Making baby steps into Hi-fi
- Thread starter hydra
- Start date
Yes! This is exactly how I feel too. Good to know that about the stands.
Thanks! Yes, a comparo session with a CDP is on the cards. I've managed to arm-twist a friend with a CD5001 to let me borrow it for a day. I'll be doing the test only after I get the current setup just right for me -- speaker placement, sweet-spot fixing, fixing any problems that the room will pose etc.
That way I'll have the current setup at the most optimum, and I'll be able to understand the exact difference that a dedicated CDP makes, over the WDTV + Caiman combination. If there is enough improvement to my ears, I'll start saving for a CD5004 *deep sigh*.
I hope to have my setup sorted out to my satisfaction in a month at the maximum. I'll do the comparo after that and post my impressions.
The Rack
The Rack came in a couple of hours back
In some ways it turned out better than I thought it would -- it is more solid and a lot heavier than I thought it would be. But, the carpenter made it a bit wider than I wanted it -- I'd wanted a 21" wide rack, but he made it 25" (and a bit more) wide. I'd given him a bit of discretion in the width, and he decided himself that 24" wide shelves were the way to go. Also the vertical panels in the rear are a lot more wider than I wanted them. Well, there isn't that much harm done.
The equipment can breathe a little better, and the wider rear panels make the rack a bit more rigid, I guess.Here are a few quick and dirty pics of the rack:
Profile
..
Front
..
Rear
..
Another Profile shot
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be sure to do a blind test
keeping the dac always in chain
wdtv-dac-amp
cdp digi out ( optical or coax) - dac - amp
so in effect the dac is the source the wdtv and cdp are only transports
then do another test
wdtc+dac vs CDP alone
i can guess the results of both tests having done a similar test
but you should do it for yourself
p.S hydra whose the carpenter
if i find out hes the same guy who does the sub boxs for car audio im gonna faint!
nway good job done!
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ajay124
Well-Known Member
hydra
Baby steps is the right way to go about putting together a system. There is no need to rush into upgrades. Enjoy what you have, get used to it, and in due time the next upgrade will happen naturally. Don't try to force it or rush it.
My sincere advise is NEVER try to mix music and movies on the same set up. Two channel audio requires a single minded and focused approach. With time and money it gets better and better. The next baby step IMO is to give enough listening time to both the DAC and CDP option, and decide which way you want to go.
For cinema, there is NO substitute for a BIG SCREEN. Don't get into a home theatre mode until you can afford a good projector and a big screen. Until then it is better to spend your cash at the local multiplex. LCD's/Plasma's are fine, if you are into Television. But the idea of pairing a small screen with, what square wave has aptly described as crappy AVR's and boomy floorstanders, is about as attractive as a warm beer on a hot summer afternoon.
Baby steps is the right way to go about putting together a system. There is no need to rush into upgrades. Enjoy what you have, get used to it, and in due time the next upgrade will happen naturally. Don't try to force it or rush it.
My sincere advise is NEVER try to mix music and movies on the same set up. Two channel audio requires a single minded and focused approach. With time and money
it gets better and better. The next baby step IMO is to give enough listening time to both the DAC and CDP option, and decide which way you want to go.For cinema, there is NO substitute for a BIG SCREEN. Don't get into a home theatre mode until you can afford a good projector and a big screen. Until then it is better to spend your cash at the local multiplex. LCD's/Plasma's are fine, if you are into Television. But the idea of pairing a small screen with, what square wave has aptly described as crappy AVR's and boomy floorstanders, is about as attractive as a warm beer on a hot summer afternoon.
square_wave
Well-Known Member
Hey bro,
Dedicated stands for the speakers will make a huge improvement to the sound. Try coupling and isolation and see what works best for your speakers. I have seen different speakers behaving differently to these techniques.
Coupling : Blu tack between the speaker and stands.
Isolation: Metal cones between speakers and stands.
Now the shelf you have made for the system is like a cupboard with broad vertical planks on the sides. This will reflect the sound and cause some damage to the imaging. The music system rack should be as open as possible. Remove those plastic couplers from under the shelf and replace them with metal cones. This isolates the shelf from some amount of vibration.
