My new audio components - please help

[Samplefox]

Hi, I'm new in this forum, I plan to buy a new audio components, because now I'm using cheap Genius speakers ( SP-HF1250A - http://www.geniusnet.com/wSite/ct?xItem ... tNode=2570 ) and headphones Buxton ( bhp 1000 - http://sluchadla.heureka.sk/buxton-bhp-1000/ ) ...this all during the three years ... :-/ I want something better ... a very long time I surfed the internet and I customize my financial conditions - I chose the following components:

Speakers - KRK rp6 g2 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/krk_rp6_rokit_g2_bundle.htm
Headphones - KRK kns 8400 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/krk_kns_8400.htm
USB Sound Card - m-m-audio m-track - http://www.thomann.de/gb/m_audio_m_track.htm
key - m-audio oxygen 25 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/maudio_oxygen_25_3rd_gen.htm

I am aware that this is only the beginning ... Two years later, I will buy something better.
I hope it will make a big difference in what I use now and what I plan to buy, or not? I want good sound quality...I want to be better...I want to improve! You can help advise me and other audio components, but please chose in the same price level.

* my favorite genres are dubstep, dnb, electro...
* i'm using notebook with WIN 7
* i prefer FL studio and vst plugins

Thanks for every reply

cheers

[fragments]

I'm not sure I follow exactly, what other things to you want people to suggest...or do you want advice on what you've chosen?

[SunkLo]

Just whether it's scaleable for the future or not I guess? I'd probably get a Scarlett 2i4 instead of that M Audio. Don't know if I'd want KRK for both monitors and headphones. I'd either grab some open ear Sennheisers or something, maybe the ATH M50, or swap the monitors for something else. Equator D5s maybe? The KRK and Audio Technicas both have a fair bump in the lower mids that'd compensate for the upper mid focus of the Equators.

Or you could blow it all on a really nice set or two of headphones along with a DAC and amp, and buy your monitors at your next upgrade. Something like Schiit Modi/Magni ($200 for the pair) plus some Senn HD 600s and a pair of ATH M50s, Beyers, AKGs, or similar. You won't be getting much performance out of your monitors till your room's treated so if you can't afford that for another year, you might as well mix on headphones during that time anyway. Nice room beats nice headphones, but nice headphones beat shit room.

You can build some pretty cheap sound treatment yourself so if you're down to DIY, you could actually end up with a nice sounding room and saving a fair bit of money. Something to consider now or when you upgrade down the road.

[Tom_Autobot]

Wouldnt touch any of them to be honest.

Try the Traktor Audio 2 if you are not going to do any live recording, same converters as the rest of the native instruments range and great low latency performance.
I'd advise a set of Adam F series monitors or Presonus Eris. Both are much more even than the KRK's, but still with good bass response for similar money. Forget about a cheap pair of headphones, they really wont help matters, even something like the ATH-50 is hard to mix properly on and those krks seem all over the place to me.

just get a decent pair of monitors and a couple of full range acoustic panels to go on the left and right walls, halfway between you and the speakers. GIK acoustics do good ones in europe and the US.
I 'm fully aware that you really need to put panels on all of the first reflection points and some bass traps in the corners to effectively treat the room, but the left and right points will be the loudest reflection and get you best budget bang for your buck... or google builing your own panels with some wood, rockwool insulation and some cotton fabric.

either that or go for a set of good headphones and an amp, AKG k702 are good value atm, but might seem to lack a bit of bass response... but you could always add a subpac later and get an awesome setup.

[Samplefox]

I'm not sure I follow exactly, what other things to you want people to suggest...or do you want advice on what you've chosen?

You can to express for my choice, but you can help me in other audio components at the same price level

Thaaanks

[Samplefox]

Just whether it's scaleable for the future or not I guess? I'd probably get a Scarlett 2i4 instead of that M Audio. Don't know if I'd want KRK for both monitors and headphones. I'd either grab some open ear Sennheisers or something, maybe the ATH M50, or swap the monitors for something else. Equator D5s maybe? The KRK and Audio Technicas both have a fair bump in the lower mids that'd compensate for the upper mid focus of the Equators.

