Genelec Community Forum has been archived

Thank you for all the years of Community discussions and activity!

The time has come for us to retire the community forums, but we will keep everything available for reading. There is a lot of valuable content written over the years, and you'll be able to access all of that. However, no new posts can be written, or old posts modified.

If you have questions, we recommend you use the Support function on the bottom right corner to contact our Customer Support directly.

Alternatively, if you wish to engage in a community discussion with other people, there are many active forums available. There is also an active, fan managed GENELEC COMMUNITY in Facebook, and many Genelec employees are active in the discussions there.

We are sorry for any possible inconvenience this may cause you, but we hope to hear from you through the other channels mentioned above.

Genelec Support

Message Boards

Using 8030b with phone/ipod - Pre amp needed?

mikeyveeeeee, modified 7 Years ago.

Using 8030b with phone/ipod - Pre amp needed?

Youngling Posts: 1 Join Date: 1/21/16 Recent Posts
So i've got some 8030b speakers which i normally use thru an interface and all works fine. But i also want to use the speakers in the lounge thru ipod/phone but it sounds very bad. I think the signal is too weak as the sound coming out sounds a bit like when your under water.
Does anybody know what the best way around this is? headphone preamp to boost signal? or just a small amp? The speakers have their own amp in each one but need the signal going in to be stronger I think.

Any advice would be great.
ilkka-rissanen, modified 7 Years ago.

Re: Using 8030b with phone/ipod - Pre amp needed?

Yoda Posts: 2564 Join Date: 3/23/09 Recent Posts
Hi,

In general there is no need for any extra device. Headphone output is sufficient to drive an active speaker. I have personally used many phones and ipads with direct connection to our speakers without any problems.

What was the exact device that you tested? Make and model?
digipete, modified 7 Years ago.

Re: Using 8030b with phone/ipod - Pre amp needed?

Padawan Posts: 99 Join Date: 6/18/11 Recent Posts
We drive 8010's and 8030's from iPhones and iPods all the time.
Using a simple mini-jack to XLR cable.
I sounds great with good dynamic lossless files.

Others has chipped in with their own phones, and quality always reflected the quality of the files and recordings.
laparn, modified 7 Years ago.

Re: Using 8030b with phone/ipod - Pre amp needed?

Padawan Posts: 39 Join Date: 6/20/15 Recent Posts
You can benefit from bypassing the iPhone sound card by using a M2Tech Hiface DAC for instance. A USB converter is necessary to fit to the USB in the Hiface DAC. A mini-jack to XLR cable will connect to the 8030b. This piece of gear is great and you will notice a terrific improvement in sound quality using a DAC rather than the headphone output by itself.

Another more sophistic alternative is a headphone amp/DAC. To keep equipment to a minimum sustaining sound quality, you can check out the Chord Mojo, iFi iCAN SE, iFi iCAN nano etc. However, RCA output only so you need an RCA to XLR converter/cable.
If you have an iPhone 6 you can also use the included DSD compatible player and feed an iFi micro iDSD for native DSD conversion. Close to analogue sound quality.