While placing the speakers, make sure the distance from the back wall and the side wall for each speaker is different. For example, do not keep the speaker two ft from the back wall and two ft from the side wall. Keep it different. Try experimentations and see what works for you. Once you arrive at these distances for one speaker, make sure the other speaker is identically placed (error margin ( plus or minus inch). The same rules apply for the toe in also.
Avoid things like televisions in between the speakers.
Dedicated stands for the speakers will make a huge improvement to the sound. Try coupling and isolation and see what works best for your speakers. I have seen different speakers behaving differently to these techniques.
Coupling : Blu tack between the speaker and stands.
Isolation: Metal cones between speakers and stands.
Now the shelf you have made for the system is like a cupboard with broad vertical planks on the sides. This will reflect the sound and cause some damage to the imaging. The music system rack should be as open as possible. Remove those plastic couplers from under the shelf and replace them with metal cones. This isolates the shelf from some amount of vibration.
While placing the speakers, make sure the distance from the back wall and the side wall for each speaker is different. For example, do not keep the speaker two ft from the back wall and two ft from the side wall. Keep it different. Try experimentations and see what works for you. Once you arrive at these distances for one speaker, make sure the other speaker is identically placed (error margin ( plus or minus inch). The same rules apply for the toe in also.
Avoid things like televisions in between the speakers.
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@magma, yup, will be doing a proper blind test itself.
Yesterday, just for fun, I did a WDTV > Optical > Caiman > Amp vs. (ElCheapo)Philips DVDP > Coaxial > Caiman > Amp blind test. I used a set of FLAC files on the WDTV, and a CD made from the same FLAC files on the Philips DVDP for the test.
There actually wasn't too much difference between the music from the two transports, probably because I was using the same DAC. And both transports are nothing so great to write about either. But I consistently found that the WDTV had a slightly wider soundstage, an ever-so-slightly better center image and a slightly better resolution in the background instrumentation. 8 times out of 10, I was able to identify the WDTV over the DVDP, so I guess there was enough identifiable difference.
about the carpenter, he's from a local furniture shop. I get my installer to make my sub-boxes. This carpenter would be a dangerous guy to depend on precision stuff. Well, in his favour, I did tell him he could adjust the width a bit here and there, depending on his convenience and the size of the board. I'm not going to do that ever again!
@ajay124, yup, I will get settled in with the current equipment before I start on anything else. In any case, it will take me at least 3 months to save up for anything substantial.
And yes, my setup is going to be purely a music specific setup. No AVRs or multichannel stuff for me! I will be using it with the TV (and my media player) to watch movies, but I'm not at all into the surround-sound thing. I'm very much into movies, but the kind of movies I watch don't need a surround sound setup at all, and the enjoyment I get from watching movies has more to do with the way they have been made and presented, rather than with the special effects or the sound.
@square_wave, thanks for the tips! I actually sourced the Blu-Tack from Bangalore last week, as soon as I knew I was getting the stands.
I do know the rack is not exactly the best. I do plan to get it fitted with spikes somewhere along the line. I was a bit in too much of a hurry with the rack, and there are things that (I now realize) I'd loved to have done better with it.
The way I plan to setup the stands, the rack will actually be about 6 inches behind the stands. So I hope (!) the panels on the sides will not cause too much trouble. The TV (on a low table) will be beside the rack, and will be also be about 6 inches behind the speaker stands. The top of the rack will also be lower than the bottom of the speakers once they are mounted on the stands (the rack is 26" high, the stands are 28" high).
Also, I will have a gap of a bit more than 2 feet between the back of the speakers and the rear wall. And there will be a bit more than 1 feet gap between the sides of the speakers and the side walls. I have an issue of there being a door (with glass panels at that ) being behind the LHS speaker. I've already hung a full length curtain on the door. The problem will be with the stand standing right in the middle of the path to the door. Since the door leads to the bedroom, and I need to enter the bedroom only at night (I stay alone) I think I'll leave practical considerations to the winds, heh heh. I will only need to keep a sharp eye out for the servant when the room gets cleaned.
