Need help with choosing amplifier

[steenkeemonkee]

Backstory:

I'm currently using an old Bose sound system set up on my desk for my desktop computer which I use for gaming and music/video consumption. I also make music as a hobby, and so hooked up to my desktop via usb I have a Digidesign Mbox 2 which sends the audio to the box for the Bose system which sends the audio to the speakers I use. I recently bought a laptop though and would like to unhook my Mbox from my desktop so I can use it to record audio on my laptop, but my problem is that the Mbox is acting as a (kind of lame) amplifier to reduce noise on my Bose system right now. I tried to hook the speakers directly into the 3.5mm jack on my desktop, but there's just not enough power in it obviously and so it leads to there being a ton of noise in my speakers even with the desktop at max volume.

 

What I need help with:

While making music for 7 or so years has made me picky about how my audio sounds, I really don't know a whole lot about the workings of a proper sound system. I'm thinking I need some sort of amplifier to get rid of the white noise my speakers are producing when I hook them straight up to my desktop, and I was looking at the Bravo V2 tube amp on amazon since I'm on a budget. During my research though I'm running into a ton of things I don't know anything about, could someone try to explain to me what they think would work best for my system? Should I use a tube amp or a DAC? What's an RCA cord and how is it different from a regular 3.5mm? Am I going to need more than just an amplifier to get sound from my desktop to my speaker system?

 

As far as listening devices like speakers and headphones and amps and whatever else goes, I'm pretty new to the audio world, so any help with figuring out what I should get would be much appreciated.

 

Also: link to the Bose isn't what I plan to buy, it's just the best source of pictures I found online for anyone who wants to see ports or whatever.

[Anghammarad]

I got this one https://www.pioneerelectronics.com/PUSA/Home/AV-Receivers/Pioneer+Receivers/VSX-830-K to connect to the Media Server in the living room. I still had some speakers and a sub left from a 35 years old BASF Quaddro Receiver, awesome but no digital in, no hdmi, just DIN sockets. 

 

Awesome sound, only the sub has a little noise due to it being an active sub, when turned up too high, noise starts, or humming, when set to the right level, all is well.

[Anghammarad]

I forgot... if you have some kind of Electronics store with an Audio testing setup, around here we have a Saturn with a special room for that, get the song Bombed from In the Nursery (if possible the Zillo long version, due to no voice) and play it. The song has everything in it to test speakers and amps... really awesome.

 

This is the album version... still awesome.

 

 

[spwath]

 you want a speaker amp, not headphone amp