XDA-1 with pro power amp?

[mattgarman]

I am considering purchasing an XDA-1 for use as a digital preamp (to replace a Harman/Kardon HK3490 currently being used for this purpose).

My power amp is a "pro" QSC RMX2450.

I was just curious if anyone else is using an XDA-1 with a similar kind of power amp (e.g. Behringer, Crown, etc). (FWIW, this avsforum thread inspired me to go the pro amp route for watt/dollar value.)

In trying to read as much as I can about the XDA-1, I came across this discussion (go about 2/3 the way down the page), which suggests that pro amps expect fairly high voltage on their inputs, and the XDA-1 might not cut it. I don't know what kind of voltage my HK is putting out now, but I suspect it is fairly low, as I have the gain turned all the way up on the power amp.

Overall, I'm happy with my current sound quality. I'm mainly looking for a physically smaller and lower-power device to use as a digital preamp. Also, recently the HK seems to be going haywire, and arbitrarily changing the volume by itself (kind of dangerous with that much power going to my speakers).

[jhoak]

Before I sold it I had an XDA-1 driving a Behringer EP2500 in turn driving a pair of Magnepan MG 1.6QR speakers. It was very VERY nice sounding. I had no issues at all with "low output" from the XDA-1. I could light up the "clipping" LEDs if I pushed it really REALLY hard. That tells me that the output level of the XDA-1 is just fine.

One of the really nice things about the XDA-1 at least in my case was the parallel balanced/unbalanced outputs. I had the XLRs going to the Behringer and the RCA running to a pair of subs.

To say that it kicked A$$ would be an understatement. If I could have figured out a way to incorporate my turntable it would still be here making music.

[mattgarman]

May 24, 2011 12:43:10 GMT -5 jhoak said:

Before I sold it I had an XDA-1 driving a Behringer EP2500 in turn driving a pair of Magnepan MG 1.6QR speakers. It was very VERY nice sounding. I had no issues at all with "low output" from the XDA-1. I could light up the "clipping" LEDs if I pushed it really REALLY hard. That tells me that the output level of the XDA-1 is just fine.

One of the really nice things about the XDA-1 at least in my case was the parallel balanced/unbalanced outputs. I had the XLRs going to the Behringer and the RCA running to a pair of subs.

To say that it kicked A$$ would be an understatement. If I could have figured out a way to incorporate my turntable it would still be here making music.

Well, I guess I'm off to order one. My understanding is that the Behringer EP2500 is effectively a straight-up copy of the QSC RMX2450. Also, I intend to use it the same way you described (and I don't have a turntable to worry about), so seems like the right way to go.

Thanks!
Matt

[selkec]

I once had a behringer ep2000 hooked to my pioneer elite and I found I had to use a sampson s convert to level match the gain. It would just not put out very high volume. You may get lucky you may not. You wont know till you try or someone chimes in with the exact same setup as you. Good luck.

[mattgarman]

I received my XDA-1 on Monday. It works great with the RMX2450! I used both the RCA outputs (with RCA-to-XLR cables) and the XLR outputs. Both worked equally well. The XDA-1 is definitely much better than using my Harman/Kardon HK3490 as a pre-amp. I don't have the time/patience to do a proper A-B comparison of the two. But my gut reaction is that the XDA-1 sounds at least as good as the HK3490. In my case, I wasn't looking for a sound quality improvement so much as a smaller, simpler, lower-power device. Success on all fronts!