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New speakers or Sound Card

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post #1 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:32pm
Thread Starter 
I want to do an upgrade to my computer and I want to either get a soundcard (never had one) or new speakers.

I've had my speakers for around 5 years and they are pretty awesome but I think the sound quality has gone a little bit worse with them. I am not entirely sure though, the only thing I am sure about is that on startup my left front speaker makes some weird noise.

I've never had a sound card though and I think it would be the wisest thing to buy one, my only concern is if my speakers have actually gone bad then the soundcard may not improve the sound quality almost at all. But if I buy new speakers then I'll have to get in the hassle of selling my current ones and also spend more money.

I am a heavy audiophile but I will mostly use the new soundcard or speakers for movies and gaming. So first priority is better surround quality because that is what I feel it's lacking. I got no problem with how the music sounds in my speakers just a little bit how gaming and movies are.

Also at least 5.1 if I go for speakers.

So what should I do?
Edited by TheByt3 - 11/4/12 at 4:43pm
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post #2 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:38pm
What would your usage be? Are you looking for 5.1 surround for movies and games? Are you looking for accurate reproduction of sound for music?
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post #3 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:43pm
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Quote:
Originally Posted by IBooNI View Post

What would your usage be? Are you looking for 5.1 surround for movies and games? Are you looking for accurate reproduction of sound for music?

Added.
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post #4 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:50pm
Any indication of price bracket you're looking at would help.
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post #5 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:52pm
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by seepra View Post

Any indication of price bracket you're looking at would help.

That's a bit hard to say. If I was going for a soundcard I guess I would not go for more than 200 - 250 USD. But if I would go for speakers it would probably be around 300 USD
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post #6 of 21
11/4/12 at 4:56pm
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I am going to bed now, I'll answer to questions and generally check this thread in about 8 to 9 hours.
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post #7 of 21
11/4/12 at 5:15pm
In my opinion, if you're staying with small satellites and a compact subwoofer there's no point in getting an expensive sound card (especially internal ones). It's debatable whether there's any benefit in an expensive card vs. a Xonar DG or the such in the first place, but cheap 5.1 satellite sets usually have a higher amplifier noise and distort more than the sound card ever would.

If I were you, I'd rather get a pair of 5" or 8" studio monitors from Behringer, M-Audio, KRK, Fostex.. etc, and later find out do you still want a subwoofer and add the rear/side speakers to the set (they'll run about $200-300 a pair), and stick with your current sound card rather. But if you absolutely need to get a 5.1 set right now, then I've once heard the Logitech Z906 set and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, as far as one can enjoy a 5.1 PC set at least. It also has a built in, possibly higher quality DAC that decodes DTS and Dolby streams, so if you have optical or coaxial out on your sound card or motherboard you might kill two flies with one shot with that.
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post #8 of 21
11/5/12 at 1:19am
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Quote:
Originally Posted by seepra View Post

In my opinion, if you're staying with small satellites and a compact subwoofer there's no point in getting an expensive sound card (especially internal ones). It's debatable whether there's any benefit in an expensive card vs. a Xonar DG or the such in the first place, but cheap 5.1 satellite sets usually have a higher amplifier noise and distort more than the sound card ever would.

If I were you, I'd rather get a pair of 5" or 8" studio monitors from Behringer, M-Audio, KRK, Fostex.. etc, and later find out do you still want a subwoofer and add the rear/side speakers to the set (they'll run about $200-300 a pair), and stick with your current sound card rather. But if you absolutely need to get a 5.1 set right now, then I've once heard the Logitech Z906 set and I enjoyed it quite thoroughly, as far as one can enjoy a 5.1 PC set at least. It also has a built in, possibly higher quality DAC that decodes DTS and Dolby streams, so if you have optical or coaxial out on your sound card or motherboard you might kill two flies with one shot with that.

I have the Logitech G51 5.1 speakers and they are pretty good and a bit expensive when I bought them so they are pretty descent in general it's just that I feel that they may have lost a bit of quality in the surround aspect.

About the monitors that's my ultimate goal at some point to have 4 really high quality monitors but my budget wouldn't allow something like that for now that's why if I am to buy new speakers I would go with a full 5.1 set.

My motherboard has Coaxial and Optical S/PDIF.

The thing is my thought is that if I get a sound card I can keep my current 5.1 set until it dies out completely and then maybe sometime in the future I'll get monitors, the only problem with studio monitors is that they are too expensive.
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post #9 of 21
11/5/12 at 1:39am
If you're going to be looking at a $200 sound card and later $300 speakers, and many studio monitors are $200 a pair for the 5" variants, that makes it about $100 per speaker. The problem is that many places sell the consumer active speakers always in pairs.

But honestly, that doesn't quite make sense if you say that your speakers are dying/having worse sound quality than before. You can't redeem that with a new sound card if the amplifiers, volume pot or transducers are kicking the bucket.

I would suggest you try your speakers from another source like an mp3 player you know for a fact works, and see if you still get significantly worse sound quality than from your computer. If not, it might be in your head. Also, obviously if your Logitech set is under any warranty you should RMA them of course.
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post #10 of 21
11/5/12 at 5:11am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by seepra View Post

If you're going to be looking at a $200 sound card and later $300 speakers, and many studio monitors are $200 a pair for the 5" variants, that makes it about $100 per speaker. The problem is that many places sell the consumer active speakers always in pairs.
But honestly, that doesn't quite make sense if you say that your speakers are dying/having worse sound quality than before. You can't redeem that with a new sound card if the amplifiers, volume pot or transducers are kicking the bucket.
I would suggest you try your speakers from another source like an mp3 player you know for a fact works, and see if you still get significantly worse sound quality than from your computer. If not, it might be in your head. Also, obviously if your Logitech set is under any warranty you should RMA them of course.

Tbh the speakers probably haven't lost their touch. I mean music sounds awesome I have no problem with music and surround gaming may sound a bit off because it's just in my mind or I have set it up wrong but I know for a fact I wouldn't mind studio monitors. Problem is would it really benefit me since I live in an apartment? I can put music really loud and I watch movies loudly late at night with my current setup but could some studio monitors make my neighbours call the police? tongue.gif Because I wouldn't want that tbh.
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