whats your pc audio setup?

[pravda]

Quote

 

This is my current set up.

Music :

•    Harmon Kardon 3490 integrated amplifier  2xStereo
•    Paradigm Studio Monitors (300w Wooden Towers from the 90's)
•    KEF Q100 Bookshelf
•   Integrated Soundblaster ZXrI on gigabyte motherboard  (optical cord)

 

Headphones :

•   Sony MDR-1A

Microphone :

• Antlion Audio ModMic Uni Attachable

 

Future :

• SVS SB-1000 12inch subwoofer

[biohazard918]

I have a pair of elac 6.2b bookshelf speakers pulling triple duty as my computer speakers, stereo and sound system for my bedroom tv. They are being driven by an SMSL AD18. I'm using the AD18's internal dac over usb for the computer and toslink for the tv. My current headphones are a set of hifiman he4xx's but they are getting sidelined when my new set of thx pandas get here in mid november. I also have a set of earfun free earbuds that I mostly use for listening to podcasts and audo books on my phone.

 

elac 6.2b      $300

ad18             $145

he4xx            $160

earfun free    $40~

thx panda      $400

 

The bottom line for me was that I wanted something that could do everything pretty well. Music, gaming, youtube and movie consumption and the 6.2b excel at that. They are detailed and clear with enough base that I don't feel the need for a sub with movies. The ad18 I bought because I wanted something compact that could handle multiple inputs and that wouldn't give off a lot of heat. It does its job reasonably well but I know its not the best amp in terms of accuracy. It will probably get replaced at some point with ether a used receiver or hopefully a better class d desktop amp. The he4xx's will always be a special purchase for me because they were the first piece of really good audio gear I experienced and totally blew my fucking mind at the time. I kinda love the earfuns. The are only "listenable" for music imo but they are great for podcasts with little in the way of noise which is not the case with other cheap ear buds I have tried. I bought them because I tend to lose or break my earbuds and don't want an expensive set I have to worry about. I bought the pandas because I wasn't using the he4xx's as much as I used to because the cord was annoying me more then it used before I got the earfuns and got used to bluetooth. I also end up buying a phone without a 3.5mm jack.... Overall I'm pretty happy with everything even the ad18 and very happy with the elacs.

 

[mao91]

WARNING: Huge bang for the buck, but still not particularly cheap, option ahead.

 

While my full setup is considerably more complicated, my PC audio setup could be boiled down to 2 components: interface and speakers.

If you want some baller audio that will get you super close to reference-quality without having to spend five digits, and you don't need a ton of extra audio I/O, something like this setup can get you pretty decent results.

1. The Interface: Focusrite Scarlett Solo 3rd gen. Will get you a single XLR mic input with a decent preamp, headphone out, and left/right outs for your ref. monitors. Alternatively, if you sit close enough to warrant smaller speakers and a separate subwoofer, 
2. The speakers. This part really depends on where you're sitting in relation to your speakers (sound waves need a bit of travel distance, my friend). If you're sitting about 48+ inches away from your speakers, look at getting a pair of these HS8s. If you sit about 40 inches away, a pair of these HS7s can do you well. If you're closer than 40", then these HS5s should be plenty for you, but you might want to consider pairing with the HS8S sub to fill in the frequency spectrum to bridge that cutoff from 45Hz down to about 20Hz. 

If you do get the HS5s plus sub setup (honestly would recommend, almost wish I had gone with HS7s and sub for my own setup instead of HS8s... bigger speakers don't always mean better!), you'll need TRS to XLR adapters to run from your interface to the sub, and then XLRs from the sub to the speakers, and do a little research on where would be optimal to set the crossover and balance the volume so it's not overpowering.

Source: am audio engineer. 

In this price range, these are the best speakers you'll find. Now if you go with one of the setups I suggested here want that extra special sauce that'll give you some real nice flat calibration for a fixed listening point (hear things in a way that brings you as close to being in the studio as you can get), this is a tool that I use personally with my HS8s that, honestly, *chef kiss*. 

Alternatively, if speakers are out of the question for you, Sonarworks Headphone Edition can make a pair of Audio Technica ATH-M50x headphones sound pretty rock solid as well.