Or you could blow it all on a really nice set or two of headphones along with a DAC and amp, and buy your monitors at your next upgrade. Something like Schiit Modi/Magni ($200 for the pair) plus some Senn HD 600s and a pair of ATH M50s, Beyers, AKGs, or similar. You won't be getting much performance out of your monitors till your room's treated so if you can't afford that for another year, you might as well mix on headphones during that time anyway. Nice room beats nice headphones, but nice headphones beat shit room.

You can build some pretty cheap sound treatment yourself so if you're down to DIY, you could actually end up with a nice sounding room and saving a fair bit of money. Something to consider now or when you upgrade down the road.

...these things that I now want to buy I will use following two years...
I acknowledges that the USB sound card Scarlett 2i4 looks really very good, it probably I will buy it ...is it better than m-audio m-track?

regarding your advice for speakers or headphones: Now I think, that buy KRK RP6 G2 (maybe Adam F 5 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/adam_f5.htm - what do you think?) and I will buy headphones AKG K 240 MKII - http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k240_mkii.htm ... is it ok? - Or you please advise me some good headphones at the same price level ... thaaanks

[Samplefox]

Wouldnt touch any of them to be honest.

Try the Traktor Audio 2 if you are not going to do any live recording, same converters as the rest of the native instruments range and great low latency performance.
I'd advise a set of Adam F series monitors or Presonus Eris. Both are much more even than the KRK's, but still with good bass response for similar money. Forget about a cheap pair of headphones, they really wont help matters, even something like the ATH-50 is hard to mix properly on and those krks seem all over the place to me.

just get a decent pair of monitors and a couple of full range acoustic panels to go on the left and right walls, halfway between you and the speakers. GIK acoustics do good ones in europe and the US.
I 'm fully aware that you really need to put panels on all of the first reflection points and some bass traps in the corners to effectively treat the room, but the left and right points will be the loudest reflection and get you best budget bang for your buck... or google builing your own panels with some wood, rockwool insulation and some cotton fabric.

either that or go for a set of good headphones and an amp, AKG k702 are good value atm, but might seem to lack a bit of bass response... but you could always add a subpac later and get an awesome setup.

I confess that acoustics is a big problem for me in my room, because there are different pieces of furniture and it will not change ... but I don't want to work only with headphones ... I think, that are appropriate for me smaller speakers - you wrote that a good speaker series is Adam F ... maybe Adam F 5 ( http://www.thomann.de/gb/adam_f5.htm ) - what do you think about it? it is a very good price for me.

It is possible that I'll ever need something to recording, so I decided for USB sound card Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 ( http://www.thomann.de/gb/focusrite_scarlett_2i4.htm ) ... I've read about it only positive opinions.

About headphones, I think buy AKG, but AKG k702 is too expensive for me ... i would maybe like AKG K 240 mk2 ( http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k240_mkii.htm ) ... I read about them evenly opinions - price / performance ratio ... perhaps it might be ok, or not? ...you take note, that i accustomed for poor conditions several years

Thaaanks

[fragments]

I really like my AKG 240s, but I'm wanting to upgrade them.

I pretty much agree with Tom Autobot. Ether the Adams or the PreSonus Eris...I listened to a set of Eris against Mackies and KRKs recently and the Eris kicked their asses in most departments.

@Tom: Interesting advice about acoustic treatment, wish my room was a different shape so I could take it!

[SunkLo]

I agree with Tom that you're not going to benefit much from cheap headphones. Although I do find my ATH M50s valuable as a reference. I'll switch to them for 15 minutes while mixing and when I switch back to my Sennheisers, things are tightened up a bit. I tend to push things from a slightly different angle while monitoring with them. They don't actually sound like they'd be good for mixing to me. But they do end up usually giving some fairly valuable perspective.

I haven't heard the K240 but from what I've read plus my experiences with the AT, I'd choose the latter. I can't compare it to any Beyer headphones either but they make some good cans in this class that are worth checking out. The best contenders in this range will be quite good for the money, but still not really that well suited to mixing on. You may get lucky and find a particular headphone whose signature complements that of your monitors. Alternately you can just forgo the headphones now and buy a better pair in the future, probably the HD600/K701 depending on your treble preferences.

