shipping from Thoman.de could be the ticket. The speaker uses DSP to give exceptional performance for the size/price and like all better actives the control at the bass end will help with the positioning.
If you are determined to use valves, the only decent preamp in your price range is the Croft Micro Basic, £400, I can think of nothing else really.
Personally I would get the speakers first and see what happens, I think the clarity and control will amaze you, to the extent that you might need nothing else
Thank you for your suggestions I will defenately try to find and hear them. I am going to listen them as desktop speakers so the choice must be small speakers as if I understand well.So that means that speakers like q-acoustics passive series or monitor audio radious are disqualified?
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