Hey /g, I'm currently looking to upgrade my pc speakers to some studio monitors. I want to buy the JBL LSR 305 and trying to figure out what audio interface to use. The Behringer U-Phoria UMC204HD looks good, because it's cheap and actually overkill for my use case. Later I plan of adding a headphone amp and thats what I am trying to figure out. The interface has 4 outputs but only one main volume nob, if I connect the speakers to output A and the amp to output B, when turning the volume down will both outputs be affected? There is a A/B switch the manual says: >selector designates output channels >3 & 4 at the headphone >output when engaged.
What would be the best setup to control the volume of the speakers and a headphone amp separately?
Easton Sanders
Do what everyone else does and buy Schiit Modi 2 Uber/Magni 2 Uber. Magni has RCA outs in the back for your powered speakers. And a volume knob. The headphone jack switches the speakers off when inserted.
Lincoln Mitchell
this buying an audio interface when you don't use the inputs and have no need for asio drivers is stupid
Bentley Torres
for audio interfaces, phones and main out are separate (just look at the damn image). they also have more than adequate dacs+amps built in, so you dont need an extra.. don't listen to these retarded schiit fags.
Hunter Torres
"Main" and "Phones" appears to be separate - that's a pretty good solution! But the other guy is right, everyone is buying the Schitt. D/A Performance is great if you have any computer files... (PS NOT Shilling or I'd talk you into something Oppo related.)
John Gutierrez
Doesn't work for me, cause I still want to occasionally use my headset. So I need at least one input.
David Sanders
Why would you use a headphone amp+a DAC? generally DAC act as a headphone amp. A headphone amp is going to do nothing but add another layer of noise and potential distortion
Jaxon Reed
>generally no unless the dac has a headphone amp built in it's just a converter
Henry Davis
Yes main and phones are separate, which indeed is good. But I was planning on using a different headphone amp because the build-in one is reported to be on the weaker side. One solution could be to use the phone out and connect it to an external headphone amp, but then I would still get the shitty signal form the build in one. So i thought the ideal solution would be to take the signal from output B instead, to connect the external headphone amp. But this leads me to the problem that i can't control the volume of output A/B separate. Another solution I came up with would be to keep the main volume up and use a passive monitorcontroller between output A and the speakers which would allow me to change the volume separate. > pic related
Ayden Taylor
Wait, I thought passive speakers needed huge 150watt amps
Benjamin Reed
its pretty rare to find a decent DAC without a headphone amp in them. If they don't have a headphone amp is absolute garbage that isn't not worth taking space on your desk.
Christopher Hill
unrelated but HOLY SHIT in america you can buy mickey of liquor for $3 fuck I hate living in a cucked country
Logan Torres
sure thing m8 I like making up stuff, too
Logan Myers
>musical fidelity audiophile trash
Carson Rogers
good job moving the goalposts, though
Jacob Phillips
>192khz >32 bit How to spot shit gear marketed at placebophiles
Henry Clark
>shitty signal stop going audiophool. only reason you would need an amp is if your headphones aren't loud enough out of the audio interface (hint they are unless you have some old planars).
Parker Campbell
get something under 200 bucks by focusrite with more than 4 or more analog inputs. that's all you need. Monitor speakers power supply don't come from the interface, if you want to power some high ohm headphones you might need to look into the amplitude of the interface.
Nolan Wright
>u-phoria
I have one of those, bought it super cheap. Latency is ass, lots of crackling and noises, random shrieks of static every once in a while. Completely unusable for recording or even listening to music.
Get a Scarlet series, I upgraded to the 2i4, really happy with it and it's solid as fucking rock. Check out some YouTube videos and see if it works for your application.
Ethan Scott
find me Patron
Joseph Bailey
this i've had my saffire 6 for so fucking long i don't even remember. it is never likely to break. the build quality of focusrite is so good they might be hurting their business model and the latency is really phenomenal. I never use all the inputs but the asio comes in handy for video editing software
Juan James
>its pretty rare to find a decent DAC without a headphone amp in them you're retarded stop making shit up
Behringer are pretty crap in terms of QC. Would suggest focusrite or steinberg.
