Lyngdorf 1120 Vs seperates

I have been thinking about a sub since I got my 1120. Every time one pops up with positive remarks I have a look but this one doesn't seem to exist or perhaps it has different naming in different markets? The are a number in their 3000 series but no pro SVS 3000 Series. On a more general question is it worth having a sub with DSP with the 1120 because surely it does it for you? Never having delved into the world of subs I don't really know!
Yes the 1120 does all the filtering and levels etc for you, any jiggery pokery in the sub will be by-passed.
 
I did not rearrange any furniture but did try to position the KEFs about 5 feet away from back and side walls. Lyngdorf actually recommends them being flat against the wall, but I didn’t like the look of that in my room. The sub is centered, but in a very bad position: hidden inside the (never used) fireplace with a bunch of vinyl LP sitting on a small support in front of it.

Now, on one hand I don’t believe in miracles and don’t want to make RP sound like that. But for me it worked and I love the sound.
Sounds encouraging! ☺️
 
If you are adding a sub to a stereo system there are a few things to consider.

Ideally the amplifier you use should have bass management rather than just subwoofer connections. This means that rather than sending all frequencies to your speakers and subs, just mid and high frequencies are reproduced by the amp and speaker while just the low frequencies are reproduced by the sub.

This allows your speakers and amplifier to play much louder and with less distortion and is the trick to why small speakers in home cinemas can play so loud.

Most subs are made to add additional low frequency to existing speaker systems. The more output they have, the easier they are to sell and with frequencies below 80Hz some distortion is normally accepted. If you are looking for the best quality bass, these subs may not be for you.

Lyngdorfs boundary woofers are a completely different design from any alternatives. They are designed for the fastest, most articulate bass and play flat up to 800Hz.

Try and get an audition on a TDAi1120 with a pair of the tiny MH3 speakers and a BW3 boundary woofer and I think you’ll be amazed. I have a dozen systems here that I demonstrate most days and it’s this one that everyone is bowled over by.

If you have the funds and space available, using a pair of boundary woofers placed on the front wall, you can use their full 800Hz bandwidth and create a remarkable little system.

When the BW2/MH2 combination was first produced, Peter Lyngdorf took it to one of the Hi End shows in Denmark and on both days, visitors voted this their favorite sounding system. This package costs around £6k while some of the other system used speakers costing over £100k.

There has been very little effort to promote and explain these systems yet, but I can assure you they are remarkable. With the bigger speakers and boundary woofers become available later this year its going to make for some very awkward conversations at hi shows.
 
There is a great little video of the little Lyngdorf 2.1 system that is amazing everyone on Gecko Home Cinemas Facebook page..........sorry I cant repost. I'm a Luddite.
 
You wouldn’t have to get the Lyngdorf satellites - just the TDAI-1120 and the boundary woofers. I use LS50 with boundary woofers and they sound excellent.
 
You wouldn’t have to get the Lyngdorf satellites - just the TDAI-1120 and the boundary woofers. I use LS50 with boundary woofers and they sound excellent.
Do you have one or two of the boundary woofers?

I’m getting the 1170 (when funds permit) and it will be with LS50’s and two REL T5i’s. wondering whether to sell Rel’s and buy 1 boundary woofer.
 
I have two boundary woofers placed in the front corners. Only with such a configuration - spaced apart and on the front wall - are they really beneficial because you can crossover at 300Hz+

In your position I would set it up with LS50 and the two RELs once you have the TDAI and see how it sounds. I don’t think it’s worth the outlay for one BW unless you definitely plan to get two.

The RELs don’t play very high (REL T5 Subwoofer HT Labs Measures) so your crossover needs to be close to 90Hz even with two in a stereo configuration.
 
I have two boundary woofers placed in the front corners. Only with such a configuration - spaced apart and on the front wall - are they really beneficial because you can crossover at 300Hz+

In your position I would set it up with LS50 and the two RELs once you have the TDAI and see how it sounds. I don’t think it’s worth the outlay for one BW unless you definitely plan to get two.

The RELs don’t play very high (REL T5 Subwoofer HT Labs Measures) so your crossover needs to be close to 90Hz even with two in a stereo configuration.
Thanks Craig. It won’t be a few months yet until I’m in a position to buy the 1120. I’ll stick with the RELs initially as two BW’s is not possible for a long while.

cheers
A
 
Long-time lurker, first time poster.