 

 

 

 

[VoidX]

I've come a long way since I made an audio lab out of my room and created my own version of Atmos. It started out really, I mean really ghetto, but it was worth it at the end:

 

2013 - Genius SW-G 2.1 1250 ($30)

2014 - Same amp with used Sony SS-A307 speakers (total cost raised to $50)

2015 - 2 additional SW-G amps with a used Dimarson setup for surrounds and overheads - this is where the development for my upmixer started (t.c. at $100)

2016 - Fronts were replaced with Klipsch R-15Ms, still no center, just a 4.0.2 ($250)

2017 - Another SW-G amp, a Klipsch R-25C, another pair of R-15Ms as front height, and an R-10SWi subwoofer, all on sale ($700)

2018 - Got a gift of a JBL 8340A pair, so a 5.1.2 was possible throwing out the Dimarsons. 2 of them stayed bolted to the ceiling for later use. I sold the R-10SWi, and got an RW-12d for the same price. (no change in cost)

2019 - I accidentally found a directory listing on Yorkville's service website on Google, which contained schematics for actual IMAX speakers. So I built a new subwoofer based on that, which is basically unrivaled at any price point. I asked them if this was intentional or not, and they took it down, so don't ask for a link. (cost bumped to $1700, value raised to the sky)

2020 - The annoyingly bad R-25C was replaced to another used 8340A, and I got a Crown XLS-202 for the fronts ($2000)

 

After only spending $2000, I've got a total system value of about $10000, and with a custom built calibrator, it managed to drastically surpass $500k home theaters.

The system as of now:

JBL 8340A screens and Klipsch R-15M surrounds as a 5.1.2 base and 2 Dimarsons used as sound guides for a virtual 5.1.4

DIY subwoofers, one main and 3 small room correction boxes, all of them custom calibrated for the room

Crown XLS-202, BASH, and Genius amplifiers

ASUS Xonar DX sound card

Equalizer APO with Cavern QuickEQ measurements

 

Some numbers of how well this turned out:

- Perfectly flat 20-20000 Hz response at reference cinema levels (105 dB main peak, 115 dB LFE peak) with only +/-0.05 dB error in the RLP

- No phase changes in software, all channels could be perfectly aligned with 1 sample precision

- Nearly perfect 20-120 Hz response for the LFE at any seat, with only +/-1 dB error and chest slams at any position, even while standing

- Just 57 ms of total LFE decay time

- RT60 is always below 250 ms without any acoustic treatment

- The entire system is only capable of 740 Watts, but only two scenes were able to clip it at reference levels, both of them hit the room correction subs

- Over 200 hours spent calibrating every single small issue

[Derkoli]

7 hours ago, VoidX said:

After only spending $2000, I've got a total system value of about $10000, and with a custom built calibrator, it managed to drastically surpass $500k home theaters.

 

A HT like yours that is DSP corrected will surpass anything that isn't calibrated/DSP'd correctly.

 

What size driver does that IMAX subwoofer use? My curiosity is wondering if its the plans for a large or small IMAX theatre. Nearly every IMAX theatre has a much different speaker setup to every other IMAX cinema.

[Tigerleon]

On 10/2/2020 at 4:45 PM, dfsgsfa said:

what is your bottom line?

do you like your regret your setup?

how much budget would you invest in ?

My setup is my DT 990 pro 250ohm with a straight cable and dekoni elite velour pads. Paired with my Sound Blaster AE-9 and a T.bone SC400 mic.

1. Great soundstage with great imaging for gaming and music, good amp/DAC. Also no RGB gaming headsets!!!

2. I like my setup. I want to explore more in the future.

3. Max 250 dollars per product

[VoidX]

7 hours ago, Derkoli said:

 

A HT like yours that is DSP corrected will surpass anything that isn't calibrated/DSP'd correctly.

 

What size driver does that IMAX subwoofer use? My curiosity is wondering if its the plans for a large or small IMAX theatre. Nearly every IMAX theatre has a much different speaker setup to every other IMAX cinema.

