active nearfield or passive bookshelf?

[bsdinis]

I'm looking for the most neutral pair of speakers in the 600€ range, should I go for a pair of active nearfield monitors or a pair of neutral bookshelf speakers with a good chi-fi amplifier?

 

[Doodski]

Do you have a DAC with volume control? Do you use a PC as a source?

 

[bsdinis]

The DAC I own, Topping D10 Balanced, does not have physical volume control.
But I wouldn't mind getting one of these on aliexpress for about 100€ as it could be useful in the future.

 

[Doodski]

Do you use a PC as a source?

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I'm looking for the most neutral pair of speakers in the 600€ range, should I go for a pair of active nearfield monitors or a pair of neutral bookshelf speakers with a good chi-fi amplifier?

I would go active and control loudness via your PC or whatever source you have hooked up to your DAC. Keep it simple and rather spend on speakers. Look around here. I am not up to date with the price range which fits your budget, but maybe Kali or Adam might fit the bill.

 

[bsdinis]

Do you use a PC as a source?

yes

 

[bsdinis]

I would go active and control loudness via your PC or whatever source you have hooked up to your DAC. Keep it simple and rather spend on speakers. Look around here. I am not up to date with the price range which fits your budget, but maybe Kali or Adam might fit the bill.

I'd rather spend an extra 100€ for proper analog attenuation than using digital volume.
I prefer a full analog speaker, I'd consider those if they had digital inputs.

 

[Doodski]

Then go active. You can run out of the fiber optic output, the coax if your motherboard has it or even use the USB for the lowest jitter. Simultaneously use a PEQ for DSP control and EQ that system for best sound quality.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

I'd rather spend an extra 100€ for proper analog attenuation than using digital volume.
I prefer a full analog speaker, I'd consider those if they had digital inputs.

The speakers are analog. Speakers with digital inputs are in an higher price bracket (eg Neumann, Genelec).
Why do you prefer analog vs digital volume control?

 

[bsdinis]

The speakers are analog. Speakers with digital inputs are in an higher price bracket (eg Neumann, Genelec).
Why do you prefer analog vs digital volume control?

Both the Kali LP6 2nd and the Adam T*V are digital/DSP speakers with an unnecessary AD conversion.

 

[bsdinis]

Then go active. You can run out of the fiber optic output, the coax if your motherboard has it or even use the USB for the lowest jitter. Simultaneously use a PEQ for DSP control and EQ that system for best sound quality.

The cheapest pair of DSP'd monitors with digital input are about 1000€/piece.

 

[Doodski]

Both the Kali LP6 2nd and the Adam T*V are digital/DSP speakers with an unnecessary AD conversion.

You won't be able to hear the difference putting the signal through 2 or more DSPs and DACS. The noise level is so low that it is beyond human hearing. I'm not up to speed on the new active speaker models and pricing although I'm sure there is something in your price range in the active speakers category.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

The cheapest pair of DSP'd monitors with digital input are about 1000€/piece.

He talks about EQ on the PC by eg using APO EQ or Foobar etc.

 

[bsdinis]

He talks about EQ on the PC by eg using APO EQ or Foobar etc.

?

 

[Doodski]

As per what @HarmonicTHD advised, "He talks about EQ on the PC by eg using APO EQ or Foobar etc." >>>

When using a Windows PC install this and then install this and open the Peace EQ and adjust it to your liking. Upon opening Peace EQ disable the auto updates to avoid losing the settings when the next update occurs.

If using a MAC then use this or this. They both work well.

 

[HarmonicTHD]

Speakers capable of (Room) EQ with their built in DSP eg Neumann KH80, 150 or 750 with MA1 (which I have) or the Genelec GLM system,as I wrote above, are expensive. So if you want RoomEQ for free you use this: eg EQ APO as @Doodski said

EQ Software for Windows, Linux, macOS, iOS/iPadOS and Android.

Any suggestions are welcome. Post suggestions here. I will gather the details and add them. Thanks. :D This will be organized as results come in. @sweetchaos made a guide for PEQ filter data input and operation. For crossover software go here. Windows: AutoEQ four easy steps to make your...

www.audiosciencereview.com

The Kali have DSP not for RoomEQ but for distortion and directivity control (active cross overs) which is generally better (see the reviews) here than comparable pure analogue speakers at this price range.

If you insist despite all the above than at least use one of the passive attenuators which Armir measured here a while back and not some random gadget of aliexpress where you don’t know if it does not even deteriorate your signal.

 

[YSC]

Both the Kali LP6 2nd and the Adam T*V are digital/DSP speakers with an unnecessary AD conversion.

those are actually the reason they can be so neutral/good at the price point! with DSP some unavoidable tradeoff during speaker design in the analog domain can be tamed and create a much better speaker than the pure analog speaker at even much higher price! the noise level of the extra conversion is so low that a "silent" PC will overwhelm it and latency is so low that going from USB out to dac will be just the same and make no practical difference in real life. I am using the more expensive Genelec 8030 which is pure analog speaker, but then before/after using DSP in my windows PC, the improvement is large which tackled the room modes really well, TBH in my TV+PS5 setup in living room I am using a pair of KRK RP5 G4 as TV speaker, even then going from PS5->TV->headphone out->KRK(XLR) and then having it's internal PEQ+DSP I can't notice any latency issue even in fast paced games

 

[Ellebob]

Kali makes a model called the MM-6 which is an LP-6 with digital inputs (toslink and S/PDIF) and a remote for volume. Would work with your D10 DAC.