DAC Amplifiers + Monitor Audio BX2

Associate
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Hi all,

Just after some advice regarding amps/dacs. I'm very close to buying a pair of Monitor Audio Bronze BX2, after reading many reviews they look to be excellent. I will try and get a demo of them in a local store if possible.

I intend to use these speakers for music only, on a wooden desk connected to my MacBook Pro.

I'd like to find a decent amp that will do these speakers justice but I don't really want to spend a fortune buying something that might be overkill for my needs.

I've been looking for combo dac/amps so I can use the optical output on my MacBook and this NuForce Dia has come to my attention (about £260): http://www.nuforce.com/hp/products/dia/index.php

This looks to be right up my street, as it is small/compact and has an additional optical input which will come in handy.

My only concern is that it's only 24W per channel, is this too weak for these speakers to do them justice? I won't be needing super loud volumes, just enough to comfortably fill a 8-10ft office with mostly hard furnishings.

If not, are there any other similar alternatives in this price range? Is it worth skipping the optical/dac part and just go for a regular amp via the headphone socket?

Any advice/recommendations is appreciated,
Scott.

EDIT: Actually, this is what the tech details on the NuForce site say about the Dia:

"Speaker Output: Peak power: 30W x 2 (4 Ohm)
Output power at 1% THD+N, A-weighted: 24W x 2 (4 Ohm), 18W x 2 (8 Ohm)"

Don't know enough about this stuff, so not sure if it's 24W per channel or 30W? The minimum recommended for the speakers is 30W apparently.
 
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Kei

Kei

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Not a fan of those type of amps myself. Dreadfully weedy with silly high thd levels at rather low power. Not a lot of point in having a quality dac connected to a crap amp. I'd buy them separately, as the quality of the amplifier is far more important than the quality of the dac.

Spec wise, its 24w into 8ohms at 1% thd. The 0.02% thd is at a much lower power level. (which they haven't quoted) To put that into perspective, my freebie luxman amp from the early 80's puts out 50w into 8ohms at 0.02% thd. I'd say a minimum power would be around 25-30w at a very low thd. Optimum power is probably around 50-70w as this gives you some reserve if you really want loud at some point. I've had a 35w amp clip on me with my speakers and that wasn't going really loud.

I'd look at second hand dac magics and some integrated amps. Might not be quite as ideal as an all in one solution but it'll outperform almost all but the most expensive.
 
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Associate
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Newcastle, UK
Thanks a lot for the reply. That's really helpful, not that I know much about ohms and thd, this has encouraged me to do some reading about it and I think I understand a bit more now.

Do you think a good approach for now would be to go for an integrated amp and just forget about a DAC for now? If I'm satisfied with the quality directly out of the mac then there'd be no reason to get a DAC? This gives me the freedom to add it in later if required.

I'm just concerned that buying a dac + amp is going to go a little out of my budget right now.

Thanks again,
Scott.
 
Soldato
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If i were on such a budget then i would do as you've just questioned. Get a decent integrated amp, £200 secondhand should get you a good'n.
Then worry about the DAC at a later date. In fact you could get the FiiO E17 for around £100 and is a fantastic bang for £.
 
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