New PC sound system

[freercurse]

Hi There,

I am looking to spend around £400 on a new sound setup.
I am fairly interested in 7.1 surround sound as i am fairly invested in FPS gaming, but i also do want something that has pretty/very good music sound quality.
I am neutral on external DAC/AMP or internal sound card, or other system.
What can you suggest?

Thanks in advance.

 

[lumineZ]

Well... best answer you ever will get is this one: Your ears... Go listen... Thats the answer, short and simple.

It all depends on the ears that listen.
If I speak for myself I would say that £400 is no way close to what you need if you want pretty/very good music sound quality...

It also comes down to what you are used to listen to.
If your parents where not interested in music and had a regular standard sound setup, then that would sound great. Until you listen to something more high end, and the list just keeps climbing sadly...

I cant speak for anyone else so again I will use myself as an example.

Atm I am running a pure stereo setup since that is the best for music.

Speakers: Electrocompaniet The nordic tone model 1
Mono blocks: Electrocompaniet Nemo AW600
Pre-amp: Electrocompaniet EC4.8
DAC: Electrocompaniet ECD 2 D/A
Player: Electrocompaniet ECM 2

No clue how mutch my sound system cost in £. But pretty sure it is well above 400.

So again... Go out and just listen, there are people here who thinks a £15 sound system is the best they have ever listen to and we got the other end that thinks a £150 000 is "ok" but not good when it comes to high end sound.

 

[freercurse]

Well... best answer you ever will get is this one: Your ears... Go listen... Thats the answer, short and simple.

It all depends on the ears that listen.
If I speak for myself I would say that £400 is no way close to what you need if you want pretty/very good music sound quality...

It also comes down to what you are used to listen to.
If your parents where not interested in music and had a regular standard sound setup, then that would sound great. Until you listen to something more high end, and the list just keeps climbing sadly...

I cant speak for anyone else so again I will use myself as an example.

Atm I am running a pure stereo setup since that is the best for music.

Speakers: Electrocompaniet The nordic tone model 1
Mono blocks: Electrocompaniet Nemo AW600
Pre-amp: Electrocompaniet EC4.8
DAC: Electrocompaniet ECD 2 D/A
Player: Electrocompaniet ECM 2

No clue how mutch my sound system cost in £. But pretty sure it is well above 400.

So again... Go out and just listen, there are people here who thinks a £15 sound system is the best they have ever listen to and we got the other end that thinks a £150 000 is "ok" but not good when it comes to high end sound.

I appreciate the answer, and i totally get what your saying, but i know hardly anything about sound setups and until a few years ago didn't even know amps for headphones were a thing, this is an area where i don't really know anything. so i'm looking for the best sound system, that you think would work well.

and also i wouldn't know even where to start, other than expensive thing = good thing (most of the time

 

[lumineZ]

Oh you are that new to the sound game.
Well then welcome to an almost endless money pit

Again sadly the best answer is still: Go to a hi-fi shop and listen. Tell them your budget and listen to several systems in your price range. Ask them questions since they have the hardware right there to show you " how to " and things like that, and you will have a place you can go to if you run into beginner problems.

But I can tell you right away that there is no 7.1 setup that is very good for music. Unless you go really high end and FAR more than £400


Thats why people who love great sound have 2 or more sound systems.
1 for music
1 for TV, movies and games


And to be honest... I dont know a 7.1 system for £400 that will work well...

I would NOT go lower than this:

Speakers: Onkyo SKS-HT993THX
Amp: Denon-AVR-S710W


Imo... Going anything lower than that is just throwing the money out the window.. Better to save up alittle.


Or... You can take your chance on e-bay, etc etc and buy used. If you are lucky you can find a bargain.

I myself started by buying used for the first 8-10 years, until I have bought and sold enough + saved up to go and buy brand new high end.
And there is no shame in buying used. Most people buy used houses and cars, so why not sound systems. (until the time comes when you can buy new)

 

[freercurse]

Oh you are that new to the sound game.
Well then welcome to an almost endless money pit

Again sadly the best answer is still: Go to a hi-fi shop and listen. Tell them your budget and listen to several systems in your price range. Ask them questions since they have the hardware right there to show you " how to " and things like that, and you will have a place you can go to if you run into beginner problems.

But I can tell you right away that there is no 7.1 setup that is very good for music. Unless you go really high end and FAR more than £400


Thats why people who love great sound have 2 or more sound systems.
1 for music
1 for TV, movies and games


And to be honest... I dont know a 7.1 system for £400 that will work well...

I would NOT go lower than this:

Speakers: Onkyo SKS-HT993THX
Amp: Denon-AVR-S710W


Imo... Going anything lower than that is just throwing the money out the window.. Better to save up alittle.


Or... You can take your chance on e-bay, etc etc and buy used. If you are lucky you can find a bargain.

I myself started by buying used for the first 8-10 years, until I have bought and sold enough + saved up to go and buy brand new high end.
And there is no shame in buying used. Most people buy used houses and cars, so why not sound systems. (until the time comes when you can buy new)

Thank you for the advice, what else could you suggest for my PC, in terms of headphones, internal sound card or what have you.

 

[lumineZ]

Hey. Sorry for late reply but have not been on the computer for a few days

On my computer I run an with the soundcard that came with the motherboard (Asus Maximus Hero ix)

But

When I want to listen to music in peace with my head phones I have this setup:
Headphones: Sennheiser HD800 S
Amp/Dac: Sennheiser HDV 820

Now... this is an setup I would not advice the avg. user to get. I listen to music for hours and hours eatch week, hence I am really really picky when it comes to sound.

But as a very rough guideline when it comes to headphones.
A 10$ headphone sounds like a 100$ speaker. 100$ headphones sounds like a 1000$ speaker. (see where I am going with this)

And for headphones in the price range of 0 - 599 USD you (if you ask ME) dont need an AMP or DAC.

If you only have music in mind. And thats it. I will with confidence recommend the setup I have.

Stepping down I would recommend: Grado Prestige Series SR325e
I had them before and for my ears the sound is great. But if i was sitting with them for more than 4 hours straight... The pressure they have is not nice (on my head that is)

You also got the well known -- Bowers & Wilkins P7 -- or -- Sennheiser HD 700 --



On a really really tight budget? I would pick this ones over and over: Sony MDR-7506