Do my ears deceive?

[imported_heyguy]

I'm by no means an audiophile. A few months ago, I needed some speakers so got the Z-2300 2.1 set mostly because I had a $100 Dell coupon and nothing else to spend it on. Otherwise, I would have probably gotten cheaper speakers and been happy with them, not really appreciating what good speakers sound like. They've been great, but I need more inputs and found a good deal on the 5.1 set, so pulled the trigger. I figured same brand + more money = better experience. After a few hours of listening to music, I really think the 2.1 set is better. Does this sound odd to anyone? The 5450 is configured correctly, so far as I can tell. I'm using onboard sound. Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Nik]

Eh, onboard sound makes me nervous. Also, define "better" as well. What mobo do you have that you're using onboard sound with? Even Audigy 2's are cheap, but I'd suggest an X-Fi. These things are fun.

 

[Seekermeister]

The only reason that I can think of that 2.1 would sound better than 5.1, is if the onboard sound lacked the power to drive the 5.1s properly.

 

[imported_heyguy]

It's onboard a Dell XPS 700, "Montgomery 2 Sigmatel Stac 92XX C-Major HD Audio."

Ookay guys, I just ordered a webcam and the Xtreme Music card for $122 - $60 in rebates from Amazon. They should be here in two days.

It is difficult for me to describe the difference in sound. I've heard people use some very odd descriptors to describe what they hear (very odd to a noob, of course). I am very impressed by how voices sound from the 2.1 set. I don't think "wow, that is so clear" with the new set. Everything sounds slightly muddled. The difference is most clear with vocals/piano music.

A couple things: I just had my mother listen to both sets. She was kind of like me coming into it, thinking she sucks at determining what sounds good/bad, but after listening, she was able to say with confidence that the 5450 is better. The volume was not turned up very high for the test. I have a strange idea about what sounds good/bad, I guess.

For instance, my Sony MDR-EX51LP earbuds sound much better to me than my Sony MDR-V700DJ headphones .

My dad was blasting some $20 X-230 speakers, and I mistakenly thought he was listening to music on the home theater system that he's invested a ton into (I was in another room with the door closed).

I've been thinking about getting some Shure's, but I'll save that for another thread.

Anyway, thanks for the help. I'd been avoiding the good deals on X-fi cards for a while because I didn't think I would notice a difference, and the name "x-fi" is just ridiculous. Here's to hoping I'll like it as much as everyone else. At the least, I'll have a control panel to setup speaker locations. This onboard sound offers 0 configuration in that regard.

One last thing - the wire on those sony earbuds are pathetically bad. Mine are almost completely stripped, but the earbuds are still fully functional. I wouldn't recommend anyone buy them. Such a crappy wire is unacceptable. After calling their customer service, they offered me a refurb pair for $27. No thanks. I've read that the new white version fixed the issue, so buyers should keep that in mind.

 

[YOyoYOhowsDAjello]

The z-2300s may indeed be better than the z-5450 set.

The z-5450 set is close in quality (amp / drivers / etc.) to the z-5300 set. The 5450s add the digital inputs and "wireless" remote, but overall I think the actual important features that contribute to sound quality seem to be similar to the 5300 set.

Considering the 2300 set is Logitech's ~$100 2.1 solution and the 5300s are Logitech's ~$125 5.1 solution, the 2300s could very well be better than the 5300s and thus the 5450s.