[EDP]

Hi all!
 
I'm quite new to the forums, but I've been around here some time now. I really like the community, the sharing of the passion for high quality audio and the way you (we) all like it in our very personal way.
 
I'm thinking about purchasing some equipment for listening to music while in my room from the pc. I've read many threads on this forum, but they're all quite specific on some particular products, but I find it hard to find out what a basic (very basic) set up is.
My guess for the basic set up is: PC -> USB -> DAC -> Amp -> Speakers.
 
The main issue is the money. I simply don't have the money to buy hardware of $1k or per unit. So the main thing I want to know: is it possible to find a basic set up for around like 200 euros (=283 USD), so let's say 300 dollars? I know it won't consist of any custom built stuff, extreme quality cables, top brands and so on, but maybe there's speaker systems that has a great DAC and AMP built in for a great "bang for your buck" price.
I hope to end up with a system in the gray zone between the basic computer speakers and speakers like the Audioengine A2 (which I read great things about, but the prices for those in The Netherlands are around €189).
 
My needs are music listening, some gaming and watching movies (but I don't care much for surround sound, if I want the perfect experience, I'll go to the cinema).
So, do you have any tips on becoming a poor and starting "mini audiophile"?
 
Thanks a lot for your time!
 
Oh, and don't throw in too much audio-language, keep it "mediocre". I'm quite good with electrictronics/mathematics/physics, but simply don't have much experience on the audio side of those.

 

[Redcarmoose]

• Today I saw a Nuforce Icon on Ebay for $200.00. Something to think about as it is a deal as far as I can see. I only really use mine for headphones but have hooked it up to speakers just to try it out. The cool part, something so little and low cost has a growth factor. The amp acts as a USB digital headphone amp, rca inputs let you hook anything else you grow into like a turntable preamp or cd player. If you wanted you could get 2 channel from a DVD player to. It has a mini line out to hook up to a sub.
• Speakers could be changed out as you want to spend more cash. I powered little bookshelf speakers fine. You could try bigger speakers like some reviews have.
• This thing gets really loud.

 

[melie]

Belg hier
 
If you want to keep it under 200€ I would go for;
Asus Xonar D1 soundcard (+-50€) http://tweakers.net/pricewatch/222791/asus-xonar-d1.html
+
M-Audio AV40 speakers (140€) http://www.thomann.de/nl/maudio_av40_studiophile.htm
 
I think it is nearly impossible to get better sound for this price. I'm still using this set-up atm and it still blows me away how good those AV40's sound for their price. Just google them, you'll only find very positive reviews about them. I've also heart the Audioengine A2 and I can't say I found them much better than the AV40's. They did have a little more controled bass but I found the highs on the AV40 better. This was a long time ago though and I never had a side by side comparison but I garantie that you won't be disappointed with the AV40's.
The soundcard isn't the best out there but certainly much better than using onboard sound + it has DS3D GX2.0 for gaming. Also, buying a decent dac should be less important than the speakers. The AV40's even sound brilliant straight out of an onboard soundchip.
 
 

 

[JRG1990]

For a dac the hrt music streamer ii or if you need a headphone amp aswell the fiio e9/e7 combo.
 
For speakers edifier studio r1900 tii or the slightly cheaper r1600 or for a passive set-up Lepai TRIPATH TA2020 Class T Mini Amp or Dayton Audio DTA-1 Class T amp and some cheap passive bookshelfs , like the Dayton Audio B652 , Sony SS-B1000 .

 

[bik2101]

if you want to keep low budget, your definitely going to want to go with active speakers imo, this way you won't have to buy a separate amp for the speakers. and the udac-2 is a really nice little dac that you would be able to hook up your speakers to. something like a udac2--> audioengine A2 would be a pretty good beginner setup imo. 

 

[EDP]

Quote:

if you want to keep low budget, your definitely going to want to go with active speakers imo, this way you won't have to buy a separate amp for the speakers. and the udac-2 is a really nice little dac that you would be able to hook up your speakers to. something like a udac2--> audioengine A2 would be a pretty good beginner setup imo. 

That udac2 might just be what I'm looking for but I can't find where to buy it near. I can find the nuforce icon mobile and comparing the specs, I can only see that the udac2 is more expensive, smaller, has a higher sampling frequency, but has no portable functions at all. Besides, the icon mobile has some great features. Does anybody have any experience with this icon mobile dac/headphone amp?
 

