What are good 2.1+ speakers

shadowkiller64 · September 16, 2014

Care to explain?out of curiosity am asking

Why do i need a better amp in the first place??? Is the lepai sound bad? Or is the other amps louder??? Cause i dont really care for it being louder

also do i need a dac or is onboard fine???

spaynton · September 16, 2014

I would start with doing some research into what each component is actually doing and understand their impact on the overall sound quality/performance.

Basically you start with your source. In this case you are using your computer, or more accurately, files on your computer.

Your computer has a built in soundcard which can handle processing the source signal and provide a bit of pre-amplification. Great, now you just need something that can amplify that signal to levels that can power a set of speakers. Multimedia speakers, like the logitech Z623's do exactly this. They simply amplify the sound coming out of the computer. For 90% of the people out there who use computers, this is more than adequate and you would be hard pressed to tell the difference between this and a higher quality system for quality so long as you are using high quality sound files. As for loudness, the Z623's get plenty loud, but ultimately it depends on the size of the room.

However, it gets more complicated when you start being a bit more critical of the sound quality, or start expanding into multi-channel audio, but for now I'm going to focus on a stereo (2.0/2.1 channel) setup.

Utilizing a premium sound card or DAC allows you to process higher quality sound files and with greater accuracy and also seperating your audio processor from things that can interfere with the signal and also uses more premium components are the main reason why you would wan't a dedicated dac or sound card. The quality of the components can clean up and improve the sound quality, but won't make it any louder.

Next, you need something that can amplify your speakers as cleanly as possible, this is where your amp choice comes in. Now, you can combine this with a dac as an all in one unit that is referred to as an integrated amp, such as a home theater receiver or a specialized amp/dac combo. You need to be mindful of your speakers power requirements and also the quality of the speakers you are planning to run when choosing the amp. Or you can get powered speakers that have the amp stage built right into them and are matched directly to the speaker's power requirements.

All three components can change how the system will sound in the end. So it's important to read reviews on each component to see how each piece changes the overall tone of the source material.

I would personally start with your budget and work your way back. Since you are running this off a computer, you already have a basic DAC that can fill that role. Now you need to get an amp and speakers. If you are buying powered speakers, get the best ones you can afford right now. Save up and add better signal processing down the road in the form of a dedicated dac or sound card. If you are buying passive speakers, put money aside for an amp as well. You can get an integrated amp at this stage for only a little money, such as an Onkyo 2-channel receiver for around $200, so long as it is capable of driving your speakers. You can then upgrade your amp to a higher quality one that purely does amplification, but these are generally more expensive. Depending on the receiver it may or may not have digital inputs, so you may still need to use the dac built into your computer. However, some do have optical in. So its up to you if you want to use the dac in the computer or in the amp. Try both, see what sounds better to you.

As for the speakers, you need to determine how you plan to use them. Are you listening right in front of them sitting at your desk? Or do you want them to fill the entire room? What do you plan to do with them? Are the primarily for music listening or are you planning on using them for games and movies that could benefit from a subwoofer? Figure out what you want to do with them, then read reviews of all the speakers that are in your price range. Go listen to them if at all possible, but keep in mind, some speakers may sound amazing because they are paired with a super expensive amp that compliments the sound profile of the speakers, and are in an ideal listening environment, but when you get them home and try them they may not sound the same.

I would hesitate to spend a lot of money on a high end dac right off the bat. Get good quality speakers and amplification and then improve the inputs/decoder later. That way you can fine tune how your speakers perform by choosing a dac that sounds "good" with your speakers.

I know this didn't provide any direct suggestions for what you should buy. But I hope it provides you with a bit more things to think about when choosing anything to buy.

Krishtrinity · September 17, 2014

Why do i need a better amp in the first place??? Is the lepai sound bad? Or is the other amps louder??? Cause i dont really care for it being louder also do i need a dac or is onboard fine???

Depends on price of motherboard if you have a motherboard that is near 150 then no you dont need a DAC,there is a limit to be expected of a 20 dollar lepai amp,but for me it sounds decent but you need an amp to drive passive speakers