PC Hifi?

[thegingerone]

Afternoon all, I find myself, not by choice, spending more time on PC. I have decent hifi kit throughout the house but what's my options on desktop PC if the budget was around 250 shamoleon. Not a huge amount I know but anyone recommend kit to make my listening a little easier on the ears? TIA guys.

[OutInTheShed]

A lot of PCs have fairly decent DACs in.
You could just try feeding that to any hifi amp and speakers.
Other options include a BlueTooth DAC, USB DAC maybe.
I had a PC with an optical out from the MoBo, that was OK with a cheap DAC.
Going optical out can be useful if you get noise or grounding issues.

Sometimes it's nice to have an alternative source,so you can listen to music while waiting for the 'puter to reboot.

If you want new kit, there are some cheap small amps like Lepai which are surprisingly good, so you could prioritise spending on some nice bookshelf speakers.

[outnumbered]

thegingerone said:

Afternoon all, I find myself, not by choice, spending more time on PC. I have decent hifi kit throughout the house but what's my options on desktop PC if the budget was around 250 shamoleon. Not a huge amount I know but anyone recommend kit to make my listening a little easier on the ears? TIA guys.

I've recently bought some Kali LP-UNF active monitors for the PC. Very happy with them.

https://www.erinsaudiocorner.com/loudspeakers/kali...

[Digger]

If headphones I have gone . . .

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Philips-SHP9500-00-Headph...

https://www.amazon.co.uk/ZEN-DAC-V3-Desktop-Conver...

Or some budget Active speakers such as . . .

https://www.amazon.co.uk/PreSonus-Eris-3-5-Gen-Stu...


I also have these but you have a budget . . .

https://www.amazon.co.uk/IK-Multimedia-iLoud-Monit...

[danb79]

thegingerone said:

Afternoon all, I find myself, not by choice, spending more time on PC. I have decent hifi kit throughout the house but what's my options on desktop PC if the budget was around 250 shamoleon. Not a huge amount I know but anyone recommend kit to make my listening a little easier on the ears? TIA guys.

For plug n play (USB C etc); I'd be looking at these: https://www.amazon.co.uk/ADAM-Audio-D3V-Monitoring...

Absolutely belting speakers by a fantastic speaker maker - they kick out some sound too with those side firing passive radiators...

[driver67]

What not play your computer music via your Hi-Fi system ?

I use the Wiim system as per :-

www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B0C5C9XXD5

Cheers,
Dougie.

[mikef]

Not totally sure what’s being asked

Is the PC within cable distance of your hifi?
Alternatively can they be connected to the same wifi?
Does your hifi drive speakers in the same room as the PC?

[thegingerone]

Thanks all, apologies I was a bit vague. My desktop has a pair of creative speakers, 20 quid jobs plugged into the destop soundcard. Far from the expert but would a small dac and some powered speakers be the simplest solution and decent bang for buck ratio?, narrowing down the options. TIA guys

[MC Bodge]

In my home office.

Using my laptop as a source, I have an SMSL SU-1 DAC plugged into the USB port, a Douk G3 amp and a pair of early 2000s Mission bookshelf speakers (bought used).

It sounds very good to me when using Spotify lossless.

It cost very little.

Edited by MC Bodge on Monday 26th January 08:59

[mikef]

So your desktop has a discrete sound card? What outputs does that have? Mini-jack stereo (often coloured green)? mini-jack surround? Full-size speaker jacks? XLR? Does the PC have digital out? If so, is that TOSLink optical, digital coax or digital mini-jack? Do you have a spare USB port?

[danb79]

thegingerone said:

Thanks all, apologies I was a bit vague. My desktop has a pair of creative speakers, 20 quid jobs plugged into the destop soundcard. Far from the expert but would a small dac and some powered speakers be the simplest solution and decent bang for buck ratio?, narrowing down the options. TIA guys

Yup; a small footprint amp, with a built in DAC and then speakers of your choice...

SMSL amp/DAC: https://www.amazon.co.uk/S-M-S-L-Infineons-technol...
Speakers (as an example): Wharfedale Diamond 9.1s (great speakers): https://www.amazon.co.uk/Wharfedale-Diamond-Speake...

Or; as I linked to above, plug n play active speakers like the ADAM D3Vs; or have a look at the Edifier examples on Amazon; they're getting better and better and I've a few sets myself in various rooms in the house and a set in the garage

I have these Edifier's in my garage: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edifier-R1700BT-Bluetooth...

I've got these MR4s in one of our spare rooms upstairs: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Edifier-MR4-Powered-Speak... with this Bluetooth receiver: https://www.amazon.co.uk/UGREEN-Bluetooth-Amplifie...

Or you could go something like:

Scarlett Solo USB interface: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Focusrite-Scarlett-Solo-A...
M-Audio active monitors: https://www.amazon.co.uk/M-Audio-BX5-D3-Production...
TRS cables: https://www.amazon.co.uk/TISINO-Cable-6-35mm-Stere...
Speaker isolation pads: https://www.amazon.co.uk/Anpro-Monitor-Acoustic-Is...

[thegingerone]

Thanks guys, appreciate the time 👍