Lee's Audiophile/Gaming/5.1 Surround Build

[vogelspinnen]

Hello people!

 

Building a gaming PC has always been a dream of mine since I was young kid, but due to circumstances requiring me to travel, I was always just stuck with a laptop. Audio is also another thing I am fanatical about. When I say "audiophile" I don't mean critical listening, but rather just really enjoying good sound whether it be in games, music or movies. Recently I had to chance to finally build a PC. At 32-years-old that was a pretty daunting task, because I knew NOTHING about PC building, or even PCs in general. I thought an Nvme SSD was a RAM, a hard drive was a CPU, and didn't even know how to install Windows.

 

But Google was a wonderful thing, and after giving myself a crash course for a few weeks, I felt ready to build a new PC. Surprisingly it booted up the first time, and I have since been gaming happily on it for a few months. Like cars, the desire to modify was strong, and I cutting a gaping hole at the top of my case to drop GPU temps and rewrapped the whole thing in a black brushed steel finish.

 

 

The itch then came to bring my audio hobby to my desk, which is why I embarked on this project. Again the crazy research began, because I basically knew nothing about home audio, and my knowledge was mostly limited to car audio. 3 weeks of research and annoying audio shops later, I have finally settled on my plan. I will detail the main components and why I chose them.

 

 

1. Creative Sound BlasterX AE-9

This took me quite a bit of time to decide. At first I tried finding good quality DACs, but it seemed most of them were catered to the 2.1 crowd, which is widely believed as the best way to enjoy music. 5.1 DACs existed, but those catered for the general crowd, and I couldn't find one that will give me audiophile-quality audio. Well, I did, but it cost a bomb. Another option I looked into was an AV receiver, which would be perfect if not for the fact that they were huge and wouldn't fit on my desk. My research finally left me torn between 2 soundcards, the Asus Essence STX II and the then-unannounced Creative AE-9. I really wanted the AE-9, but at that time it was just a myth and I didn't know if it would even be released at all. Imagine my excitement when one day I learnt that it was finally announced! Looking through the specs, and with my experience as a long-time Creative user, it cemented my decision to get the AE-9. I won't talk too much about it here, but I was lucky enough to have the opportunity to obtain one early, and I talk more about in my other thread.

 

2. Audioengine HD3

Honestly, this has to be the single best purchase I have made for audio. Of course, there are better speakers out there, but the Audioengine was a no-brainer because:

- it was reasonably-priced

-it was tiny, but with a HUGE sound and amazing sound quality for its price and size. Seriously, I can't gush enough how it blew me away the first time I heard it. I don't think I have heard any other speakers this size that sound so good.

-With an in-built DAC and class A/B amps. these speakers are a breeze to setup and prevent lots of clutter on the desk. I don't know how Audioengine fit so much goodness into this little beast, but it's beyond impressive, period.

 

3. Dynaudio Xeo 2

With my experience with the HD3s, my next speaker of choice for my upgrade was the HD6s. I did my fair bit of research, and they seemed to be everything I have dreamt of. But when I went down to the shop to audition them that day, I can't believe I overlooked one important factor: they were HUGE. I did my comparisons before and thought they would fit nicely, but what I forgot to factor in was DEPTH. They were really long in depth, and with the additional heatsink, it meant the speakers would be just a few inches from my face. And to be honest they don't sound as good nearfield, and they needed space behind to breathe because they are rear-ported. I was about to resign myself to another pair of HD3s, but decided to do a little more research first. That's when I stumbled upon the Xeo 10's. They fit everything perfectly. Critics were raving about the sound, they were pretty shallow for speakers this size, and they were downward-ported. This means that their ports are designed to fire downwards, allowing them to go right up against the wall. I tested them and their nearfield performance was phenomenal. Aesthetically they looked good too. The only problem was the PRICE. At S$2,399, they were a really hard pill to swallow. After my last bout of research, I learnt about the Xeo 2s. The only difference was the Xeo 10s had slightly better performance at high volumes and a cleaner-designed baffle. But the Xeo 2s had dropped much more in price, in fact Amazon once had a one-day sale for them at US$699. The only issue is that they were hard to track down, but I finally managed to find one at $899, so here it is in the build!

 

4. Audioengine S8

This was a no brainer. I loved Audioengine stuff. The S8 gave clean, tight bass at a small form factor. In typical Audioengine style, it had a clean and minimalistic design. That's one in the bag!

 

I am just dying of excitement to install my AE-9 (which I just received ahead of time. Thread here!), so I'll stop here, but I'll post later what I did to improve desk-listening acoustics, more impressions, and hopefully a completed surround build soon.

[jiyeon]

That is a BEAUTIFUL black & orange, it's excellently crafted, amazing work.  That is such a great balance of orange LEDs and natural orange colors inside the build, great attention to detail on how much RGB elements you have there.

Your little spider friend scared me, by the way, but being black and orange, it fits surprisingly well.

 

10 hours ago, vogelspinnen said:

At 32-years-old that was a pretty daunting task, because I knew NOTHING about PC building, or even PCs in general. I thought an Nvme SSD was a RAM, a hard drive was a CPU, and didn't even know how to install Windows.

