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Post by steven0356 on Sept 10, 2012 7:16:43 GMT -5
OK so here is a newbie question for you.
I am going out of my XDA-1 DAC in to my USP-1 preamp. Both of these devises have volume controls.
The question is what volume should I set the DAC at so not to over drive the Preamp or amp? I have it set at 75% now.
Thanks
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Post by garbulky on Sept 10, 2012 7:24:07 GMT -5
The XDA-1 has a lossy digital volume control that loses audio information as it's turned down from full. At full volume (80), it will not lose any audio information. So, technically it needs to be set at full. There was one user who said around 70 sounded best to him to the USP-1. But I believe the general consensus is 80. You can try it yourself and see if you notice a difference.
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Post by steven0356 on Sept 10, 2012 7:49:40 GMT -5
Thanks
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Post by wizardofoz on Sept 10, 2012 10:38:03 GMT -5
I use 80 into my usp
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cgolf
Emo VIPs 
Posts: 4,613
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Post by cgolf on Sept 10, 2012 10:47:17 GMT -5
I know this has been asked before but do you hear any improvement in overall SQ using both the XDA & the USP? I ask because when I had the XDA in my system, I never noticed any difference and ended up selling it. Just curious??  |
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Post by danconia on Sept 10, 2012 21:09:11 GMT -5
Similar question. I have an XDA-1 which I have been listening to for a few weeks or so. I had been running it through a mediocre AV receiver until I received an amp. I ran the AV receiver in direct mode and all was surprisingly pretty good. However, today I just received a UPA-200 and connected it directly to the XDA-1 and it does not sound good at all. A fair amount of hiss I didn't hear through the DAC -> AV receiver and it now sounds congested. Is this a function of the lossy volume control?
Would a USP-1 or Parasound 2100 pre remedy this or do I have a bum amp?
I have read that some people prefer the XDA-1 directly into the amp so perhaps something is wrong with my setup or my ears!
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Post by garbulky on Sept 10, 2012 22:26:41 GMT -5
Similar question. I have an XDA-1 which I have been listening to for a few weeks or so. I had been running it through a mediocre AV receiver until I received an amp. I ran the AV receiver in direct mode and all was surprisingly pretty good. However, today I just received a UPA-200 and connected it directly to the XDA-1 and it does not sound good at all. A fair amount of hiss I didn't hear through the DAC -> AV receiver and it now sounds congested. Is this a function of the lossy volume control? Would a USP-1 or Parasound 2100 pre remedy this or do I have a bum amp? I have read that some people prefer the XDA-1 directly into the amp so perhaps something is wrong with my setup or my ears! What do you mean a fair amount of hiss? I am very surprised that the xda-1 and the upa-200 doesn't sound significantly better than the AV reciever. I have fairly efficient speakers @ aroud 91db efficiency. The xda-1 to my UPA-2 direct provides no hiss at seating level. If I put my ear up to the tweeter then there is a very mild amount of hiss. Are you using a power conditioner of some sort? Emotiva reccomends plugging the amp directly to the wall. Some people (not all) have reported decreased sound quality from using surge protectors/power conditioners/UPS devices. Also, try hooking just the xda-1 and the UPA-200 together without any other devices plkugged into the socket. Some other things to look at is if there is any dimmer switches running and if you have your speakers hooked up in phase. It's very easy to do from here.
www.richardfarrar.com/are-your-speakers-wired-correctly/ What speakers are you running? The lossy volume control to me meant that at reasonably quiet volumes the music was not as dynamic and it almost felt like there was a little bit of detail lost. If you turn the volume up the music sounds better. However, the lossy volume control does not contribute to hiss at all. I'm inclined to think there's something else going on here other than the xda-1 and upa-200 especially because you found the AV reciever to sound better. IMO, it's to do with a surge protector, other devices on your strip or out of phase speakers. So here's some more thoughts you can try which might help a little less: When I got my xda-1 I found that there was a lot more precision. So poorly positioned speakers didn't sound very good. This made me have to readjust my speakers positioning a LOT from what I already thought was perfect to get it to sound right. I would pay attention to toe in (a lot!) , increase the distance from the walls it's against and corner and have the front of the speakers stick out at least a little past any audio racks/tv's in between the speakers. Even a few inches differences in toe in can make a large difference. Also if you don't have a carpet get one, even an area rug. To a lesser extent, stuff in the way between you and the speaker like coffee tables etc can also affect how precise the soundstage is. One other thing you can do, and I found this does reduce the hiss but not completely is to get a 12 db RCA line level attenuator. They can be found at parts express and are very cheap. I found they change the sound signature in a positive way. They sound great for music, but the improvement for movies is not as good. Your mileage may vary. That's just been my experience. |
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Post by danconia on Sept 10, 2012 22:46:56 GMT -5
I have been fiddling with it for a little while now, connecting and reconnecting cables to make sure I am not the weak link. You are correct in that they are running through a surge protector and I now I do remember reading on these forums about plugging these amps directly into the wall! I am going to run and try that asap.
I am running Kef Q900s solely as a 2 channel setup. I have a separate HT setup that I also tested the components with.
I did not mean to imply that the hiss is due to the volume control. I just was not getting a good overall sound and there was hiss I did not hear before with XDA-1 into the AV receiver.
