Desktop Speaker recommendations

Discussion in 'Audio Hardware' started by RelayerNJ, Apr 23, 2014.

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  1. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    I have a similar love for Paradigm Atoms near field, but they need an amplifier.

    If one goes that big, there's also the AudioEngine A-5 (now A-5+ I think).
     
  2. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    Since you are primarily interested in detail, here's a few things besides better speakers that greatly improved my computer playback system (in relative order of importance):
    • Buy the best DAC you can afford. Even bottom feeder recording interfaces offer better sound than internal sound chips.
    • Auralex Mopads - I was astonished how much of a difference isolating my monitors from the desktop made. Well worth the $40.
    • Normalize playback volume - I use iVolume, but any ReplayGain tool will work. For computer playback, it's essential that you get the playback volume centered properly. Too loud and playback overly punchy and distorted, too soft and detail goes right out the window no matter how much power you throw at it.
     
    RelayerNJ likes this.
  3. jhm

    jhm Forum Resident

    I'll back you up, although I have the A2s (not the "+") as I already had an external DAC to use. I wasn't sure if I loved them right out of the box but once they settled in, man! I can't believe how great they sound for such tiny speakers. For my own listening (through Foobar 2000) I will say I do have to adjust the bass upwards or downwards to my tastes depending on the source, but it's easy if you create loadable pre-sets for the EQ in Foobar. I was listening to Electric Ladyland (96/24 needle drop from the 2010 all analog LPs) and man, was I blown away (again). I'm sure there are better speakers out there but for the money, these sound amazing IMO. Although they are a bit overpriced, I'd recommend the rubber speaker "wedges" they sell to get them pointed more towards your ears.
     
  4. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Wow, garbage? I really like them, very smooth and never harsh. Warm sounding, non fatiguing. Great imaging. WhatHiFi 4 stars. Are you sure you have the Companion 20? The other Bose models higher and lower did not sound nearly as nice. 220 bucks, good value IMHO.
     
  5. ElvisCaprice

    ElvisCaprice Forum Resident

    Location:
    Jaco, Costa Rica
    These Bowers & Wilkens MM1's served me well. Hooks up by USB with a built in DAC, self powered speakers. Great sound for computer speakers (Very detailed) without going with a much more expensive high end dac/amp, which I now have. I'll be selling my pair come June for around $350, great shape (shipping included USA). Portable with remote and chords.
    http://www.bowers-wilkins.com/Speakers/Computer-Speakers/MM-1/overview.html

    [​IMG]
    :cool: Elvis
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2014
    SteelyTom likes this.
  6. I bought some Behringer Truth A-1030A's (active monitors) to go with my Acer Xonar Essence STX soundcard. I love the combination. I also have the speakers sitting on the Auralex Mopads.
    [​IMG]
     
  7. Atmospheric

    Atmospheric Forum Resident

    Location:
    Eugene
    So how much actual music transcribing have you personally done? It's a whole other ballgame than just listening, and something for which studio monitors are specifically designed. Note that studio monitors are often less pleasing for pure listening. When transcribing, you need detail... the ability to hear separate instruments. The OP has a specific need. Just saying.
     
  8. avanti1960

    avanti1960 Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago metro, USA
    Good explanation, thanks. In that case it makes me wonder why the OP lived with them for two years.
     
    Atmospheric likes this.
  9. BIG ED

    BIG ED Forum Resident

    Well then, what's not too BIG & not too much $$$??

    PowerED?

    i'm a M-Audio for the desk guy [as well as a soft dome tweeter guy in general as well]; ownED AV 40's (OK for price/size/features) & now playing DSM 1's* [GREAT/tight bass/using XLR's inputs] & IMO M-Audio has spks for just about every price point/size.
    http://www.m-audio.com/index.php?do=products.family&ID=monitors
    current line of monitors (& 'phones); butt you can get lots of non-current M-A stuff new/used on-line cheap.

