[Royal Amethyst]

Oh wow, those look incredibly expensive for a 2.0 set of speakers. I dunno, PurpleAngel's $150 speaker ideas are starting to sound a lot nicer (to my wallet), haha.

 

[elwappo99]

Quote:

Oh wow, those look incredibly expensive for a 2.0 set of speakers. I dunno, PurpleAngel's $150 speaker ideas are starting to sound a lot nicer (to my wallet), haha.

 
 
Haha, certainly.  You can find the M200 used on ebay for about $175 every now and then. I have a pair of polk speakers and they are clearly not in the same sound quality range. The speakers ($175) plus the Asus ST ($150) would cost a little more than the other sets. However, the Asus ST will provide you so much more functionality later when you want to upgrade other components. The headphone out will truly be more valuable down the road, and really bring out your HD598. The digital out on it is also top notch. 

 

[Royal Amethyst]

I'm such a horrible flip flopper when it comes to price. Now I'm considering just dropping $200 on the ASUS ROG Phoebus and justifying it by saying I've keep it until I drive it into the GROUND. I know people who own Essence ST and STX's aren't impressed with it, but since I have neither, it shouldn't make a difference, right?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

I'm such a horrible flip flopper when it comes to price. Now I'm considering just dropping $200 on the ASUS ROG Phoebus and justifying it by saying I've keep it until I drive it into the GROUND. I know people who own Essence ST and STX's aren't impressed with it, but since I have neither, it shouldn't make a difference, right?

Might want to hold off from buying the Phoebus ($225) just yet, give Asus a little time for updating drivers, work out any bugs.
The Essence STX is down to $163.

 

[Lenni]

Quote:

Oh wow, those look incredibly expensive for a 2.0 set of speakers. I dunno, PurpleAngel's $150 speaker ideas are starting to sound a lot nicer (to my wallet), haha.

how are those looking incredibly expensive at $259 for the pair??? the Polk's might be $150 but they're not gonna work straight out of your pc's soundcard. they need an amp, and the Yamaha is another $150 - not counting all the cables needed. you asked for audiophile speakers with a $400 budget, and I think you've been given some pretty good advices. the sad part is you'll probably end up getting the Soundsticks...

 

[Royal Amethyst]

Calm your butt cheeks down, Lenni. I don't make impulse buys, even on the advice of a few people. I take a lot of time to research and think, and not everyone has a lot of disposable income for their sound fetishes.
 
PurpleAngel, I've seen the Phoebus at $199 on Newegg. I know the Essence STX is an excellent card now, but wouldn't the Phoebus be a good card in the future when the drivers are better? I really do like the Essence STX, but I don't want a card that'll age faster, you know? Which of the two has the potentially better DAC and amps and such? I know the Phoebus doesn't have swappable op-amps, but I'm not really into modding my stuff. But if price were no object (and since Essence STX and Titanium HD are around the same price), what would you suggest? Titanium HD, Essence STX, or Phoebus?
 
This thread is starting to deviate a bit, huh. From new speakers to sound cards and DACs. Oh well. Might as well get it all now, right?

For the sake of organization, here are the current suggestions for speakers or speaker/card/receiver combos that have been made in the thread that I'm taking under consideration:
 
#1
Speakers: Polk Audio, any bookself speakers: $150
With:  Yamaha A/V receiver: $150
Total: $300
 
#2
Speakers: M-Audio MV-4 speakers: $120
With: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card: $140
Total: $260
 
#3
Speakers: Audioengine A5+ 2.0 speakers: $399
With: Nothing
Total: $399
 
#4
Speakers: Corsair SP2500 2.1 speaker system: $190
With: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card: $140
Total: $330
 
#5
Speakers: Swan M200MkII 2.0 speaker system: $259
With: Nothing
Total: $259
 
#6 (This one is my own combo, just for consideration)
Speakers: M-Audio AV40 speakers: $120
With: ASUS Xonar Essence STX: $150
Total: $270
 
