waronthemoon1

Thes DAC's have same ports and ratings (and toshilinks) AIYIMA DAC-A2 Fosi Audio Q4 Headphone Amplifier Mini Stereo --- although I would need to figure out how to connect the sub and the speakers to output together (probably using Y-splitters)

Hey! I've had some issues with my audio and never bothered fixing it until now. I was hoping to get some advice on how to proceed. MY SITUATION: 1.) My powered Edifier mr4 in general will buzz at a certtain volume whern idle (the roller on the speaker itself). I keep the roller a little down which is just fine, it's not the issue. 2.) my NZXT B550 motherboard rear 3.5mm connector is broken for no reason. They cannot replace/repair because it is no longer selling. I use the front panel 3.5mm connector instead. 3.) My audio configuration is using a 3.5mm out header on my O11D front panel connector. It connects to a Y-splitter. One side of the splitter goes to my Subwoofer (3.5mm to RCA splitter), the other side goes to my edifier MR4's. I do not move the rollers (for levels) on the subwoofer and edifier MR4's as I prefer to adjust volume on windows directly. (Adjusting the speaker would require me to adjust the subwoofer and it sounds weird otherwise) --------------------------------------------- THE SOUND ISSUE I HAVE: ISSUE: outside of the buzz in my situation #1 above, I hear high pitch noise when my mouse moves, and it's really obvious if i temporarily increase volume roller on the speaker. The buzz occurs when I scroll etc. Ther sound seems change a bit if my CPU or GPU is under load, a constant buzz when this happens. My research: My research led me to believe it is not the cables, and it is likely involving lack of EM shielding in the computer. That or it's related to ground loop issues. I've also heard this is an extremely common issue with USB. Apparently, the toshilink is handy here (optical), which I happen to have on my motherboard. --------------------------------------------- HOW DO I PROCEED?: After reading many forum pages on reddit and LTT, I was considering an external DAC or Audio interface. People have suggested DAC over budeget audio interfaces because the quality of the DAC unit inside the audio interface may be very bad (and that the device often focuses on input and ports as opposed to output). Im also told that those dongle DAC's like apple's USB-C one are pretty good. However, I've also read that toshilink's dont allow noise to travel like USB does,and so I've ultimately been looking into Budget DAC's that have toshilink input. Will this solve my issue? SUMMARY: please let me know if this works: B550 -> Toslink Cable -> Budget DAC -> (Y-splitter into powered sub and powered speakers) OR (connecting speaker and sub directly if DAC allows) SOME OTHER IDEAS: Optical to Reciever, audio interface, etc. However, none seem to be economic. Additional Quesitons: Would having a Dac with tube amplifier benefit over one without? Something like this: AIYIMA T10 JAN5654 Tube Vacuum Preamplifier Audio Decoder Do all DAC's inherently have an amplifier inside? Will this matter much for powered devices like mine (speaker and subwoofer are both powered) Will my toshilink cable->DAC idea work in reducing noise on the motherboard? (Mouse movement noise, CPU/GPU load noise, etc) Noticed all the budget DAC recommendations only have 1 output (L/R RCA), any good way to add on more without it becoming gimmicky (bad quality) or super expensive Any sub-100$ DAC recommendations for USA Amazon? If you read these, don't feel pressured to answer ALL of them. that's a ton of work but I do have a ton of questions. Any advice/info is useful

Apologies, I misread it completely.

Yeah I agree with the specs for the most part but I can't agree with the CPU. disregard Ryzen chips that end with a "g". Those are CPUs with integrated graphics, something you don't need when you have a GPU. It just adds to the cost and performs worse than non-g chips! Ryzen 5700G is a fantastic APU option for those who dont plan to buy a GPU at all. Stick with 5600x (130$) or upgrade to 5800x (230 currently, 200 on sale frequently) or 5800x3d ($295 right now when you have prime on amazon). ryzen 5 5600x dosent really need a cooler, but you could for temps/noise-reduction if you really want. The ryzen 7 5800x and 5800x3d run hot, not cool, and a proper cooler is required for these! ---- get RTX 4070ti NEW or buy rtx 3070/3080 Used --- Realized all the $ used in this post are Canadian. My bad ;-; Im using USD