Within the constraints of my room, I actually can't think of a better way to position the equipment. I will put up pics of the semi-final setup once I have the speakers on the stands.
I am a bit anal about the details and about getting everything just right, so I guess I will be fretting over placement quite a bit in the coming weeks, heh heh. I'm glad I have you folks here to help me get things right.
Yesterday, just for fun, I did a WDTV > Optical > Caiman > Amp vs. (ElCheapo)Philips DVDP > Coaxial > Caiman > Amp blind test. I used a set of FLAC files on the WDTV, and a CD made from the same FLAC files on the Philips DVDP for the test.
There actually wasn't too much difference between the music from the two transports, probably because I was using the same DAC. And both transports are nothing so great to write about either. But I consistently found that the WDTV had a slightly wider soundstage, an ever-so-slightly better center image and a slightly better resolution in the background instrumentation. 8 times out of 10, I was able to identify the WDTV over the DVDP, so I guess there was enough identifiable difference.
about the carpenter, he's from a local furniture shop. I get my installer to make my sub-boxes. This carpenter would be a dangerous guy to depend on precision stuff. Well, in his favour, I did tell him he could adjust the width a bit here and there, depending on his convenience and the size of the board. I'm not going to do that ever again! @ajay124, yup, I will get settled in with the current equipment before I start on anything else. In any case, it will take me at least 3 months to save up for anything substantial.
And yes, my setup is going to be purely a music specific setup. No AVRs or multichannel stuff for me! I will be using it with the TV (and my media player) to watch movies, but I'm not at all into the surround-sound thing. I'm very much into movies, but the kind of movies I watch don't need a surround sound setup at all, and the enjoyment I get from watching movies has more to do with the way they have been made and presented, rather than with the special effects or the sound.
@square_wave, thanks for the tips!
I actually sourced the Blu-Tack from Bangalore last week, as soon as I knew I was getting the stands.I do know the rack is not exactly the best. I do plan to get it fitted with spikes somewhere along the line. I was a bit in too much of a hurry with the rack, and there are things that (I now realize) I'd loved to have done better with it.
The way I plan to setup the stands, the rack will actually be about 6 inches behind the stands. So I hope (!) the panels on the sides will not cause too much trouble. The TV (on a low table) will be beside the rack, and will be also be about 6 inches behind the speaker stands. The top of the rack will also be lower than the bottom of the speakers once they are mounted on the stands (the rack is 26" high, the stands are 28" high).
Also, I will have a gap of a bit more than 2 feet between the back of the speakers and the rear wall. And there will be a bit more than 1 feet gap between the sides of the speakers and the side walls. I have an issue of there being a door (with glass panels at that
) being behind the LHS speaker. I've already hung a full length curtain on the door. The problem will be with the stand standing right in the middle of the path to the door. Since the door leads to the bedroom, and I need to enter the bedroom only at night (I stay alone) I think I'll leave practical considerations to the winds, heh heh. I will only need to keep a sharp eye out for the servant when the room gets cleaned.Within the constraints of my room, I actually can't think of a better way to position the equipment. I will put up pics of the semi-final setup once I have the speakers on the stands.
I am a bit anal about the details and about getting everything just right, so I guess I will be fretting over placement quite a bit in the coming weeks, heh heh. I'm glad I have you folks here to help me get things right.
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hmm
i too found NO differnce between these two sources when using the same dac
infact even when i used a digi out from a mobo in a regular PC i found no difference between any sources
it was the dac all the way
i only found a diff when i took a digi out from an ESI juli soundcard fed into the same dac (howver the pc that had the ESI juli was heavily optimised for music too, the OS was tweaked, no mouse,keyboard etc etc)
ajay124
Well-Known Member
hydra
"I'm very much into movies, but the kind of movies I watch don't need a surround sound setup at all, and the enjoyment I get from watching movies has more to do with the way they have been made and presented, rather than with the special effects or the sound. "
This is the way I approach home cinema too
"I'm very much into movies, but the kind of movies I watch don't need a surround sound setup at all, and the enjoyment I get from watching movies has more to do with the way they have been made and presented, rather than with the special effects or the sound. "
This is the way I approach home cinema too
square_wave
Well-Known Member
hydra
"I'm very much into movies, but the kind of movies I watch don't need a surround sound setup at all, and the enjoyment I get from watching movies has more to do with the way they have been made and presented, rather than with the special effects or the sound. "
This is the way I approach home cinema too
Same here
A run of the mill stereo amp connected to a pair of bookshelf speakers works just fine.
