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Intriguing inquiry, are floor-stand speakers always better than active speakers?

Hi guys,

Just a general wondering though, nowadays I've seen a lot of new active speakers, and truth to be told, I find them quite professional indeed, when I go into an audio shop and ask some advice, some might even encourage to purchase the bookshelf speakers, as they're more cost-effective and space-saving hahah.

All that asides, regarding the sound quality matter, it ain't bad at all, but I'm not sure if it's my living room just not that big or some technical matters, the sound experience is actually vivid, but yeah I also think when you put the extra circuit inside the speaker for amplifying use, it'd certainly affect the original performance more or less. Especially under this digital streaming era, every part seems to be specifically separated, so it can perform to its fullest, and lessen the interference between each device.

Anyways, let me know what you think, I'd be grateful, or maybe share you existing setup with us!

Best,

preston8452
audioman58's avatar
audioman58
3,866 posts
 

Yes for 99% of the time a quality separate amplifier is of much higher quality

then a low cost class d amp in a active speaker.

preston8452 OP
17 posts
 

@larsman

Yeah I noticed that... didn't mean to ruffle any feathers pal... 

preston8452 OP
17 posts
 

@rixthetrick  

It's very nice tho, the operation is smooth, and yeah the Rhein Z1 is controlled by VitOS Manager, it got several popular streaming services integrated. 

As for it's performance, I'd say it's great to run as a Roon Core though, just using it as a digital turntable to process the music data, then to Munich M1T. 

 

spenav
416 posts
 

@audioman58 

I would say 100% of the time a QUALITY separate amplifier is of much higher quality than a LOW COST class D amp in an active speaker. 

rixthetrick's avatar
rixthetrick
1,060 posts
 

Yes for 99% of the time a quality separate amplifier is of much higher quality

then a low cost class d amp in a active speaker

I wonder how long it's going to be until we start to see GaN Class D in active self amplified speakers? GaN is surprisingly good already. I have heard the LSA Voyager GaN 350, I must agree that it's good, for the money it's very good.

As DAC chips get better and GaN amps also become more refined, the playing field may start to change goal posts, who know?

OP - I wish I could run VitOS on my music server to compare with what I have, I wouldn't be surprised if it bested what I currently have. WinServer 2012 R2 in core mode with Audio Optimizer, Fidelizer Pro with Foobar 2000. (I haven't nutted out how to get my Jplay Femto going yet).

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