Where to begin?

[StevethePirate]

I have an antiquated yet tenacious Dell Dimension 8300 w/ integrated sound, but I am soon to get a decent laptop. Where should I begin looking toward a versatile and reasonably priced sound system suiting either machine. It should preferably include tweeters, midranges, and a woofer considering many of my audio files are in FLAC ~1,400kbps.

After dedicating a reasonable amount of personal research and receiving recommendations via other tech forums and an electrical engineer scholar, there are substantial red flags indicating 2.1/5.1 PC designated audio systems ranging from $50-150--exempli gratia: Creative Labs, Klipsch, Logitech, & Sony--are inferior to more costly monitor systems. If this is further corroborated, it seems increasing my budget will reciprocate favorably. Thanks for your consideration.

 

[MJinZ]

For PC speakers, I only do 2.0s. I hate any other setups. I have a set of M-Audio Studiophile AV40 2.0 studio monitors that are pretty decent, but even in the $150 range, I think you have to seriously look at $200+ for excellent ones. I can imagine that if you are looking at 2.1s and 5.1s etc, it would probably cost you close to $500 for a good set.

 

[StevethePirate]

Regarding the inexpensive audio systems, these are the contenders that I found most appealing (Sony's models lack particular identification):

--Logitech Z-2300 THX-Certified 2.1

--Creative Labs I-Trigue 3300 2.1

--Creative Labs I-Trigue 3000 2.1

--Creative Inspire T3130 2.1

--Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 THX Certified

--http://www.amazon.com/Sony-2-1-Personal-Speakers-Black/dp/B001QXDSMM/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277794353&sr =1-1

--http://www.amazon.com/Sony-2-1-Speakers-Radio-Black/dp/B001QXDSMC/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1277794353&sr =1-2

 

[MJinZ]

Honestly, all of those are probably really shitty speakers.

 

[StevethePirate]

Which reinforces why monitor speakers have been consistently recommended.:\

 

[Anubis]

eh the promedia 2.1s aren't bad comp speakers, TBH they were and prob still are the best 2.1 set you can get without going to monitors. Ive had the 2.1s and the 4.1s for like a decade, i don't have any complaints.

if they still make them you should look into the Swan M200s or whatever they replaced them with

 

[electroju]

All computer speakers are crap, but except Klipsch. If you want sound quality, you have to spend money. I suggest bookshelf speakers from PSB. For budget minded, I suggest PSB Image series. The PSB Image B6 should be enough to use even with out a subwoofer. For the amplifier, I suggest NuForce Icon. It includes a stereo 12 watt amplifier which should be enough power. Also the NuForce Icon can be plugged into the USB port to act as a sound card. If you want to add a subwoofer, I suggest Elemental Designs A3S-250.

A tweeter, midrange, and/or woofer does not mean quality. These are just speaker drivers when combined creates one full range loudspeaker. It is the amount of effort is put into the loudspeaker matters for sound quality.

All on-board sound cards are crap, so you have to replace it or else hear the noise of the bus signals and other artifacts your computer makes while listening to your music. The ASUS Xonar D1 or DX is the best for its price range. For external sound cards, go with M-Audio. Though the NuForce Icon is also a external sound card.

There are no red flags for 2.1 and 5.1. For music, it is best to use two channels. A 5.1 setup is used mainly for movies. There are some music that benefits to 5 channels, but not all. It is best to stick with 2 channels for music and 5 channels for movies. A subwoofer could be used, but usually they are slow for music because most subwoofers uses a bass relex system. A sealed or acoustic suspension is better for music, but it can also be slow if the Q or transient response is not choose wisely. A Q of 0.5 is best used for music while a Q of 0.7 to 1.1 is used for movies.

 

[simonizor]

I would suggest a pair of large bookshelf speakers and a 2 channel receiver. You should easily be able to get a decent 2 channel receiver for less than $200. It's up to you where you want to get the speakers from. I got all of mine from garage sales. If you look around, you might be able to find a nice sounding pair of used speakers for $20. Otherwise, you'll be spending anywhere from $50-$100 for a decent pair of bookshelf speakers.

 

[88MVP]

All on-board sound cards are crap, so you have to replace it or else hear the noise of the bus signals and other artifacts your computer makes while listening to your music. The ASUS Xonar D1 or DX is the best for its price range. For external sound cards, go with M-Audio. Though the NuForce Icon is also a external sound card.

This is misleading, for two reasons.

First, it's just wrong. On-board sound used to be crap, but many of the options available now are quite good and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who can actually hear the difference between on-board and dedicated sound cards (at least for music purposes - with gaming and environmental effects, i realize an on-board card can provide value)

Second, you're advocating that the OP get external monitors or bookshelf speakers. I'd assume that if he goes down that route, he'll be using an external receiver to power them. A digital signal over SPDIF to a receiver isn't going to be affected by any noise and will be identical to what a stand-alone card would send.

 

[StevethePirate]

To electroju:
I was not disdaining 2.1/5.1 systems entirely. Merely the ones specified for computers at a price range of $50-150.

Also, the Asus Xonar D1/DX is an internal dedicated. That would disqualify it regarding my criterion of having versatility between my laptop and desktop. Unless there is a way to install dedicated hardware--excluding RAM--into laptops that is accommodating to most novices.

Finally, what is Q and transient response? Is that similar to response time or ratio of the driver?

