Active cross over resolutions

Nyal Mellor · Jan 22, 2014

Alrainbow said:
Yes it would . But I must consider first off I have one now. And old one . It sounds really good , and I am looking for room correction. At present if I change dacs as I a few I hear the change immediately . Even if I change settings as up sample or filters. My point is every thing is a trade off in this hobby. There is no real perfection and for me I see a small loss for big gains. Remember I had the speakers with there internal cross overs so no digital processing. And it to had issues
By me doing what I have done it has improved my system . And I feel this addition or any other type of processing will to.
At the very least if I do not like the room correction software I still have a much newer form of active cross over system.
So I am looking forward to this as of now. If I wanted it to be perfect in anyway possible it would cost me several hundred thousand and maybe I would not like it anyway. My only issues are the volume control and how transparent the op amps
Are in the unit.

Al

The volume control on the DEQX HDP-4, PreMATE and HDP-Express II are digital, post DSP, at 32 bit floating point resolution. The DACs also run with a 32 bit input, then onto an analog stage using the latest high speed op-amps. Compare this to even the best 'pro' DSPs, even the Xilica, which is actually designed with sound quality in mind. Many of the 'pro' DSPs you will see out there focus on feature sets and price, and seldom mention sound quality in any of their literature. Contrast this with something like a DEQX where the DSP has changed very little over the three hardware generations. The hardware generations (PDC2.6 to HDP-3 to HDP-4) came about because they were designed by people who are critically listening to their products and finding ways to improbe sound quality through power supplies, circuit board layout, DAC chips and analog output stages.

Alrainbow · Jan 22, 2014

I understand your comment and active room correction , EQ. Or cross overs of any kind all will effect the pure path and I am fine with this as the return will far out way not doing it. But there is no way of bypassing the digital volume control other than just turning the volume all the way up. It's fine if not just asking.

Al

Nyal Mellor · Jan 22, 2014

Alrainbow said:
I understand your comment and active room correction , EQ. Or cross overs of any kind all will effect the pure path and I am fine with this as the return will far out way not doing it. But there is no way of bypassing the digital volume control other than just turning the volume all the way up. It's fine if not just asking.

Al

If the DSP volume control is set at full then the volume control is effectively bypassed.

The DEQX has a clever way of matching output to the power amplifiers and speakers. It's implemented much like on the Weiss DACs, where there is a four position jumper on the main PCB that allows you to swap between four different maximum output voltage. You pick the one that represents, with the digital volume control set at max, the loudest level you would listen to your system. The digital volume control is then used towards the top of the attenuation range. Since it's a 32 bit volume control there are 8 bits to use (32-24 which would be highest bit source) before it starts to eat into the resolution of the signal.

Alrainbow · Jan 22, 2014

Thanks well that is the last regard. I know I am asking annoying questions but I read a lot and learned about the games played in the volume control world. And I have personnley heard the changes when not done correctly . How it hurts the dynamics and changes the over all tone or bass .
I am sure this will be a big step up for my system.
Thanks

Al.

bibo01 · Jan 23, 2014

I have been reading this thread. I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the possibility to do digital crossover inside a computer with Thuneau's Frequency Allocator (you can also measure/adjust gain, eq, phase) and send crossed signal to a multi-ch DAC. There are various interesting pro possibilities like Prism or, in the home, ExaSound. I believe it is a better signal path and dsp. I have done multi-amping with Magnepan MG3.6 + subs + rearL/R. It is also possible to insert a convolver.

JackD201 · Jan 23, 2014

GaryProtein said:
But is the difference because of the sampling rate or something else? [I'm not claiming to know what the something else might be.]

Rate (and depth), particularly as they relate to the DSP requirements. Of course there will always be differences in sound due to differences in the analog circuit design, its components and implementation too.

Nyal Mellor · Jan 23, 2014

bibo01 said:
I have been reading this thread. I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the possibility to do digital crossover inside a computer with Thuneau's Frequency Allocator (you can also measure/adjust gain, eq, phase) and send crossed signal to a multi-ch DAC. There are various interesting pro possibilities like Prism or, in the home, ExaSound. I believe it is a better signal path and dsp. I have done multi-amping with Magnepan MG3.6 + subs + rearL/R. It is also possible to insert a convolver.

Welcome to the forum...we talked about that option over on this thread: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?13352-The-***Unofficial***-Multichannel-DAC-Thread

zydeco · Jan 23, 2014

bibo01 said:
I have been reading this thread. I am surprised that nobody has mentioned the possibility to do digital crossover inside a computer with Thuneau's Frequency Allocator (you can also measure/adjust gain, eq, phase) and send crossed signal to a multi-ch DAC. There are various interesting pro possibilities like Prism or, in the home, ExaSound. I believe it is a better signal path and dsp. I have done multi-amping with Magnepan MG3.6 + subs + rearL/R. It is also possible to insert a convolver.

My music system uses sees a 2-way digital cross-over using JRiver convolution based on Accourate filters and converted using the ExaSound e18 DAC. All this works exceptionally well. That said, it’s not for everyone as it’s difficult to incorporate multiple sources and reliance on a single computer source requires a fair amount of diligence. I've not used DEQX but it seems to have similar capabilities but in a simpler to use package that allows for integration of multiple sources and with a dealer network that can assist with system measurement / set-up.

bibo01 · Jan 23, 2014

Nyal Mellor said:
Welcome to the forum...we talked about that option over on this thread: http://www.whatsbestforum.com/showthread.php?13352-The-***Unofficial***-Multichannel-DAC-Thread

Thanks.
I read that too :b However, there are no indications for crossing with a PC with a proper application that simulates passive XO inside a speaker. Frequency Allocator is very powerful. The Light version is suggested if no phase adjustment is required and between different speakers (like main + sub).

bibo01 · Jan 23, 2014

zydeco said:
My music system uses sees a 2-way digital cross-over using JRiver convolution based on Accourate filters and converted using the ExaSound e18 DAC. All this works exceptionally well. That said, it’s not for everyone as it’s difficult to incorporate multiple sources and reliance on a single computer source requires a fair amount of diligence. I've not used DEQX but it seems to have similar capabilities but in a simpler to use package that allows for integration of multiple sources and with a dealer network that can assist with system measurement / set-up.

That's interesting. True, Accourate is rather complicated but it is possible to achieve XO/DRC filters.
I now use HQPlayer that allows multi-ch DSP also for DSD without converting to PCM8x like JRiver.

JonFo · Jan 25, 2014

JonFo said:
... When doing active, it's critical to get the overall gain-structure of the setup right.

Here is a great thread/tutorial on Gain structure setting : http://www.hometheatershack.com/for...ing-most-pro-audio-equipment-your-system.html

Alrainbow · Jan 25, 2014

Thanks

Al

Search

Search

Active cross over resolutions

Nyal Mellor

Industry Expert

Alrainbow

Well-Known Member

Nyal Mellor

Industry Expert

Alrainbow

Well-Known Member

bibo01

Member

JackD201

WBF Founding Member

Nyal Mellor

Industry Expert

zydeco

Well-Known Member

bibo01

Member

bibo01

Member

JonFo

Well-Known Member

Alrainbow

Well-Known Member

Similar threads

Members online