Hi.
I'm looking for a replacement for my computer (desktop) speakers. Right now I have a pair of M-Audio speakers that started to generate some noise (and produced a bit annoying hum/hiss when silent anyway). I still plan to fix them if possible to compare to whatever I decide to buy (just for fun and no profit). That way or another I went to https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?pages/SpeakerTestData/, picked up recommended active speakers up to $200 each and then when browsing the reviews I realized two things:
- none of the speakers conforming to those parameters seems to have a front headphones jack (or maybe a headphones jack at all),
- almost none of the speakers seems to have a front volume knob - I think the only ones are Audioengine A5+ (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../audioengine-a5-powered-speaker-review.13803/).
Now, I realize that the speakers on that list are not typical computer speakers, anyway both the things I mentioned above are pretty useful for me. Since those A5+ seems to be quite nice I started wondering if there is a way to somehow connect headphones to them, but I think they mention explicitly on their site (but I cannot find it now) that it isn't possible and they recommend their external DAC D1 to set up this configuration. Since my understanding about various connectors/standards and what they mean is pretty... non existent at this point of time I'm a bit lost. So few questions:
- does headphones jacks not make sense for those kind of speakers (for whatever technical reasons) or it just no one is asking for it?
- is an external DAC the simplest option here (although I would really prefer to avoid any extra stuff on my desk) or is it possible to somehow connect headphones to any of those speakers?
- is typical onboard computer sound card good enough to drive such speakers or are there some possible issues here (connectors maybe)?
- are there any typically recommended computed desktops speakers besides those on the review list?
I thought a little about a front-mounted audio panel (something like https://www.amazon.com/sds-Micropho...words=front+audio+panel&qid=1631039687&sr=8-3) but a) they are ugly, b) it won't be a optimal way to connect/disconnect headphones in my case.
I'm looking for a replacement for my computer (desktop) speakers. Right now I have a pair of M-Audio speakers that started to generate some noise (and produced a bit annoying hum/hiss when silent anyway). I still plan to fix them if possible to compare to whatever I decide to buy (just for fun and no profit). That way or another I went to https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?pages/SpeakerTestData/, picked up recommended active speakers up to $200 each and then when browsing the reviews I realized two things:
- none of the speakers conforming to those parameters seems to have a front headphones jack (or maybe a headphones jack at all),
- almost none of the speakers seems to have a front volume knob - I think the only ones are Audioengine A5+ (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/.../audioengine-a5-powered-speaker-review.13803/).
Now, I realize that the speakers on that list are not typical computer speakers, anyway both the things I mentioned above are pretty useful for me. Since those A5+ seems to be quite nice I started wondering if there is a way to somehow connect headphones to them, but I think they mention explicitly on their site (but I cannot find it now) that it isn't possible and they recommend their external DAC D1 to set up this configuration. Since my understanding about various connectors/standards and what they mean is pretty... non existent at this point of time I'm a bit lost. So few questions:
- does headphones jacks not make sense for those kind of speakers (for whatever technical reasons) or it just no one is asking for it?
- is an external DAC the simplest option here (although I would really prefer to avoid any extra stuff on my desk) or is it possible to somehow connect headphones to any of those speakers?
- is typical onboard computer sound card good enough to drive such speakers or are there some possible issues here (connectors maybe)?
- are there any typically recommended computed desktops speakers besides those on the review list?
I thought a little about a front-mounted audio panel (something like https://www.amazon.com/sds-Micropho...words=front+audio+panel&qid=1631039687&sr=8-3) but a) they are ugly, b) it won't be a optimal way to connect/disconnect headphones in my case.