[jt4266]

I have a 2 yr old ASUS laptop with integrated audio and I'm looking to buy a set of desktop speakers. Would spending the money on the Audioengine A2 or Swan D1080MkII. Would these be overkill? Should I save the money and get Creative T20 or the like?

I would love to buy a desktop with a nice sound card but alas with finances the way they are its not in the cards....

 

[paaj]

if you're using the internal speakers now, an external set like this is the biggest improvement to make at this moment. I wouldn't say overkill, you can't 'fully' enjoy them, but still I would say it's a big improvement. do this now and then save some money for an external soundcard/dac etc.

 

[Jubei]

The source is generally considered to be more important - thus the garbage in garbage out saying. Most here would frown upon integrated audio on motherboards, especially if it is several years old. Personally, I listen on the PC purely for convenience and not for audio fidelity - for that I still use physical CDs on my full stereo / AV setup.

Computer speakers, no matter what they say, never truly sound great. The better ones are serviceable though as a second device. The bad ones can sound very muddy (awful "bass") and some have god awful highs as well.

If you are serious about SQ, get a better pair of speakers as they can last a long time. Upgrade to a sound card at a latter stage when you have $$, if the integrated audio is not doing it for you.

 

[jt4266]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jubei /img/forum/go_quote.gif If you are serious about SQ, get a better pair of speakers as they can last a long time. Upgrade to a sound card at a latter stage when you have $$, if the integrated audio is not doing it for you.

That sounds like a good idea - at some point I will upgrade my source and the cost difference now for A2 vs something else would be only 70$. Would you recommend the A2 over the Swan?

 

[jt4266]

Also is how affordable are external sound cards? Any recommendations?

 

[Tea]

Quote:

Originally Posted by jt4266 /img/forum/go_quote.gif Also is how affordable are external sound cards? Any recommendations?

I'll recommend the EMU USB 0404.

 

[mr56k]

Laptop speakers are usually garbage. Any external speakers should be a nice improvement. I have had a pair of the T20's for a while which I really liked. I just ordered a set of the T40's for my new pc desktop yesterday (should be here tomorrow). I say get some speakers and see if that's enough of an improvement. Of course you can always get better (speakers, ext sound card etc) but that also means more $$. Good luck either way!