Magma's stands got here yesterday afternoon. :yahoo:
I got them assembled and filled fast enough (but the kitchen is a mess with sand all over), thanks to the fact that Magma also included the necessary tools for assembling them.
It took me a bit of time to get them levelled properly, thanks to the flooring job in my place. But again, thanks to the handy spanner Magma included, it was a snap. The stands are built like tanks and the fit and finish is awesome. I must say they are worth every penny they cost me.
After a bit of experimentation I managed to get the best (for now) placement of speakers and listening position. My room is pretty narrow (just a shade over 9ft width). I've set up the speakers 72 inches apart, with each speaker 24 inches from the rear wall and 15 inches from the side walls. My listening position is about 91 inches away from the mid-point between the speakers.
This is how things look right now.
My camera is nothing special, and I shot the photo late last night under room-lighting, so I'm sorry for the atrocious-looking photo.
The improvement caused by the stands is tremendous. I'm sure the improvements are also due to the better placement that the stands facilitated, but I really didn't think the stands could improve things so much. The lower notes have a lot more authority and percussion instruments have a more visceral feel. And, due to lack of music-vocabulary, all I can say that things tie-in a lot better and the music sounds a lot more cohesive.
Because of better placement (I guess), the music extends quite a bit behind the line formed by the speakers now. I wish I could move that TV to make things better, but I have no choice right now
Well, needless to say, I'm one happy camper now!
Stage 1 of my setup is over. Stage 2 -- a better source -- should get completed by this weekend. I'm getting a Music PC done, and most of the parts arrived yesterday:
I've got everything with me now, except the soundcard (an Asus Xonar Essence STX), which will arrive in a day or so. The hard-disk and the optical drive are being bought locally. I will update with pics once the Music PC is finished.
I got them assembled and filled fast enough (but the kitchen is a mess with sand all over), thanks to the fact that Magma also included the necessary tools for assembling them.
It took me a bit of time to get them levelled properly, thanks to the flooring job in my place. But again, thanks to the handy spanner Magma included, it was a snap. The stands are built like tanks and the fit and finish is awesome. I must say they are worth every penny they cost me.
After a bit of experimentation I managed to get the best (for now) placement of speakers and listening position. My room is pretty narrow (just a shade over 9ft width). I've set up the speakers 72 inches apart, with each speaker 24 inches from the rear wall and 15 inches from the side walls. My listening position is about 91 inches away from the mid-point between the speakers.
This is how things look right now.
My camera is nothing special, and I shot the photo late last night under room-lighting, so I'm sorry for the atrocious-looking photo.
The improvement caused by the stands is tremendous. I'm sure the improvements are also due to the better placement that the stands facilitated, but I really didn't think the stands could improve things so much. The lower notes have a lot more authority and percussion instruments have a more visceral feel. And, due to lack of music-vocabulary, all I can say that things tie-in a lot better and the music sounds a lot more cohesive.
Because of better placement (I guess), the music extends quite a bit behind the line formed by the speakers now. I wish I could move that TV to make things better, but I have no choice right now
Well, needless to say, I'm one happy camper now!
Stage 1 of my setup is over. Stage 2 -- a better source -- should get completed by this weekend. I'm getting a Music PC done, and most of the parts arrived yesterday:
I've got everything with me now, except the soundcard (an Asus Xonar Essence STX), which will arrive in a day or so. The hard-disk and the optical drive are being bought locally. I will update with pics once the Music PC is finished.
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I just got delivery on one more item
It isn't backlit and what I really wanted was a Logitech DiNovo Mini. But this will do the job well enough. Strictly speaking, a Music PC is best kept free of stuff like this, with just a wired mouse used for input. But well...
It isn't backlit and what I really wanted was a Logitech DiNovo Mini. But this will do the job well enough. Strictly speaking, a Music PC is best kept free of stuff like this, with just a wired mouse used for input. But well...