Also, I've noticed more people seem to be suggesting 2.0 speaker systems with bass integrated into the main speaker. I was told a long time ago that having the bass so close to the rest of the sound can distort the quality of the overall sound, but I wasn't given any evidence to back that up. Is this true or not true?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Calm your butt cheeks down, Lenni. I don't make impulse buys, even on the advice of a few people. I take a lot of time to research and think, and not everyone has a lot of disposable income for their sound fetishes.
PurpleAngel, I've seen the Phoebus at $199 on Newegg. I know the Essence STX is an excellent card now, but wouldn't the Phoebus be a good card in the future when the drivers are better? I really do like the Essence STX, but I don't want a card that'll age faster, you know? Which of the two has the potentially better DAC and amps and such? I know the Phoebus doesn't have swappable op-amps, but I'm not really into modding my stuff. But if price were no object (and since Essence STX and Titanium HD are around the same price), what would you suggest? Titanium HD, Essence STX, or Phoebus?
This thread is starting to deviate a bit, huh. From new speakers to sound cards and DACs. Oh well. Might as well get it all now, right?
For the sake of organization, here are the current suggestions for speakers or speaker/card/receiver combos that have been made in the thread that I'm taking under consideration:
 
#2
Speakers: M-Audio MV-4 speakers: $120
With: Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Titanium HD sound card: $140
Total: $260
 
#6 (This one is my own combo, just for consideration)
Speakers: M-Audio AV40 speakers: $120
With: ASUS Xonar Essence STX: $150
Total: $270
 
Also, I've noticed more people seem to be suggesting 2.0 speaker systems with bass integrated into the main speaker. I was told a long time ago that having the bass so close to the rest of the sound can distort the quality of the overall sound, but I wasn't given any evidence to back that up. Is this true or not true?

I've been wanting to get the Phoebus for the past 6 months, just can't find any real advantages over the STX.
Both have the same headphone amp, DACs are almost the same, Audio processors are almost the same.
Any Dolby software written for the Phoebus should come out later for other Xonar cards.
The control panel of the Phoebus seem to be designed to be more like the Creative Labs control panel.
The Phoebus does have GX 3.0 (verses 2.5), but I do not think there are very many fans of the GX software.
The Phoebus can do analog speaker 7.1, which you have no use for.
There is a lack of really detailed reviews on the Phoebus, which says to me Asus has nothing to show off about the Phoebus.
The Phoebus ($225) sells for around $62 more the the STX ($163).
But if you want the Phoebus, just get it.
 
I like Xonars better then Creative labs, but there are a lot of happy Titanium HD users out there.
 
I would assume there are good 2.0 speaker sets that sound better the a cheap 2.1.

 

[Royal Amethyst]

Could you explain the GX 2.5 vs GX 3.0 thing for me? What does that do for a card? So am I to assume that the Phoebus is, for now, just a dolled-up Essence STX with the Republic of Gamers logo printed on it?
 
I like the Titanium HD because it has the Left/Right RCA ports for my speakers AND a 3.5mm (1/8") port for headphones. I like the Essence STX because it also has the RCA ports for the speakers, and also the bigger 6.3mm (1/4") port, which my HD 598's use by default (It would be nice to remove the adapter that came with the headphones). Unfortunately the Phoebus only has 3.5mm (1/8") ports.
 
While I'm currently leaning toward the M-Audio Stereophile AV40's, I'm still a bit concerned about the loss of a subwoofer in 2.0 channel speakers. House-pounding bass isn't exactly a necessity for me, but for audio quality, clarity, and accuracy, I have the HD 598's. I just want some desktop speakers with great sound and decent bass for when I'm somewhere else besides my computer chair, like listening to music or watching movies from my bed, or just don't want to wear headphones.
 
Right now. I'm leaning toward the M-Audio AV40's or Audioengine A2's at $120 and $200 respectively, and then complementing them with a Titanium HD or Essence STX depending on if I can find one with a good price.