    * http://www.soundonsound.com/sos/sep09/articles/maudiodsm1.htm
    &
    http://www.sweetwater.com/store/detail/DSM1
     
    Last edited: Apr 24, 2014
    bluemooze likes this.
  10. RelayerNJ

    RelayerNJ Forum Resident Thread Starter

    Location:
    Whippany, NJ
    www.youtube.com/relayernj all of these solos were transcribed (any errors to the chagrin of these speakers!)
     
  11. rediffusion

    rediffusion Forum Resident

    I have the Audio Engine A2+ and think they're great. I don't find them bass-heavy at all. In fact I'm thinking of adding a subwoofer. Any recommendations? Something cheap but decent (sorry to hijack the original thread)
     
  12. I like the A5+.... Fits different needs in and out of the house.
     
  13. Misery_loves..

    Misery_loves.. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago 'burbs
    I'm troubled by reports of the "goosed up" exaggerated bass built into the speaker via its DSP chip. It's boosting upper bass unnaturally in order to compensate for the lack of lower/deeper bass (which would be understandable and expected in such a compact speaker).

    From the letters section of Stereophile review:

    "For the most part, I agree with how good these speakers sound, but with one glaring exception. The review did not mention a word about the obviously excessive bloat of the bass at around 180Hz, which is about 6 dB too prominent and ruins the sonic signature. The bass bloat overshadows the rest of the frequency ranges and makes the speakers sound muddy and congested. 6 dB of bass bloat is not something you can just overlook--that is considered pretty severe coloration by the standards of audiophiles or pro audio."
    http://www.stereophile.com/content/audioengine-2-powered-loudspeaker-measurements

    And further described here:

    "I don’t know why Audioengine chose to color these speakers with muddy, exaggerated bass. They actually tweaked the EQ of the DSP chip inside the speakers to get that sound, as the speaker driver/cabinet/port design is not capable of producing that kind of exaggerated bass on their own. Such a shame. These speakers could have been brilliant, but as is, they are marred by the aggressive EQ/DSP tweaking by Audioengine for what I believe, an attempt to please the typical consumers who grew up with exaggerated bass that’s so common in today’s consumer audio."
    http://www.ethereality.info/ethereality_website/about_me/wordpress/?p=1794
     
  14. sublemon

    sublemon Forum Resident

    I have the Audioengine A2 speakers, they are OK but a little murky IMO. certainly fine for desktop use but if you can afford a bit more you might be happier. I switched to some Johnblue JB3s (http://www.johnblue-audio.com/) powered by a little chip amp and I think it is definitely better. Though they are a bit bigger and about 2x the cost.
     
  15. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    Well - as they have a 30 day return policy . . . why not try them?
     
  16. sacsongs

    sacsongs Senior Member

    Location:
    St. Louis , MO
    +1 on these too. I have lived with them for around a year and really like their presentation.
     
  17. jhm

    jhm Forum Resident

    I don't necessarily disagree with the exaggerated bass. I play all my files through Foobar2000 and I've had the bass dialed back (from a little to a lot) on various sources from day 1. Foobar allows you to save EQ settings so this hasn't really been an issue for me.
     
  18. gloomrider

    gloomrider Well-Known Member

    Location:
    Hollywood, CA, USA
    Most of my music collection is weak in bass. I have had to dial it back on rare occasions for these speakers.
     
  19. Misery_loves..

    Misery_loves.. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago 'burbs
    Because I value accuracy pretty highly so while there's a good chance I would enjoy them regardless, I would prefer not to have a speaker with a designed-in bass deviation that gives the appearance of more substantial bass by means of over-emphasizing a specific bass region. YMMV, IMHO, etc.
     
  20. Misery_loves..

    Misery_loves.. Forum Resident

    Location:
    Chicago 'burbs
    Yes, with such EQ possibilities in mind, I haven't ruled the speakers out entirely.

    Not the OP, but I've similarly been on the lookout for some replacement PC desktop speakers with requirements that include a small form factor and nice aesthetics.
     
  21. john greenwood

    john greenwood Senior Member

    Location:
    NYC
    So - even though you might like them and if you don't like them you can return them, you won't listen to them. FWIW for a speaker with a 2.75 inch woofer (and a passive woofer) to produce significant bass, you have to expect some equalization. I find the bass emphasis is very dependent on the positioning of the speakers.
     