[Samplefox]

I agree with Tom that you're not going to benefit much from cheap headphones. Although I do find my ATH M50s valuable as a reference. I'll switch to them for 15 minutes while mixing and when I switch back to my Sennheisers, things are tightened up a bit. I tend to push things from a slightly different angle while monitoring with them. They don't actually sound like they'd be good for mixing to me. But they do end up usually giving some fairly valuable perspective.

I haven't heard the K240 but from what I've read plus my experiences with the AT, I'd choose the latter. I can't compare it to any Beyer headphones either but they make some good cans in this class that are worth checking out. The best contenders in this range will be quite good for the money, but still not really that well suited to mixing on. You may get lucky and find a particular headphone whose signature complements that of your monitors. Alternately you can just forgo the headphones now and buy a better pair in the future, probably the HD600/K701 depending on your treble preferences.

Hello, based on your advice I decided to change my choice...

What do you think about this?

Speakers - Prosonus Eris E8 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/presonus_eris_8.htm
Headphones - AKG K 701 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/akg_k701.htm
USB soundcard - Focusrite Scarlett 2i4 - http://www.thomann.de/gb/focusrite_scarlett_2i4.htm

For all these audio components are very many positive opinions...

Thaaanks

[Sharmaji]

Adam F series monitors

agreed, recently did some mobile sessions on some small Adams-- they've really stepped up their game in the lower-end. Extremely easy to work on, i could hear what was going on thru the spectrum, and didn't feel like i'd had my face kicked in after 8 hours-- can't say that about krk's.

for an affordable 2-channel interface, really there's the apogee duet or one and there's everything else.

[SunkLo]

You'll definitely see a big step up with the 701s. Personally I'm a Sennheiser guy so I'd go with the HD600s, but they're both a very good choice, depending on which sound signature you prefer. The Senns will be warmer with more bass, the K701s will be really bright and detailed. Neither will have spectacular subbass, but you could do what I do and use a pair of Sony XB500s for that. They're pretty cheap and make a good add-on specialty can for subs.

I don't know anything about the Eris monitors whatsoever but I'd go with the budget Adams purely for the little bit of sex appeal. You should really probably research their qualities and pick the best sounding one for the money, but assuming all things equal, I like Adams a bit more.

I dunno if you're still looking at the Oxygen25 for a keyboard, but check out the MPKs as well. They're a bit more expensive but I like the endless rotary knobs, sliders and drum pads. Look at an old project of yours and check your midi clips to see how wide of a range you typically play. 25 keys would make me hang myself but it's enough for some people.

For this kit, your upgrade path would be DIY room treatment, possibly a better headphone amp, then upgrading your monitors and then your interface. The HD 600 are the standard for monitoring headphones so you can't really get much better there. The Scarletts are decent little interfaces, at least to drive your monitors. Picking up a DAC/Headphone amp combo like the Schiit stack I suggested earlier might give your headphones a little bump in quality. Hopefully the monitors will give you the benefit of speakers without clouding your monitoring chain too much. But I'd feel a lot better mixing on budget speakers if I had high end headphones to check on.

Regardless of your final choice, you'll see a significant jump in sound quality. Especially in the headphone department, you'll be blown away. Personally I get more inspired by jamming on my keyboard than I do listening to sound quality, so don't neglect your midi keyboard. The cleanest monitoring chain in the world doesn't mean shit if you can't think of any ideas.

[drewspuppet]

You might want to check out the M-Audio DSM2 monitors..

You can get a pair used for sub $400-500. They are actually pretty decent and go very low for 8" monitors. They are not super flat, but do give fairly decent definition... and as a bonus if you want to crank them you'll feel like you are at a concert.

I would say though that because those go low.. room treatment would be especially important. And 3 bass traps on the back wall isn't going to cut it. If you aren't going to be able to build/ afford real treatment meaning probably at least 4-6 traps + all corners; go with some nice small monitors with good clarity and just count on checking bass levels with a decent set of headphones.

I use the DT 990 pro, the bass is almost a bit exaggerated but they sound huge and very open. They are very comfortable to wear for long periods; although my ears are too sensitive now to produce on headphones for long periods even at low levels.. (watch your levels on headphones!)