Absolutely agreed. 5800x is overpriced right now as it frequently drops to 200$. 5800x3d as well as it drops to 300$ Both 5800x and 5800x3d will come with more cores than you would need, and they are the fastest AM4 chips for gaming! I recommend one of them + a proper cooler if you plan to play any CPU games or video edit. Especially because you are buying an AM4 Motherboard when AM5 is out. --- Wouldnt recommends AM5 unless you are building an endgame build, especially with the boot time problems. People are getting 30-50 second boot times its awful. Recently built one abd I messed around with it (7800x3d = fastest AM5 chip currently) to reduce boot. I only got it to 24 seconds, very slow and annoying to deal with! ---- 5900x and 5950x are actually slower than the 5800x. They have more cores you won't use so I would discourage them (unless needed). Realized all the $ used in this post are Canadian. My bad ;-; Im using USD

Yeah I said I would pick the 4070ti and that it would be 250$ more! but It's purely for performance and personal opinion. He said in his orignal post hes willing to pay more if it gives better performance value for the money. 4070TI value/$ > 4070 value/$ A used Rtx 3070 and RTX 3080 is much cheaper than a Newly released RTX 4070 (non TI) Agreed. Don't pay move than $200 for an AM4 mobo at this point, especially with a 5600x chip build. First, the partpicker link is set to private so we cant see it. Sir these prices don't look right. Just made this a few minutes ago for someone looking for a midtier build on the same forum https://pcpartpicker.com/user/waronthemoon1/saved/#view=hmVfpg 1.) 5600x is $148, I would recommend getting a 5800x when it drops to $200-$210 Again! If you are buying an AM4 motherboard, you min as well buy a upper end chip. If you upgrade again in a few years, you will probably need an AM5 chip with an AM5 board (and DDR5). Recommend a good AM4 chip if you are going AM4 at this time because you plan to stic with this for a lonng time) 2.)rtx 3070 aftermarket is $325, see partpicker I made. Proportionally, I recommend rtx 4070/4070ti (4070ti's more value) purely because of it's a powerhouse and worthwhile. You can search up differences, mainly in GPU-intensive games/programs. Heres a video with 10 games in FPS comparison. Heres a SS that shows Fortnite, a more extreme example, but it's pretty huge of a difference. In the long run, the TI is superior in value. I'd rather buy a used $450 3080 then a New $600+ RTX 4070 right now. Note: 4070 had very weak sales compared to the Ti: (link)Nvidia Is Allegedly Pausing RTX 4070 Production in Response to Weak Sales TLDR: dont buy a Rtx4070 ($600)!, get a Rtx4070ti ($800) or USED Rtx3080($450). Otherwise, a Used Rtx3070 ($325)will suffice as well. 3.)you could get 32GB LPX (preferred) or get Teamgroup's 32GB for $62. 32GB is the value point and highly recommended at this point. 4.) amazon Samsung 970 EvoPlus 1TB is $60 on amazon as well, not 110! I recommend the 1TB and 2TB version of this one (I always go for this when looking for Gen3 NVME), and easily WD's Black for Gen 4 Nvme. WD 2TB BLUE NVME Gen 3 (1TB selection is 45$) 5.) COOLER: Use the 5600x stock cooler, its sufficient. If you buy a 5800x (recommended during sale), then you need to buy a better coole because they run very hot (maybe an AIO which doubles as intake case fans). Otherwise, dont buy. Realized all the $ used in this post are Canadian. My bad ;-; Im using USD

Lastly, Let me know if you need new links for the used ebay parts (they disappear pretty fast). regarding Last note in bottom of previous message, heres a link if you do in fact want the 2TB version. https://www.newegg.com/western-digital-2tb-blue-sn570-nvme/p/N82E16820250213?Description=wd blue 2tb&cm_re=wd_blue 2tb-_-20-250-213-_-Product Also, feel free to let me know if you have any questions regarding the building or buying, or anything at all really.

