Guys I accidentally purchased studio monitors (cancelled it,

Are they powered studio monitors or unpowered.

If they're powered you may wish to get a $50-100 DAC, if they're not powered you'll need a speaker amp and a DAC.

Your built-in sound card already has a dac.
Every sound card has a dac.

Studio monitors are designed for flat responses, not entertainment. Everything will sound like shit.

>>57088456
Powered, I just want to get the best of it (balanced sounding)

>>57088458
>Everything will sound like shit

Aww, poor baby can't change equalizer settings to his preference.


>>57088470
Try it with your on-board DAC before spending money.

If it sounds good enough to you, enjoy. If you notice distortion or similar, upgrade to something like the Schiit Modi DAC.

>>57088490
>poor baby

People who can afford studio monitors aren't poor.

>>57088436
You need an amp, not a dac. Studio monitors usually have a flat "neutral" response curve, and cut off around 55hz or so. You will need a sub if you want heavy bass.

>>57088490
Crap, this is why I bought the Monitors because my old speakers had a bad time playing piano pieces or vocals but they sound distorted even at 10% volume, what do?

>>57088526
>poor
>po͝or,pôr
>adjective
>(of a person) considered to be deserving of pity or sympathy.

learn english

>>57088534
Monitors are powered. The ones that I bought cut off at 30hz, so I won't be needing sub for a while.

>>57088540
Studio monitors are great for classical (I am a classically trained cellist).

Upgrade your DAC, make sure you change windows settings to the highest sampling rate possible for the DAC (usually 24 bit 96kHz)

I use a Schiit Modi DAC myself and it works great, no distortion.

>>57088534
>You need an amp
for POWERED monitors?

Retard

>>57088540
Either your old speakers are blown, or your analog out/dac in your computer is shit. Analog outs on computers are famous for being shit or having tons of noise. A external dac using digital spdif or optical would solve this.

>>57088598
>A external dac using digital spdif or optical would solve this.
Or USB, no need to even bother with spdif or optical

>>57088589
Posted before the response.

>>57088580
>change windows settings to the highest sampling rate possible
This isn't necessarily that great, most audio isn't 96 or 192kHz and as such will have to be resampled by Winodws, while you could get it straight out to the DAC with no resampling if the setting and the source match.

>>57088656
I assumed if he cared about getting decent studio monitors he'd have a decent FLAC collection.

I'm sitting on several hundered GB of classical that is FLAC 24/96kHz

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>>57088436
>memenitors speakers

poorfags

>>57088839
"Audiophile" grade speakers does have indeed a pronounced highs, and not equally based on what the artist interprets (frequency response).

>>57088839
>MUH fancy boutique auidophool brand
>fuck yamaha or jbl which have billions invested in audio engineering

>>57089333
Most non-autistic audiophiles stick with brands such as those.

>>57088540
Pianist here and I can confirm that studio monitors are what you want for piano music.

sounds like your old speakers were just straight up broken through

Why is the general advice to avoid monitors because they are boring? Shouldn't flat response give an excellent rendition of anything regardless of genre or purpose, given that the sound was originally mastered on studio monitors?

>>57088436
Do you need a DAC? Sound card is a DAC btw including that on your motherboard. I swear focusing on the damn converter is the most retarded audiophile dogma of recent times.

Highjacking to ask in regards to
>>57088534
What's a decent sub under 100?
Does hpg ever address these sort of questions?

>>57089921
Correct but for whatever reason that logic doesn't fit within everyone's heads and it's why these loudspeaker design consistency and standardization is nonexistent. It's a shitty market with good products littered here and there among a plethora of garbage. The most curious thing to me is how nearly every other part of the audio equipment is built to be linear but it all falls down when loudspeakers/headphones come into play.

>>57090125
No decent sub there. Maybe you'll find something from craigslist and be knowledgeable enough to tune it correctly to your room's and speakers' response.

>>57088534
>cut off around 55hz
They cut off when driving those huge low frequencies interferes with the rest of the noise, monitors are meant to not have a sub at all.
If your monitors aren't brassy enough or cut out other frequencies trying to be bassy, then you just need bigger monitors

>>57090181
Fair enough. Thanks anyway

>>57088611
This, the ones and zeros come fast enough either way

>>57090215
Monitors can't get a very full low end by themselves though, for a small desk setup sure, but any large space will need a sub to give fullness to the low end.

>>57090020
It can certainly make a difference, but for most people it's just making sure it's not shit

You will need something like a Steinberg UR22 mk ii

>>57090263
If he wanted a 48v phantom power XLR microphone and ALSO wanted a DAC, sure that would be a decent option. But no point going for the audio interface unless you actually need everything else, if you just need a DAC it's a waste of money, there are higher quality standalone DACs in that price range.

