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Post by medoras on Jan 19, 2011 17:24:15 GMT -5
I am new to Emotiva and just bought an XPA-2. I am also on the wait list for an XDA-1 and both will be connected to my Mac as a source. My speakers are Maggie MG 12's.
Does Emo provide quality cables or stock cables with the units or should I order premium cables from Emotiva to connect everything up?
Can someone please let me know what the optimum configuration is and which cables I should order (if required)?
Thanks for your assistance.
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Post by oppman99 on Jan 19, 2011 17:38:57 GMT -5
As far as cables, use what you already have if they are well built. I will say I was not impressed with the Emotiva U-series RCA's. They fit extremely tight and were hard to remove. I was worried about damaging my equipment. I do really like the XLR's I have from them though.
As far as optimum configuration, you might want to experiment a bit. Some say they notice a difference between USB and optical or SPDIF. I don't believe the XDA is asynchronous, so something other than USB connections may serve you better. What program are you using to play your music? If it's Media Monkey, Winamp or Foobar, you may want to look into the kernel streaming plugin or ASIO. I noticed an improvement using kernel streaming with my dac.
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Post by medoras on Jan 19, 2011 19:02:07 GMT -5
As far as cables, use what you already have if they are well built. I will say I was not impressed with the Emotiva U-series RCA's. They fit extremely tight and were hard to remove. I was worried about damaging my equipment. I do really like the XLR's I have from them though. As far as optimum configuration, you might want to experiment a bit. Some say they notice a difference between USB and optical or SPDIF. I don't believe the XDA is asynchronous, so something other than USB connections may serve you better. What program are you using to play your music? If it's Media Monkey, Winamp or Foobar, you may want to look into the kernel streaming plugin or ASIO. I noticed an improvement using kernel streaming with my dac. I'm using iTunes. Emotiva's Sales Manager wrote me saying that the "USB connection does work in Asynchronous mode." Should I assume then that a USB connection should work fine? |
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Erwin.BE
Emo VIPs 
It's the room, stupid!
Posts: 2,259
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Post by Erwin.BE on Jan 19, 2011 19:27:20 GMT -5
I am new to Emotiva and just bought an XPA-2. I am also on the wait list for an XDA-1 and both will be connected to my Mac as a source. My speakers are Maggie MG 12's. Does Emo provide quality cables or stock cables with the units or should I order premium cables from Emotiva to connect everything up? Can someone please let me know what the optimum configuration is and which cables I should order (if required)? Thanks for your assistance. I think there are no interconnects included what so ever. XDA to XPA is screaming for XLR. If you think Emo XLR is to expensive, look at a pro-audio or DJ material cyberstore, they got them cheap and these are supposed to resist constant in and out plugging. I'd definately try both optical and USB with the Mac. Keep the optical as short as possible to reduce Jitter risk. 1 meter is best. |
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Post by medoras on Jan 20, 2011 11:00:10 GMT -5
I am new to Emotiva and just bought an XPA-2. I am also on the wait list for an XDA-1 and both will be connected to my Mac as a source. My speakers are Maggie MG 12's. Does Emo provide quality cables or stock cables with the units or should I order premium cables from Emotiva to connect everything up? Can someone please let me know what the optimum configuration is and which cables I should order (if required)? Thanks for your assistance. I think there are no interconnects included what so ever. XDA to XPA is screaming for XLR. If you think Emo XLR is to expensive, look at a pro-audio or DJ material cyberstore, they got them cheap and these are supposed to resist constant in and out plugging. I'd definately try both optical and USB with the Mac. Keep the optical as short as possible to reduce Jitter risk. 1 meter is best. Thanks for the advice. I'll pick up the XLR cables. |
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Post by oppman99 on Jan 20, 2011 16:35:11 GMT -5
I'm using iTunes. Emotiva's Sales Manager wrote me saying that the "USB connection does work in Asynchronous mode." Should I assume then that a USB connection should work fine? I'd say try it both ways, but if the XSP is asynchrounous, it should be just fine. You might also want to try one of the media players I mentioned earlier as well. I use iTunes for synching my portable player, but prefer Winamp for my main system. All of the players are free, so it's not like you'd be out anything other than time by giving one or more a try. Last thing I thought I'd ask. Are you using lossless files or mp3? Going to a lossless format if you aren't using one will make more of a difference than cables or configuration. |
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Post by pdaddy on Jan 20, 2011 20:23:34 GMT -5
Medoras,
I have components as you and here is what I originally did. I have my MMG's hooked to my XPA 2. My XPA 2 connected via XLR cables from Monoprice to my XDA. My XDA connected to my sub via RCA cables from Emotiva and my Mac connected via Emotiva optical cable to my XDA. I also have a digital TV connect via Emotiva optical to my XDA and my Oppo BDP-93 connected via digital coax to my XDA. Since my I original setup, I have opted to given up come potential level of quality from my source music in iTunes by inserting the new Apple TV into the mix and connecting it vs my Mac to the XDA and then I stream iTunes on my Mac through Apple TV. My iPhone or iPad then provide remote control to my music without ever having to leave my seat.
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Post by Scott911 on Jan 21, 2011 9:56:40 GMT -5
Can I ask why you think using the apple TV instead of connecting direct to the computer is a compromise? I plan to go this route as my computer's in another part of the house, a good 80 feet from the stereo...
I know the apple TV has digital optical out - wouldn't that output present the same ones&zeros to the the XDA as the computer's ones&zeros would be?
I would almost think the apple tv would be a better source because it doesn't have physical hard drives spinning up and dirtying voltages, etc...
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Post by pdaddy on Jan 21, 2011 20:44:14 GMT -5
My understanding is that Apple TV down samples so if you have any hi def music (e.g. 24/192) you would lose some fidelity. That said, I have not discerned enough of a difference to make it worth dragging my MacBook to my listening room every time I want to listen to music. Plus I do not really own that much hi def content so I am not really giving up much.
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Post by thielguy on Jan 23, 2011 11:02:26 GMT -5
thanks pdaddy - I was unaware of the possible down sampling. I will have to take a look into that before fully pursuing the apply TV route....
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