Hey, I do see what you got here but a lot of these are optional in your case. You can skip this part if you just want me to fix the part picker (I put the link below in color) However, I do recommend #9! It's pretty important and not on part picker. 1.) the cpu is refurb/renew, but the listings I saw were purchased unfortunately. I recommend just paying that extra and buying from amazon now. 2.) A CPU cooler will not be necessary! all many mid-tier CPU's from Ryzen come with a stock cooler in the box. As long as you don't mind the noise and arnt overclocking, it should be good enough. (noise isn't even noticeable) 3.) all cpu coolers will come with a small syringe or pre-applied thermal paste, you dont need to b uy any. That's for if you want to re-apply yourself which wont yield significant benefits 4.) GPU is aftermarket as well, manually set price to 320-350$ 5.) Dedicated Sound cards arn't very common anymore for expansion slots. Most users will opt for dedicated ones only if they are enthussiasts with a whole setup of nice IEM/Headphones and/or DAC/amplifier/receiver/etc. The one that is built into the motherboard will suffice! Most cannot tell the difference between onboard-sound cards even the highest-end motherboards and entry level ones. Remove this item. 6 and 7.) No need for a Wired OR Wireless network adaptor! I specifically picked a motherboard with an on-board wifi card (capped at 433mbps WIRELESSLY). If you truly care about internet speed over that 433mbps threshold, you would physically connect an ethernet cable (wired) that's gigabit. Basically, remove the network adaptor because the motherboard will have a both wifi (wireless) reception AND ethernet gigabit port (wired). TLDR: absolutely do not get a wireless adaptor if your motherboard has one on-board, driver issues/confusion may appear. You may get a wired one if you want a SECOND ethernet port, but understand you already have one. Some purchase it to connect it to a cable wired, but printer USB cables run for 5$ so it's also pretty useless. Note: Sorry I named the mobo correctly but the link I noticed was wrong. Heres the correct one: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-B550M-PRO-VDH-ProSeries-Motherboard/dp/B0BDCZRBD6/ref=sr_1_1?crid=30GRJFNHYH5PK&keywords=MSI%2BB550M%2BPRO-VDH&qid=1684201090&sprefix=msi%2Bb550m%2Bpro-vdh%2Caps%2C152&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0&th=1 Heres a second option for motherboard with wifi. I prefer this: https://www.amazon.com/ASUS-TUF-A520M-PLUS-Motherboard-DisplayPort/dp/B0997N7P12/ref=sr_1_1?crid=3IY3UULPXO9FC&keywords=am4+motherboard+wifi&qid=1684205322&sprefix=am4+motherboard+wifi%2Caps%2C160&sr=8-1&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.006c50ae-5d4c-4777-9bc0-4513d670b6bc 8.) The H10 case comes with two fans already, one for intake and one for exhaust. Most if not all cases will come with 2+ free stock fans. You sacrafice a little in noise but you won't really need anything better unless you care a lot about looks/lights/temps/noise. None of which will be too relevant! 9.) I can go on and on about monitors, something I have a deep interest in but here's a quick rundown for any 100$+ monitor, you can and should purchase a monitor with an IPS or VA panel. IPS are generally more expensive until the higher end and are generally more popular. OLED nowadays if you got a 1000$ to burn, but thats not relevant. Both have benefits like viewing angles but both are basically required and upgrades over a TN panel, which is what you picked. I highly recommend you opt out of any TN panel. Advice: a.)You want a 144hz+ (many argue that the jump to 240hz is not as relevant unless your into shooters and still not too important). b.) You are playing graphic games and watching videos so you want 200+nits of brightness if you'd like. Understand that the panel type is even more important here. If you've ever seen a very old (even large) TV and how sometimes the corner looks dark unless you sit directly in the middle? Some TN panels tend to be like that because viewing angles can be abysmal! You want an IPS panel (older iphone panels are an examplke) or a VA panel with good reviews (darker blacks and generally better than TN). The brightness of the panel will make colors POP more. an example is if you are looking at a scene of a forest from above. If the panel is too dim, the dark and light greens will look like globs and mush. In games, its essential. luckily they are a given in most gaming panels as it's obvious. Usually it'll say HDR10 or HDR400, etc which is associated with a brighter panel. The brightness and color ratings and fantastic viewing angles of an IPS panel will make videos, games, movies, and overall usage much better. It's so common that it's not much additional over a TN panel (no one buys TN panels). Personally, Im not much of a gamer but I allocated a lot more on my monitors for productivity, and also purely because of how fluid they feel. Even without gaming I enjoy a smooth 144hz and bright video quality when watching series.. c.) You have options to change the aspect ratio but you prob don't care about that unless you are willing to drop extra money on an Ultrawide. d.) Resolution. rtx 3070's are usually for 1440p (vertical pixel count) gaming or 1080p. I see you want something for gaming with that RTX card so I'll give you some suggestions. General rule of thumb for 16:9 aspect ratio monitors. 