Sadly there is no correct DSP other than using a PC as of today. Even high-end processors, like the StormAudio ISP MK2, starting over $20k, can't even supply anything more than a Dirac correction, which is usually off by 10-15 dB at some points. They just don't have the power. A maxed out Audyssey configuration handles 2560 operations per sample per channel, Dirac is speculated to be around 8192 o/s/c, while a PC can easily handle 65536 o/s/c just for a simple crossover (for which I use 48 dB/Hz variants, yes, it's Hz, not octave). This is a must if you want to keep phase distortion to a minimum, and in most cases, using hybrid convolution, it's under one sample. A simple laptop can deal with up to 1 million o/s/c for EQ, and this is the demo I take to premium HTs for jaw-dropping changes in audio quality, sometimes even from as low as a simple one minute auto-calibration, but at very high precision.

 

If this doesn't provide the awaited results, there's always room for bruteforcing FFT(DiracDelta(t-T/2))/FFT(room IR). This creates a completely flat frequency and phase response with zero nodes and near-instant decays, but it's really hard to mix correctly even for a single seat (for which I usually use 7 mic positions in this case). The cost is that it brings current high-end CPUs to their limits, and commercial audio processors are far away from this kind of performance, while pro ones are sometimes even further. The only system I've seen come close to PC-calibrated ones was in a room that was padded into oblivion, with an average RT60 below 50 ms. That just blew away every measurement I've ever had. That system's subs were still inaudible at over 20 dB addition to the cinema standard, while you could feel actual shockwaves on your chest. It makes an actual IMAX's slams just a small breeze. This was nearly purely done in acoustic treatment, but for that room (2400 cubic meters), the price must have been stellar, based on their yearly operation cost of over $6 million.

 

So why is there no development on PC EQs and why does anyone barely build a HT based on PC? There's no support for modern formats like Atmos, and based on many licences, there won't be, unless the guys working on libavcodec find a way to legally reverse engineer these. The only one I could play back in true spatial sound on the PC was Auro, and nobody is using Auro. You have to downmix it, as there's 8 channels of commonly available output channels, 16 at most in some very complicated setups. Also, it's possible in an analog way to come close, but for a price that's out of reach for most of us. Lastly, what I was talking about, is a controlled scientific experiment. There is no plug'n'play tool, and you can't expect installers to spend hundreds of hours on configuring your setup. Barely any users would do it, even Dolby stops after 3 days for actual cinema calibrations, and with the exception of bass, it sounds just as good.

 

 

 

I found 3 different sub designs, one with a single 18" driver in a single enclosure (this is what one of my friends bought 2 of from eBay, and even this one performs really good), one with 4x 12" drivers in a single enclosure (this is the one I built and what's seen in most online content), and I don't remember the last one. I also don't know how much they use in which of their rooms, but judging from the 1200W peak output of mine, it must be a lot.

[TukangUsapEmenq]

It's actually simple yet at least I can hear the frequencies good enough.

 

I'm using an old PC speaker amplifier-subwoofer (Simbadda CST 6000-ish I forgot the exact model), and using it to drive a pair of local-brand Polytron home-theater speakers (which actually sounds kinda good in my opinion) and a big-ass subwoofer from a local brand Advante, all of which I found just laying around and "Well, let's just fix 'em".

 

Yes, I know the amplifier would be really overwhelmed by the setup, but that's how I run my music everyday without yet spending any money. Probably a good idea for me to get a decent 2 channel + 1 subwoofer amplifier, tho, as the amp I'm using are already struggling to keep the power on the speakers and it's starting to hurting itself.

 

For earphone, I'm using a real budget one, Knowledge Zenith KZ-EDR2. It's actually sounds decent enough, better than the more-bassy side of JBL on the price range.

 

I'd like a headset that's good for music but can be functional for gaming session (as using an earphone for gaming is just... Uncomfortable for extended session), somehow. Probably any good products on this? Tell anything you would recommend but pls don't make me broke either.

[pythonmegapixel]

2 hours ago, dhannemon13 said:

I'd like a headset that's good for music but can be functional for gaming session (as using an earphone for gaming is just... Uncomfortable for extended session), somehow. Probably any good products on this? Tell anything you would recommend but pls don't make me broke either.

If you can afford it, and want a headset with a microphone, then go for a Kingston HyperX Cloud II. They are reskinned from some studio headphones (I forget which ones) which means they sound excellent, especially by gaming headset standards.

