[warhorus]

Hey all,

I've been limping along for a while now with a beat up set of Juster 3D-101's running off an Asus Xonar DX. Lately I've been looking to upgrade my audio setup on my computer to something at least half-way decent since it's generally where I do the most listening to music. On top of that I use my rig for gaming, as well as the occasional movie. I'm most concerned about music playback. I'm not really interested in setting up surround sound for games or movies, so I'm just looking for a 2.0/2.1 setup. Musically speaking, I've got a little (I use the term little loosely) of everything in the library, but lately I spend most of my time listening to old-school punk or modern metalcore. I'm hoping to get a system together that'll have some punch to it.
 
I've done as much research as I can, but honestly I'm pretty much still all thumbs when it comes to designing an audio system. I'm willing to spend probably upwards of a grand or so on the first round of build-out for this. So far what I was thinking was a pair of M-Audio BX5 D2's and an Asus Xonar Essence One DAC hooked up via XLR to start myself off with.

Seems like everyone has great things to say about the BX5a Deluxe, and while there wasn't much out there on BX5 D2s by way of reviews, I did hear some chatter that they were up there with the BX5a's.

The Xonar Essence One seemed like the best quality:cost for an asynchronous USB DAC, and I've always had great experiences with Asus products in other areas. Of course this is unfortunately coming from reviews and recommendations since I'm still new enough that I can't personally tell much of a story from looking at the spec's of the device directly.

Does anyone have any comments/suggestions regarding that setup? Would I be better off going with passive speakers and looking into amps? Is there any obvious issues or oversights I'm making with that upgrade? I'm honestly a little nervous about it because from my beginner's point-of-view I kind of figured that getting a decent system set up would take more that just some active monitors and a DAC.

Thanks!

 

[extide]

Sorry, double post.

 

[extide]

Well, a thousand dollars is pretty good amount of money, so you will have quite a few options.
 
I would say go with the Objective2 DAC instead over the ASUS one. 
 
Then you can go with an integrated pre/power amp or you can look into getting a separate preamp and a power amp. In that budget you would probably be best served with a decent integrated amp and passive speakers. You can use a stereo home theater receiver as an integrated amp, and some of them are decent. I would probably avoid powered speakers. I will let others chime in for more as I am not really an expert on this stuff.
 
If you are willing to up the budget a bit you could get something like this: http://www.crutchfield.com/p_745C356DAC/NAD-C-356DAC.html?tp=34948 which integrates the USB sound card, DAC, and pre/power amps into a single unit. Kind of nifty.

 

[warhorus]

Why would you suggest the ODAC over the Xonar? Is there a particular advantage with the Objective2 or are you suggesting it to save cash on the DAC so I can reallocate towards the amp and passives?
 

 

[PurpleAngel]

Quote:

Hey all,

I've been limping along for a while now with a beat up set of Juster 3D-101's running off an Asus Xonar DX. Lately I've been looking to upgrade my audio setup on my computer to something at least half-way decent since it's generally where I do the most listening to music. On top of that I use my rig for gaming, as well as the occasional movie. I'm most concerned about music playback. I'm not really interested in setting up surround sound for games or movies, so I'm just looking for a 2.0/2.1 setup. Musically speaking, I've got a little (I use the term little loosely) of everything in the library, but lately I spend most of my time listening to old-school punk or modern metalcore. I'm hoping to get a system together that'll have some punch to it.
 
I've done as much research as I can, but honestly I'm pretty much still all thumbs when it comes to designing an audio system. I'm willing to spend probably upwards of a grand or so on the first round of build-out for this. So far what I was thinking was a pair of M-Audio BX5 D2's and an Asus Xonar Essence One DAC hooked up via XLR to start myself off with.

Seems like everyone has great things to say about the BX5a Deluxe, and while there wasn't much out there on BX5 D2s by way of reviews, I did hear some chatter that they were up there with the BX5a's.

The Xonar Essence One seemed like the best quality:cost for an asynchronous USB DAC, and I've always had great experiences with Asus products in other areas. Of course this is unfortunately coming from reviews and recommendations since I'm still new enough that I can't personally tell much of a story from looking at the spec's of the device directly.

Does anyone have any comments/suggestions regarding that setup? Would I be better off going with passive speakers and looking into amps? Is there any obvious issues or oversights I'm making with that upgrade? I'm honestly a little nervous about it because from my beginner's point-of-view I kind of figured that getting a decent system set up would take more that just some active monitors and a DAC.

How about getting the M-Audio BX5 D2 and plugging them into the Xonar DX.

 

[extide]

Quote:

Why would you suggest the ODAC over the Xonar? Is there a particular advantage with the Objective2 or are you suggesting it to save cash on the DAC so I can reallocate towards the amp and passives?
 

Well, I haven't heard it (yet) but it seems to be a very good value.