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abhi_jollyguy
Active Member
Magma's stands got here yesterday afternoon. :yahoo:
I got them assembled and filled fast enough (but the kitchen is a mess with sand all over), thanks to the fact that Magma also included the necessary tools for assembling them.
It took me a bit of time to get them levelled properly, thanks to the flooring job in my place. But again, thanks to the handy spanner Magma included, it was a snap. The stands are built like tanks and the fit and finish is awesome. I must say they are worth every penny they cost me.
After a bit of experimentation I managed to get the best (for now) placement of speakers and listening position. My room is pretty narrow (just a shade over 9ft width). I've set up the speakers 72 inches apart, with each speaker 24 inches from the rear wall and 15 inches from the side walls. My listening position is about 91 inches away from the mid-point between the speakers.
This is how things look right now.
My camera is nothing special, and I shot the photo late last night under room-lighting, so I'm sorry for the atrocious-looking photo.
The improvement caused by the stands is tremendous. I'm sure the improvements are also due to the better placement that the stands facilitated, but I really didn't think the stands could improve things so much. The lower notes have a lot more authority and percussion instruments have a more visceral feel. And, due to lack of music-vocabulary, all I can say that things tie-in a lot better and the music sounds a lot more cohesive.
Because of better placement (I guess), the music extends quite a bit behind the line formed by the speakers now. I wish I could move that TV to make things better, but I have no choice right now
Well, needless to say, I'm one happy camper now!
Stage 1 of my setup is over. Stage 2 -- a better source -- should get completed by this weekend. I'm getting a Music PC done, and most of the parts arrived yesterday:
I've got everything with me now, except the soundcard (an Asus Xonar Essence STX), which will arrive in a day or so. The hard-disk and the optical drive are being bought locally. I will update with pics once the Music PC is finished.
Congratulations:clapping: Awesome stuff hydra, Would like to hear ur inputs using STX too in a chain.
hyeah:
iaudio
Well-Known Member
Thats great Hydra! Will be waiting for your post on the first listen.Congrats and Enjoy.
As I expected, Mr. Murphy and his laws did cause a bit of trouble on saturday. But somehow, it turned out for the best.
I'm a total noob with hardware and did not want to screw up the PC by making it my first effort at assembling one. So I'd arranged with a computer shop to have a guy assemble it for me in my presence. Since this is an uh, "stealth" project, I could not get it done at home. So I lugged the components to the shop on saturday evening.
It seems all the techs at the shop "were on leave or had left early". I was literally left holding the sack. After a few calls, a good friend of mine arranged to get my PC assembled with a guy he knew.
This was the silver lining in the cloud. This guy turned out to be a very patient and meticulous guy (unlike most of the techs at the local computer shops). He took his time with assembling the PC with care & attention, and I managed to not drive him crazy by breathing down his neck from start to finish. Everything went smoothly without a hitch and I had the PC home by about 9.00PM.
Here are some pictures:
Work-in-progress
Nearly done
The finished product
..
With the amp plugged in to the RCA outs of the Xonar STX
In the rack
..
I'm sorry about the stand being bang in front. I actually forgot to take a photo before I got the stand back in position. It took me about 30 minutes to get the stand toed-in properly and levelled, so I didn't want to move it again.
Thanks, iaudio!
Listening impressions are coming up in a few minutes as a separate post.
I'm a total noob with hardware and did not want to screw up the PC by making it my first effort at assembling one. So I'd arranged with a computer shop to have a guy assemble it for me in my presence. Since this is an uh, "stealth" project, I could not get it done at home. So I lugged the components to the shop on saturday evening.
It seems all the techs at the shop "were on leave or had left early". I was literally left holding the sack. After a few calls, a good friend of mine arranged to get my PC assembled with a guy he knew.
This was the silver lining in the cloud. This guy turned out to be a very patient and meticulous guy (unlike most of the techs at the local computer shops). He took his time with assembling the PC with care & attention, and I managed to not drive him crazy by breathing down his neck from start to finish. Everything went smoothly without a hitch and I had the PC home by about 9.00PM.