  22. Bad Samaritan

    Bad Samaritan Forum Resident

    Location:
    Phoenix, AZ
    It's been a while now, but I had a pair of the original A2's once. I thought they generally sounded decent, but the bloat on the low end was often noticeable. Last year, I corresponded with Brady Bargenquast (one of the founders and principles at Audioengine) over various topics, and he specifically mentioned that one of the improvements they made in the new A2+ models was to correct the bass response, so they may be worth a 30 day demo.
     
  23. Stone Turntable

    Stone Turntable Independent Head

    Location:
    New Mexico USA
  24. JazzPolice

    JazzPolice Well-Known Member

    If the A2 didn't have a little bit of a bass peak engineered into the design, they wouldn't sound as good. It's not only common, but quite deliberate on the part of various manufacturers to goose the bass a little bit in a smaller speaker. Harbeth does it. B&W does it. It's not a problem and if implemented correctly, should have zero impact on overall clarity and coherency.
     
    BigE likes this.
  25. Remurmur

    Remurmur Music is THE BEST! -FZ

    Location:
    Ohio
    I have to admit that I up until recently, I have not really done an excessive amount of music listening on my Dell desktop PC, as my computer is also in my music room/man cave, and my stereo has always been my main music source. But I wanted a new pair of fairly good PC speakers for occasional YouTube and live streaming listening. I was using an old pair of Cambridge Soundworks that were almost ten years old and starting to sound a bit fuzzy, so I was overdue for a new pair anyway.

    My wife wanted to buy me a pair for Christmas and I did not want her to pay a lot for them so I decided a pair of Bose Companion 2's at $99.00 would be just fine . I have to admit that I went solely by the reviews I found online in my decision and not from an actual in store demo listen.

    And, I had already decided that I did not want a sub woofer based system, just two speakers, one for the left and one for the right.

    Well. She decided that I was being too modest in my request and after talking with the store clerk, decided to go with the Bose Companion 20's instead. In her view, (God bless her) she decided that a $249.00 pair of speakers had to be 2.5 times better than a $99.00 pair.

    Well. It was a nice surprise for me and on Christmas Day, I excitedly hooked them up, eager to hear what they would sound like.

    I was immediately disappointed as these things sounded too bright to my ears right out of the box , inducing a subtle but discernible case of ear fatigue. And when I tried to turn them up, it was even worse, with an again...barely discernible but definitely there... overall harshness to the sound. . I looked up user reviews on the Net and saw several praising these things for being fairly "warm" sounding and I thought that this just cannot be right. There were way too many positive reviews. I told my wife that I thought the speakers were defective and that I wanted to exchange them for the exact same model. I was actually hoping that was the case as I did not want her thinking that she had made the wrong choice as I thought it was very thoughtful of her to trade up solely for my benefit.

    She offered to go back to the store with me and we swapped them out.

    What a difference.

    The second pair are a lot warmer sounding with high end response that is no longer too bright, and quite acceptable midrange response for a speaker this small. My main complaint would be that these speakers are definitely bass heavy which makes some songs sound quite good and others a bit too boomy. And there are no tone controls where you can adjust the bass where needed.

    The lack of tone control is a major point of contention for me, and as my current built-in sound card does not have tone controls either, I am either stuck with the sound as is, , or will have to invest further in a soundcard that has EQ or possibly an EQ based software app if they exist.

    But my point is, I definitely got a bad pair first time. And, I'm not sure how often that happens, but that could be the reason for at least some of the negative reviews.

    And RelayerNJ, I am not implying that at all in your case as I also realize that sound perception is very subjective anyway, but I can say that there was a major sound difference in my second pair, and I can also say that I own a pair of PC speakers that though not top of the line, sound pretty good for what I use them for and more importantly, I can tell my wife that I do like these speakers without lying or hurting her feelings.
     
    Last edited: Feb 1, 2015
    rediffusion and RelayerNJ like this.
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