 

[matchuk28]

if you to keep your budget low go for a 2nd hand pair of a5 or else a new pair of a2's with a new sound card
 
theres a xonar ds i think which has cost like 70usd on amazon which uses a wolfson dac
 
that should be a good low cost setup and later on if you want to invest more you can get an external dac

 

[bik2101]

oh.. i was under the impression this was just a computer setup. yeah, i mean if this is going to be also components that can double for portable use then the icon would probably be better at your price range. 
 
Quote:

That udac2 might just be what I'm looking for but I can't find where to buy it near. I can find the nuforce icon mobile and comparing the specs, I can only see that the udac2 is more expensive, smaller, has a higher sampling frequency, but has no portable functions at all. Besides, the icon mobile has some great features. Does anybody have any experience with this icon mobile dac/headphone amp?
 

 

 

[utkusu]

If you have space for it and time to hunt for them, I think you can get a second hand late 90s receiver with digital in (and use on board sound card to feed them via optical if possible) and decent bookshelves around 200 bucks. Space and their alignment is a big problem though. That is why I have uDAC+AV30's on my desktops. They are alright but nowhere near my 60 dollars receiver+150 dollar tower speaker setup in my living room. (I guess it is not fair to compare 30W speakers with 200W ones)

 

[EDP]

Quote:

oh.. i was under the impression this was just a computer setup. yeah, i mean if this is going to be also components that can double for portable use then the icon would probably be better at your price range. 
 


 

 
1. Well it is a computer setup, but the portable uses of that DAC / headphone amp sound great for my needs. There's another difference between the udac2 and the mobile: the udac2 is 24 bit and has a higher bitrate, the mobile has 16 bit of depth. Is the difference hearable, or does this depend mostly on your source or speakers?
 
2. I have a Creative Audigy 2 ZS sound card, with SPDIF capabilities I never used (but always have wanted to use). So the external DAC is not needed if the speakers support spdif, am I correct?
 
3. I found this website: http://www.tonecontrol.nl/en/products/speakers/?tag[]=45&tag[]=83&tag[]=50&tag[]=49&tag[]=51 . If you go there and sort by price (ascending) you can find speakers from €50 ($71) and look at speakers up to €150 ($214). Please do so to see if you know any good speakers. I see many speakers of which the specs sound great (but do the speakers actually sound great?

). Some of the speakers on that list (that I've looked around for and found promising reviews and specs):

1. Behringer MS20 and MS40
2. Reloop Control Four Fidelity
3. Edirol MA-7ABK and MA-7A
4. Numark NPM5
5. M-Audio AV30 and AV40
6. Samson MediaOne 3A

 
They're all around (some over, some under) my budget. If I get the nuforce icon mobile DAC/headphone amp, I can get myself the more expensive (I guess better) of these speaker sets. Thanks for the replies you already wrote!

 

[EDP]

By the way: I don't want the sound te be flat. So if you know what kind of color any speaker you recommend has, I'd like to know. And if the sound is flat, do you think the speaker is EQ'able?

 

[utkusu]

Sorry I did not see the portability requirement. I own AV30s, they are alright but there is a problem with their bass. I think they have what people call a mid bass hump.

 

[EDP]

Quote:

Sorry I did not see the portability requirement. I own AV30s, they are alright but there is a problem with their bass. I think they have what people call a mid bass hump.

So you suggest? ...
 
A subwoofer? Or just other speakers?

 

[melie]

Like I allready said, I have the AV40's and am verry pleased with them. They are detailed, have nice highs but aren't fatiguing at all.
About the coloration, which do you prefer?

 

[EDP]

Quote:

Like I allready said, I have the AV40's and am verry pleased with them. They are detailed, have nice highs but aren't fatiguing at all.
About the coloration, which do you prefer?

 
Do these speakers have much coloration? I read everwhere that "studio monitors have flat responses", so they reproduce the sound as precise as possible. And how do you describe your coloration preference? I listen to electronic music mostly, but I don't prefer a stong bass over clear mids and sharp highs. I want to hear the full spectrum.
 
Is it possible to equalize from your computer so you can change the coloration, if I don't like the way the vanilla speakers sound?