2. digital
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Can a DAC sort out a flat\cold amp?

My pc is connected to an external sound card (scarlett 2i4 by focusrite). I bought the Yamaha a-s1200 & am really disappointed at the brightness & the lack of bass to the extend I prefer listening to my portable JBL boombox. I'm in no position to sell or trade this amplifier so I thought a DAC with eq may help the predicament. Since auditioning my equipment is not an option in my country I have no choice but to buy something purely on recommendations. I also thought about replacing the speakers but since I listen to soundcloud & youtube i really think upscaling & eq will be much more cost effective option in sorting out this issue & may give me the confidence to try a much more expensive speaker option. what would you recommend?

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Showing 1 response by prismdissonant

prismdissonant
9 posts
 

The amp itself can’t be the problem unless it’s defective. Yamaha integrateds always have strong bass, no reason an amp wouldn’t. Here is a review that mentions the bass being too strong: (skip to "The Listening" 2nd paragraph)
https://www.stereonet.com/uk/reviews/yamaha-a-s1200-integrated-amplifier-review

Nor should a soundcard be the problem; any soundcard from 25 years ago can play music fine. Except in the case that its software or some other software on your PC has auto calibrated for the amplifier in some gross way.

Check your wiring to speakers and amp, your software, and your amplifier’s manual.

edit -- if you really need to confirm your room isn’t the problem is there another space you could take the amp and speakers briefly? Also, as somebody already said, try with just a CD player, game console, etc bypassing the PC. -- sorry for redundancies, your last post came in while I was writing this.

 

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