21"-24" monitors = 1080x1920 (Full HD) 24"-29" monitors = shoot for 1440p! 1440x2560 (QHD) or you will find yourself zooming in to read text (great for productivity) 34+" monitors = if yoiu are getting something this big get a 4k panel. Note: I recommend two Full HD panels for multitasking! once you go dual, you never go back. Triple is often excessive because now you arn't just moving your eyes, you are turning your neck. Monitor suggestions! 1.) Top rec: Single monitor and able to splurge? I own this one before upgrading. (QHD IPS panel) LG Ultragear 27inch 1440x2560 @ 144hz HDR10 2.) Value: Potentially buying a second monitor in the future for multitasking? I recommend 2x FHD monitors. (FHD IPS panel) ASUS TUF 24inch 1920x1080 @ 165hz 3.) Very Budget: Just want something clear, practical, and don't need more than 60hz? (60hz is where videos online max out) Wouldn't recommend unless absolutely necessary as you have very nice PC build that can actualy run things very well. OPTION1: (2019 FHD IPS ASUS) and OPTION2: (2021 FHD IPS ASUS) Note: Both are same monitor over diffent years. The newer one has some not-important features added but same brightness/colors/panel/75hz overall! I recommend the new one still because it's 3$ for the newer (time) panel and product support. note: there's no way you will notice a difference between 144hz and 165hz. I believe all 165hz panels are just overclocked 144hz panels with better heat dissipation. The LG panel will look sharper obviously, bigger, and brighter. I never had complaints and I paid 300$ for that one specifically. Anyways, any proper 100+$ (or even lower) will generally look better than any kind of GAMING laptop monitor in terms of brightness and reliability. Color accuracy as well in the upper end but don't underestimate some of the ultrabook non-gaming laptops (MacBook/XPS colors and brightness are superb). You probably only need IPS certification, most people can't discern above that. 10.) I usually recommend Corsair LPX ram but in this case I recommend getting some lower-tier (but still reputable) Volcan ram from TeamGroup. This way, you can get 32GB (doubled!). Won't really affect performance in games, but will allow you to have more things open at the same time (as long as your PC can handle them of course). You can now have double the amount of things open. Google Chrome is super RAM-hungry. Here's a part picker where I altered/Fixed it. I'll be removing the monitor and you can pick your own. I don't recommend using the one you picked. (^Scroll to bottom, its called "NO THEME - PERFORMANCE GAMING - RTX 3070 Upper Tiered (5/15/2023)") Note: I added extra GPU options because they are all AFTERMARKET so the listings dissapear when it's bought by others. I can suggest more but looks like prices went up. Total at the bottom of the page will seem higher because of this, but it isn't. Note: I added extra case options that I've used before! Pick them by appearance, whichever you prefer. They are all value cases with included free fans with good thermals/airflow. Some have lights, some have more fans, some have mesh panels, take your pick I liked them all. NZXT has some cases like the H510 if you prefer an 80$ option. FINAL PRICE!! : You could wait for some sale on the CPU but otherwise, everything seems priced normally. The total price assuming you get a used RTX 3070 for the 300-400 range should be 700-800$! The specs are really good too as most people don't actually own a computer this powerful, I'm pretty surprised myself. The GPU shortage is gone and I guess you can reap the benefits of the used GPU market. Last note: Aesthetics is one thing but I would recommend you consider upgrading the Storage to 2TB as that is the new MOST VALUE this year. You get the most GB/$ at that point, but 1Tb is sufficient usually. You can also expand it as much as you'd like later. I recommend only haveing 1 drive at a time though because I find it annoying to add steam libraries to each new drive and being asked "which drive" whenever I download things. I just toss everything in my single 2TB drive.