Here are some pictures:
Work-in-progress
Nearly done
The finished product
..
With the amp plugged in to the RCA outs of the Xonar STX
In the rack
..
I'm sorry about the stand being bang in front. I actually forgot to take a photo before I got the stand back in position. It took me about 30 minutes to get the stand toed-in properly and levelled, so I didn't want to move it again.
Thanks, iaudio!
Listening impressions are coming up in a few minutes as a separate post.
ajay124
Well-Known Member
hydra
Is that an extension board in the bottom, right hand corner ?
Many months ago, I found that routing the power supply through an inverter and then a Belkin power strip, introduced quite a bit of noise into the final SQ. A direct connection to individual power sockets, not routed through an inverter, lead to a substantial cleaning up of the sound. Later I added an online UPS to provide consistent 230V of reasonably 'isolated' and 'filtered' power.
Is that an extension board in the bottom, right hand corner ?
Many months ago, I found that routing the power supply through an inverter and then a Belkin power strip, introduced quite a bit of noise into the final SQ. A direct connection to individual power sockets, not routed through an inverter, lead to a substantial cleaning up of the sound. Later I added an online UPS to provide consistent 230V of reasonably 'isolated' and 'filtered' power.
Imrahn
Active Member
Great and well calculated setup bro.....really appreciated.
Once I got the PC setup at home and hooked up to the amp, I settled in to listen to music.
Frankly, on saturday night, off the bat, I did not very much like what I heard. I knew there was a lot to be done on the software front and I got down to a listening-tweaking-listening-tweaking session that lasted all night (I did not sleep a wink).
I had to leave for a wedding with the family at 8.00AM on sunday. After I got back at about 3.00PM, well, it was the same as saturday night till about 5.00AM in the night.
I finally arrived at the following settings that I'm using as my for-now-final settings:
OS: Windows 7 Home Basic.
Media Player: Foobar2000 v1.1.6 (Columns_UI), with WASAPI component enabled (Output data format: 24 Bits).
Windows
Output mode in Xonar Software: No upsampling (44.1Khz), "Hifi" mode (all pass, no processing).
Windows sound setting: System sounds off, Exclusive mode enabled.
I've installed only Foobar2000 in the machine for now. I might install VLC and MPC-HC along the way. Nothing else is going to get installed. I'm not going to connect to a network or the Internet, so I've not installed anti-virus software. I've also disabled the network adapter. The MB's built-in audio was disabled in the BIOS, and I did not bother to install the MB Audio drivers either.
Listening Impressions after optimisations
How it sounded before the PC was used as a source
Earlier, this was how the setup was:
FLAC > WDTV > Beresford Optical Cable > Beresford Caiman > Chord CrimsonPlus > Nad 326BEE > Chord Carnival Silverscreen > PSB Image B6.
- There was a very defined center image, vocals were bang in center.
- The background instruments not so well defined.
- The soundstage was somewhat narrow, and did not extend well enough beyond the speakers.
- Detail was, well, just adequate, and the overall presentation was somewhat dark (but I quite liked it that way).
- There was no sibilance at all (except in some Eva Cassidy tracks).
- Bass response was adequate, reasonably fast and impactful.
How it sounds with the PC as the source
This is how the current setup looks like:
FLAC > Foobar2000 on PC with Asus Xonar STX > Chord CrimsonPlus > Nad 326BEE > Chord Carnival Silverscreen > PSB Image B6.
- The center image is a bit less defined than before.
- Vocals are very much in the center, but they do not sound like they are coming from an altogether different channel (as they did before).
- The soundstage is much wider than before, extending beyond the speakers.
- There is a lot of detail: The setup does not sound bright, but reproduction of detail has taken a quantum leap over the previous setup. In fact I feel a little uncomfortable with so much detail right now (I prefer a somewhat laid-back presentation in general).
- Microdynamics have improved substantially. I hear and feel a lot of small bits of detail and somethingsthatican'tdefine now. In fact the piano sounds like a percussion instrument (which it is), with the impact of the keys being felt distinctly [esp. in tracks like Diana Krall's "Case of you" (Live in Paris) and Monty Alexander's "Nite Mist Blues"].
