soundmyte
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- Apr 7, 2014
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So I've been poking around on the forum for a while but haven't found an answer to my situation. Hoping someone can point me in the right direction - bear with me I'm a bit of a noob in the audiophile game.
So I have been using a pair of Genelec 8030 powered monitors connected to an airport express. An odd setup I know - my brother is a musician and he convinced me to take his monitors. I thought the sound was amazing but there was a nasty static hiss which I couldn't get rid of. (I fudged a cable by connecting XLR outputs to a RCA-3.5mm jack cable). I'm sure that sounds utterly ridiculous.
Anyway, I tried a load of things to get rid of the hissing none of which worked. So I pretended that the Gennies were much too refined for my piggy ears and put them on gumtree. In the meantime I got a great deal on some Wharfedale Diamond 9.1's paired with a NAD 326BEE amp - still running out the airport express. The system works well, I like the sound and most importantly, there isn't any static. But it doesn't blow me away, leave me with a fat grin on my mug. And let's face it, life's too short not to have a fat grim on your mug at every available opportunity.
(sorry, this is a long story. Here's the point). In the meantime, my Genelec's haven't sold so I'm thinking of bringing them back into service. And I'm hoping the answer is to get a DAC with optical in and XLR outs. So - can anyone give a suggestion as to which one? And how big do you think the difference will be? I don't have endless budget but it seems there's little out there for under $400.
There's a MATRIX Mini-i which looks a little cheap n cheerful.
The emotiva XDA-1
Cambridge audio - reviews are great but not for free.
Any input on what's available in SA so I can send it back if it doesn't work?
Thanks for any help.
So I have been using a pair of Genelec 8030 powered monitors connected to an airport express. An odd setup I know - my brother is a musician and he convinced me to take his monitors. I thought the sound was amazing but there was a nasty static hiss which I couldn't get rid of. (I fudged a cable by connecting XLR outputs to a RCA-3.5mm jack cable). I'm sure that sounds utterly ridiculous.
Anyway, I tried a load of things to get rid of the hissing none of which worked. So I pretended that the Gennies were much too refined for my piggy ears and put them on gumtree. In the meantime I got a great deal on some Wharfedale Diamond 9.1's paired with a NAD 326BEE amp - still running out the airport express. The system works well, I like the sound and most importantly, there isn't any static. But it doesn't blow me away, leave me with a fat grin on my mug. And let's face it, life's too short not to have a fat grim on your mug at every available opportunity.
(sorry, this is a long story. Here's the point). In the meantime, my Genelec's haven't sold so I'm thinking of bringing them back into service. And I'm hoping the answer is to get a DAC with optical in and XLR outs. So - can anyone give a suggestion as to which one? And how big do you think the difference will be? I don't have endless budget but it seems there's little out there for under $400.
There's a MATRIX Mini-i which looks a little cheap n cheerful.
The emotiva XDA-1
Cambridge audio - reviews are great but not for free.
Any input on what's available in SA so I can send it back if it doesn't work?
Thanks for any help.