I thought I would share my experience with the lyngdorf tdai-1120. My previous setup was a Rega elex-r amp with kef ls50 speakers and SVS SB-12 NSD fed by a bluesound node 2 streamer via a chord 2qute. I had steadily built up the system and generally very happy with sound and reliability for streaming Tidal files - I have long since given up on buggy Spotify connect and pi based streamers. However, I felt at times the sound was a bit soupy due to the speakers running at full range alongside a sub and very unfriendly room dynamics (kitchen diner with almost entirely hard surfaces and speakers mounted in top corners safely away from toddler hands).

I came across room EQ in a blog post by Darko, which piqued my interest about neutralising my room and boosting performance. Initially I looked at Dirac through DSPmini 2x4hd and adding another seperate but dismissed on the grounds of cost once customs duties and the seperate mic are factored in, and wariness of techhy audio kit with limited user support - the Allo Digione streamer experience scarred me. Furthermore, with glowing reviews of moderately priced all-in-one boxes with room correction such as arcam sa30, Nad M10 and lyngdorf tdai-1120, it seemed I could gain room eq and crossover, maintain performance and be cost neutral once selling my old kit. An open-box deal on the lyngdorf swayed it as I figured I could sell if it didn't work out with taking too much pain. After an hour of setup with room perfect, a side by side comparison using tidal followed and I was immediately struck by the general openess and cohesiveness of the sound from the lyngdorf compared to the seperates. Flicking the roomperfect on/off showed this was due to more than just the crossover. I should have stopped my analysis here and been happy. Instead I thought I should see how the bluesound streamer and chord DAC into the lyngdorf analog input sounded and it was absolutely stunning - a new hi for my hifi for sure. Crisp highs, round lively base, good timing and great soundstage. I have now decided that with the kef ls50s, assuming room perfect was effective, the lyngdorf is quite harsh and somewhat tinny in the treble. I played around with the relaxed and soft voicings to tame this but there is just a persistent harsh flatness in the upper range that I don't like. If I am missing something in the lyngdorf settings then do please let me know.

In summary, I am super pleased with the lyngdorf + external chord DAC + bluesound and would wholeheartedly recommend something similar to anyone considering it but I would struggle to get behind the lyngdorf alone based on my experience. Sadly, I now have a big hole my cost neutral budget as I would struggle to go back to either the seperates or the lyngdorf alone. I may see if a CCA can replace the bluesound without impacting performance too much and claw back a few pounds.
Hi Sollybob,
I remember reading your post back in 21, and although I own a 2Qute, I was happy with the sound of my Rose 150b through my Lyngdorf 1120, thinking it doesn't get much better than this for the price. However, hello, 2 years later, I drag out the 2Qute and hook it up, Roon, Chord Wasapi out, Rose 150b Line In, CoAx Out, Lyngdorf Digital 1 CoAx,
Golden Ear - Triton T One.R - Floor Standing Speakers with twin subs. I have to agree, Audio NIRVANA. introducing the 2Qute = Sound stage and 3 dimension, outstanding. No glare. Everything in its right place and audible. Anyway, those little Chord Dacs dig deep. Regards Bill
 
Hi Sollybob,
I remember reading your post back in 21, and although I own a 2Qute, I was happy with the sound of my Rose 150b through my Lyngdorf 1120, thinking it doesn't get much better than this for the price. However, hello, 2 years later, I drag out the 2Qute and hook it up, Roon, Chord Wasapi out, Rose 150b Line In, CoAx Out, Lyngdorf Digital 1 CoAx,
Golden Ear - Triton T One.R - Floor Standing Speakers with twin subs. I have to agree, Audio NIRVANA. introducing the 2Qute = Sound stage and 3 dimension, outstanding. No glare. Everything in its right place and audible. Anyway, those little Chord Dacs dig deep. Regards Bill
Your digital signal is being decoded to analogue finally by the 1120 digital to analogue conversion not the 2Qute DAC.

2Qute digital to analogue conversion
Rose analogue to digital conversion
1120 digital to analogue conversion

awful lot of un-necessary conversions going on and each one will add its own stamp on the sound.
 
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Your digital signal is being decoded to analogue finally by the 1120 digital to analogue conversion not the 2Qute DAC.