- The downer is that there is a little bit (just a little bit) of sibilance in some female vocal-oriented tracks. I'm hoping fervently that this will go away over time with burn-in. This difference was felt particularly in some Katie Melua tracks.
- Bass is much smoother, fast and a lot more impactful. In fact, for the first time, I started wondering if I should have gone for the PSB Image B5, rather than the B6. A bit more space behind the speakers should help here -- stuff to do for the next weekend. Bass also feels a lot more "subtle" than before (can't get a better way of expressing what I feel).
- Overall there is a lot more speed and rhythm in music than before.
For now, I'm going to listen to the setup and leave things as is for about 100 hours of music, before trying any more tweaks. I'll get familiar with the sound of the setup so I can judge improvement/degradation in sound quality brought about by tweaks.
Things I need to do later:
- I need to try and move the speakers a bit closer (maybe by 6-8 inches or so) to see if the center image improves.
- I need to find a way to move the speakers a bit more farther away from the rear wall without screwing up the liveability/usability of the room.
- The speakers are still not "fixed" on the stands. Magma sent me neoprene (?) pads to put under the speakers. I have some Blu-Tack I got from Bangalore. I need to use one of the two to finalise the stand part of the setup. Could you folks comment on which would be better - pads or Blu-tack?
Frankly, on saturday night, off the bat, I did not very much like what I heard. I knew there was a lot to be done on the software front and I got down to a listening-tweaking-listening-tweaking session that lasted all night (I did not sleep a wink).
I had to leave for a wedding with the family at 8.00AM on sunday. After I got back at about 3.00PM, well, it was the same as saturday night till about 5.00AM in the night.
I finally arrived at the following settings that I'm using as my for-now-final settings:
OS: Windows 7 Home Basic.
Media Player: Foobar2000 v1.1.6 (Columns_UI), with WASAPI component enabled (Output data format: 24 Bits).
Windows
Output mode in Xonar Software: No upsampling (44.1Khz), "Hifi" mode (all pass, no processing).
Windows sound setting: System sounds off, Exclusive mode enabled.
I've installed only Foobar2000 in the machine for now. I might install VLC and MPC-HC along the way. Nothing else is going to get installed. I'm not going to connect to a network or the Internet, so I've not installed anti-virus software. I've also disabled the network adapter. The MB's built-in audio was disabled in the BIOS, and I did not bother to install the MB Audio drivers either.
Listening Impressions after optimisations
How it sounded before the PC was used as a source
Earlier, this was how the setup was:
FLAC > WDTV > Beresford Optical Cable > Beresford Caiman > Chord CrimsonPlus > Nad 326BEE > Chord Carnival Silverscreen > PSB Image B6.
- There was a very defined center image, vocals were bang in center.
- The background instruments not so well defined.
- The soundstage was somewhat narrow, and did not extend well enough beyond the speakers.
- Detail was, well, just adequate, and the overall presentation was somewhat dark (but I quite liked it that way).
- There was no sibilance at all (except in some Eva Cassidy tracks).
- Bass response was adequate, reasonably fast and impactful.
How it sounds with the PC as the source
This is how the current setup looks like:
FLAC > Foobar2000 on PC with Asus Xonar STX > Chord CrimsonPlus > Nad 326BEE > Chord Carnival Silverscreen > PSB Image B6.
- The center image is a bit less defined than before.
- Vocals are very much in the center, but they do not sound like they are coming from an altogether different channel (as they did before).
- The soundstage is much wider than before, extending beyond the speakers.
- There is a lot of detail: The setup does not sound bright, but reproduction of detail has taken a quantum leap over the previous setup. In fact I feel a little uncomfortable with so much detail right now (I prefer a somewhat laid-back presentation in general).
- Microdynamics have improved substantially. I hear and feel a lot of small bits of detail and somethingsthatican'tdefine now. In fact the piano sounds like a percussion instrument (which it is), with the impact of the keys being felt distinctly [esp. in tracks like Diana Krall's "Case of you" (Live in Paris) and Monty Alexander's "Nite Mist Blues"].
