Mayro

Thanks for stopping in, let me give you a little back story. I've been trying to improve the quality of the sound that I get from my computer. You know when you are listening to music or watching a movie and the sound does more than just be heard, its almost like its on a tottaly differnt level.

Im quite good with computers and computer hard/software but when it comes to audio software/hardware configurations, im at a loss.

Im using a X-Fi Music edition with the old 5.1 surround sound analog speakers. Im not sure how much benifit I would get from upgradeing the speakers, would it be worth it? What would the differance be? Suggestions? I play alot of video games, listen to music and watch anime/video on the pc as well.

While on the topic of possibley upgradeing to a new speaker system, is it a good idea to consider skipping regular PC speaker systems and switching to a reciver / speakers that dont have the wire solderd in? I know im looking at the differance in price ranges of 60-300 for regular speakers. How would you connect (best way) these sound cards to a reciver?

As far as software, I know there isnt much differance between media player X and the next sound client, but that the codecs and your settings make a differance. What is the best way to set this up?

From my understanding, EAX and other types of sound acceleration are going by by in vista, except for OPEN AL. Am I right in this thinking?

Honestly from what I've been picking up from everyone on here, I would have never bought the X-fi and would have got that new sound card that actually supports digital AND Ac3

Thanks

Salec

In my opinion if you're willing to pay the extra amount, you're far better off going with regular speakers and a receiver instead of pc speakers. I'm currently in a situation I want to use my surround speakers for my video game consoles and 400 disc sony DVD changer. My speakers sound amazing but are PC speakers and thus only connect to a PC sound card. I've yet to find a sound card that would have enough inputs to make my PC act as a receiver.

You get much more flexibility going with a separate solution. As for hooking up your PC to the receiver, there is a plethora of options ranging from the digital passthrough to using a usb cable connecting your pc directly to the receiver (many modern receivers support this).

On the flip side, you do pay MUCH more. My Klispch surround speakers sound absolutely amazing and only cost me $250. A similar speaker setup would run me about $400 + whatever the cost of the receiver is which could be ~$200 so it's a tough one.

Now if someone out there had an audio switching device that would let my PC act as a home theater receiver OR there was a method of plugging my speakers into a home theater receiver then that would be incredible.

However, like I said, i'm no guru