Final Sound Setup

Ok... I think I've figured out where I'm gonna go with my audio setup.

Current:
HD 280 pro
Crappy 4.1 Speakers
P5Q Pro onboard sound

Shure E4C
4gb Ipod Nano


Near to Middle Future:
HD 595 - $131 amazon
Audioengine 2 Desktop Speakers - $171 amazon
Asus Xonar Essence STX - $175 zipzoomfly

Shure E4C
CMoy portable amplifier - $35 ebay
Ipod

Distant Future
Some sort of reasonable home theater system - $too much


Total Upgrade Price:
$512


After that I should be set for a while I think. The reviews have been pretty stellar on the Essence, as a good mixture for high quality music and casual gaming. I'm still going to research the 595 choice some more... I plan on going to listen to them before I buy them. But for the price range that they have currently fallen to, I'm not sure I can beat the quality (as far as I can tell from reading).

If you can swing the cash, spring for the Omega Claro Halo. Its an awesome card, with true RCA outs, and swappable opamps. You can roll the opamps and give the card a different sound signature.

HD595 is low price for a reason. It is fairly bad. About the only genre it is good with is electronica.

I really think you would enjoy the Audio Technica AD700 much more on any genre and they are about 1/3 less money.

Really? I thought the HD 595s were well regarded by most.

I did look at the Omega Claro, but now I'm also looking at just using a DAC. If I get say the Beresford TC7520, would that be all I need? How do I hook that up? I'm not sure my motherboard has any sort of digital out...

Try a DAC with USB input.

The Behringer SRC2496 is an awesome DAC, probably the best you can get for the money. Ive owned quite a few DACs, some of them costing 5X as much as the Behringer, and it beat them all. Alot of folks even think they sound better than the much talked about Benchmark DAC1. You can pick it up for ~$130 at some places.

I would need an amp if I went the DAC route over the Essence... I see that a lot of people pick up receivers to use as amps.

What makes the external DAC path higher quality than the soundcard path? And are we just talking music here? Cause I do game, which makes the soundcard path more attractive. I'm not an audiophile, and am just now starting to notice lapses in quality with my current setup. I'm thinking that I wouldn't notice any difference between the two options, and am leaning towards the soundcard for the sake of gaming and simplicity.

Yeah kinda what I did myself with this setup, I game and use the soundcard, and also send it over about a 18' TOSlink to my little A/V reciever to the DAC built in there myself for DTS on the big LCD for movies when I switch to doing that I guess. Bit more cash I suppose but performs more things.

That and the wife uses the TV a lot at night and I'm in the same room, so if I'm in the mood for a movie etc while doing a few things on the computer I use the 7.1 headphones and just watch the movie on the 32 incher.

I don't really need my computer to be a complete home theater system or anything. I just use it for music and games, and the occasional tv show... which is why I'm not really concerned about a 5.1 setup.