PC with good sound card better than HiFi's

FatRakoon said:
So, yes, I do know what high quality should be like, so dont judge my answers too quickly... I am only going by a price limit here...
Click to expand...

Fair enough. Like I said, it depends what you meant by home hi-fi. In a thread about hi-fi gear you can see why it's a confusing term to use for music systems from argos :) Sorry if I was patronizing though.
 
adfinni said:
Hey fish. My mate had some of those eltax and a cambridge audio entry level system. It sounded pretty good, but the Monitor speakers are in another league entirely. Pc speakers sound like they have the audio quality of an old skool BBC computer now :p

I have to thouroughly recommend the MA B2's. I never got the chance to audition the wharfedales as sevenoaks didn't have any, but i have heard the MS 902's and they sounded a bit tinny. Alas, you obviously know what you want with your system, and il just show you a few pics of my babies, and boy do they look good. Unfortunately it's dark now so the lighting is a bit weird, and my desk looks pretty tidy for a normal student :D
Click to expand...

I was tempted by the MAs, but after reading a what hi-fi roundup I ended up getting the MS 902is (£120 new and delivered, should be here this week). The MA's, MS's and Wharfedales all got 5 stars, but I particularly liked their description of the open soundstage on the MS, so that swung it in the end. Hopefully my other equipment isn't too bright to be a problem with them. Next upgrade is a rotel amp I think.

Very nice setup btw :cool: Those are some good looking speakers. Which grados are those btw?
 
I'm not trying to cook up to much harsh banter either fatrakoon. Your studio monitors are obviously very nice, and the altec's suit your pc rig. I agree that a 5.1 system is far superior in gaming to a simple 2.0 setup, and im just trying to make some people realise that a pc system doesn't stand a chance competing against a separates system when it comes to music fidelity.

But a number of pc speaker systems are perfectly adequate for blasting out some tunes in between gaming :D
 
fish99 said:
I was tempted by the MAs, but after reading a what hi-fi roundup I ended up getting the MS 902is (£120 new and delivered, should be here this week). The MA's, MS's and Wharfedales all got 5 stars, but I particularly liked their description of the open soundstage on the MS, so that swung it in the end. Hopefully my other equipment isn't too bright to be a problem with them. Next upgrade is a rotel amp I think.

Very nice setup btw :cool: Those are some good looking speakers. Which grados are those btw?
Click to expand...

Ah i think im getting the 902's confused with the 302's :rolleyes: I would love to hear some rotel gear, as my dads old rotel cd player is a great bit of kit.

Ta for the remarks, it does me nicely, but im hoping to get some spikes for the speakers and cd player soon.

The grados on the right are my modified SR60's. I replaced the grill with aluminium car body panel repair sheet, and have some sennheisser 414 pads on them with a hole cutout. Great little headphones but i never use them anymore as my other beauties get the home and portable treatment.

The beauties on the stand are my HF-1's. Don't know if you know about these, but they were a limited run of under 500 only sold to head-fi members. They are similar to the SR225's but sound better. PLus being a limited edition they wern't subject to grado's harsh regional pricing, so i got them for £140 delivered. But during july they will hopfully going back to the USA and will come back looking like this:


:D (excuse the look of the black grills. Was playing around in paint to remove the buttons that were on the grills int eh pics sent to me. Photoshop is hard. lol.)

I have sbought al my hi-fi stuff since xmas, and have spent too much money. Now saving up for party time after 3rd year exams :)
 
Last edited:
fish99 said:
Which grados are those btw?
Click to expand...
The one on the left is on his sig (HF-1). Although I can recognise them with the wooden drivers ;)

Not too sure what the one on the right is though. Headband looks Grado/Alessandro, the silver grill... could be MS2i.The yellow pads I guess must be the HD414 :D

Edit: Ah, posted too late. So thats why they are silver. Got me there ;)
 
TooNice said:
The one on the left is on his sig (HF-1). Although I can recognise them with the wooden drivers ;)

Not too sure what the one on the right is though. Headband looks Grado/Alessandro, the silver grill... could be MS2i.The yellow pads I guess must be the HD414 :D

Edit: Ah, posted too late. So thats why they are silver. Got me there ;)
Click to expand...

Hehe nearly. The ms2i's have aluminium cups, and are lush. But the sr60's are top entry level headphones. Il probably try and flog them on ebay, see what i can ,make :)
 
Ah, didn't spot the SR60s on the right :) Should sell them on AV Forums (or ebay of course) if they're surplus to requirements and still working fine. I've just sold my SR80s (for £50) with the intention of moving up the grado line, either to SR325i or the Alessandro equivalent MS2is.

The HF-1s look nice though, even before the upgrade you're planning.
 
fish99 said:
Ah, didn't spot the SR60s on the right :) Should sell them on AV Forums (or ebay of course) if they're surplus to requirements and still working fine. I've just sold my SR80s (for £50) with the intention of moving up the grado line, either to SR325i or the Alessandro equivalent MS2is.

The HF-1s look nice though, even before the upgrade you're planning.
Click to expand...

Unfortunately it is quite obvious that i took them apart (had to gouge a screwdriver between the cups and prise) :(

Plus i have rplaced the bit that holds the driver on the right side, as my right driver died. But then it miraculously started to work again :rolleyes: but now the sort of deadish one has been mashed up inside. Still works.

