Control device to put between soundcard and KRK Rokit monitors

R

Rikki

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Hi there,

Just getting round to upgrading my studio/workshop room and am doing away with the home hi fi Marantz amp and Pioneer speakers.

Ive bought a set of KRK Rokit 5's as the room is quite small but was wondering what if anything would be recommended to go between my M-Audio 2496 Audiophile sound card and the active monitors so I can control the volume without having to reach behind both monitors when they are attached to wall brackets. I'd also like to have a headphone port if possible - all without costing too much and caushing much signal path deterioration (if thats possible too).

Using the home hifi setup was good because I could use headphones, a remote to control volume etc but looking to step up now :)

Thanks

Rik
 
What you want is a headphone amp + preamp. Those tend to be pretty expensive from what I've seen, usually around $400 and up (though its entirely possible that I'm just looking in the wrong places).

You might have better luck (price-wise) getting an external DAC, possibly USB? Those tend to have volume control and many feature a headphone amp built-in.
 
The trims on the back of monitors are meant more for setup than for everyday volume control. I would never adjust those on a frequent basis.

You mention the M-Audio 2496, which is made for recording. Do you record, or are you just using it for its DAC?

Neutral level controls for monitors are generally designed for home studios. As such, your options are relatively limited, and they aren't the cheapest of solutions. Even so, two options that come to mind:
TC Electronic Level Pilot
SM Pro Audio Nano Patch +

Now, since you mentioned a headphone output as well, things get trickier. At this point you are looking for a level control with a headphone monitoring component. These usually handle multiple inputs and outputs and come with features tuned, again, for a home studio that you may or may not need. (Example: Mackie Big Knob.) Obviously, this option is going to cost some decent cash.

Your other option, is to separate the audio paths. I believe that your 2496 supports this, but if not you can split the signal. External headphone amplifiers, however, are still going to cost around $100.

You could also change your DAC and usually get a headphone amplifier for "free".

Honestly, a lot of the trouble is the 2496 really isn't meant for headphone use without further hardware. Something along the lines of a Xonar and Titanium HD would have made things far simpler, unless, of course, you record.
 
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Thanks for the very informative answers :)

I'd gladly ditch the 2496 for something else.

All I require is a line level input for recording at 24bit/96-192KHz plus SPDIF in and out for use with my Pioneer DJM800 and of course audio output.

Maybe this would do the trick, with software control over volume output and by way of a simple headphone amp for private listening ... http://www.dv247.com/computer-hardware/m-audio-delta-1010lt-digital-recording-interface--173

Thanks

Rik
 
If you need SPDIF I/O for recording, you may want to look into a USB Audio/MIDI interface.

M-Audio has several since you like that brand. The Fast Track Pro looks to be the best option from them, but it is $250.

The Creative E-MU 0404 USB 2.0 would be one of your best options out there for the price, but it is currently discontinued and its replacement isn't coming out anytime soon, if ever. So if you want to buy used, I would say to start with the 0404.
 
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**Edit**

Place that had the 0404 USB when clicking add to basket says out of stock - FML!

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http://www.creative.com/emu/products/product.aspx?category=610&pid=18388

This looks to be the one then :)

Still available here in the UK too.

Looks to do everything and more I need plus has the output trim and headphone trim too so I can choose what gets sent out to the monitors and h/phones :)

Id kinda disregarded Creative as the SB line were always a bit tatty and the last one I had was an AWE64 gold back in the day - moving to MAudio after that.

Only last Q is, being a USB device is there any problems with buffering, latency etc - esp if using FL Studio and a USB midi keyboard?
 
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The 0404 isn't the only interface out there, but it was the most reasonably priced. Also, I believe that E-MU was an acquisition, so I am not sure how much it has in common with the rest of Creative's lineup.

As with the above, M-Audio has one as well, but it is more than the 0404.

As for latency, I am not sure, but these devices are designed for recording, so you should be OK, especially if you can route everything through the interface. Does your keyboard require USB, or can it do traditional MIDI? Most of the USB interfaces will have MIDI controllers.
 
The Presonus audiobox sounds like something you'd be interested in. I've personally been using a audiobox usb for about a year now. It has separate monitor and headphone volume knobs. It might be usb but it does a really decent job. The only negative I can come up with is that it's limited to 48k for audio bit rate. For a small project studio that's likely enough. But if you need something that has a higher bitrate (96k) and or more then two channels then check out the AudioBox 44VSL or AudioBox 1818VSL. Take my word as a sound engineer these products really work well! :cool:
 
Hey pwrusr - just checked them out and the lower end units (2x2 and 4x4) dont have SPDIF :(
 
All you need is a nice monitor controller. Now, unless you want to fork over a lot of cash for one, in particular a passive one, they're all going to affect the sound somewhat.

You can look at the PreSonus Monitor Station. It has headphone amps built in, but it is pretty pricey. The SM Pro Audio M-Patch 2 also has a headphone and is a lot cheaper. That is about as cheap as it comes for a decent monitor controller. Unless you want to break out a soldering iron yourself and build one.

If you need something similar you can look at stuff like the TC Electronic Level Pilot or SM Pro Audio Nano Patch+. They're both basically passive attenuators.
 
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Rikki said:
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Only last Q is, being a USB device is there any problems with buffering, latency etc - esp if using FL Studio and a USB midi keyboard?
Click to expand...

I use an M-Audio Firewire Solo, and with ASIO drivers, 512 sample buffer, latency is around 5ms. I used USB before and with ASIO it wasn't much different. I don't do a lot of live audio stuff though, so I couldn't tell you if the number was good or bad.

I will add though, I had to switch to the current unit because I couldn't get rid of nasty buzzing from my KRKs. The balanced connectors managed to fix it for me.
 
I use an M-Audio Fast Track Pro to control the volume on my KRK Rokit 5 G2s and 10s Sub. Been working fine for the last year.

web_main_pic_FTP.jpg
 
Just an update and thanks to folks in this thread.

I managed to get a hold of an EMU 0404 USB from fleaBay and it sounds really good hooked up to the KRKs :)
 
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