I wouldn't recommend 4070 over 4070ti! source: https://www.techspot.com/review/2676-geforce-4070-versus/ Reason: I'd drop the $250 for that extra performance. The RTX 4070 rides below the 30-series cards, while the 4070ti rides above in performance

https://pcpartpicker.com/user/waronthemoon1/saved/#view=79ndqs Hey! I build PC's and my most recent one was this: This is th emost up-to-date highest value performance PC before diminishing returns. The RTX 4070ti is the current most value as RTX 1070 to 2070 to 3070 were mostly 30% performance jumps. The jump to 4070ti is absolutely insane with an 80% fps jump (same game for those percentages, gpu intensive obviously.) Basically, you want an rtx 4070ti no matter what. Note: 5800x is great as long as you bay under 200$, it is 200$ new right now, its been fluctuating the past few days. Just bought one. Note: in the parts ist, for performance, you could shave off 20$ in the NVME for a gen3 WD blue, or cut the price in half by going for 1tb instead of 2tb. Note: You could reduce price sinificantly byt going for a 240mm non-RGB non-white AIO if you want (they can go for 150$ instead). recommend a kraken x53 for VALUE performance/cost. Note: Lastly, you could purchase a cheaper 90$ case as well. and cheap out a bit on the motherboard a little. By cutting costs on theme/aesthetic, you could save a good chunk. On top of that, with the rtx3070ti included, your looking at about 1800$ for a fully built near-max AM4 PC. AM5 i cant recommend it (you may have noticed it in the parts list link at the bottom). One person picked that one and was severely disappointed by current AM5 boot issues with the memory. 20seconds is considered fast on the AM5 builds and it seems to be an ongoing problem Some high end builds have even booted at 50 seconds (awful). I'd recommend sticking with am4 and purchasing one of the highest chips (assuming you dont need a ryzen 9's core count), and waiting out a few more years before going for AM5cpu/mobo + DDR5 ram

I'm currently a college student and a lot of my friends are in the same bucket! They got gaming laptops that essentially went out of date and made things difficult. They'd need to find an outlet wherever they wanted to study, and rendering took ages. One laptop has an RTX 3060, one has an RTX 3070. When I built PC's, the most value point was the RTX 3070. The performance gain is massive over the RTX 3060 (fps in your case). I wouldn't purchase an RTX 3080 over an RTX 3070 though, the value is not there. Sure thing, I'm assuming your talking about the 700$ cheap desktop. Let me try. LINKS: Case: H510 (dosent matter much) [75$] Motherboard: MSI B550M PRO-VDH [110$) note: You could cheap out and save 30$, but this comes with on-board wifi and Bluetooth so you won't need to worry about buying them separately (wifi 6 + BT cards would run you about 45$ anyways, and be a hassel to install). CPU (super budget and aftermarket): Ryzen 5 5600x [$110] GPU(aftermarket is really good for 30-series right now) [320-350$) Option1: PNY RTX 3070 8GB(cheaper) Option2: EVGA FTW RTX 3070 8GB(RECOMMENDED!!) PSU: Thermaltake 600w GOLD non-modular [65$] Storage: WD Blue 1tb nvme gen3 [50$] RAM: Corsair Vengeance DDR4 (2x8gb) [40$] TOTAL PRICE = 770$. This is the bare minimum sir. I would highly recommend upgrading the CPU to 5800x (future proof) because it goes on frequent sales of 55% off at $200. The chip will give you 300-800fps in cpu-based games like valorant. However, elden ring and more aesthetic games are much more GPU-heavy. The RTX 3070 is your computer's heart here. The RTX 3070 Is that can be reduced to an RTX 3060 for budgeting, but it's not as value. This component list will outperform any sort of gaming laptop under 1600$ currently. And if since RTX 3080's are only about 9% faster at 1080p in games, the component list will compete with rtx 3080 laptops in the 1800$ range. From those numbers, you start to see the benefits of a custom PC. additionally, maybe you want to reduce rendering times in video editing. In maybe 3-5 years you might want to swap JUST the motherboard and CPU, which wouldn't cost you very much compared to buying a brand-new laptop just to do upgrade a single aspect of a computer. The idea of swapping out specific parts is what really saves you money in the long run. Also the GPU might be overkill, it's gonna run every game you want including Cyberpunk 3070. But as I said, I dont recommend going lower as it may be useful but it's not value! the next value point is the RTX 4070ti, which is 900$ alone and definitely overkill. Above that? Nothing is worth buying as of now, at least not for the cost (Others may disagree). This ist took me a surprisingly long time and my biggest regret was the CPU being a bit unproportionally low tier. The true value point right now is the 5800x for 200$ (link here).

^ Yes Ryzen chips in laptops are way more energy efficient. Either way, look for a laptop with an rtx 3060 MINIMUM for 60fps@1080p on Elden Ring. Theres another guy asking for the same exact type of laptop with a budget of 1000$, you will really need to hit that mark to play it well. --- I would not recommend any gaming laptop under $1200 as that's where the sweet spot is. You will find RTX 3070 laptops. It's also where the laptop gaming specs converge very close with it's custom-built pricintg. The main downside is thermals and mobile grade components (slower and more energy efficient parts like mobile CPU, mobile GPU, worse cooling, etc) At the range of $600, you may find it hard to even get a cusotm built PC to play the game very well. It's discouraged as the investment may become useless in a year. The battery life will be poor so you will always need outlets even if you are simply browsing the internet and studying/coding for a few hours. It will be heavier, hotter, louder, and usually dimmer than many ultrabooks as well. ---- If you only plan to maybe play one or 2 games, maybe just cheap out on an utlrabook with integrated graphics and live with laggy elden ring until you can afford an eGPU (like a razor core). You won't be killing off your laptop's battery and waring it down when not gaming.

Additionally, I'll never recommend a 1500$ gaming laptop over a cheap laptop (600$) and a cheap Gaming desktop (700$). And yes! I understand it can't be a desktop as you probably hav e some sort of situation. Just know gaming laptops will have poor battery life, loud noise, heavyweight, and oftentimes a dimmer panel. On top of that, even if the laptop was high end and held DESKTOP-grade parts (cpu, gpu, etc), it would 100% be throttled and slowed down. I'd recommend an ultrabook or cheap laptop + a budget desktop for the long term. Of course, this could technically be resolved by getting a nicer laptop along with an eGPU (like the razor core), but this would easily reach $1300-$1500. ---- As for your $1000 budget, a quick search would show you can probably get an RTX 3060 laptop, maybe rrtx 3070 if you go aftermarket. RTX 3060 laptops should hit roughly 60-65fps on 1080p resolutions https://www.amazon.com/Acer-AN515-45-R21A-Hexa-Core-Processor-Keyboard/dp/B093JCZWWF/ref=sr_1_5?crid=3O7GXF6RK9B4T&keywords=rtx+3060+laptop&qid=1684096666&sprefix=rtx+3060+laptop%2Caps%2C147&sr=8-5&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.2b70bf2b-6730-4ccf-ab97-eb60747b8daf I'd recommend this, but if possible, I believe you can upgrade the Ram to DDR4 32GB. ---- Also, I'd say the sweet spot is in the RTX 3070 range right now so if possible, shoot for a sub-$1300 laptop instead and get something much better. Example: https://www.amazon.com/MSI-Pulse-GL66-Gaming-Laptop/dp/B09RB9B7SD/ref=sr_1_2?crid=1N3846S3EPTVJ&keywords=rtx+3070+laptop&qid=1684096969&sprefix=rtx+3070+lapto%2Caps%2C154&sr=8-2&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.765d4786-5719-48b9-b588-eab9385652d5

Hello, what is your general budget? Performance laptops are quite expensive, it may help to explain what you plan to do on this system. Would you be focused on gaming? Rendering CAD? Video Editing? Knowing this may help narrow down options.

I was hoping to ask a few technical questions that I wasn't able to understand online. I'm planning ot move into a new place for university and with a new desk and carpet flooring, I thought I'd add audio! I am moving from Logitech Z623 over to some new bookshelf speakers for both audio quality and my new white theme aesthetic. My general budget is roughly $300, but I may go over depending on the questions (the missing third component I'm confused about, see below). Before anything: Here's what I picked out after lots of readings on Reddit/audio forums/audio articles https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00AJHAZZ4/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o00_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Edifier MR4 - $129 USD) https://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B09FXG9BLR/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_asin_title_o02_s00?ie=UTF8&psc=1 (Monoprice 150w Active Subwoofer 109723 - $125) [Not to be mistaken with Monoprice's SW-12] I am very used to a 2.1 setup and do not care a bunch about having neutral-flat sound signatures. I'm sure the monitors will sound fine and they seem to beat the competition in the same price bracket (R1280XX, JBL, etc). I heard my friend's Edifier R1280DBs, which is apparently similar to the MR4's but comes out slightly worse. I noticed his Bass was fine only in higher volumes, but one reason I loved the Logitech z623's was because of its rolling bass. It's 200w RMS, with the subwoofer accounting for 130w. Logitech support couldn't get me a driver diameter for some reason, but I have reason to believe it's 6 or 7 inches. It helped a lot when calling on discord, or watching videos involving a lot of dialogue at low volumes (bass roller set high). Additionally, I understand Edifier MR4 don't come with sub-out ports, but I really like the look and convenience of the front headphone jack. The Edifier 1280's don't fit the theme. I assumed (could be wrong) all the $100-$150 active/powered subwoofers were going to come out better than the Logitech's (or at least on par). Some others I looked into: 1.) Polk PS10 which people call the bottomfeeder sub ("I saw this one get flamed so much on those audio sites im scared to pick) 2.) Dayton SUB-10000 & Dayton SUB-1200 which was supposedly the best (didn't pick because I really am just using this really casually. Didn't want to add the $40) 3.) Yamaha Audio 10" 100W (one source said tyhis is the best but its even more pricey than Dayton) 4.) Edifier T5 (Prob worse than previous options at same price and is only 8in) 5.) BESTISAN 100w 8" (super tempting because of price. If it's "good enough", let me know) Option 5 link: https://www.amazon.com/BESTISAN-100-Watt-Powered-Subwoofer-Distortion/dp/B09Q82T1ZL/ref=sr_1_7?keywords=BESTISAN&qid=1684083776&sr=8-7&ufe=app_do%3Aamzn1.fos.f5122f16-c3e8-4386-bf32-63e904010ad0 Option 5 has a 25$ coupon & 10% off on top of that so the price drops to 70$. I was considering trying both the Monoprice I picked and just seeing which is "sufficient" for me. Feel free to give me some advice as I am really going off of just some things I read online. It's very much appreciated Question: Here's where things get confusing for me: Now, I'm not exactly an audiophile and I usually use wired earphones (7Hz Timeless)connected directly to my motherboard, and it sounds just fine. However, when it came to the Kanto YU6 speakers I tried, I really felt I needed to allocate budget to a subwoofer as I can not get used to that. I don't need a perfectly neutral sound signature and I'd prefer to mess with My idea is to relocate my Odyssey G9 (+Ergotron HX arm) to the corner of my bedroom to save desk space and allow for speakers to fit on each side of the monitor. The desk will be an L-shape to make this work. The sub will be under my desk and the speakers will be pointing at me from about 3-5ft away supposedly. Here's where it gets tricky though. Judging from the lack of sub-out port on the Edifier MR4, I was thinking of the following options that may or may not work. My ideal case is to pick the one that has the best sound quality without spending a whole lot. The source would be my PC's motherboard rear audio jack. Note: both speaker and Subwoofer are wired & Active/Powered). Op1.) I purchase a 3.5mm splitter such as this aux splitter and just connect split the audio coming out of my PC to both the active Subwoofer and active bookshelf speakers. Op2.) Connect the Subwoofer to my PC. I then connect the bookshelf speaker to the subwoofer's "line out". (I don't really understand the crossover dial & "high-level IN/Out" on the back ports" I'll assume I wont have easy access to turning the bass dial on the subwoofer. This is the least ideal because I won't be able to use the sub when connecting to the bookshelf speaker via front-aux-port or Bluetooth. Op3.) I purchase a stereo mixer / budget amp / receiver/ Audio interface / Audio-Switch [Pick One?] to split the source audio and send out to the subwoofer and cabinet speaker. Would allow me to change the volume levels of the bass (sub) and speakers and I probably wouldn't adjust anything else. Also, many of them have a convenient headphone (or aux) jack I can use instead of the front ports on the speaker. Example of the stereo mixer: Stereo Mixer (Worth noting I have one of these but it's super ugly and used for karaoke.) Example of the budget amp: fancy tube amp thing (Typical random 2.1 amp I found.) Example of BLUETOOTH amp: fancy tube amp thing (Cheapest 2.1 bluetooth amp because my pc has BT and I dont need more watts for active speaker/sub) Example of Reciever: stereo receiver (No expert but pretty sure it's only necessary when I'm doing more than 2.1 audio, usually for theatre setups and PASSIVE speakers/subs) Example of Audio Interface: Audio interface (might not work ) Example of Audio Switch: Audio Switch (most practical/Ideal??? ) Question: Q1.) for OP1, would it really work? Does the sub just take in the whole audio and selectively display the lower frequency? Q2.) Would OP2 Work? Would connecting the speaker to the subwoofer instead of the PC (like in op1) cause any sort of noticeable delay/buzz/distortion? Q3.) If I picked Q3, which is quite tempting with the convenient nob controls for output 1 (bass volume, or subvolume) and output 2 (bookshelf speakers volume), what would I buy? To my understanding a mixer's got excessive stuff for microphones, audio interfaces have useless features like a phantom for mics, and receivers/amps are useless because I have active speakers/subs. I think the Audio switch option is the most practical but I could be wrong. TLDR: I picked bookshelf speakers with no sub-out and also bought a subwoofer. Both are active/powered. How do I connect both of them to my PC? Please let me know!!, thank you very much.