So im not sure mow much i would get for them. Plus they are my first grado's and hold a bit of sentimental value.

Id love to stay up and chat more, but i have a 2000 word essay to write tomorrow and revise for my exams starting next wed :mad:

p.s. the HF-1's are a stunning can. Sound as amazing as when i first put them on, every day !!!
 
fish99 said:
Fair enough. Like I said, it depends what you meant by home hi-fi. In a thread about hi-fi gear you can see why it's a confusing term to use for music systems from argos :) Sorry if I was patronizing though.
Click to expand...


adfinni said:
I'm not trying to cook up to much harsh banter either fatrakoon. Your studio monitors are obviously very nice, and the altec's suit your pc rig. I agree that a 5.1 system is far superior in gaming to a simple 2.0 setup, and im just trying to make some people realise that a pc system doesn't stand a chance competing against a separates system when it comes to music fidelity.

But a number of pc speaker systems are perfectly adequate for blasting out some tunes in between gaming :D
Click to expand...

LOL Its ok. I get really confused sometimes and half the time I cant quite put things down properly... I type as I think you see, otherwise I would forget what I said ( Serious accident a few years ago causes total memory loss of everythign I do for about 15-20 seconds after I do it... Well weird )

This is a fairly heated discussion, but thats all it is. I like my speakers, I dont think that I would part with them for any 2.0 setup, or at least any setup that I can afford anyway. The JBLs are currently on a PC upstairs, but to be honest, once I got these 955's, I stoped using them altogether and it was only a few days ago, I took them up as they have been sitting next to my TV as a sort of show-off point ( They look the dogs ) and also the bass is non existent in 6 channel mode, but in 2 channel dolby mode, it does use all 6 speakers and they dont half blow the hell out of the room, but the quality just isnt there... Not really.

Hell, dont get me wrong, here, but I would have just loved to hold on to my fathers gear, once I heard what it was capable of, compared to the JBLs, but a few thigns stopped me... Mainly that they were not mine, but also that where I have my main PC, is very tight... Small speakers are all I can use really... the alcove in the wall is barely 3 feet wide, I cant even use 2 monitors, and under the desk, is the bassspeaker, the UPS and the tower, and about 8 inches to try to cram my legs, so there is no way I can have my speakers near to me.

Hey, we all have our speaker setups and a few wish they had better and a few are happy with what they have. I am one of those. I have always wished I had better, but apart from the shape of these 955's, the sound is perfect.

Although I will admit one thing... You sit next to them and they are loud... You move just a few feet away, and they dont half drop off... You can sit in *** kitchen and hardly hear it, yet go into the living room and oyu go deaf!

Thats something that I have noticed with them, yet the JBLs are perfectly audible from *** garden almost as well as they are in the living room... The sound on those setups travels completely differently. This also has the bonus with the 955's in that I can play a game loud enough to drown out the TV if the wife is watching her corrie or whatever, and yet because the sound is a bad traveler, by the time it gets to the other side of the room, its quiet enough for her to hear the TV!! - weird one that.
 
I prefer a combination of both - a decently ripped CD onto a hdd ( 192Kbps +)
so that you dont need to change cd's etc and endless random mixes if you dont want to fiddle with multiple playlists connected to a reasonable amplifier feeding £200 hifi speakers

I do however think that hifi speakers and an amp can easily surpass pc speakers in the £300 price range (£100 speakers and £200amp would be my preferance) for budget £60 - £150 it does get more difficult to get seperates unless you go second hand or new but several years old
 
tbh people the original poster has every oppinion possible in this thread and however much all of you argue for your favourite setup its not going to convert the other camp. Let him decide and leave out any more arguements. There is no magical answer and different things please different people.

Also until you have heard the best you are fine with the rest as a general rule.
 
But wasn't discussion of said subject the whole point of the thread? You could post the same live and let live message in every discussion thread on the whole internet and no one would ever learn anything :D

It's not like the thread had decsended into a flame war (which was possibly the purpose of the poster).
 
fish99 said:
But wasn't discussion of said subject the whole point of the thread? You could post the same live and let live message in every discussion thread on the whole internet and no one would ever learn anything :D

It's not like the thread had decsended into a flame war (which was possibly the purpose of the poster).
Click to expand...

No, I think it was a great discussion. Plenty of passion too!

No flames were felt by anyone ( I hope )
 
tom_nieto said:
Glad to know that there are others on here who actually appreciate that hifi can be so much better than PC speakers.
Click to expand...

I'm a convert, and now im even looking into buying a singlepower PPX SLAM tube amp for my headphones, but i need to find £500 form somewhere. ANyone wililng to help out a poor student :)

Loving this thread, but i do have to carry on this discussion:

Hi-Fi spearates > PC speakers :p
 
mctrials23 said:
Also until you have heard the best you are fine with the rest as a general rule.
Click to expand...

Thats just it there is no "best" and I will try and explain why............

Most people nowadays dont just like one style of music and different amps and different speaker setups (let alone source's) are geared to one type of sound or another - but each step along the way (unless you have multiple hifi's and mega ££££) - most have to take some kind of compromise, so very few if any can ever get the "best" and it would be a miracle if you found every piece of kit along the way that was ideally suited to everything at every sound level

Not trying to be smart - but just pointing out what I think is a "sound" point of view - sorry awful pun
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top Bottom