|
Audio Asylum Thread Printer Get a view of an entire thread on one page |
For Sale Ads |
132.3.57.80
In Reply to: RE: Can I Improve my Bowers & Wilkins MM-1s? posted by PAR on September 14, 2016 at 17:29:51
PAR,
Thank you for the info. It's kind of what I was expecting. I did find a video on YouTube where a guy managed to pair a subwoofer with his MM-1s by configuring some settings on his Mac. He basically configured a new output in the OS's audio settings. Not sure if this can be done on a PC.
I did manage to update the MM-1 firmware last night and it actually seemed to make a fairly noticeable improvement to the MM-1's sound quality - particularly with the bass.
-Thanks again.
Follow Ups:
I have to say that I know nothing about Apple computers. However the sound settings in a PC running Windows OS gives a choice of either the PC's soundcard as the default "speakers" or a connected external device which it recognises as "speakers". " Speakers does not actually mean speakers of course, it could be a DAC or all-in-one audio system but not, of course, a straightforward speaker.
For media files routed through this interface only one of the "speakers" listed can be selected at a time as the default and it is only through this selected default that the media audio file or stream will be processed.
The answer would be to connect a DAC to the PC that has two analogue outputs, one connected to the main audio system, the other to the (powered) subwoofer. NB: the two outputs need to be buffered, that is electrcally isolated from each other.
But this doesn't help you as your DAC is, as mentioned, within one of the speakers. The speaker ( containing DAC, electronic crossovers-I expect in this design considering its pedigree-and amplifiers) doesn't have an output available to you except for the one connected to the second speaker which should not be played with IMO as we don't know exactly what is carried on it.
In brief, you can't use two external devices for sound at the same time with a Windows PC.
Of course I know little and someone smart will no doubt stop by and say you can do this ;-)
Very pleased to learn that your firmware upgrade has improved matters.
PAR,Thank you again for the great info. You are spot on. And no, I absolutely don't want to do anything that has the potential to harm my MM-1s. I did come across something interesting, however. https://rogueamoeba.com/airfoil/windows/
Rogue Amoeba is a Mac software company specializing in audio software. However, they appear to have moved into the Windows realm with Airfoil for Windows. What really looks promising is this:
"Play to Multiple Outputs, in Sync. Stream the music you love to speakers all over the house: AirPlay, Bluetooth, and more! Everything will play in perfect sync, even between different speaker types. Multiple Outputs in Sync, whether you play to a single device or a dozen different speakers at once, it will all be in perfect sync".
Going to download and do some experimenting! Looks as though I can download the software for free to test before I buy it. "Free Download - Note: Before purchase, noise is overlaid on all transmissions longer than 10 minutes".
Edits: 09/19/16
Hi Kody.
I have read the Rogue Amoeba specification ( so far as it is provided) from the link that you kindly provided. Unfortunately I don't think that it quite does what you think.
The Bowers & Wilkins MM-1s are linked to the PC via USB. There is no other form of connection. But the Amoeba app appears to provide streaming only via wireless connections. There is no mention of output via, or synchronisation with, wired connections.
It does not allow a PC to output audio via multiple physical ports. What it does is stream to Blutooth, ios or wi-fi connected devices. There may be multiples of these. As the MM-1s has no wireless connection Rogue Amoeba will not connect with them.
If you can find a Blutooth subwoofer, however, it may be possible to send a signal from the PC to it using Amoeba. However Amoeba makes no mention of synchronising hard wired ( e.g. USB ) outputs with wireless.
What "multiple output" means is not the PC outputs (ports) but sound outputs i.e. speakers in the sense of audio devices. So a PC using Amoeba can send a wireless stream to e.g. a Blutooth speaker in the lounge and to another Blutooth speaker in the bathroom and both will be in synch; that = two outputs.
Of course I could be wrong so if it doesn't cost to try, suck it and see.
PAR,
I returned the MM-1s to Amazon today. It was hard. I really wanted them to work out. I loved their size, build quality, and styling (they are beautiful), and they did sound great for the most part. However, and I'm no audiophile, I just wasn't as impressed with them as I had hoped I would be. I did do some research prior to buying them, however, I bought them on impulse due to the rave reviews on Amazon.
I'm now in the market for something else, and will do a ton of research prior to purchasing anything. Going to post another thread asking for advice and recommendations.
Thank you for your great advice with the MM-1s. It helped me out tremendously.
Post a Followup:
FAQ |
Post a Message! |
Forgot Password? |
|
||||||||||||||
|
This post is made possible by the generous support of people like you and our sponsors: