[SOLVED] What sound card? What speakers?

[omnilicious]

I know I want a sound card. They make a difference, but I'm unable to find a good resource for what is a good one (posts from last year, not sure if they're still relevant).

I keep hearing about how much better DAC's/AMPs are, but I also kinda don't care. Most of the ones I see linked have a few problems including being external and thus another object on my desk, single output for headphones, not sure how expensive 5.1/7.1 gets with them.

Logitech Z906 5.1 Surround Sound Speaker System - THX, Dolby Digital and DTS Digital Certified
https://www.amazon.com/Logitech-Z90...g=wpcentralb-20&ascsubtag=UUwpUdUnU39790YYwYg

These are what I've seen for speakers that are a decent price and recommended everywhere - but is there better for that price range?

Currently just have a 5 year old set of audio-technica ATH-M50x. Might be in the market for a newer/better set, but I might wait until these actually quit on me.

 

[sizzling]

Are you actually going to setup the 5.1 or will you actually use them as 2.1 like many people do? If 2.1 then I love the Bose Companion 5’s and they use USB and have their own dedicated soundcard built in.

 

[omnilicious]

I want full surround (never had it before), so 5.1/7.1. The ones I linked are just referred to in a lot of articles, so I linked them to be sure they're good.

 

[gamerk316]

My generally recommendation here would be the Creative Soundblaster Z; it's an all-around good soundcard that doesn't break the bank.

As for connection, I'd recommend connecting via analog (3.5mm); the soundcard is going to do a better job converting to analog then the DAC they have in the speakers, plus you avoid having to deal with realtime Dolby/DTS encoding (though I note the Soundblaster Z can do that if required).