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Al Krow
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I got round to my A/B test!  At low volumes the T40s don't do too badly at all and had me thinking where else in the house I could use them!  With bass and treble at zero (top centred) and volume halfway they were pretty good.  Bass was a bit boxy and there was a pronounced mid range.  Switching to the NS3s made this far more obvious. These have much better bass response and brighter top end but a more scooped mid range, which results in a better separation of frequencies to my ears and I'm not a fan of the mid scoop in any form. 

Turning up the volume control resulted in the T40 bass response giving up with volume at 2 o clock. From that point on it was boxiness all over and the top end started to get muddy. The NS3s with their bigger driver and volume handled the increase easily and the bass response was pretty good. It didn't feel like it was at it's limit.  The top end did get very bright though and I turned the treble dial back a bit.  The stereo feel was much better with these speakers. It's all about the bass. And treble.  

As PC speakers, the Creatives are still really good, even with mine being 8 years old now.  As desktop speakers the NS3s are better but not by as much as maybe I'd hoped! 

I'm using the 3.5mm headphone out and in for both from a laptop, soundcard volume at max,   streaming from Spotify. 

 

steve

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11 hours ago, Muppet said:

As PC speakers, the Creatives are still really good, even with mine being 8 years old now.  As desktop speakers the NS3s are better but not by as much as maybe I'd hoped! I'm using the 3.5mm headphone out and in for both from a laptop, soundcard volume at max,   streaming from Spotify. 

That was a very helpful A/B indeed - thanks Steve! 

Just one final Q relating to whether the difference in quality of the speakers would be more noticeable using a more high end amp. Don't know if you have a hi-fi in the house and, if so, whether you could do the same A/B with the hi-fi amp? It would be really interesting and useful to understand if (a) you can hear a big difference in sound quality between the hi fi amp and the PC with the same speakers and (b) whether using the better hi fi amp made the difference in quality between the speakers more stark? 

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Sorry I missed this! I don't have any separate high end amplifier I'm afraid - I'll look around the house to see if there's anything I have that might produce a better quality output, but I''ve mainly just got bass amps!

steve

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50 minutes ago, Muppet said:

Sorry I missed this! I don't have any separate high end amplifier I'm afraid - I'll look around the house to see if there's anything I have that might produce a better quality output, but I''ve mainly just got bass amps!

steve

Ah ok no worries. Mr @dave_bass5 has provided me with a cunning plan to make use of the soundcard on my Focusrite Scarlett and by-pass the one on the PC for PC sound output. I'll see if I can hear any improvement on that using my Creative T40s at some point over the coming week.

I do now need to find out a bit more about your two covers bands though! You got any uploaded YT material?

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