what else should i get for my first audiophile set up?

[tedman633]

Hello everyone i am not sure if i am posting this in the right place so please forgive me if I am not.right now i have an asus g74sx republic of gamers laptop, audio technica ath m50 headphones, and i am about to buy the audioengine a2 speakers. Is there anything else i should get for my first set up? i can only cough out another $100 so is there anything else i should buy with this hundred? Also if you know of speaker better than the audioengines that are cheaper or the same price($200) let me know please.

Thanks all and happy listening

 

[phalanger]

Since you are posting this in Source forum I would say a good DAC is essential. Working asynchronous from the PC clock if at all possible. However for 100$ you won't find much of anything that qualifies as audiophile kit. Maybe get lucky on ebay.
 

 

[AKG240mkII]

If you shop around, a 100 bucks can buy you quite a lot of GOOD MUSIC  !!

 

[spittis]

Quote:

Since you are posting this in Source forum I would say a good DAC is essential. Working asynchronous from the PC clock if at all possible. However for 100$ you won't find much of anything that qualifies as audiophile kit. Maybe get lucky on ebay.
 

Sure he won't get anything "audiophile level" stuff for 100 bucks but the Nuforce uDAC 2 is close to his budget and would provide feed for both his headphones and speakers, and take the DA converting away from the most likely terrible motherboard circuit. I know even my old Sennheiser PC350 headset picks up quite a lot of noises if I plug it straight into the motherboard jack on my computer.
 
I would at least check out that option if I were you TC.

 

[MoonUnit]

I really like the AudioEngine D1 DAC, particularly with speakers. The headphone out is average, but not bad, and the preamp out is very good. The quality of the sound from the DAC is very nice, dynamic, and a bit on the warm side of neutral. You might be able to find one used for around $120. I suspect it would be a good upgrade to the internal sound in your Asus laptop.

 

[tedman633]

Thanks everyone i know it wont meet "audiophile" level but i think with a good dac this would be a decent starting point. Im looking at the fiio e7 right now any opinions on that?