- The downer is that there is a little bit (just a little bit) of sibilance in some female vocal-oriented tracks. I'm hoping fervently that this will go away over time with burn-in. This difference was felt particularly in some Katie Melua tracks.
- Bass is much smoother, fast and a lot more impactful. In fact, for the first time, I started wondering if I should have gone for the PSB Image B5, rather than the B6. A bit more space behind the speakers should help here -- stuff to do for the next weekend. Bass also feels a lot more "subtle" than before (can't get a better way of expressing what I feel).
- Overall there is a lot more speed and rhythm in music than before.
For now, I'm going to listen to the setup and leave things as is for about 100 hours of music, before trying any more tweaks. I'll get familiar with the sound of the setup so I can judge improvement/degradation in sound quality brought about by tweaks.
Things I need to do later:
- I need to try and move the speakers a bit closer (maybe by 6-8 inches or so) to see if the center image improves.
- I need to find a way to move the speakers a bit more farther away from the rear wall without screwing up the liveability/usability of the room.
- The speakers are still not "fixed" on the stands. Magma sent me neoprene (?) pads to put under the speakers. I have some Blu-Tack I got from Bangalore. I need to use one of the two to finalise the stand part of the setup. Could you folks comment on which would be better - pads or Blu-tack?
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Yes, that is an extension board. For now, I'm actually stuck with it. I do have the option of getting a 5 meter power cable (MX Electronics) as a substitute. I've just not been able to get out into the city to the MX-Zone shop yet. Not that it will help substantially, if things are the way you mentioned. I'm sure clean power will definitely help.
Did you buy an off-the-shelf setup for the UPS or did you get one made?
Thanks
Music PC Specs
Cabinet: Silverstone GD04-B (7200/-)
PSU: Silverstone ST50F-ES "Strider Essential" 500W, 80plus certified (3250/-)
Mobo: MSI E350IA-E45 (AMD Fusion Board) (7860/-)
RAM: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz (2300/-)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2700/-)
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD Writer (1100/-)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX (8800/-)
KB+Mouse: Lenovo N5901 wireless multimedia keyboard+trackball combo (2200/-)
(Note: All prices are inclusive of shipping and payment processing charges where applicable. Most of the components were bought online).
Most of the components were chosen for silent performance. I should have used a 2.5" HDD instead for a 3.5" HDD (for even more silent running), but I had to compromise for cost and storage capacity. I might upgrade the PC with a 40GB SSD boot drive.
The money and effort spent on choosing/getting the cabinet and PSU have paid off very well. Even with 3 cabinet fans, the PSU's fan and the mobo's tiny fan running, the PC is very silent. You cannot make out that the PC is running, from more than 2 feet away from the PC. I have not yet enabled fan control in the BIOS, but I will do that today, making things even more silent.
Cabinet: Silverstone GD04-B (7200/-)
PSU: Silverstone ST50F-ES "Strider Essential" 500W, 80plus certified (3250/-)
Mobo: MSI E350IA-E45 (AMD Fusion Board) (7860/-)
RAM: Corsair 4GB (1 x 4GB) DDR3 1333MHz (2300/-)
HDD: Seagate Barracuda 1TB (2700/-)
Optical Drive: Samsung DVD Writer (1100/-)
Sound Card: Asus Xonar Essence STX (8800/-)
KB+Mouse: Lenovo N5901 wireless multimedia keyboard+trackball combo (2200/-)
(Note: All prices are inclusive of shipping and payment processing charges where applicable. Most of the components were bought online).
Most of the components were chosen for silent performance. I should have used a 2.5" HDD instead for a 3.5" HDD (for even more silent running), but I had to compromise for cost and storage capacity. I might upgrade the PC with a 40GB SSD boot drive.
The money and effort spent on choosing/getting the cabinet and PSU have paid off very well. Even with 3 cabinet fans, the PSU's fan and the mobo's tiny fan running, the PC is very silent. You cannot make out that the PC is running, from more than 2 feet away from the PC. I have not yet enabled fan control in the BIOS, but I will do that today, making things even more silent.
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Purchase the Audiolab 6000A Integrated Amplifier at a special offer price.
