[ichobi]

Hello guys, as you can see am a newbie here and to audiophile world. Disclaimer : English is not my first language.

After reading and searching head-fi forum for 2-3 days, i have yet to get a good answer to my question.

Here is the situation
I'm living in a small dorm room, basically using Grado SR60 with MBP (analog output). However i found using headphone quite cumbersome since I have to move around my room when I work (and that's when i listen to music).

So, i'm finding a good pair of bookshelf speakers and whatelse do I need to get good sound out of my Macbook Pro?? I was told the Acoustic Energy - Aego M is very good, but would that be as good as Speaker+amp combination for the same price?

I know it has Optical output and I need an external DAC to be able to use that optical output.

However, if I just connect from analog output (headphone) to the TA-10 (i found it well regarded on this forum) > then to the speaker, would that be capable of producing decent sound? I don't want to spend too much here, and I can't listen too loud either or else the dorm officer gonna kill me.

Having to connect to DAC > AMP > Speaker is a bit overkill for me. I just need a compact system, with good sound.

normally, half of my musics are encoded in Apple lossless and others in AAC 192 VBR.

Budget Limit for all hardware : 300 Dollars

Hope I expressed my situation clearly.
My friends recommend a good receiver and a pair of speakers instead. I dont know which way I should go, so any comments are appreciated!!

 

[Lord Chaos]

One of my co-workers came into the office the other day with a Polk ghetto blaster. I cringed. He connected his Ipod to it and.... out came music that was truly recognizable as music. It's small, sounds good, and costs under $200. I recommend you take a look. It's a new box so I don't know if you can find one other than on the Polk Web site.

It has an Ipod holder on the front, aux input on the back for your Macbook. It's the best-sounding small stereo speaker system I've ever heard.

 

[ichobi]

Hey thx for the fast reply,
are you refering to this one?
http://www.polkaudio.com/homeaudio/products/midock10/

If so, I'd rather have a separate speakers though and the ipod docking function isnt quite neccessary for me since I probably will never use it, but I might try it if I can find one around here. Thanks

 

[Quinoa]

I am in a similar situation, and I decided to go with a 2nd hand amp + speakers. I got an NAD amp for $300 Canadian, and a pair of Monitor Audio speakers for $250 Canadian. Each sells new for about $400 US ($475 Can). I only had to look around for about 2 weeks to find both.

I doubt that a pair of computer speakers can compare to a real amp & speakers. I would recommend buying 2nd hand equipment.

 

[nibiyabi]

Swans M200 can be had for $200.