Do you use or have you used a preamp with your XDA-1/UPA-200?
Thank you for your very helpful reply.
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Post by garbulky on Sept 10, 2012 23:49:42 GMT -5
I have a emotiva UPA-2 (not a upa-200 but similar power ratings) connected directly to my xda-1 with RCA line level attenuators in between the xda and the amp. No pre-amp.
Yes try both the xda-1 AND the upa-200 without the surge protector and see if you notice a difference. Both units have their own surge protection inbuilt.
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Post by Golden Ear on Sept 11, 2012 22:28:31 GMT -5
I used to connect my UPA-2 to power surge and what I hear was compressed sound and less precision. You plug UPA-2 directly to the wall and you will hear more rhythm and dynamics. I plug everything on power surge except amp. It is recommended by emotiva. All of their amps has build in surge protection.
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Post by pallpoul on Sept 11, 2012 22:37:01 GMT -5
can some one clarify if i can use simultaneously the h/l output AND the main outs on the usp-1 at same time
h/l --> ( and sub out) upa-200--> klipsch wf 35 and yam yst 315
main--> min x-100 --> b/s speakers
thanks
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Post by danconia on Sept 11, 2012 22:56:56 GMT -5
I have a emotiva UPA-2 (not a upa-200 but similar power ratings) connected directly to my xda-1 with RCA line level attenuators in between the xda and the amp. No pre-amp. Yes try both the xda-1 AND the upa-200 without the surge protector and see if you notice a difference. Both units have their own surge protection inbuilt. Thanks a ton Garbulky! I now have the amp plugged directly into the outlet and that did make a difference for me. I will also try out some of the attenuators though I will likely be purchasing the XDA-2 when it comes out so that I can also make use my headphones (also HD600s) with this setup. These forums and Emotiva are great. Thanks guys. |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 11, 2012 23:01:47 GMT -5
I have a emotiva UPA-2 (not a upa-200 but similar power ratings) connected directly to my xda-1 with RCA line level attenuators in between the xda and the amp. No pre-amp. Yes try both the xda-1 AND the upa-200 without the surge protector and see if you notice a difference. Both units have their own surge protection inbuilt. Thanks a ton Garbulky! I now have the amp plugged directly into the outlet and that did make a difference for me. I will also try out some of the attenuators though I will likely be purchasing the XDA-2 when it comes out so that I can also make use my headphones (also HD600s) with this setup. These forums and Emotiva are great. Thanks guys. I'm glad I helped! BTW, I have a friend with an XDA-1, USP-1 and UPA-2 (not upa-200) who just got those attenuators in and he said he heard a positive difference. You can find them here: www.parts-express.com/pe/showdetl.cfm?Partnumber=266-244Your mileage may vary. BTW, I too have the HD600's! I am also looking forward to the xda-2. Hopefully its amp has the grunt that they need. From what I'm hearing from one person who listened to his headphones (not hd600's) for half an hour the headphone amp on the xda-2 looks to be promising. |
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Post by danconia on Sept 11, 2012 23:05:45 GMT -5
I used to connect my UPA-2 to power surge and what I hear was compressed sound and less precision. You plug UPA-2 directly to the wall and you will hear more rhythm and dynamics. I plug everything on power surge except amp. It is recommended by emotiva. All of their amps has build in surge protection. This exactly was my experience. Slightly off topic but since you guys have XDA-1s and/or USP-1s what would be "better" even though it is likely too early to tell. I am thinking in the near future of the XSP-1 and the XDA-2 but want to keep it simple. I like the sound I am getting now but would be curious about whether either of the new products would give me a justifiably large increase in SQ. Such as: XDA-1 -> XSP-1 -> Amp or XDA-2 -> Amp |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 11, 2012 23:13:31 GMT -5
I used to connect my UPA-2 to power surge and what I hear was compressed sound and less precision. You plug UPA-2 directly to the wall and you will hear more rhythm and dynamics. I plug everything on power surge except amp. It is recommended by emotiva. All of their amps has build in surge protection. This exactly was my experience. Slightly off topic but since you guys have XDA-1s and/or USP-1s what would be "better" even though it is likely too early to tell. I am thinking in the near future of the XSP-1 and the XDA-2 but want to keep it simple. I like the sound I am getting now but would be curious about whether either of the new products would give me a justifiably large increase in SQ. Such as: XDA-1 -> XSP-1 -> Amp or XDA-2 -> Amp The XSP hasn';t been released yet but from early reports, it appears to be a winner. BUT the xda-2 has a jitter reduction asynchronous circuit for all inputs that the xda-1 did not have. But it appears to be also somewhat different from the xda-1. The analog stage on the xda-1 was considered very good by the chief designer and better than anything they had before including the ERC-1 CD player and the UMC-1. It was considered close to the ERC-2 analog stage. But the problem was that it had a lossy volume control that lost audio information when it was turned down. The xda-2 does not have a lossy volume control. So it's hard to say, but if I had only two choices there, I would go for the xda-2->amp. |
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Post by garbulky on Sept 11, 2012 23:14:43 GMT -5
And then take the money saved on the XSP-1 and put it towards two XPA-1 L's. Fully balanced design like the xda-2 with class A power to boot. I bet that would be a real heck of a combination!
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