KRK Rokit DAC suggestions?

jeegnesh

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Hey. So I’m planning on getting some KRK rokit 7 or 8’s to setup on my home office setup. It not for any kind of music creation, my son has rokit 5 and I really enjoy listening on them and considering I work at my desk a lot just seems the perfect place.

I’m wondering do I need a DAC? It’s going into a 2017 MacBook Pro or I could connect to my dock which is Caldigit TS3 plus I’d like to get the best out of them.
 
Yes you need a USB DAC but you don't need to break the bank to get a decent one.

Something like the Topping E30 or a Focusrite Scarlet if you wanted balanced line outputs (which you can easily convert to XLR). Maybe post a wanted advert in the forums here and see what turns up, you might be able to nab a bargain.
 
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As an alternative to the Topping E30, the SMSL Sanskrit 10th mk2 is worth a look. Both the Sanskrit and E30 have volume controls which personally I would use and set the laptop OS and app volume to 90-100% So volume is changed at the last minute in the DAC.

Worth noting that if the DAC has two USB ports, one for power and one for data, they can be run just of the data port which also supplies power. However, ASR tests show on some Dacs using a separate power line provides significantly better performance.
 
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So the 7's are in and I borrowed my son's Fiio E10k dac plugged using minijack to dual XLR's. Early days, but def sounds good and i've not done the whole tuning part as yet, lots to learn/play.

Query I have is some of the above named DAC's would I notice a difference over the Fiio?

The hiss I believe it is expected right?

Volume is hard to control from the Mac volume up and down, even 1 is loud and ideally don't want to be setting volumes in each app.
 
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So the 7's are in and I borrowed my son's Fiio E10k dac plugged using minijack to dual XLR's. Early days, but def sounds good and i've not done the whole tuning part as yet, lots to learn/play.

Query I have is some of the above named DAC's would I notice a difference over the Fiio?

The hiss I believe it is expected right?

Volume is hard to control from the Mac volume up and down, even 1 is loud and ideally don't want to be setting volumes in each app.

Are you talking about a hiss with your ear right up to to the speaker or a hiss from your listening position? If it's the later then something isn't right.

You could try adjusting the gain on the KRK Rokits to a little above your normal listening level, that may give you more control of volume on the Mac and help lower the noise floor.

If the hiss is really bad it could indicate there's something wrong with the wiring on the minijack to XLR cable. If you can take the covers off it should be wired similar to the diagram below.

images.png
 
For volume, I typically do the following -

If using the mac volume control - set this to 50%.
Use spotify or other apps/websites to play pink noise, annoying but only for a short time.
Turn one speaker on only. On that speaker turn up the volume to your normal listening level (moderate) using a tune from whatever source you are using..
Using a free SPL phone or tablet app measure the one speaker SPL (dB(A)) at say 30cm with Pink Noise (or a hand span if you don't have a ruler handy), I suspect it will be around 70dB at a guess and may be 1/3-1/2 turn on the speaker volume. Note the figure you have (can be anything).
Turn the first speaker off and turn the other on.
Play the Pink noise again and adjust volume on the speaker to give the same SPL at the same distance as the first.
Check with the track now playing stereo to see if it is all OK and balanced.

You are now set and should have a decent range of volume on the Mac. if it does not go loud enough, repeat but with a higher SPL reading (higher volume on the speakers).
 
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Are you talking about a hiss with your ear right up to to the speaker or a hiss from your listening position? If it's the later then something isn't right.

You could try adjusting the gain on the KRK Rokits to a little above your normal listening level, that may give you more control of volume on the Mac and help lower the noise floor.

If the hiss is really bad it could indicate there's something wrong with the wiring on the minijack to XLR cable. If you can take the covers off it should be wired similar to the diagram below.

View attachment 1485748
When you put your ear, its the same level I've heard on other Rokits. The cable too is brand new was part of a bundle with the rokits.

I just wondered if that was the norm.
 
I’d buy the Topping E30 or the Ifi Zen dac.

Both give you volume control at the DACs preamp stage. Using the macs volume control is a pain. At best.

And both are perfectly capable of making the Rokits sound as good as they can.

