Quality of A7N8X Deluxe onboard sound & £40 5.1 speakers

[noesis]

Hi,

I am thinking of buying "Videologic Sirocco Spirit" speakers for my PC. These are a very high quality pair of speakers costing about £135. Could anyone tell me whether the onboard sound on my A7N8X Deluxe will be good enough quality for the speakers?

I have tried looking at a few reviews but they don't go into any detail on the sound. All I could find was, "the sound quality is as good as most add-in cards". Has anyone used some high quality speakers with this board?

I am currently using Genius Deluxe 5.1 Value Speakers which cost only £37.60:
http://www.geniusmouse.co.uk/product.asp?stock_id=74

Do you think it is worth upgrading to a pair of decent speakers?

The 5.1 speakers are only about £40. Do you think that makes them terrible quality? I find the subwoofer is a bit pathetic. On basey tracks (e.g. Aphex Twin) I can't have the subwoofer very loud at all before I get some nasty distortion. When I listen to most tracks with a heavy beat I can't make it as loud as I would like. Other tracks with reasonably strong base sound fine but that might be because the base distortion is swamped by the louder satellite speakers.

If I buy the pair of speakers I might then buy a decent subwoofer. It will depend on my needs.

The mid-range seems fine to me. The other speakers are very loud. However, I am more interested in quality than volume for most of music. I'm no expert on sound quality so I can't really tell how good the speakers are. I mostly listen to MP3s (normally 192kps) - won't that be more limiting than the quality of the speakers?

Thanks!

 

[ekÆsine]

If you were more interested in quality over volume than you should not be using computer speakers. If you want good sound at reasonable cost use a home receiver and a good pair of stereo speakers. Computer subwoofers are boomy, inaccurate, weak, and way overpriced for what you get. I would read up on used/ vintage speakers on sites like http://www.audioreview.com/ and find bargains at Ebay.

The reason why computer speakers suck other than their outrageous price tag is because they usually rely on a satellite/ subwoofer method of outputting sound. This is by far the stupidest idea in sound reproduction ever. Bose is notorious for doing this with their Acoustimass (sp?) speakers and most audiophiles will tell you people who buy Bose are idiots with too much money to blow.

 

[noesis]

I really need to get speakers for my PC because almost all of my music is on my hard drive.

Is the quality of sound from a PC really that bad? I would have thought the sound reproduction would be more sophisticated and therefore more accurate.

 

[ekÆsine]

What I'm suggesting is connect the line-output from your sound card to the input on your home receiver. If possible use an optical cable to connect it to your receiver. Computer speakers are much less sophisticated than mid to high fidelity home audio speakers. Many audiophiles would tell you vintage speakers are as good as the high quality ones you can get today for thousands of dollars for a fraction of the cost. Example Yamaha NS1000, Pioneer HPM100, JBL L100, Pinnacle Aerogel.

I'm suggesting this because you are wanting good quality sound. If you want something cheap & small get the Logitech z640