Xonar DGX / Fiio E10 for Edifier S330/M3300SF

[poldo13]

So here's the deal:

I'm planning to upgrade my audio set up this year. I have an Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3 motherboard and some no name set of 2.1 speakers that have some kind of interference when i boot up the system unit. (ugh) I have been greatly torn between Edifier S330 and M3300SF. I had no idea about any of these products because of the lack of reviews online. But scouring other forums and expending the whole day..these sets are just about the best I can get for their cost.

I plan on getting the S330 or the M3300SF. The dilemma here is "is my onboard sound card (ALC 892) enough for the speakers?"

And upon recently watching Linus' video about the Fiio E10, it became just a little bit more complicated to decide.

If so could you suggest and ideal setup / giagram of what I could push for.

Right now, the proposed setup would be:

(1) Soundcard (discrete) -> Edifier speakers
(2) Soundcard (onboard) -> Fiio E10 -> Edifier speakers & Headphones

Soundcards in question are:
Xonar DGX & Xonar DSX

what should I go for? thanks!

 

[SuB]

I'd ignore the DGX (and Linus at this point) and get the Essence STX. JamesRiley will be along shortly no doubt with a full reasoning but I beat him to posting the soundcard name! MWAHAHA!

 

[poldo13]

^lol, thanks!
DSX/DGX is about the maximum amount of cash I burn on a sound card as of the moment.
Looking through E10s..it looks decent. but I believe soundcards are more powerful for that application. And yes I know audio is a subjective topic so what's what is going through my head now.

ps. I shall wait for JamesRiley's post. hehe

 

[jamesriley94]

Since the E10 is USB, that pretty much acts as a soundcard.

Adding a DGX or DSX wouldn't make any difference since that already outputs analogue (as do all devices with a 3.5inch jack).

To be fair to Fiio however (I've owned an E7 myself), their devices are amazing for the price (their DACs are actually better than the one in the STX), so it isn't really a bad choice going with a Fiio. However, the amp in the STX is quite a lot better than the Fiio.

I'd personally lose the Fiio and go for the STX on its own as it all built in one, and it will perform slightly better than the Fiio due to the amp. But if you do want to save a bit of money, the E10 (or E7 even) aren't bad choices at all. The soundcard is pointless if you're getting any sort of Fiio however.

As for speakers - go for monitors rather than a 2.1 setup. Look for some M-audio Studiophile AV40s. They seem about the best you'll do for the price of the speakers you've listed.

Lastly, which headphones do you have/are you buying? Probably should have asked this first, as tbh, the Fiio or the STX are pretty pointless purchases if you don't have a good pair of headphones to make use of the amps.

 

[poldo13]

Since the E10 is USB, that pretty much acts as a soundcard.

Adding a DGX or DSX wouldn't make any difference since that already outputs analogue (as do all devices with a 3.5inch jack).

To be fair to Fiio however (I've owned an E7 myself), their devices are amazing for the price (their DACs are actually better than the one in the STX), so it isn't really a bad choice going with a Fiio. However, the amp in the STX is quite a lot better than the Fiio.

I'd personally lose the Fiio and go for the STX on its own as it all built in one, and it will perform slightly better than the Fiio due to the amp. But if you do want to save a bit of money, the E10 (or E7 even) aren't bad choices at all. The soundcard is pointless if you're getting any sort of Fiio however.

As for speakers - go for monitors rather than a 2.1 setup. Look for some M-audio Studiophile AV40s. They seem about the best you'll do for the price of the speakers you've listed.

Lastly, which headphones do you have/are you buying? Probably should have asked this first, as tbh, the Fiio or the STX are pretty pointless purchases if you don't have a good pair of headphones to make use of the amps.

thanks James! lol So basically I'm going with this setup:
Fiio E10 -> Edifier S330 + a budget hi-fi headphone. Grado SR60i / Creative Aurvana Live / or anything on that sort of budget in the long run. currently running Sony MH1C as headphones. :|

 

[jamesriley94]

As I said in my post - you're better off with studio monitors like M-audio AV40s over the Edifiers. 2.1 systems never end up being balanced nicely between the bass and mids/highs so you just end up with way too heavy bass.

As for the headphones, the Creatives just aren't that good - and the SR60is are good, but are more meant for portable use. Look at spending a little more and going for something like Beyerdynamic DT770s or DT990s - it's definitely worth the extra $40ish?

 

[poldo13]

As I said in my post - you're better off with studio monitors like M-audio AV40s over the Edifiers. 2.1 systems never end up being balanced nicely between the bass and mids/highs so you just end up with way too heavy bass.

As for the headphones, the Creatives just aren't that good - and the SR60is are good, but are more meant for portable use. Look at spending a little more and going for something like Beyerdynamic DT770s or DT990s - it's definitely worth the extra $40ish?

I'm on a very tight budget. The mrs wont allow such expenditures. And I live in the Philippines so..M-Audio and other brands are very hard to come by. Even getting Corsair Sp2500 is like searching for atlantis here. :| I really do appreciate the input sir. Even brands like Dayton and Lepai are an unknown here. I'm surrounded by Logitechs, Creatives, Edifiers and the like. I hope you could help me have a more balanced setup on a very tight budget.

what I have access to are Edifier R2000T Active 2.0 speakers..studio monitors that i can get my hands on. any thoughts?

if I were to setup a budget sound for my pc & headphone what would the components be? Fiio dacs and amps I could get but the maximum would be E10s.
Studio monitors are gonna blow past my maximum budget of say $150..
The source would still be the PC. then the E10 (supposedly) and those Edifier R2000Ts. your thoughts so far? I'm sorry but it is really a tight budget

Primary use is to listen to mp3s, watch hd movies, (and of course) gaming.
any reccomendations with that budget sir?

 

[jamesriley94]

The 2.0 solution would be better IMO. I've always hated surround/2.1 systems.

Budget audio I always find pretty difficult to recommend, because it always ends up being a case of, spend an extra $20 to get a way better audio experience....and suddenly you're $100 over budget.

Why not give us an overall budget, and we'll try to recommend you what's best for that.

 

[poldo13]

$160-180. thats about how high it can go

Hi-Vi swans are also in the selection of what i could get btw

 

[SuB]

Stop double posting please dude, we have an edit button for a reason.

 

[poldo13]

using edit button for a while now. i dont see double posts. but then again I am sorry.

 

[SuB]

Yeah if you look, I've been through and merged them fella. No worries just a point we have to enforce.

Enjoy!

 

[Kei]

HiVi might be a good choice as they make some very decent drive units that could be bought for building your own speakers. (The actual woofers and tweeters)