Are there any 2-pair pc speackers that are "digital"?

[randym431]

I have a sb live card with digital out. Do they make just a 2-pair set of pc desktop speakers that are digital, not analog? I dont want a subwoofer or the 5.1 type, just a 2-pair digital connection. I havent seen any around except for USB with a sub.

 

[randym431]

Guess not?

 

[yhelothar]

Digital is pretty useless for 2 channel speakers. The DAC on your soundcard is fine for driving your average 2.1 multimedia speakers, so it's pointless to make them digital.
Digital is mostly for 5.1 DVDs with DD5.1 and DTS.

 

[Araemo]

What about all that noise from a couple years back about internal sound cards being full of noise because of the electrical environment in your PC.. but that noise can be eliminated by using digital output.. so the DAC is in the speakers?

At least, thats what I wanted it for. Although, my current 2.1 set is very nice with their analogue connection.

 

[loic2003]

yeah I get loads of noise from inside my machine, really irritating, especially if you use headphones.

 

[yhelothar]

I don't. Maybe get a better PSU?

 

[loic2003]

PSU is a really decent £60 silent one, the noises I hear are from CD-drives, hard drives and general data transfer within the machine. It's annoying, but I can live with it I guess. Maybe I'll put in a high frequency crossover to try and filter out the noise.

 

[yhelothar]

If you get noise from CDROM access and data transfer, your sound card is probably sharing IRQ with your IDE bus.
I got noise whenever I moved my USB mouse when my usb was sharing IRQ with my soundcard.

 

[phisrow]

You can buy external D/A converter boxes that convert coaxial SP/DIF or Toslink to standard line level analog, which would solve your problem and allow you to use any conventional speakers or headphones. However, these tend to be either professional or audiophile gear. Hence, brutally expensive. Examples: http://www.samedaymusic.com/product--LUCDA9624 http://www.burmester.de/englis.../da-converter-980.html http://www.fullcompass.com/Pro.../SKU--31168/index.html etc. You could try to pick one of these up cheaply on ebay, though you might not have much luck. It would probably be better to obtain an external USB soundcard, which can be accomplished for a lot less money, and offers most of the benefits. You will be denied any especially tweaky features of your internal soundcard(unless you buy a nice external one); but the signal will be as clean as you could desire.

 

[masshass81]

Creative MegaWorks 2.1 250D Saw these at Fry's for about $140-$150, but they were not out on display.. THX certifited w/ digital S/PDIF in

 

[konakona]

this has been extensively researched at head-fi, with gears much better than entry level bookshelf systems. the general consensus is as follows :
under 50 : envy24 based card with a good dac (ie maddog or chaintech)
under 100 : emu-0404
under 200 : emu-1212m, not cecessarily better than 0404 in terms of sound quality, just more i/o and crystal DAC instead of the AKM
under 500 : mod your EMU
over 500 and under 1000 : benchmark dac-1 or Mytek Stereo 96 DAC

just to give you an idea, AOS makes a very nice DAC called Piccolo reknowned for its price/performance ratio. i actually placed an order, and EMU-1212M just hit the market. he was kind enough to let me cancel the order (piccolo is made on per order basis).. most people who heard both preffered the analog output of EMU-1212M, and thats unmodded while at it. thats how good the card is. now, there is another card from RME called HDSP 9632 Hammerfall - a considerably better card; however price difference makes it less attractive. modded emu sounds better than stock hammerfall, and for the cost of modding hammerfall you might as well spring for afformentioned DACs. to sum it up, those emu cards have amazing bang for buck and are considered superior to most mediocre DACs out there.

 

[cheesehead]

Or, if you want to go for a less expensive model, get a Sherwood 6105 5.1 reciever at Outpost. (77$). The 6015 has, in addition to 5x 100W+1 (unpowered) subwoofer out, 2x coax S/PDIF in (the type used by most computers), 1x optical S/PDIF in (a.k.a. TOSlink), and connections for any piece of home theater equipment imagineable. I just got mine, and it is comprable to the Klipsh Promedia 5.1's, except that I only paid about 130$ for the entire setup as opposed to about 350$ for the Klipshes, and I can tune in FM broadcasts without having to get any seperate equipment. The built-in DAC is of very high quality, and also works wonders with a SACD player, or so I am told. A good off-the-shelf 5.1 speaker set with a powered subwoofer can be had for 200$, so take a look around; for 60$ I managed to acquire a pair of Advent Legacy 2 bookshelf speakers, high-end JVC rear channels, a Cambridge Ensemble IV subwoofer, and a half-decent KLH center speaker.

 

[konakona]

i guess we are speaking of different market segments here.

it is comprable to the Klipsh Promedia 5.1's

klipsch promedias are frowned upon by audiophiles. that reciever may work well for movies, but as far as quality music reproduction goes... klipsch promedia is not a good place to base a comparison on.