 

It you don't want a microphone then there's a wealth of audiophile-type headphone choices which I'm sure someone here more knowledgeable than myself will be happy to enlighten you on.

 

[TukangUsapEmenq]

2 hours ago, pythonmegapixel said:

It you don't want a microphone then there's a wealth of audiophile-type headphone choices which I'm sure someone here more knowledgeable than myself will be happy to enlighten you on.

Perhaps I'd consider this and... Cheaper, perhaps. Around $20-$35 or slightly more maybe?

I wouldn't mind if that's a budget one as long as it sounds decent enough lol

[Selle]

Gaming setup:

Asus Xonar Essence stx souncard

Klipsch R-15PM active speakers

AKG K551 headphones

 

Livingroom/htpc setup

Arcam irDAC

Nad C352 used as pre amplifier

Nad C275BEE power amplifier

Dali Concept 10 speakers

 

Happy with everything exept the headphones, they are OK but nothing more, but dont use them that often

 

 

[Derkoli]

17 hours ago, VoidX said:

Sadly there is no correct DSP other than using a PC as of today. Even high-end processors, like the StormAudio ISP MK2, starting over $20k, can't even supply anything more than a Dirac correction, which is usually off by 10-15 dB at some points. They just don't have the power. A maxed out Audyssey configuration handles 2560 operations per sample per channel, Dirac is speculated to be around 8192 o/s/c, while a PC can easily handle 65536 o/s/c just for a simple crossover (for which I use 48 dB/Hz variants, yes, it's Hz, not octave).

This is why I bought a Bryston SP4 for my HT. I can use REW with it and it's actually really good for a processor to use in conjunction with Ableton for surround mixing/mastering. For 14k~ it's probably the best surround processor I've used. Got my RT60 down to roughly 52ms at it's worst.

 

17 hours ago, VoidX said:

So why is there no development on PC EQs and why does anyone barely build a HT based on PC?

If a company can get people to pay out of their arse's for Dirac Live or some other baked in EQ software, they will.

 

I've tried Dirac on my processor, it work's well for a super quick run through. I suspect this is the reason that alot of people use it. Most people aren't DSP/Sound nerds.

 

Luckily, all my gear can use something other than Dirac. I use REW on the HT, then my McIntosh MEN220's custom software for the dedicated 2 channel system.

[VoidX]

58 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

This is why I bought a Bryston SP4 for my HT. I can use REW with it and it's actually really good for a processor to use in conjunction with Ableton for surround mixing/mastering. For 14k~ it's probably the best surround processor I've used. Got my RT60 down to roughly 52ms at it's worst.

REW is a monster when it comes to performance-efficient frequency response flattening, but there are things you should keep in mind, like aligning the bands correctly and keeping them in a correct order not to hurt the soundstage. This is why I made a custom solution to my clients, which doesn't have this problem, but it's eating up resources way faster. It's easier for the end users, that's what they want.

 

StormAudio also supports REW, but only at one time point with 20 filters. That's actually perfect in combination with most $2000-$4000 acoustic treatments, which I thought Storm users would probably have, judging by its $20k price tag, but they rarely do. In this country, most users like the 200-300 ms decay range for some reason, because a guy selling bad room treatments spread this urban legend. Most of the time I could fix the issues after his "jobs" with some kind of hardware FIR, but without a PC source, it's hard to find what's the best filter I can bake, since the room is already done.

 

58 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

If a company can get people to pay out of their arse's for Dirac Live or some other baked in EQ software, they will.

Dirac has a PC version, but nobody buys it when REW and Equalizer APO exists. Paid AV software never had a good run on the PC, free and/or open source alternatives are just better (more optimized, have more features, more stable, use newer standards) with direct developer support (no company has this, they believe it's unprofessional) and actually usable release and bugfix times (also no company has this, especially software companies). Company-backed AV on the PC was and is nonexistent, and since they can't milk the users, Dolby and DTS keep their formats away from it.

 

58 minutes ago, Derkoli said:

I've tried Dirac on my processor, it work's well for a super quick run through. I suspect this is the reason that alot of people use it. Most people aren't DSP/Sound nerds.