2Qute digital to analogue conversion
Rose analogue to digital conversion
1120 digital to analogue conversion

awful lot of un-necessary conversions going on and each one will add its own stamp on the sound.
Yes, convoluted but the difference in sound is the proof. Don't know about unnecessary as other combinations are very listen but this is very three dimensional. Maybe it is timing, don't know. Just going by the sound.
 
Hey Budy55,

Really pleased to hear you're enjoying the 2qute and 1120 combo as much as I am, despite the multiple conversions sounding bonkers. My only regret since that breakthrough is it's ended a much-loved hobby as i've got no idea what a sensible upgrade looks it from here. Possibly a second subwoofer but hard to sneak those in below the radar!

All the best

Hi Sollybob,
I remember reading your post back in 21, and although I own a 2Qute, I was happy with the sound of my Rose 150b through my Lyngdorf 1120, thinking it doesn't get much better than this for the price. However, hello, 2 years later, I drag out the 2Qute and hook it up, Roon, Chord Wasapi out, Rose 150b Line In, CoAx Out, Lyngdorf Digital 1 CoAx,
Golden Ear - Triton T One.R - Floor Standing Speakers with twin subs. I have to agree, Audio NIRVANA. introducing the 2Qute = Sound stage and 3 dimension, outstanding. No glare. Everything in its right place and audible. Anyway, those little Chord Dacs dig deep. Regards Bill
 
Hey Budy55,

Really pleased to hear you're enjoying the 2qute and 1120 combo as much as I am, despite the multiple conversions sounding bonkers. My only regret since that breakthrough is it's ended a much-loved hobby as i've got no idea what a sensible upgrade looks it from here. Possibly a second subwoofer but hard to sneak those in below the radar!

All the best
Well after Larkones comment, I did a rethink and made all connections via analogue. Still sounds better? maybe? I don't know whether the signal is being changed/redirected, whatever. I am no techie. Far from it. Had a Roksan Caspian powering the subs until the left channel went kaput. Will get it repaired though. Just loving the sound.
 
I would use as little digital conversion as possible.

Only lyngdorf dac and feed 24bit 96khz bit perfect signal as I believe that is the internal processing of the 1120.

See if compression improves.
 
The speaker will be the limiting factor with regard to compression. Get some big speakers like kudos titan 808 and there is no compression. More likely some rounded speakers than the ls50 something with real bass and bigger drivers.
 
I would use as little digital conversion as possible.

Only lyngdorf dac and feed 24bit 96khz bit perfect signal as I believe that is the internal processing of the 1120.

See if compression improves.
This was the initial test as I would have liked to use less components and free up budget but the lyngdorf dac just can't compete with the chord 2qute, which makes sense given price points of chord DACs vs the all-in-one lyngdorf box. The only digital conversion I'm doing is in the 2qute - feeding an analog input to the lyngdorf
I would use as little digital conversion as possible.

Only lyngdorf dac and feed 24bit 96khz bit perfect signal as I believe that is the internal processing of the 1120.

See if compression improves.
 
The only digital conversion I'm doing is in the 2qute - feeding an analog input to the lyngdorf
That’s not how it works though as the TDAi amps actually digitise their analogue inputs, regardless of engaging Room Perfect or not. By fronting it with another DAC you’re introducing additional DAC and ADC processes.

I haven’t heard either device, much less them together, but technically it’s not a solution I would implement given the additional conversion processes. Tbh I can’t see a reason why it would do anything other than reduce the signal fidelity ultimately.

However, given the sound change you are observing and like with the Chord in place (i.e it’s flavouring the sound in same manner), it could be worth exploring the Voicing capabilities of the TDAi. This would certainly be a more sound technical approach to flavouring the sound as it won’t incur the additional DA and AD conversions that in and of themselves cause a level of unrecoverable degradation.
 
The only digital conversion I'm doing is in the 2qute - feeding an analog input to the lyngdorf
Which then converts your analogue signal to 24/96 digital signal inside the 1120 for RP and processing and then it converts it back to analogue for the output - Lyngdorf uses a PCM to PWM conversion at the output stage. Seems to be a lot of mis-information around how they work

So you are doing 3 conversions in total:

2 Qute - digital to analogue
Lyngdorf input - analogue to digital
Lyngdorf output - digital to analogue
 
Which then converts your analogue signal to 24/96 digital signal inside the 1120 for RP and processing and then it converts it back to analogue for the output - Lyngdorf uses a PCM to PWM conversion at the output stage. Seems to be a lot of mis-information around how they work

So you are doing 3 conversions in total:

2 Qute - digital to analogue
Lyngdorf input - analogue to digital
Lyngdorf output - digital to analogue
It sounds counter intuitive to improving SQ but I can get on-board that it does - on my old Anthem AVR, which converted analogue inputs to digital before converting to analogue again, my iMac optical output into the Anthem didn't sound anywhere near as good as sending the optical output to a Topping E30 then into the Anthem - so that too was D-A-D-A.
 
