What kit is good for desktop speakers?

glitches · 2254

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Offline glitches

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on: July 28, 2015, 09:17:04 AM
Hello, I am planning out my project here and would like to know which kit would be great to amplify computer desktop speakers?  Thanks!



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #1 on: July 28, 2015, 10:00:39 AM
S.E.X. kit would be perfect, relatively compact and it works well at the relatively low levels you need on a desktop system.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline Natural Sound

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Reply #2 on: July 28, 2015, 10:02:01 AM
it would help to know a bit more about your speakers. i plan to use one of my S.E.X. amps to drive a pair of Blumenstein Orca Mini's on my desktop computer. I have no doubt that it will be an excellent near-field setup.

http://bottlehead.com/?product=single-ended-experimenters-kit-2-1-for-headphones-sensitive-speakers
http://www.blumensteinaudio.com/orca-mini



Offline glitches

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Reply #3 on: July 28, 2015, 10:36:50 AM
Thanks for the quick replies! I guess now I'm wondering if I ever needed the Crack? I have a pair of Senn HD 650s and I learned the Crack was one of the most popular headphone amps for it. I see that the SEX has a gain setting. Could I have just gone the route of the SEX and use the gain setting when using my headphones and turn it off when using desktop speakers? I guess I'm trying to figure out if the SEX is a more versatile AMP being that it does what the Crack does and more or it it serves a completely different purpose than the Crack.

I have not yet decided on desktop speakers (or started looking) so I hope this question isn't invalid. If I get desktop speakers that have a high impedance like the senn hd 650s then does it make sense to just connect them to a Crack?

Not trying to nickel and dime here, just trying to understand :)



Offline Doc B.

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Reply #4 on: July 28, 2015, 10:43:22 AM
Yes, the S.E.X. amp is much more versatile and will work well with your HD650s too. There aren't any high impedance desktop speakers out there that I know of. If there are any, your choices would be quite limited and the power level of the Crack is much lower than the S.E.X. so the speakers would also have to be extremely efficient.

Dan "Doc B." Schmalle
President For Life
Bottlehead Corp.


Offline glitches

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Reply #5 on: July 28, 2015, 03:36:08 PM
Thank you all for the quick replies. I read up on a few reviews and it seems majority vote that the SEX with the C4S upgrade sounds better than the Crack with Speedball upgrade... And of course a few disagree. Either way, I decided to upgrade my Crack order to a SEX with C4S. I've been twiddling my thumbs for a few weeks now on DACs and starting to get tired reading about them. Can anyone recommend a DAC that they use in their setup that they cannot live without? The options are driving me nuts. It's just going to feed the SEX amp now and my source is a macbook pro. My budget is about $500 with some cushion up to $600ish, DIY preferably although I can be persuaded.



Offline RayP

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Reply #6 on: July 28, 2015, 09:11:18 PM
I am one of those who is happy with an ODac for $99 as a board or $149 in a box. Just give it some time to break in.

https://www.jdslabs.com/products/39/odac-objectivedac/

ray

Ray Perry


Offline Chris

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Reply #7 on: July 29, 2015, 10:16:29 AM
if not a BH dac, then look at the ifi micro dac....