soundcard and speaker upgrade advice

[SkinToxicated]

hey guys. Im look to upgrade my audio setup i currently have Bose companion 5 (yeah, i know!)which uses USB.

I have Astro A40s headset with the mixamp which I use if im doing multiplayer (for voice comms) or gaming at night. that's connect to my PC using optical to the onboard sound on my Mobo .

Asus Xonar DX look to be the soundcard of choice looking thru other threads. Getting to the point finally and showing my newbicity in audio, the optical/spdif cable i use from my astros mixamp to my pc, the connection and socket is more squared (like you see on the back of the Xonar DG) which isnt the same as the back of the Xonar DX, so will need a different type of optical cable (or does it come with that cable)? and will i be able to switch my sound output between the Astros and my speaker choice below quiet easily?

Now because i have Bose speakers i feel i should hang my head in shame on this forum and look to upgrade, Im having a nose around at speakers and the corsair sp2500 seems to be the "weapon of choice", will they be a good marriage with the Xonar DX? and how much of a quality leap am i gonna see over the Bose?

Sorry it a bit long winded, just wanted to give you guys as much info as i can upfront

Thanx in advance

 

[BaMb1N0]

i've got a xonar D2X and have a normal Toslink optical cable connected. but those are coax/toslink combo ports. adapters are included with the soundcard. you'll connect your optical cable to the adapter and plug the adapter to the soundcard. le voila .

the xonar itself is such a great card.

but didn't tom do a review on the sp2500's? you may want to watch this one. i even think he had them connected to a xonar.

in my humble opinion - should you wish to listen to hifi quality music you'll need a decent amp or AV receiver and have proper speakers connected to it. but don't you dare listening to standard MP3's then

best regards

BaMb1N0

 

[SkinToxicated]

thanx man, i have watched Tom review of that and its a blinding review. TBH i think im just trying to talk myself into getting a new audio system and what better place to ask

unfortunately i do listen to MP3, but in my defence i do import my music a 256k, not the standard 128k as even i can hear that it sounds likes it been played down a phone

 

[BaMb1N0]

yeah, takes up a lot of space that stuff. i have recently startet to rip my whole cd collection to a lossless format. compression factor is about 50% max...pain in the ass. soon reaching the limit where it does not fit onto the drive of my 160GB ipod. it's needed in the car as jukebox

should you then be looking for a nice hifi-style setup, have a look at canton speakers (GLE series in particular). they offer really much bang for the buck. quality is good and customer service is great. had one repaired two years ago - 10 days and i had that back (btw sent to germany by my retailer and back directly to me).

i personally use onkyo amps and receivers (3 of them so far), my girlfriend's got an old harman/kardon AV-receiver which is really good, too!

 

[SkinToxicated]

thanx mate. i think i go for the corsair speakers, my PC is for gaming more than it is for listening to music and from Toms review, it looks like it can hold its own when playing music anyways.

Companion 5 speakers are going 2nd hand on Ebay for about the same price as the sp2500 brand new and the mrs said she'll treat me to a Xonar DX for Xmas, so looks like a win win