[Needles]

Hello! I'm currently prepared to pull the trigger on a pair of Audioengine A5s for home PC use, replacing an extremely brutal 2.1 Altec Lansing setup that I cannot wait to kick to the curb.

I'm still deciding between the A5s and a pair of M-Audio BX5A Deluxe, but the M-Audio "prone to failure" situation has be scared; I previously owned a set of Klipsch Ultra 5.1 speakers (two sets, both dead) ... I chose to ignore the multitude of evidence in that case and I paid the price. Once bitten, twice shy.

The source is a Creative X-fi soundcard, everything connected to the rear of the tower. My PC is used for pretty much everything; music, movies, gaming, etc. Having a family (and a 22 month old daughter), I often have to split my listening between speakers and headphones. My question is: As the A5s/M-Audio speakers lack a proper headphone line-in jack (at least, I think they do), what is the best way to connect both the speakers and the headset for ease of transition? Is it possible to have them both connected in a way that will spare me having to climb behind the tower to swap cables? I realize I could simply use an adaptor to split the signal from the source, but I've been told that will impact the overall quality. I've also been told that the jacks on the A5s can be used as input/output, fine for headphones, but it all sounded a little fishy to me. My other option is to purchase the front panel for the X-fi (which includes headphone/mic i/o), but I'm hoping to avoid that. Any advice would be appreciated. Thanks in advance!

 

[dlb0089]

i personally own the audioengine a5's. i have them connected to a ASUS Essence STX sound card. this card is one of the best computer sound cards out there...GREAT sound! it has a built in pretty good quality headphone amplifier (one of the best for the price). you can plug both headphones and speakers in permanently and switch outputs via driver software. i'd go for it if its within your budget. it can be had for around $185 (possibly less if you look around). the STX is PCI express 1x. if you need regular pci then go for the essence st, which is essentially the same card for the older pci bus. i love mine! i think you'll love it too. great improvement over onboard sound, and even your run of the mill $75 sound card

 

[Needles]

Cool, thanks for the reply! How does the STX perform in games, compared to something like an X-fi that is designed to "accelerate" gaming? Like I've said, I could simply plump for the X-fi front panel, which includes line-in for headphone/mic and auto-mute, etc. I'd hate to take a hit to my overall gaming performance even if it means sexier sound.

 

[dlb0089]

the biggest hit in FPS you're going to see (from a sound card) is when using onboard sound. once you leave onboard you may gain 2-4 FPS, but after that, performance differences between cards are negligible.

as far as EAX goes, im not really sure. i'm not much of a gamer (anymore). i believe the STX may have some form of EAX emulation but i'm not sure as ive never had to go looking for it. the ST/STX was built with primarily stereo output in mind though, particularly high quality headphones out of the headphone amp.

also,

how often do you use your system with music vs games? i love my audioengine's, but if you're going to be using them for 75% gaming, you might be better off going with something with a dedicated sub and/or surround sound. the audioengines have a very smooth, linear sound, but the bass starts cutting out somewhere around 50hz, which is not a problem for music, but with games you're gonna want that 20-40hz rumble there...the sound you can feel but not necessarily hear. the audioengines are also very revealing, which is AWESOME for lossless music, etc. but in many games the sound is often poorly recorded and the audioengines will let you know it.

just my 2 cent

 

[Needles]

It's about 50/50, music/movies versus games. If I could find a 2.1 system that had anywhere NEAR the same sound quality, I would consider it. At this point, I'd prefer to set myself up with some quality speakers and supplement the purchase with a sub somewhere down the road. I'm just finishing up a move to a new house and while my desk real estate has doubled, the room I'm in no longer accommodates surround sound. Even then, my previous Klipsch sub produced a clean sound moreso than loud/powerful. I'm currently "rocking" a cheap Altec Lansing 2.1 set and despite the thumpin' bass, it's muddy and horrible and makes me throw up in my mouth just a little.

 

[dlb0089]

if you plan on getting a sub anyway i'd go for the a2's as opposed to the a5's. unless you're in a fairly large open space, with the a5's at a pretty good distance i think they've got a little bit too much in reserve. in my small space with the a5's fairly close, i get plenty of volume with them barely on. i think if you're gonna get a sub anyway, the a2's would be better. just depends on how close they are and what the square footage of your room is.

 

[dlb0089]

also, your choice on getting the essence stx is highly dependant on the quality of headphones you're looking to use. if they are only ok quality to begin with, you might would be better off going another route. if your headphones arent sensitive to needing good amplification then you might be fine with what you have now, plus getting the front audio panel. if however you have expensive headphones that require amplification then you'll see a big improvement in sound quality going with the STX or something similar

 

[Needles]

Actually, the space I'm in is quite large, but the shape of the room and the placement of my corner unit desk completely destroys any possibility of decent (any) surround sound speaker placement. Plus, the laminate flooring and the location of the door and connecting hallways totally buggers the notion of ninja wire placement, and I have no intention of punching holes in my drywall. I was originally eyeballing the a2s and the M-audio av40s, but if I hope to fill the space with any kind of sound I believe I need to think a little bigger. The a5s might also pull double duty as home theatre speakers on occasion, especially when I hook the ol' PC up to the 50" plasma.