If the hiss sound varies in volume with the volume of the speakers, then I’d use the volume control on whichever dac you get at nearly max and the speakers volume (gain control) as low as possible whilst still giving you enjoyable volume through the dac with a bit of headroom left for blast it up days.

If it’s a constant volume hiss then there’s not a lot to be done.

Make sure it’s not picking up anything from the Mac on the earth line, and double check the tightness of all the screws involved in the two power plugs (if they have any).

And, oddly, tighten any grub screws on the XLRs. That once cured an above acceptable hum on my Adams. It’s also worth checking to see if the soldering is up to scratch on inexpensive XLRs.
 
So I kind of caved already and ended up picking up the iFi Zen DAC and bought a power supply and an attempt at a 4.4mm to minijack converter.

The Good -- connected with XLR to phono, I like it sounds good, the bass boost also great as i'm just listening not mastering anything.

The queries I'm left with:-

Power Supply - How do I even know it works, with supply only plugged in nothing lights up is that normal?

4.4mm to minijack -- was epic fail it just introduced a ton of noise. Is there any 4.4mm connection I could use which would not be crazy expensive?

Volume -- I only need to turn it up the tinest bit and gets loud very very fast, is that normal? (using in fixed mode)

Volume -- The right speaker seem to come on first, and the left comes on after the volume is up a little, I don't mean loud, but I would expect them to both come on together?
 
Make absolutely certain that you are using the dac in variable (preamp) mode. Or prepare to melt your speaker coils.

Ignore the 4.4mm to xlr.

It’s not worth the hassle of trying to find an adapter. Ifi make a set of one metre cables with the 4.4mm and XLRs, but it’s £100 and not worth the expense.

In my not very humble opinion ifi should have included an adaptor with each of the Zen products.

Phono to xlr is perfect for less than a many, many metre run.
 
Sorry my mistake I got it the wrong way round. It is in Variable when I attempted to flip to Fixed it was so loud that i just flipped it back in a milli-second or 2.

Using 3m XLR to phono just because I had them, might get 1m ones as I don't need 3m.

Any reason though why volume from all the way down just requires a small turn and ramps up fast, I don't think I can even get anywhere near a 1/4 and it LOUDDDDD. Be nice to have a bit more control.

And why on low is right speaker going on by itself first?
 
Fiio E10k to pair with Rokits isn't an ideal solution. You don't need anything that amplifies the sound as the amp is built into the Rokits.

Isn't the Fiio E10k for amplifying headphones?

You need a simple audio interface such as Scarlett Solo.
 
What volume are your speaker set to (on the speakers), follow the process in post #6 and you should have decent volume control. Just turn down the volume on the speakers to about 1/3 and off you go.

Studio monitors can go a lot louder than typical passive system so in a domestic environment you just need to reduc e the volume at the speaker to match the volume in the dac/pc.
 
Have you set the gain on the speakers to 0.0dB?

If you have then try -10dB. Or even lower. The gain on active speakers is high.

Ps, I’m assuming you have the G4 Rokits?
 
And thanks again. I reduced the gain on the speakers plus I turned off the power boost on the Zen DAC and now I have far better volume control.

Also found the midi control to set the source format I see it goes up to 384 32 bit. I think anything above 192 I was finding hard to notice any difference. My source is mostly Apple Music.

yes they are G4 7’s
 
Apple Music is streamed at 256kbps aac format iirc, changing the output of the pc above 16/44.1 (approx 1400kbps) will make no difference. So leave it at 24/192 and you will be fine for anything you throw at it.

Glad you got it sorted ok. Enjoy.
 
So I could not get the niggle out of my mind, and had a 4.4mm to XLR cable custom made think was about £39

First thing I noticed was the iFi DAC light around the knob was flashing like crazy, as soon as i took it out, the light was solid green as before.

Second at least to me, it actually sounds even better to my hears plus there seems to be a better bass response, I've not changed any settings.

Think I will leave it without the power supply and the 4.4mm cables as it seems to sound better.
 
So the annoying thing is with this new balanced cable, it seems the KRK will no longer go into standby, which I know most people disliked from searches I did, but I actually liked the standby idea.

Thinking about putting in some remote plugs to turn off, because I can't easily get to the back of the KRK's, although wish I could just get the auto standby working.
 

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