>>57090248
I had a pair of small 5" monitors that sounded great but drowned out the high end whenever it played bass. I got a monitor sub and enjoyed it for sure, but later I then bought a pair of 8" monitors and from a production standpoint it's much much better and consistent than small monitors + a sub.
Sure the sure has MORE bass but I didn't want good sound + a sub I wanted good sound including good bass

>>57090302
I've always thought standalone DACs were the biggest wastes of money. That's where you see meme prices and brand loyalty get out of hand.
Audio interfaces or USB mixers, where DAC, amp and I/O all come together tend to be much cheaper on average than specialized single-purpose DACs

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I use a wide array of active monitors, (PA speakers, not bookshelf speakers) and I've gotta say they all lack satisfying bass

Even these 15" beasts don't really have the punchy thumpy low end I'd expect out of my digital drum set or keyboards. studio monitor headphones easily deliver that thumping sound I want but without a sub, none of the active pa's I use for monitoring can deliver

>>57090360
You know you can change that knob on the back of the sub right?

>>57090378
>using active PAs for monitoring
They're literally designed to not be monitors, they even make monitor versions of powerful PA speakers because they're normally never meant to be monitors

>>57090386
It's not consistent with the rest of the audio, it's there, and I enjoy that bass won't stress my regular monitors, but the sound separation is real and for production that's just not cool

>>57090261
Last time I needed a discrete DA-converter wasn't because of the converter itself was bad. It was my laptop's capacitor coupled garbage stereo output which also managed to took interference from something else in machine and buzzed while acted as a high pass filtered nobass output.

Making sure it's not shit is a valid reason as is more features and I/O options... although these are also more about the device built around the converter rather than the converter itself. I've never seen(or heard) a situation in recent years where the converter performance was lackluster and audible.

>>57090409
Matching sub to your loudspeakers(and room) requires more than just a cutoff frequency and amplitude adjustment. Room response correction with a parametric equalizer is the cheapest and an effective way to do it for a single listening position. Room treatment with bass traps and subwoofer arrays help with overall room response and reflected sound. You'll need to do in situ measurements of your room to have any luck with these and really, they are equally useful for loudspeaker response correction for lower frequencies heavily affected by room modes, not just for subs.

>>57090398
can you please point me in the direction of these monitor version of PA speakers you're talking about?

I've always used active PA's to monitor keyboards, they're hands down the best and simplest option I've ever found, and other keyboard players I've talked too agree. dedicated "keyboard amps" suck ass and we've all settled on active PA's for monitoring, usually floor wedge shaped ones

I personally use a pair of JBL eon 10" pa speakers, right under the keyboard wedged up at me from both sides. (I only gig with one monitor but I practice at home in stereo)
Other options would be greatly appreciated, as the PA are definitely not great at near-field audio. there is a definite sweet spot I need to stand in for the compression horns to hit my face region.

I realize this is contrary to most of /g/ but please I'm not looking for some battlestation speaker setup, this is for indoor/outdoor gigging and home practicing to monitor my keyboard playing

didnt read the thread, but guys, if you want a dac, just get a focusrite scarlett solo 2nd gen, the new one. it's widely known for it's great audio chips and much cheaper than meme dacs. plus you can actually use it for recording.

>>57090460
Room is already treated and monitors are already mildly calibrated (they aren't set in shit locations so I didn't do much monitor-wise)
I already moved to sub to my living room, I'm not going to use it for studio work because the 8" monitors are so much better and consistent (and of course, sound coming from between my legs doesn't really help me out that much while mixing)

>>57090473
The floor wedge shaped ones are usually monitor PA speakers, but still studio monitors will be better and have much much better near-field response.
PA speakers are for playing out to crowds and for basic monitoring on a loud noisy stage, not really for quiet studio work indoors

>>57090492
>(and of course, sound coming from between my legs doesn't really help me out that much while mixing)
Then move the sub to a better location in the room, behind you several feet, this will add distance and separation allowing the bass to sound much more natural.

This obviously heavily depends on the environment.

>>57090558
I'd rather have all my frequencies coming at me near-field, in stereo, towards my ears
Like I said I moved my sub and do use it and enjoy it, just not for production

>>57090492
>and of course, sound coming from between my legs doesn't really help me out that much while mixing
Frequencies outputted by a sub aren't directional in a room nor can your ears sense their direction in free air.

>>57090581
When your studio room isn't a giant tin box, the direction is very noticeable

>>57090595
Honestly just sounds like you have no idea how to setup your studio properly.