I employ digital eq first with dspeaker antimode 2.0

Then the last upgrade was my dac for finesse/flavour.

Then power amps to complement my speakers.

Then speakers first priority.
 
In order of what usually changes sound signature.

Room/speakers.

Preamp.

Power amp.

Short signal path can be a goal for good reason.
 
It sounds counter intuitive to improving SQ but I can get on-board that it does - on my old Anthem AVR, which converted analogue inputs to digital before converting to analogue again, my iMac optical output into the Anthem didn't sound anywhere near as good as sending the optical output to a Topping E30 then into the Anthem - so that too was D-A-D-A.
As always, whatever sound better to you, sounds better to you. Period.

Objectively, the result cannot be closer to the original. It may account for Our personal taste and other circumstances, if in a rather random way
 
It sounds counter intuitive to improving SQ but I can get on-board that it does - on my old Anthem AVR, which converted analogue inputs to digital before converting to analogue again, my iMac optical output into the Anthem didn't sound anywhere near as good as sending the optical output to a Topping E30 then into the Anthem - so that too was D-A-D-A.
If the Topping and the ADC of the Anthem both did a theoretically perfect job, then a benefit could still have existed in that the Topping is effectively reclocking the signal (I’m sure the Mac optical output was less than perfect in this regard). This could be said of using the Chord 2Qute between whatever the source was and the TDAi also.
I would suggest trying a decent DDC in that situation to both reclock and galvanically iisolate, would have been the better option - on paper at least.
 
If the Topping and the ADC of the Anthem both did a theoretically perfect job, then a benefit could still have existed in that the Topping is effectively reclocking the signal (I’m sure the Mac optical output was less than perfect in this regard). This could be said of using the Chord 2Qute between whatever the source was and the TDAi also.
I would suggest trying a decent DDC in that situation to both reclock and galvanically iisolate, would have been the better option - on paper at least.
Absolutely, but if you've got the item to hand, as OP did with the 2Qute (and I was only tinkering/testing/fannying about, the optical output on older Macs isn't great IME...) then why not if it sounds subjectively better to your ears.

@harkpabst poor terminology on my part by saying it improves SQ (the perils of knocking out a quick response on a brief lunch stop during a journey!) Improved how it sounded to me...but it was marked improvement nonetheless (and probably not dissimilar to those using phono pre-amps into amps that digitise the analogue input and finding differences or improvements when comparing phono pre-amps - that's proper heresy stuff in analogue circles, blasphemous to even talk about considering doing such a vile act, and yet some do...😂)
 
Absolutely, but if you've got the item to hand, as OP did with the 2Qute (and I was only tinkering/testing/fannying about, the optical output on older Macs isn't great IME...) then why not if it sounds subjectively better to your ears.

@harkpabst poor terminology on my part by saying it improves SQ (the perils of knocking out a quick response on a brief lunch stop during a journey!) Improved how it sounded to me...but it was marked improvement nonetheless (and probably not dissimilar to those using phono pre-amps into amps that digitise the analogue input and finding differences or improvements when comparing phono pre-amps - that's proper heresy stuff in analogue circles, blasphemous to even talk about considering doing such a vile act, and yet some do...😂)
The phono stage comparison is a good one, and I have some experience with this. You can readily hear a difference between phono stages or any other analogue source that you feed in to a TDAI (if a difference is there to be heard). The ADC and everything that comes after is of sufficient resolution that it captures those differences (of course it does, otherwise no one would be buying Lyngdorf amps), so it just comes down to taste regarding the end result.

In principle of course introducing a DAC between a digital source and a TDAI makes no sense - you’re introducing what are, on paper, redundant DA and AD conversions - but if people prefer the end result, then hey, that’s what it’s all about. Just treat it like another analogue source and enjoy.
 

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