Kayden Torres
well i work as an audio engineer and the DACs i see on a regular basis always have amps in them
maybe pleb tier audiophile DACs don't include them so they can get meme'd into buying separate matching headphone amps
Benjamin Nguyen
so the signal from the rear output B is the same as the signal from the front headphone output?
Ryder Gray
yeah no you're a lying idiot just leave
Austin Moore
>the build quality of focusrite is so good
Sweetums, please.
I've return a 2i4 four (four) times before I got an acceptable one.
>First Broken pad button.
>Second input/playback wheel (allows direct monitoring to be heard in the mix) not properly centered. It was never 100% on either side, so I always heard the raw input.
>Third This one was finally just right. Until a microphone made it fry itself after using 48v phantom power (all precaution was exercised properly) for about 5 minutes.
>Fourth Fourth is the third. When I returned the third, I wanted it repaired in the shop because I felt the guy working there would do a better job than Focusrite's underpaid chinks.
Now it's finally working properly, but it does what all 2i4s and 2i2s do (probably more expensive models as well) - it makes extremely loud clipping noises during boot and shutdown. I have to turn on my amp only after boot is done and turn them off before shutting down or I risk ruining my speakers.
Focusrite are garbage peddlers and I won't have any dipshit hipsters who get off on the scarlett chassis tell my otherwise.
Leo Baker
>192khz upsampling
Jeremiah Gray
This is NOT an amplifier, it's a pre amp meant for recording from MICROPHONES.
The A/B switching is for INPUT SWITCHING. They have independent input sensitivity adjustments and a shared output level adjustment for maximizing signal range. Note the clipping indicators, they let you know your gain is set so high the signal is too high and will sound distorted on playback.
Output is through USB, the headphone jack is for realtime monitoring. This device is a microphone preamp device and analog to digital converter for recording directly to your computer, not for playing back music.
For the record, almost any consumers amp with dual speaker output will not have independent gain adjustment. Typically, output will be split even amongst both, you can often even hear the volume drop a bit when enabling the second pair. There are exceptions, however. High end surround amps sometimes have gain adjustments and individual inputs for each speaker. However, these are usually on the back of the amp and meant to be "set it and forget it" type deals. They also act as slave devices, requiring a preamp and decoder to split the signal properly. Alternatively you can get a distribution amplifier that will essentially just copy the input signal and send it to several outputs. Some offer individual volume trimming.
Anthony Sullivan
Sorry to ramble, one final point
Your best, easiest, cheapest option is a used surround sound receiver with multizone support. Most 7.1 units have this, most 5.1 units do NOT. My ~4 year old Marantz I found for $100 has this feature, though set up is a little clunky.
Though, considering you're stupid enough to look at a microphone preamp to drive loudspeakers and meme shit like a Schiit stack, I'll go ahead and assume you're also stupid enough to believe A/V receivers aren't "pure" enough for your Anime intro FLAC recordings.
Grayson Baker
Thanks your post cleared things up a lot. I was coming to the conclusion that I chose the wrong device as well. So far I'm no audiophool this is all new to me, so I don't care about "pure". My requirements are basically to have a dac, because I don't won't to use the one from the laptop, I want to be able to control headphones and speakers seperatly and I want to use a 3,5mm mic for Skype and teamspeak (which isn't possible with this interface anyways). I guess even a A/V receiver is overkill for that and won't give me 3,5mm mic input. So what would be the easiest way to achieve my requirements? Some external Creative soundcard?
Austin Evans
i have the 305's and the steinberg ur22mkii, has an integrated headphone amp and 2 separate volume knobs for the speakers and the headphones. got the whole thing for like 300€, best audio purchase of my life
Samuel Adams
Maybe the problem is with the user? I never have that problem with mine, sounds like shitty USB drivers or something m8
Levi Howard
just use your onboard
>b-but they told me it's bad
if you don't hear any noise it's good
Colton Russell
yeah. focusrite is one of those stupid memes. they have the worst asio drivers and overall are just mediocre interfaces at best. but i guess they look pretty and what the fuck does the average Sup Forums poster know about asio anyway.