Topic: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

Hello,

I thought of getting the Neumann KH120A and RME Babyface Pro.
But it's kinda expensive. The mere usage would be Piano play.

Does it make sense? I know RME has little latency.

I would use it on my iMac 2019.

To say: had had JBL speakers before that I sent back cause of the noise

Thanks.

Last edited by Defenz0r (14-12-2020 17:05)

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

Defenz0r wrote:

Does it make sense?

Really depends on your budget. How good pianoteq sounds (in general, and pianoteq 7 in particular) is very sensitive to the sound reproduction system.

Pianoteq 7 does sound great with a quality sound card and quality monitor speakers. I am using it with Lynx E22 sound card paired with Genelec 8050B monitor speakers and the sound is really beautiful and amazing.

Osho

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

oshogg wrote:
Defenz0r wrote:

Does it make sense?

Really depends on your budget. How good pianoteq sounds (in general, and pianoteq 7 in particular) is very sensitive to the sound reproduction system.

Pianoteq 7 does sound great with a quality sound card and quality monitor speakers. I am using it with Lynx E22 sound card paired with Genelec 8050B monitor speakers and the sound is really beautiful and amazing.

Osho


Wow, those are even more expensive.
Currently, I do have a room thats not really great for acoustics and the cost for making it suited enough is too much.
For this very reason, I thought of saving money for moving to a different apartment, where I could treat my room and make some noise.

Currently pay 800 eur/month for 64 m2, but it's close to my employer.
I can hear everybody in the house. Especially when someone opens a door. It's audible in the whole house.
From outside I can hear some guitarists, as currently theres a xmas market and they play...

An house would be a dream, but it costs 1 million, no joke. You won't get anything decent here for less.
Before I moved to the employers region, I did only pay 300 euro for the same amount of space.

Last edited by Defenz0r (15-12-2020 11:34)

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

Neil Young: "Are you ready for the country, because it's time to go?"
Just a wink of course.

More seriously: ANY good studio monitors will do a fine job with Pianoteq, since the goal is the same: less distorsion possible, good dynamics (more than most Hifi speakers...), and so on. But indeed, you get (often) what you paid for...  and it can be VERY expensive. Same goes for the sound card, but here, even some (relatively...) low cost systems give very good results (example: my Tascam US 20 x 20).

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

I'm curious, too, about the difference that different DAC's and recent interfaces, with their own internal DAC's, would make in the sound. Oshogg, you are using a Lynx card. The Lynx Hilo gets good reviews, too, promising almost no jitter or latency. Would I notice the difference, or an improvement, over my Zoom 24\96? Over my UAD Apollo Twin? Or are the DAC's on these interfaces already good?

My impression is that, in recent years, the DAC's included on today's better interfaces have gotten better, but have they gotten so good that I would hear no difference, in an exposed setting of say piano and vocal or acoustic guitar and vocal, between one of them and the sound through a dedicated DAC?

Oshogg, have you compared the sound through your Lynx card with the sound through a recent interface?

Has anyone else here compared a dedicated DAC to the internal DAC' in recent interfaces?

Last edited by Jake Johnson (15-12-2020 17:34)

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

Well, most "internal" soundcards, even being better and better each time, don't come close to "dedicated" soundcards, whatever the brand (RME, Focusrite, Tascam, you name it), but this seems obvious, isn't it ? And you don't have to pay an arm and a leg for most of them...
Regarding studio monitors, it's another story: there are tons of them and more expensive usually means better. Not always but it's a very common reality... Some criteria of choice: you need dynamics (much more than a "compressed" CD...), you need a very deep low end (for the model "D" but other pianos as well...) and of course no distorsion...
In fact it's "as simple as that" ! Well...

Last edited by Luc Henrion (15-12-2020 20:09)

Re: Speaker / DAC for PianoTeq

May I suggest the new Tannoy Gold series studio monitors. I have the Tannoy Reveals and they are rock solid, not too expensive either but a great sound.
As far as interfaces go I would suggest either Audient iD44 or 22 or the Apollo Solo series.
It is better to invest in something with a good price for value mainly for longevity reasons. When you buy cheap generally you end up paying more in the long run.