I'm happy for them they are doing well and the design is great :-D

I will be keeping an eye on these. I bought a set of Edifier shelf speakers last year for my Mother and they sound phenomenal. My z 5500's have bass and sound OK but the clarity of her $100 Edifiers is astounding. Approaching audiophile territory.

Had some decent Edifiers long ago, but given up on computer speakers, no matter how good they can be. Best audio you can get for your rig are hi-fi separates (AV receiver + bookshelf speakers + sub).

Good , now give me a 150 - 200 W - 5.1 setup ! I am still happy with my logitech G51 and I don't need anything more for a room but will love to try something better. I really do think the construction of the G51 was spot on.

Oh no. They're gonna start the whole "gaming" nonsense? Well, the end has begun, it seems. They've made decent speakers up till now.

alanm:

Had some decent Edifiers long ago, but given up on computer speakers, no matter how good they can be. Best audio you can get for your rig are hi-fi separates (AV receiver + bookshelf speakers + sub).

Really just need a decent DAC and decent speakers that are ok in near field situations i.e. ears close to the speakers. There are a ton of speakers today that fit the bill. Many bookshelf speakers sound better at 5-10 feet away not 2 feet away as the imaging is not as wide. For example: Paradigm Millenia CT 2, Audio Engine HD6, KEF X300A or KEF LS50, Adam A7x., Genelec M040, and Focal Shape 65. The list goes on in all price ranges.

JamesSneed:

Really just need a decent DAC and decent speakers that are ok in near field situations i.e. ears close to the speakers...

For 5.1+ surround, AV receivers are the way to go. 2ch is not enough for my needs/purposes. DACs typically are a 2ch affair. Some 5.1 AC3 or Pro Logic DACs may exist but do not believe they handle the job any better than a good AV receiver, which is specialized for this purpose. With built in amplification, AV receivers are a no-brainer.

alanm:

For 5.1+ surround, AV receivers are the way to go. 2ch is not enough for my needs/purposes. DACs typically are a 2ch affair. Some 5.1 AC3 or Pro Logic DACs may exist but do not believe they handle the job any better than a good AV receiver, which is specialized for this purpose. With built in amplification, AV receivers are a no-brainer.

Good point. I never got into surround sound on the PC except for headphones for gaming. Then I do have a decent home theater so there was no point for movies etc. I do get the point if you are going to watch movies or want to game in surround sound 5.1/7.1 etc then a receiver makes total sense. I much prefer a simpler setup for the PC along with a decent pair of headphones.

JamesSneed:

Good point. I never got into surround sound on the PC except for headphones for gaming. Then I do have a decent home theater so there was no point for movies etc. I do get the point if you are going to watch movies or want to game in surround sound 5.1/7.1 etc then a receiver makes total sense. I much prefer a simpler setup for the PC along with a decent pair of headphones.

I was waiting for an insane answer to alanm's comment. That's maybe because I read really insane things from "DACs all you need" people. Glad you didn't do it. Now, the simpler functional setup is internal soundcard with the best surround emulation. Not the best in sound, nor the best in simplicity, yet is the most balanced, functional and useful, and the best thing for games (because games are better with headphones but the headphone settings in games are just terrible, 5.1/7.1 with emulation like CMSS3D or SBX is the absolute best thing for this case). I know that usually "DACs all you need" people just can't understand about this and think that somehow multichannel sources/sounds converts magically to stereo speakers and headphones (as if they were the same thing), without any proper processing, and say that the "soundstage" of the expensive speaker, headphone, DAC, receiver, room, cables, or any equipment they spent an amount of money and makes them feel compelled to be egotistically proud of it, "makes the surround sound". Statements as absurd as the more magicall thinking examples in other areas. Seems like a joke or an exaggerated parody, but no, people really have that opinion. It's incredible. But they can do even worse: I read more than one time form those that "surround sound is a gimmick". Not the emulation, not the mixing, but multichannel itself. They think everything is actually stereo and they somehow, justify all these ridiculous opinions by saying "we have two ears" (!!!). You read an amount of amazingly absurd things from "audiophiles", but this has to be the worse of all.

I put these monitors https://www.klipsch.com/products/r-15pm-powered-monitors with this sub https://www.klipsch.com/products/reference-subwoofers?model=r-12sw connected to my asus essence stx and all is great

@Fergutor I'm not one of those fanatics. I personally tend to lean towards powered 2.1 systems with the speakers having a built in DAC like say the Audio Engine HD6's with a decent sub. That gets you pretty good sound with no hassle. Setting up full surround sound is a bit extreme for my tastes albeit I do have an old Denon 1913 sitting in a box not being used. I use the PC for work and gaming but no movies. I tend to end up on headphones for games anyhow which I'm sure a lot of people do. So the speakers are really used for music mostly and headphones are for gaming albeit I do play some games over the speakers. @TyrantofJustice I bet that Klipsch setup sounds nice. That is exactly the type of setup I was referencing. Did you ever try the r-15's hooked up over USB to see how they sound with there DAC vs the sound card?

JamesSneed:

@Fergutor I'm not one of those fanatics. I personally tend to lean towards powered 2.1 systems with the speakers having a built in DAC like say the Audio Engine HD6's with a decent sub. That gets you pretty good sound with no hassle. Setting up full surround sound is a bit extreme for my tastes albeit I do have an old Denon 1913 sitting in a box not being used. I use the PC for work and gaming but no movies. I tend to end up on headphones for games anyhow which I'm sure a lot of people do. So the speakers are really used for music mostly and headphones are for gaming albeit I do play some games over the speakers. @TyrantofJustice I bet that Klipsch setup sounds nice. That is exactly the type of setup I was referencing. Did you ever try the r-15's hooked up over USB to see how they sound with there DAC vs the sound card?

No I have only used the sound card I do not even own a audio usb cable lol... I just assumed the sound card would be better. Now you have me wondering... also i am clueless since i have been out of the audio game for so long... i get a crazy amount of buzz through all the powered/amped speakers especially when i turn on the electric fire place or the air conditoner all in the sam,e room different power outlets... but my riight monitor speaker has a ground and im an ass and have not googled it so i have no idea how to ground a speaker or if that would even help. Other than that buzz the speakers sound amazing in my living room whether playing a 4k movie over pc hooked up to my 4k tv or games and music it just all sounds great. but like i mentioned its been years since i had real home speakers.. i am 37 the only other speakers i had were a nice set of Cerwin Vegas when i was 18 hooked up to a receiver/amp. my last set of pc 2.1 were the corsair sp2500 i believe they were called.. i gave them to my neice and they make her whole room shake lol.