I'm still chewing on your STX suggestion. My current headphones are fine on the X-fi, but I do have plans to upgrade them to something more high-end down the road (they're not low quality, but they're certainly not audiophile-level hardware). For me, it all boils down to how good the STX EAX emulation is, something I'm researching as we speak.

EDIT: From what I've been able to gather so far, The Xonar STX does fairly well in this regard, though falls just shy of perfect. However, many other aspects of the card seem to outweigh this minor issue, such as the artifical headphone surround-sound absolutely kicking the piss out of X-fi CMSS-3D.

Hey, thanks for all the tips and suggestions, so far! I really appreciate it.

 

[Needles]

Hmm, another interesting consideration: I've stumbled across several bundle deals offering the STX in combo with decent headphones. For instance. Too bad they aren't the HD595s. Hmm. I may end up doing one big ass PC audio upgrade across the board!

 

[dlb0089]

the dolby headphone feature is something thats nice to try for the first couple listens, but in the end i found that it muddied up the sound in an unnatural way too bad to continue with it. its basically just a big echo effect that i preferred to keep off.

the a5's would make pretty good home theater speakers i think, with a sub of course for movies and games. one of the things ive always liked about them is that, if set up with the proper toe-in and distance apart (you want them to be 30 degrees apart from your seating position, with each one having 15 degree toe-in) its pretty darn close to having a center speaker as well. the soundstage effect that they can provide makes a window into the audio you're listening to. any sounds that are supposed to come from the center (or are pushed equally on left and right speakers) actually come from the center. its always amazed me how well they do this

 

[dlb0089]

not a bad deal there! you could actually put the money for speakers + sub into headphones instead. dollar for dollar, the money you put into headphones will buy you much higher quality sound than you could get for the same money put into speakers. speakers cost more to build just because they are larger, and then you have to deal with room acoustics and the like screwing with your sound. if you just went out and bought a pair of Denon D2000's, or Sennheiser HD600's for instance, you'll get much better sound from either of those $300 price range headphones than you would get from the $350 audioengines + $200 sub. you would see amazing benefits in clarity + fullness of sound going that route with headphones. the HD555's wouldnt show that kind of improvement though.

It all boils down to which you would rather do most of the time...headphones, or speakers. you wont be dissappointed either way, but in terms of sound quality per $, headphones definately win

EDIT: also, check out head-fi's for sale/for trade section. you can find some excellent deals in there on lightly used headphones,sound cards, and speakers. most of the folks around here keep good care of there stuff. i got my STX used and its been great with me for about 5 months now

 

[Needles]

My new desk is a beautiful thing. TONS of space left and right behind the monitor, I can have the speakers as far as 4-5 feet apart and still be on the desk, plenty of room for the necessary 30-degrees. Do you use stands to tilt them up, or do you have them otherwise elevated to ear level? If so, which stands do you use? I know the a2s have some nice stands from Audioengine, but the A5s are so much larger ...

 

[dlb0089]

originally i bought stands from audioengine but i really wasnt satisfied with them. they still left too much vibration in the desk. which in turn muddied up the bass from the resonating frequencies. after a few weeks of that i went out and got a set of Auralex Speakerdudes. and they work GREAT! one set gives you 4 pads. use all of them. i have the tweeters on the a5's a couple inches below ear level now with a slight upward tilt. also make sure you have about a foot unobstructed behind the speakers so the bass ports have room to breath. if not that'll muddy everything up

 

[dlb0089]

however, thats just another reason to go with headphones. pads are an extra expense to fix room acoustics and vibration and such...if a $350 pair of speakers will put a smile on your face, a $350 pair of headphones will induce maniacal laughter and nirvana, lol. material costs are less, so more is put into quality of sound

EDIT: and besides..no need to buy another sub for headphones

if you have any shops around where you could listen to several pair of headphones, try out some models like the Sennheiser HD600, Denon D2000's, and other models like AKG, Beyerdynamics, etc in that $300-$400 range. if you've never heard a good headphone in that price range with proper amplification, you'll be pleasantly surprised, and amazed.

 

[Needles]

Nice! The Speakerdudes look perfect. Lots of authorized Canadian dealers not far from where I live.

As far as headphones are concerned, considering my price range, I was initially eyeballing the HD595/650s or the AKG K701s. The headphones I have now are serviceable, definitely easier to tolerate than the horrid Altec Lansing 2.1 setup. If I do decide to go the headphone route, the STX becomes a real possibility, even though I won't require the on-the-fly headphone jack switching.

My desk is mad deep as well as wide, lots of room to fudge speakers forward and/or back to find the ideal placement to prevent bass bloom.

I'll definitely browse the sale/trade forum. Thanks!