I wouldn't say it works well. Better than uncalibrated for sure, but still not even close to a simple 5-filter REW correction, and we didn't even touch RePhase or more advanced solutions.

[Dr0y]

I have a really basic setup

 

Syba sonic as dac/amp cause it has microphone in

Teac dc-d1500 for speaker amp fed by the syba sonic acting as dac

Mordaunt-Short MS 30.1 for speakers

Sennheiser GSP 300 for headset

 

There's not much there to be honest and I was kinda looking for some headphones (hd280pro new model) but I'm not sure anymore as the gsp300 have a good enough sound and I'm afraid I there won't be a day and night difference between those two.  Now I'm thinking that a good dac might be better spending my money than new headphones.  Saw a schiit stack modi2 magni2 on the used "local" market for a nice price but due to some travel restriction I might not be able to get it as it's a two hour drive to get there.  Not sure if I should just blind buy it and ask my sister to get it for me as she lives nearby.  That would take care of the dac and headphone amp.  As for the speaker amp I've spotted a cambridge audio azur 540a and I'm tempted to get it as it's fairly cheap.  I have the CA sr10 in my living room and I really like the sound of it. 

[pythonmegapixel]

20 minutes ago, Dr0y said:

I have a really basic setup

 

Syba sonic as dac/amp cause it has microphone in

Teac dc-d1500 for speaker amp fed by the syba sonic acting as dac

Mordaunt-Short MS 30.1 for speakers

Sennheiser GSP 300 for headset

How is that basic...?

 

My setup is as follows:

        USB headset plugged directly into PC

[Lord Vile]

Marshall Acton plugged into the monitor. HD599s for music and most games, SteelSeries 9X for multiplayer.

[Dr0y]

19 minutes ago, pythonmegapixel said:

How is that basic...?

 

My setup is as follows:

        USB headset plugged directly into PC

 

My old pc didn't have any microphone input so I had to buy something for that ... that's why I got the syba sonic which is the most basic usb dac/amp I could find with rca out to the speaker amp. 

 

Also it's basic in the way that I don't have any expensive usb interface like the scarlett and such, no powered speaker with bluetooth and sub ... it's just the most basic and inexpensive stuff I could find when I decided to buy. 

[Bombastinator]

There have been a whole bunch of these survey type questions lately.  I am growing disturbed by it.
 

my bottom line is in the middle though I usually cover it with underwear.

 

I built my computer audio system for price and convenience of deployment.  A computer needs to be able to make sounds.  I don’t play PvP shooters where positional audio is life and death.

[Dr0y]

3 minutes ago, Bombastinator said:

I built my computer audio system for price and convenience of deployment.  A computer needs to be able to make sounds.  I don’t play PvP shooters where positional audio is life and death.

About the same but I listen to music a lot and I like goodish sound quality and I try to fit that with a low budget. 

[Tan3l6]

Edit: bad comment

[Radioactive Snowman]

My current setup is the hyperx cloud 2 but I upgraded this week and my new gear should be in on Tuesday.

 

That consists of the Beyerdynamic DT770 250ohm, Fiio K5 Pro and a USB ModMic. It hasnt even arrived yet and I know I'm going to be venturing down an expensive rabbit hole. I already want to try out the DT990 or DT1990 to see how open backs compare to closed backs. Maybe for christmas

[TheFlyingSquirrel]

Khadas Tone Board - JDS Lab Atom - Sennheiser 58X

Cambirdge Audio Azur 650A - Boston A26 

[sub68]

14 hours ago, Radioactive Snowman said:

Fiio K5 Pro

fiio is great really nice stuff

[penguin1]

On my PC I have some Steelseries Siberia Elite Prisms. Defiantly looking to upgrade in the future. I don't need a mic so I may get a pair of studio grade headphones and a dac/amp. If I do want to listen to some good music I have a pair of Thiel cs 3.5s in my basement that I have hooked up to a apple TV that I use to airplay tidal. I also have some Thiel power plane 2 speakers for my center and back channels. All being pushed by a Rotel amp and a Marantz head unit. In my room I have some Polk Bookshelf speakers and a pair of Infinity run by a Yamaha amp. (You only asked for my PC audio setup but whatever)