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Logitech Z-680 Dolby 5.1 PC Speakers Reviewed
PhatBass writes "PC Speakers certainly have come a long way from the little buzzers we used to
listen to before the days of SoundBlaster. Remember the 'Windows Speaker
Driver' that gave you more than beeps and buzzing through the little cone in
your case? Well now we have full Dolby Surround Sound setups, THX
Certified, the works, for Gaming, DVD and Multimedia bliss. Take a look at
the
sweet Z-680 setup from Logitech that is reviewed here, they sport 1000 Watts
of Peak Power, a hardware Dolby Pro Logic II 5.1 Decoder, Digital Inputs and
serious style."
For the price of most PC Surround sound speakers and cards you could buy a nice Surround Sound stereo system and run your PC audio through it, and it usually sounds alot better. I have seen it done mayof times and the sound quality is superb.
[n8.r0n] http://petesweb.spymac.net/
When will speaker manufacturers stop quoting meaningless figures?
Not if you plan to power it with your on-board chip or internal audiocard.
Its not the speakers so much as the soundcard (and the placement of its ad/da converters) that makes a PC worthy of an audiophiles interest. As long as the converters are sitting on a PCI card, or worse yet, on-board, interference is bound to turn the average audiophile away.
There exist solutions for getting the converters outside the PC case (breakout boxes) that certainly help, and if you keep it digital all the way from PC to your sound-system (no i dont mean a cheapy set of speakers from Logitech) things can get even cleaner. The Hammerfall and DIGI cards from RME for instance are a nice option in this case.
But then if you're talking true audiophile, they'd laugh at even thinking about having a PC anywhere near where they plan to listen to music. The fans on pretty much any moderm PC lift your ambient sound-floor to somewhere in the -60db range regardless of the quality of your output chain.
So the answer is no. If an audiophile is going to spend $10,000 to buy a set of headphones, they dont want a PC. But then there are audiophiles and there are audiophiles.
"I'm tired of all this 'Aren't humanity great' bullshit. We're a virus with shoes" - Bill Hicks
Your right, this is a silly question.
Why buy a PC as a media station when you can buy a stereo?
My PC is my media station, because i live in a dorm room where space is at a premium. Surround sounds setups don't crowd the desk either, because most speakers for these systems are either mean to be wall or floor mounted. THe only thing taking up space on your desk is the decoder box and possibly the center channel. Also, in my case, the monitor is clearly larger than my TV. I prefer a crappy 19" over 13" any day. Also, how many Stero systems do you know of that will play MP3s, OGGs, WMF, DiVx in any flavor, and quicktimes? Not only that, but with Vivo you can hook up your game systems and have everything integrated.
In terms of versatility, there is no "true" stereo setup that can match a PC right now. It may not be pretty, and it has its fair share of PC quirks, but when space is a premium and you want semi-cheap versatility, give me a good PC with a nice sound and video setup anyday.
13 year old white supremacists are shitty web designers.
If an audiophile is going to spend $10,000 to buy a set of headphones, they dont want a PC.
If someone got them to pay $10K for a pair of headphones, they aren't an audiophile -- they're an idiot.
May we never see th