To 88MVP:
Is you comment of the fidelity of integrated audio applicable to both laptops and desktops?

Also, my agenda on computers, aside from music, does entail games. Would this further warrant investing in a dedicated audio device?

In general:
Do bookshelf/ monitor systems require an amplifier/ external sound card or do there exist reasonably priced plug & play?

 

[88MVP]

My personal experience is that integrated audio on laptop devices tends to be of somewhat lesser quality than the onboard audio chips on most newer desktop motherboards - my recent laptops have had a bit of noise and interference, but its usually only noticeable at very low volume levels. Again, I'm only speaking from my own experience in that regard, I don't want to make any generalizations.

As far as the speakers go, you could purchase powered monitors, or you could purchase a good pair of bookshelf speakers and a seperate receiver to power them. If you go the latter route, you can simply send a digital signal from your computer over coaxial or optical and the receiver will do all the the work of converting the digital signal and amplifying it (and it will be much better at doing so than any sound card, stand-alone or otherwise). Thus, whether you're using the motherboard's integrated audio or a stand-alone card, the results would be identical.

With a set of powered monitors, I suppose you could also feed the signal digitally to an external device, but you wouldn't necessarily need to. You'd more likely send the output from your sound card directly to the monitors. In my opinion, a modern onboard audio card should perform just as well as a stand-alone would in this type of application. Some audiophiles may differ with me on that, but I feel safe saying that 95%+ of the population couldn't hear the difference and the remaining 5% might just be fooling themselves.

With respect to gaming, if you're going with a 2.0 or 2.1 setup, don't worry about it. The real advantage to stand-alone sound cards for gaming exists when you have a 5.1/7.1/whatever surround setup and you want to take advantage of things like environmental surround effects, etc. The dedicated sound-card offloads those tasks from the CPU, which can improve overall game performance.

 

[StevethePirate]

Exceeding thanks to you guys' thorough analyses; it has left me unequivocal about the superiority of monitor/bookshelf systems over inexpensive PC ones. It seems now, however, I need assistance with kindling research in monitor/bookshelf systems and an amp/DAC. Concerning the drivers, in addition to the ones anubis and electroju mentioned, id est: Swan and PSB, I have also considered KRK and Polk. Are all of those surefire? Otherwise, I trust your word as my stepping stones.

 

[electroju]

Polk cares about the technology that goes into their speakers, so I suggest test them out to see if you like them. This goes for any brand. I suggest PSB because from what I read. PSB goes for sound quality instead of fancy technology. IMHO, Swan is too expensive, so I am not going to waste my money to just test them out. I think with Swan you are paying the brand and not the speakers themselves. After reading the reviews for PSB speakers, you are actually paying for the speakers. Do not take my word for it, hear them first and then compare.

I prefer separates because they are easier to replace. Having the amplifier built into the speaker may seem OK, but the speakers go within 5 years. Amplifiers can last a long time up to a few decades. I am not sure how long DAC last. If they are connected to the computer, they will last as long as there is support. As a stand-alone, it will last until it fails. Digital electronics like DAC will just fail with out any warnings. I think DAC can last up to 3 to 5 years.

To electroju:
I was not disdaining 2.1/5.1 systems entirely. Merely the ones specified for computers at a price range of $50-150.

Also, the Asus Xonar D1/DX is an internal dedicated. That would disqualify it regarding my criterion of having versatility between my laptop and desktop. Unless there is a way to install dedicated hardware--excluding RAM--into laptops that is accommodating to most novices.

There are external devices that let you use a PCI or PCI Express expansion cards. The company Magma (magma.com) has a device that can hook up to PCMCIA or ExpressCard and creates an external expansion PCI or PCI Express bay. They are costly at over $1000.

Finally, what is Q and transient response? Is that similar to response time or ratio of the driver?

Q is response time and the ringing effect of the sound.

This is misleading, for two reasons.

First, it's just wrong. On-board sound used to be crap, but many of the options available now are quite good and you'd be hard pressed to find someone who can actually hear the difference between on-board and dedicated sound cards (at least for music purposes - with gaming and environmental effects, i realize an on-board card can provide value)

Second, you're advocating that the OP get external monitors or bookshelf speakers. I'd assume that if he goes down that route, he'll be using an external receiver to power them. A digital signal over SPDIF to a receiver isn't going to be affected by any noise and will be identical to what a stand-alone card would send.

It is not misleading. I can definitely hear the difference. I have an Audiotrak Prodigy 7.1 (VIA ICE1724HT) and on board sound. I can also hear the difference between MP3 and WAV files. Yes, the digital audio output could be used from an on-board sound, but none of them actually do it right. There is no isolation and isolation is required for SPDIF devices.

Gamers can not tell about sound quality because they do not care for sound quality. They care more about the visual aspects of the game. Gamers do not mind if the sound is played with tin cans if it just gives the the sounds of foot steps. The original poster does not care about games. The original poster wanted speakers to handle FLAC files. If someone is going to spend their effort to archive their music collection to FLAC, they care for sound quality. Gamers probably will go as far as squeezing as much space as they can, so they might use MPEG-4 like audio compression.

I would not go with an AV receiver because lugging around with the notebook computer will be funny. To keep things small, I will get two components and sacrifice the time to put it together. I would get a Nuforce Icon HDP and Winsome Labs Mouse amplifier. Carrying the speakers will be almost the same as lugging the AV receiver, but it depends how much I care about sound quality.