[rongmomo]

Hi I'm a newbie when it comes to audio systems, but am looking to improve the sound quality of my Dell PC. It doesn't help that my speakers seem to acting up at the moment.

My setup is an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard and a 5.1 Dell speaker system. I was wondering what alternative soundcards you guys recommend, or if I should just use an external amp and get myself some bookshelf speakers? I do play a lot of games and watch movies on my PC, so I might be tempted to go with something that will sound good overall, not just for music.

 

[ozz]

an external amp and some nice bookshelves will sound better than the
computer speakers they offer although creative does has some nice offerings.

 

[rongmomo]

What external amps and bookshelves would you recommend? I don't think I can afford anything that's high end.

 

[compuryan]

This is Head-Fi, so ideally, you could spend $100+ and have a set of headphones that sounded better than any consumer speaker setup. I was absolutely blown away with the sound when I got my Sennheiser HD280 for only $85.

But, if you must stick to speakers, you should ask this question in the "Cables, Power, Tweaks, Speakers, Accessories (DBT-Free Forum)" section. I personally would point you in the direction of some budget m-audio monitor speakers (if headphones aren't your thing).

 

[diego]

If you want to improve the sound quality of your pc you should buy an external dac. I have an audigy 2zs and a USB transport that feeds an external dac and the sound improvement is really big.

However, you need to keep the audigy for gaming because the frame rate would suffer with a USB audio solution. There are several portable amps that include a USB dac for $200 or less and if you add to that $100 for headphones you'll have a very good sounding system.

Regards,
Diego

 

[badbadtz560]

*hint* you gotta give the guru's a budget to deal w/

then the advice'll start rollin out. my advice would be to get an xternal amp and bookshelves.. but my budget might be a bit higher than yours.. about to spend $400 on some usher s520s, 350 on an NAD325bee.. and maybe 200 on an emu-0404.. not sure how i'm going to use the $800 nad+usher combo yet.. been askin around for a while to try and decide

 

[uraflit]

the OP didn't mention anything about headphones... so i'll just tell him to get the swans m200 2.0 speakers. keep the audigy2zs for now =]

 

[radio]

Quote:

Originally Posted by rongmomo /img/forum/go_quote.gif Hi I'm a newbie when it comes to audio systems, but am looking to improve the sound quality of my Dell PC. It doesn't help that my speakers seem to acting up at the moment. My setup is an Audigy 2 ZS soundcard and a 5.1 Dell speaker system. I was wondering what alternative soundcards you guys recommend, or if I should just use an external amp and get myself some bookshelf speakers? I do play a lot of games and watch movies on my PC, so I might be tempted to go with something that will sound good overall, not just for music.

I am in the similar boat as you.

I have my pc connected to my "stereo".

I have the audigy 2 zs also and have been finding the negative sides of it i.e upsampling all cds to 48khz.

SO i have taken the bit perfect digital out and then passing them through a dac approach.

Practically for you... you can look into a tripath amp (< 500 usd) + digital bit perfect soundcard + dac + some speakers and or headphones and you will be set.

 

[rongmomo]

Thanks for the advice. I just bought myself a pair of Goldring DR150s and also a PA2V2. Would a portable amp be good enough for the headphones on my PC?