Quite good, but tbh 2.1, a decent set is just as good and not to say 'decent' means expensive. Even better is some very good headphones I guess, like Sennheisers.
I have a Logitech 2.1 X-230 system running through an X-Fi Fatality Pro card, they sound f**king amazing tbh, I've had them for a few years now and the ONLY upgrade I have been thinking about is these speakers but from 2.1 to 5.1 setup.
The X-fi card too, as I am sure with some slightly older soundblasters have CMSS-3D, which ups 2.1 games to 5.1 with good results, and even ups sound quality through the Crystalizer option...which actually works
Basically though my point is, the sound from these speakers is only as good as what your computer outputs. You'd be surprised just how much difference there is from onboard sound (even high def) to a decent sound card such as x-fi. I was amazed
The best way to notice is to get decent headphones, with speakers (Creative Megaworks) I don't really notice the difference between my onboard and the X-Fi.
Meh - Using my P380's, which cost £30, I could tell the difference. Not necessarily a £50 difference (the cost of the car), but I was suprised by the difference it made.
Bad points are that it makes everything else (like my phone or sometimes my MP3 player) sound crap even through the same headphones.
I have no idea what your setup is, but I could tell the difference between onboard and an SB Live! (barely - possibly placebo), and from the SB Live! to the X-Fi (i've got an un-modded XtremeMusic) was a much much bigger jump.
When I upgraded from onboard to my M-Audio card, I think there was a small improvement to sound quality, mostly seemed smoother on the highs. I should emphasise this was small though (although I haven't bothered ABX testing seeing as it would take 5 mins to change between the two), and I mostly attribute this to being able to use a high quality audio interconnect rather than cable with a 3.5mm jack at one end.
The largest difference I've recently had to my sound quality was in fact not buying a ludicrously expensive amplifier, but moving house. The room I'm in now is very echoey and it made my hifi sound very different, and sadly for the worse. I'm moving out in a few months so hopefully the new room will be more sonically dead. TBH I attribute the room as to why when I did ABX test between my old amp and my new one, they sounded surprisingly close.
Its a mixture of all the settings put together that you dont normally get; crystizer/svm/EAX/CMSS, also X-230 speakers sound amazing, forget the price these are some of the best speakers I have ever had and thats including hi-fi systems, I am just hoping someone can hold me to that statement
Also regarding the crystalizer, there is a difference but its not really that big and you cant really tell in games. Listen to some more instrumental pieces of music on entertainment mode with crystalizer on and there is a difference, it just depends if your listening to the bits it generally enhances, mainly the drums, you wont really tell the difference with electronic music.
And when you say, I have non-onboard sound....is your soundcard an X-fi?
It's an Audigy 2 ZS, with rather better speakers than those (but still piss poor on the whole as they are PC speakers). I didn't buy it to get an increase in sound 'quality', I bought it for its ASIO capabilities back in the day when real time input processing was more difficult on standard home PCs.
I don't know what those effects do, they sound a lot like marketing terms to me, and I'm pretty sure card will do them. I expect a lot of them could be acheived with some careful equaliser setup (and can be having just quickly read about this Crystalizer).
I'm sorry but I'm not going to take the claims of someone who says the X-230s are amazing speakers very seriously.
EAX = Environmental audio extensions - Simulates real world environments, such as underwater etc.
SVM - Smart Volume Management - Dynamtically changes the volumes of certain objects/entities to emphasize some. I have tried these settings on a few previous soundblasters but they arent as good. To give you an example of how it works, I turned it on when playing COD4, I actually looked through the settings after my original post on this thread and realised it wasnt on. In contrast to it on and off, when on it was easier to tell if there was a grenade landing close to me, easier to tell if there was someone running up to me etc, simply because it increased the volume of these. This obviously only applies to games.
Crystalizer - http://www.behardware.com/arti ... 6/creative-labs-x-fi.html
Like the review says though, it doesnt really effect much, but it doesnt degrade sound at all unless like Jakg said...you have the setting too high where it then creates distortion of high frequency sounds.
CMSS - Tries to simulate either surround sound on stereo speakers (this is though, I admit, trickery of the mind; sometimes works, sometimes doesnt work, but it IS better when its on).
The better feature of CMSS is that it will upscale stereo games to 5.1 or 7.1. It only takes the faint/quiet/far back sounds on the left and right speakers and then sends them to the back, simulating this. Using this on 2/2.1 speakers and the SVM setting together on games that dont support surround does work very very well.
They arent marketing gimmicks, they work even if they do need improving.
On the X-230 note, the subwoofer is overpowering, but simply change the mixer on whatever soundcard to compensate, although I like my bass loud for music but luckily the soundcard comes with entertainment and game modes . The 2 med/high speakers produce very good, clear mid and high tones and dont break up on high volume. I guess some speakers that cost a mere £20-30, you wont be impressed till you hear them, all I can say is they are very gooood
Back onto topic though, thats a nice setup, looks too expensive for me but would love to have a triple screen load out. Just out of curiousity, do you think the extra money and effort was worth it?
For immersion, yes, but atm i'm considering selling it as i dont have time for gaming and I want a car.
I only paid ~£60 for monitor 3 and the 6600GT, the second monitor costed around £100 new but was a gift, you can pick 'em up for £50 used, and I really can't cope that well with a single screen and multi-tasking now anyway.
Well, let me just say that a few months ago I splurged and bought a $200 Asus Xonar Sound card for my computer. Previously I was using the small PCI 1x 7.1 sound card that came with my Crosshair Mobo.
I have never, EVER been happier with a single upgrade in my life. I was skeptical that I would hear a difference, but the sound difference was absolutely incredible. I really can't even begin to describe it. Maybe I noticed it more with my z5300e setup, but it was absolutely amazing. I had just watched Transformers (we use this computer as a media center) and I watched the battle scenes again and it was completely different. Even regular music sounds much better. What this card did was help me discover the new higher-frequency sounds in movies and music. But everything else ALSO sounds a lot... crisper? I absolutely recommend a good sound card to anyone who wants good sound. These speakers are "THX certified..." and I was never that impressed (I've had them for two years.) I finally understand what this sound system is capable of with this card now.
Also, I used to not be able to go above 75% on the speaker controls without hissing (as with any computer speakers usually.) I assumed that was just normal. Not anymore! 100% and absolutely no hissing or background noise at all.
All in all, I have to say, I would never have expected it, but these things make a phenomenal difference.
Yea, see I thought it was my speakers that were crap until I got the x-fi, in your case the asus one.
I am currently looking into getting 5.1 or 7.1 system now, as I am turning my computer into a media centre too. Buying a nice new larger monitor, a blue-ray player for the machine, and some comfort items for the room. Got the TV card/remote all sorted out etc
