Soundcard/Speakers Recommendation

Hey all - I am in need of a recommendation for a sound card and speaker combination.

Usage: Mostly gaming / Twitch, occasionally a movie or TV show off a Plex server.


Here is what I would like:

Optical out - I was an idiot and didn't check if my motherboard had optical out when I upgraded, so now I can't use the Astro headset my wife purchased for me a few months ago. That went over well...

Headphone/Mic in - The plan is to retire the headset, and get a pair of Senn HD598 headphones and a desk mic (open to recommendations for this as well), so being able to use these in the future would be great.

Volume control - I like having a knob to turn that can control the volume, so an external soundcard is probably what I would need?


This is where I start struggling with picking something out. I currently have an old-ass Logitech 2.1 speaker setup that are garbage. I would like a 2.1 setup that is pretty solid, but don't want to complicate things more than they need to be.


My plan: I was looking at purchasing a Sound Blaster X-Fi HD, and the Klipsch ProMedia 2.1 speakers. I'd hook up my headset through the optical out, and then the speakers with a male RCA plug to female 3.5mm jack adapter. I don't really need the phono preamp, would the X-Fi Surround Pro be a better choice and then get some speakers and a powered sub?

These components choices are flexible, I am just completely lost as to what I should look into. Thanks!

Speakers: https://www.elac.com/

Why the Sound Blaster X-FI HD? It is a great sound card, but I can't imagine that Creative is going to support it for much longer. Now that the Sound BlasterX AE-5 is out Creative is going to be pushing that over most of their other cards. The software on the AE-5 is kind of crappy, but Creative will fix that slowly. I would look into some other sound card alternatives. Speakers are another story. Promedias are nice, but an amp, bookshelves and a powered sub would sound better.

-Schiit Modi 2 & Magni 3 stack for DAC and headphone amp. Very minimal driver setup required and none of the bloatware, fake spatial surround stuff that come with Creative’s DAC, unless you want them.

-Any stereo receiver from Yamaha, Denon or Onkyo should work. Onkyo TX-8020, for example.

-Bookshelf speakers, best budget choice is Pioneer BS-22, if you want something with better then I’d recommend the ELAC B5 or B6.

pooloffire said:

Why the Sound Blaster X-FI HD?

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Because I have no clue what I am looking for or really need, was throwing out something I found that I thought might work for my needs. I may have found a better solution, see below.

pooloffire said:

Speakers are another story. Promedias are nice, but an amp, bookshelves and a powered sub would sound better.

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I am open to other speakers and using an amp, but I am going to need some suggestions.

David-Duc said:

-Schiit Modi 2 & Magni 3 stack for DAC and headphone amp.

-Any stereo receiver from Yamaha, Denon or Onkyo should work. Onkyo TX-8020, for example.

-Bookshelf speakers, best budget choice is Pioneer BS-22, if you want something with better then I’d recommend the ELAC B5 or B6.

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I was just getting ready to post about the Modi/Magnus stack!

How would I hook up the stereo receiver? Would that come off the Magnus RCA out?

I think I'll get an Asus XONAR for now to deal with my need for optical out right now with my headset, and then the Schiit stack for my headphones and figure out some kind of desk mic in the future.

If optical out is what you need get something cheap. That way you can save and research for something better. Optical out is really just a passthrough for the most part. It just takes the sound and passes it out as an optical signal. Almost every sound card will sound about the same through the optical out. No need to spend too much on a card for that. A Xonar DGX sound works great for that. I think it even has Dolby Digital Live to encode your sound to Dolby Digital for the Astro.

Also, a note on the speakers. The Elac speakers have my attention, if I get a powered sub, would I want the B5 over the B6? Elac sub suggestion? I didn't see one in the debut series.

B6 will have a little more bass because of the bigger mid-range driver, look at the s10 for the sub or the s10eq, but it is 200 more than the s10.

fenton06 said:

Also, a note on the speakers. The Elac speakers have my attention, if I get a powered sub, would I want the B5 over the B6? Elac sub suggestion? I didn't see one in the debut series.

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-I’d still suggest go with the B6, larger woofer should increase low freq. response so you can set the crossover on the sub lower. The difference, imo, will be very subtle so you might not be able to tell the difference at all.

-For the modi/magni stack, the signal would be: PC > USB > modi > RCA > magni > RCA > receiver. You can get the modi with Toslink & coax spdif inputs too.

David-Duc said:

-I’d still suggest go with the B6, larger woofer should increase low freq. response so you can set the crossover on the sub lower. The difference, imo, will be very subtle so you might not be able to tell the difference at all.

-For the modi/magni stack, the signal would be: PC > USB > modi > RCA > magni > RCA > receiver. You can get the modi with Toslink & coax spdif inputs too.

Click to expand...

Perfect, this is exactly what I needed! Only real thing left is the stereo receiver. I'll do some research since that is much more in my wheelhouse, unless someone has a killer suggestion for that as well!

I run a pair of Elac UniFi B5 bookshelves with an SVS subwoofer (SB-2000). Sounds amazing with games, music, videos, etc. Sometimes you can find an SB-1000 for as low as $400 on SVS' outlet store. Think I paid $575 for mine and the only problem was a couple of 2" scratches on the back of the cabinet. Everything else looked brand new and is covered by their full 5-year warranty.

If you find a receiver with a good DAC built-in, you wouldn't need any of the Schitt gear. I use a Schitt Gungnir DAC + Crown power amp. Schitt makes some really good... schitt.

Really want to thank everyone for the massive amount of help you all have been! I'm really excited about this and here is what I decided!


Step 1: (Immediate future)

• Asus XONAR DGX for optical out so I can use my headset (appease the wife since she bough the headset for a bday present a few years ago)

Step 2: (near future)

• Schiit Modi 2
• Schiit Magni 3
• Sennheiser HD598 Cs
• Blue Snowball desk mic

Step 3: (sometime in the next year or two)

• Harmon Kardon HK 3770
• Elac S6 bookshelves
• Elac S10 subwoofer