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Post by Percussionista on Oct 21, 2013 16:58:45 GMT -5
I find the quality of the XDA-2 as a digital preamp to be exceptional and agree with the premise of the thread to start here. I do not think the UMC is a satisfying compromise. Late to the party on this one... I want an XDA-3 with HT-bypass as well. The XDA's have (crucially) a USB input and excellent DAC, and excellent headphone amp. All the reasons I bought it originally. Then I decided to go Stealth on speakers. With HT-bypass I can then simply integrate it into the surrounds. I suppose it should then have it's own native bass management for 2.1 mode, but once I have my Stealth-8's I can worry far less about that ;-) |
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Post by garbulky on Oct 21, 2013 17:35:32 GMT -5
If it can be applied in a non-destructive manner... I don't know that room correction CAN be applied in a non-destructive manner. In the time I used an AVR as a stereo preamp, I always used pure direct when listening to two channel. The difference between that and ANY of the DSP modes was incredible! The difference between the AVR and a dedicated stereo preamp is equally incredible. Sub integration into 2 channel generally requires more crossovers to accomplish. That in itself IMHO isn't desirable, and in practice, I think the crossovers in most subs are cheap to say the least. I'll admit I haven't had the opportunity to use a dedicated stereo preamp with QUALITY bass management such as the USP/XSP-1 and that may/should make all the difference with sub integration. I believe simplicity rules in a stereo rig. ... IMO, DSP audio processing has come a long way in the last few years. And, if applied to a digital signal BEFORE the DAC can correct for a lot. DRC is only part. It can also fix issues with the speaker itself. I would be interested in this: where it happens before it arrives to the DAC. Is there such a two channel device? |
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Post by Chuck Elliot on Oct 21, 2013 18:26:18 GMT -5
IMO, DSP audio processing has come a long way in the last few years. And, if applied to a digital signal BEFORE the DAC can correct for a lot. DRC is only part. It can also fix issues with the speaker itself. I would be interested in this: where it happens before it arrives to the DAC. Is there such a two channel device? The Open-DRC by miniDSP which comes in both an analog and digital version is here now. If using the digital version, it can be placed before the DAC in the digital signal stream. The downside is that it re-samples all to 48kHz.  |
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