Powered Speakers with DAC

[Gary Cook]

While over at a friend's place recently I had the opportunity to have a play with and a listen to his KEF X300A system.

www.kef.com/html/en/showroom/digital_music_solutions/X300A/overview/



For those not familiar with the X300A they are like Airmotiv 5"s but with a DAC built in. So you just plug a USB source in (PC, Laptop, Mac etc) and listen away. They also have analogue stereo input. They are pretty hefty, weigh around 7.5 kgs (17 lbs) each and rated at 50 watts for the low frequency amp and 20 watts for the high. They sound pretty good with 5.25" Uni-Q drivers and are a very simple, compact pug and play proposition with a power cord and a USB cable.

Silly Australian prices of course, $1,399 RRP and around $950 street price, so probably around $US800.

It would seem to me to be a logical extension of the Airmotive range, just add a DAC. I would also suggest a digital RCA input to go with the USB input. Plus a pair of analogue RCA inputs, the KEF's only have a 3.5 mm stereo plug. Toslink and/or HDMI inputs might be a bit of overkill.


Cheers
Gary

[garbulky]

I guess it's a nice idea but not for me. I can totally see that selling though. If the DAC is any good I would probably reccomend a stealth 8/6 setup to new users.

[Gary Cook]

Yep, no reason why they couldn't add the compact DAC to other powered speakers. I just picked the Airmotive 5's as they were comparable to the X300A's.


Cheers
Gary

[drtrey3]

I would prefer a better, external dac to get more out of my music. That is just me though! All in ones have obvious advantages in ease of use.

Trey

[chaosrv]

I like the idea and can see how it would work for quite a number of people. However, I am more likely to change out my DAC before I change my speakers. I also just like the idea of separate components - if one goes down the system can still be at least somewhat functional.

Plus, my Schiit Modi fits perfectly under my iMac monitor and barely takes up any room at all.

[Boomzilla]

I just love those KEF's! Being a virtual point-source, I bet they image like the dickens?

[Gary Cook]

May 15, 2013 15:55:35 GMT -5 Boomzilla said:

I just love those KEF's! Being a virtual point-source, I bet they image like the dickens?

Oh yes, the sound was impressive. Admittedly I'm a bit of KEF fan, I've had 5 sets over the years. I'd have pair of X300A's if they weren't quite so expensive and had HDMI or digital RCA inputs.


Cheers
Gary

[Deleted]

The KEFs look great, and KEF have always made very good speakers. Paradigm aslo make great speakers and I just came across these: Paradigm Shift A2s - note the clever play on words <g>!!

www.paradigm.com/shift/powered/A2/index.php

They have a 5 1/2" aluminum mid/woofer, a 1" aluminum tweeter, and come with 2 50 watt amps as well as Digital Signal Processing - WHOA!! And all of this for only $279 ea. - DOUBLE WHOA!!

A couple cool things about 'em:

1) You can daisy chain the speakers together, making it very easy to use them as portable speakers of ro the surrounds in a small home theater.

2) Using the optional BlueTooth dongle, you can stream to them using your smart phone and such.

3) You can get some very nice, low-profile desktop stands.

4) They come in some *great* colors, check out this Vermillion red:



-RW-

[Gary Cook]

Both my uncle and my cousin are Paradigm speaker owners, I very nearly bought a pair myself for the last upgrade. I really like their natural sound. The issue for me with Shift A2s is that they don't have an inbuilt DAC, which is the advantage of KEF X300A.


Cheers
Gary

[flyhigh]

It's a cool idea....but I see some problems:

In the digital realm....how do you control the volume of the speakers without resorting to the "Scarlet Lettered Digital Volume Control?"

Or...you could make TWO adjustments (L/R) every time the phone rang....

DAC upgrades become a bit more problematic. Digital technology ages in Dog Years. Amplifiers don't.

I see an "Upgrade Merry-Go-Round" that you'll never get off of.

Active Speaker Advocate here!....just that some things for now....are best left seperate.

Just Sayin.

Fly

[Gary Cook]

Jun 3, 2013 13:12:25 GMT -5 flyhigh said:

It's a cool idea....but I see some problems:
In the digital realm....how do you control the volume of the speakers without resorting to the "Scarlet Lettered Digital Volume Control?"
Or...you could make TWO adjustments (L/R) every time the phone rang....
DAC upgrades become a bit more problematic. Digital technology ages in Dog Years. Amplifiers don't.
I see an "Upgrade Merry-Go-Round" that you'll never get off of.
Active Speaker Advocate here!....just that some things for now....are best left seperate.
Just Sayin.
Fly

Hi Fly, I see the process as simply adding an internal DAC to the front end of the already existing Airmotive 4/5/6 range. So the volume adjustment stays exactly as it is now, analogue. I simply use "pause" to answer the phone. The DAC in the KEF's is a simple, basic, stereo DAC of good quality, no other processing required. As a result I don't see an "Upgrade Merry-Go-Round". Conceptually it's a simple plug and play solution that overcomes the lack of decent DAC's in the common sources. Plug your iPhone, iPad, laptop, PC, ATV etc into one of the DACmotive 4/5/6's, connect a mono RCA cable to the second and it's quality audio for your ears.




Cheers
Gary

[GreenKiwi]

On tricky thing is that you would either need a dac in every speaker, or the speakers would have to have an output for the other channel from the dac.

[Gary Cook]

Jun 3, 2013 19:34:44 GMT -5 GreenKiwi said:

On tricky thing is that you would either need a dac in every speaker, or the speakers would have to have an output for the other channel from the dac.

I'm not sure that it matters either way, at the moment Airmotive 4/5/6's have a power cord plus n RCA connection to each speaker. The X300A's left speaker is connected to the source and there is a digital mini USB connection to join the left and right speakers. They each have their own power cord.


Cheers
Gary