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Could you explain the GX 2.5 vs GX 3.0 thing for me? What does that do for a card? So am I to assume that the Phoebus is, for now, just a dolled-up Essence STX with the Republic of Gamers logo printed on it?
I like the Titanium HD because it has the Left/Right RCA ports for my speakers AND a 3.5mm (1/8") port for headphones. I like the Essence STX because it also has the RCA ports for the speakers, and also the bigger 6.3mm (1/4") port, which my HD 598's use by default (It would be nice to remove the adapter that came with the headphones). Unfortunately the Phoebus only has 3.5mm (1/8") ports.
While I'm currently leaning toward the M-Audio Stereophile AV40's, I'm still a bit concerned about the loss of a subwoofer in 2.0 channel speakers. House-pounding bass isn't exactly a necessity for me, but for audio quality, clarity, and accuracy, I have the HD 598's. I just want some desktop speakers with great sound and decent bass for when I'm somewhere else besides my computer chair, like listening to music or watching movies from my bed, or just don't want to wear headphones.
Right now. I'm leaning toward the M-Audio AV40's or Audioengine A2's at $120 and $200 respectively, and then complementing them with a Titanium HD or Essence STX depending on if I can find one with a good price.

Creative Labs has EAX 5.0, which was great for gaming audio back in the Windows XP days.
Creative labs only licensed out the older EAX 2.0 audio to all the other sound card makers.
Asus come out with GX 1.0 which is Asus's attempt to emulate Creative's EAX 5.0, GX has mixed resultes.
Most Xonar card's use GX version 2.5, still having mixed resultes, have no idea what GX 3.0 offers.
Everything I hear, game makers are not really directly support EAX much now anyway.
 
Creative Labs fans feel that the Titanium HD EAX features, over all, Still offers better gaming support then the Xonar's.
 
For a given price, and for a 2.1 system to include a sub-woofer, just means there is less money left over for building the speakers.
So speaker quality is going to suffer for adding a sub-woofer.

 

[elwappo99]

Those A2s are very small. AV40's aren't that great either. I owned a pair of AV40s and heard the A2s. Neither stack to those Swans. 

 

[Royal Amethyst]

Maybe I'll get the AV40's for my TV then, which also takes Left/Right RCA and currently just has the regular TV speakers. Sound good?
 
So, Swan M200MkII's. Is theaudioinsider.com the only place you can find them? I can't seem to find them anywhere else that I usually prefer to order from, like Newegg or Amazon or even eBay. The thing is $259 for speakers alone kind of slashes my budget if I wanted a sound card too, and it seems silly to have such good speakers in an X-Fi XtremeGamer. I'm gonna really have to do some justifying for this. You guys are such a bad influence on me, haha.
 
The Corsair SP2500's seem to be a similar price (a bit cheaper even), how are those?

 

[PurpleAngel]

Swan makes a cheaper pair of powered speakers the D1080 IV.

 

[Royal Amethyst]

First of all, I want to thank you all for being so patient with me, you guys are a real pleasure to discuss with, most other audio forums are full of jerk offs who fall into brand cliques and are ready to abuse anyone who comes in unknowledgeable or leaning toward Creative or any "popular" brand.
 
So Are the Swan D1080 IV's still considered excellent speakers for $179? Would you notice the difference between them and the M200MkII's?

 

[audio4one]

Auddessy Lower East Side ($250 to $200).  They sound great when the optical input is used, but need to be pulled away from the back wall or the midbass gets a little strong.

 

[Royal Amethyst]

Good news: I'm currently haggling on a "Buy it now or Best Offer" on eBay for an Essence STX. Got him down to $130 for a refurbished model. Gonna see if I can get it to $120.

EDIT: The Verdict: Got to $125 before the seller stopped letting me make counter-offers. Close enough, and now it's mine! Did I get a good deal for a refurb? As I figure, a refurb is better than a used one, at least, which goes for $130+ on Amazon.