 

But Google was a wonderful thing, and after giving myself a crash course for a few weeks, I felt ready to build a new PC. Surprisingly it booted up the first time, and I have since been gaming happily on it for a few months.

You have done an excellent job with the build, it is amazingly-built and looks so elegant with your black and orange color scheme.

[vogelspinnen]

Thank you for the compliments @seoz!

 

The build actually started white and black, until I decided to cut a big, gaping hole in it and wrap it black

 

 

The orange was an afterthought to match my spider. Thankfully it turned out ok, glad you find it nice!

[vogelspinnen]

One of the first orders of business is to make my environment a little better for music-listening. My workspace is part of a modular table design shared with my staff. The tables are separated by a flimsy piece of acrylic, which is both ugly and does not help acoustics. The same goes for the white tabletop.

 

 

First off I took out all the mounting brackets that were white. Those have to be painted black. It was also the perfect chance for me to plan my cables. I love my audio stuff wired as far as possible, I don't like wireless connections. At the same time I hate cables and I want none to be seen. What a dilemma! This was the final chart of what cables I needed:

 

PSU -- Mains

PC -- Router

Wifi booster -- Antenna

PC -- Logitech Lightspeed receiver

PC -- Monitor 1 USB hub

PC -- Monitor 1 HDMI

PC -- Monitor 2 USB hub

PC -- Monitor 2 Display Port

Monitor 1 -- Mains

Monitor 2 -- Mains

Soundcard -- Xeo 2 RCA Input

Soundcard -- Subwoofer RCA Input

Soundcard -- HD3 Aux Input

Soundcard -- AE-9 Breakout Box

Xeo 2 -- Mains

HD3 -- Mains

HD3 master -- HD3 Slave line input

Nintendo Switch -- Monitor 2

Nintendo Switch -- Mains

Nintendo Switch -- AE-9 breakout box

PS4 controller charger -- Mains

Handphone charger -- Mains

Mouse charger -- Mains

 

As you can see it's a LOT of cables, and it doesnt help that they are all going from different sources to different destinations. As far as possible I tried to make them all go along the same routes, and where possible under the table where I can just chuck them all in the cable management bar. I also planned their order so they wouldn't cross one another.

 

 

With that done, my final design meant that the only cable I have left visible is this little magnetic cable I use to charge the mouse at night. Worth it? YES!

 

Next up was to cover my table with a thick layer of PVC. This not only serves to compliment my blacked-out design, but also reduce desktop reflections from the speakers for a slightly improved sound. I planned out how much I needed to cut on photoshop, and cut it on the floor before laying it on. Thankfully it fit like a glove! All I had to do was make the cutouts for the panel-mounting brackets (which are now black) and trim along the table's curved edge.

 

 

Finally I threw 4 acoustic foam panels in front of the separating panels to not only give it a cleaner look, but vastly improve acoustic properties. They gave my desk a cosier feel too. After that it was just a matter of throwing everything back on and plugging them in. And here's the finished product! Clean and cable free! One day I will build my man-cave where I can have even more fun making a clean. minimalistic setup, but for now I love my little corner.

 

 

Next up is to set up my HD3s to work as rear surround speakers so I can finally have some fun with the AE-9. I have already planned for the cables and am now just waiting for the mounting arms, and that is coming up in the next post!

 

 

[vogelspinnen]

The Xeo 2 was my weapon of choice for my front speaker upgrade, while the smaller HD3s will retire to the rear as rear speakers. I chose them because:

 

1. They are the perfect size for anyone with a desktop setup looking for something bigger than an Audioengine HD3/A2+. They are relatively shallow for their size, as compared to the Audioengine HD6 which is almost twice as deep and will stick out way too much on a desk.

 

2. They are downwards-ported. Yes, this means that their rear ports fire downwards. That is an incredibly smart move, because that means you can have them right up against a wall and they will still sound good. Most speakers this size need room to breathe, and room is something desktop users have in short supply.

 

3. They are powered and extremely versatile. Powered means I do not need to have a chonky amp on my desk, and they accept a wide range of inputs so connectivity is never an issue.

 

4. They are bridged wirelessly. This means less wires, and they connect using their own wifi signal, which means no loss in quality as compared to bluetooth. That's a nice touch!

 

5.They are Dynaudios! Which means that yes, they sound good. And most importantly, they sound good NEARFIELD. So many great speakers sound great in a room, but when you are 12 inches away from them they sound pretty off.

 

6. They are succeeded by the Xeo 10s. The Xeo 10s are essentially the same as the Xeo 2s, but what this means for us is a drop in prices for the Xeo 2s. I got mine at $899, a very reasonable price compared to the Xeo 10's $1,499 pricetag.

 

What I didn't like about them

-Still pricey

-Fingerprint magnet

-Cables are really hard to plug in unless you have tiny hands.

-Bottom plate has a screw which sticks out, I had i remove so it would sit nicely on my stands

-Volume control, while modern, is fiddly. I prefer the good ol' volume knob instead of tapping a capacitive button repeatedly.

