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Computer Audio Questions

C

Cellwind929

Junior Member

As of right now I am wondering as to how I can improve my sound setup for my computer.

As of right now I have a Sound Blaster Audigy 1 Sound card (SB0090) in the comp which is 5 or so years old, but still runs fine. I have creative 5.1 Inspire 5200 speakers. My audio is from games and from .mp3's ripped at 320 Kbps. (I know I should switch to a better lossless format, but .mp3's work better for everyone because of .mp3 players and my phone uses .mp3 etc etc, so .mp3 is used for convenience.) I also have a budget Altec Landsing headset for use when my roommate is around.

I am looking to upgrade my sound system and I am at a stand still as to what to do. I spoke with one of my friends and he said that my speakers were fine and I would not notice a difference except for high sound levels. We decided that I could use an upgrade to the sound card. I am confused as to which model to get. I would need a 5.1 or 7.1 card (what isn't 5.1 now right) I have been looking at the Creatives. I cannot decide which is better. The X-fi chipset cards, or the Audigy 2 ZS, or an Audigy 4. The Audigy 2 has a higher sample rate then the X-FI. I am at a standstill as to which card to get, so I would like some clarifications on cards and some examples of what I should get. ($80 to $120 price range preferred, but other price bracket suggestions more then welcome.)

I am also looking for a good pair of headphones for courtesy use. I also DJ for my college radio station and parties, so I would like something I could use for 3.5mm and 6.3mm (I have a 3.5mm to 6.3mm adapter.) that would sound good but not be a huge investment. ($80 max prefered, but again I'll accept suggestions from any price bracket.)

I've read that the Klipsch ProMedia Ultra 5.1 speakers are amazing, but I don't know if they are justifyable price wise compared to what I have now.

I thank all of you for your time.
~Cell
 
320kbps mp3s should be plenty. I've taken some tests for losless vs. high bitrate mp3s and from my own experience as well as results from polls for people taking the same tests, it's extremely hard to tell the difference most of the time.

Speakers / Headphones would probably be the place to start. An audigy1 should still be pretty decent.

It will be a lot cheaper to get excellent sounding headphones vs. excellent sounding speakers on a budget.

If you do get a soundcard, the X-Fi is probably your best bet, especially if you do some gaming with headphones.

For speakers, the Klipsch Promedias are indeed very good for "computer speakers". Those and the Logitech z-5500s and Creative gigaworks are pretty much as high as you can go for multichannel computer speaker sets before you get into "real speakers".

For headphones in your range, would you be looking for a closed set of open set?
If closed, maybe Sennheiser 280s or something from AudioTechnica would be up your alley.
http://forums.anandtech.com/messageview...atid=30&threadid=1972152&enterthread=y
 
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