-Volume resets when they go to sleep, which is just annoying because that means I have to set them again after they wake. I'll rather they stayed as per their previous settings so I can just control volume in Windows.

 

 

Looks-wise they are a nice-looking pair of speakers, the enclosure is made of some kind of plastic, but feels very solidly-built. They are fingerprint magnets though, I don't think I have ever touched them once without needing to wipe them down. Front baffle is a very classy brushed-aluminium finish with flush-mounted screws. The Xeo 10 is updated with a screw-less design, which looks really good too, but they don't really make a difference to me because I use them with the grille on ( I have a nosy cat).

 

 

The only possible complain I can have about their gorgeous looks is this tiny tweeter wire. But once the grille is on that's not a problem anymore.

 

Sound

 

Day 3 of owning my Dynaudio Xeo 2, and I LOVE them. Day 1 was worrying, they sounded less than decent. The sound was flat, narrow and recessed. It was a very strangely unnatural sound. I was actually comtemplating in my head if I should return them, because at that moment my HD3s sounded WAY better, and I was fast regretting my decision. Deciding it might be a source issue, i decided to wait till I had installed it to my AE-9 before I decided anything.

 

After everything was setup and they were hooked up to the Creative Sound BlasterX AE-9, they sounded marginally better, but still very much lacking. I fiddled around with the DSP settings and it still wasn't much. Oh well, I decided to let them play overnight while I went to bed and contemplated my life choices.

 

The next day, I woke up sleepy, and made my morning coffee. They didn't sound much different. But when I sat down at my seat, they didn't sound like the speakers they were anymore. Vocals came alive and were clear, crisp and lively. Mids are still lacking a little, but they are fast performing like what they have always been hyped up to be. Separation was nice and imaging was spot-on, but the soundstage still wasn't as wide as I expected from them. I remembered more from the Xeo 10s I demoed at the audio shop.

 

Today, I have put about 10 hours on them, much of it at a rather low volume due to people working around me. They are remarkably different from when I first bought them! Highs are still absolutely lovely. Mids are "opening up", they are punchier and rich, but I feel they are still lacking depth. I still feel they are going to get much better because I had demoed the Xeo 10s before and they are essentially similar to the Xeo 2s, just with an updated baffle and slight DSP changes.

 

Overall I am already loving them, and I will report back once I had run them in more. This is the first time I have had speakers change so much in response after running in, I guess there is a first for everything eh?

[vogelspinnen]

It's been a really busy couple of weeks and I honestly felt my build was going to shit because of a whole host of problems, but at the end of the day, they were all resolved and I am just falling more in love with this system everyday!

 

Setting up the rear speakers was pretty easy. I bought some cheap VESA mounts meant for monitors and simply turned the mount up to act as a speaker stand. My table is curved so I didn't need that long of an arm.

 

 

First off was a lack of a center speaker for my setup. I thought center speakers just helped staging and dialogue, I had no idea how integral they were in a 5.1 setup! Dialogue, reloading, firing, character noises were almost exclusive to the center channel. I had a speaker back home I could use, but I would rather not if I could help it.

 

Secondly, with a discrete 5.1 setup, it meant my subwoofer was not playing properly on most stereo audio. Creative has this nice option called "bass redirection", but it has a primitve crossover setting, and I would need to sacrifice some low-end from my Xeo 2s to pass them over to the woofer.

 

Finally, this biggest problem was that my Xeo 2s were completely out of sync with the rest of the system. I finally traced the problem down to the speakers being bridged wirelessly. This means they have a inbuilt input lag of 20ms even when the master is wired.

 

All these problems were thankfully solved with an awesome app called Equalizer APO. I thought of so many ridiculous ideas trying to solve those problems, and this little app just stomped on them all. I spent a while playing with the settings and this is what I ended up with.

 

 

With the entire system synced, it was just a matter of fine-tuning speaker volumes to match and create a system that sounds as one. It was more painful than I thought, but once it's done, it was mind-blowing. I don't think I will ever like gaming or movies without surround again.

 

My final dissatisfaction with the system was the Dynaudio Xeo 2s. To be honest, while the highs were beautiful, it lacked body and life in the mids. Bass was non-existent.

 

But guess what? After 2 weeks with them, they really came alive! Highs mellowed out slightly, mids were full and rich and lively, and the bass was unreal. I never expected anything out of the bass considering they were puny drivers, but damn, they played clean bass all the way down to 60mhz, something I really cannot understand how such small drivers can do. But now they really sound like the speakers that were so ravely reviewed. This is the first time I ever had to run speakers in for so long, but it might be due to the fact that these speakers have been discontinued for a while now, and probably were sitting in storage for quite a while. And being a desktop setup, I couldn't really play them loud 90% of the time, so the mid-basses probably took some time to soften.

 

From regretting my purchases to being my absolutely favourite speakers now,the Dynaudio Xeo 2s are a seriously impressive pair of quality hardware. I will not be modifying this setup again until I move into my own room, but for now it is an absolute pleasure to listen to in stereo for music, and completely immersive in 5.1. I LOVE IT!