Hi I'm new at this forum.
I need an usb soundcard (it must be linux compatible), I dont need any inputs cause I will use it only to play music (a 2 channel DAC should be good, but expensive I think). I will connect the sound card to a pair of genelec 8020a and want to spend about 200€ (if there's any good solution about this price, else please say how much should I spend).
If anyone has another idea to connect the speakers to a laptop with good quality please tell me
Thanks in advance.

Hi, welcome to the forum.

This thread may be useful:
I need some advice, Dolby Digital Live?


There has also been some discussion regarding USB sound cards and Linux on the Linux Questions website:
Want to find Linux compatible USB sound card
is the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage usb sound card compatible with Linux?
You may find some useful information in their hardware compatibility list.

I can't help you with the remainder of your question, but I suggest that respondents recommend suitable USB sound cards and then you can determine if they are Linux compatible. The ALSA SoundCard Matrix will help. I will help if I am able.

Thanks for your help.
The list of alsa compatible soundcards is very usefull, but what I dont know is a good soundcard or cheap DAC included on that list.
Any other idea to have working my speakers is welcomed

I don't use Linux, and I don't know who makes the "best" 200€ external soundcard... But I think I can "ease your mind" a bit...

1- I don't "worry" about playback nearly as much as I worry about recording. A reasonably-good (accurate, low-noise) DAC is much easier to make than a good ADC. Under normal listening conditions you are unlikely to hear any difference between any "good" soundcard and a "very-high-end" soundcard. (You might not even hear any difference between a some super-cheap soundcards and a high-end soundcard!)

2- A good external soundcard is easier to build than an internal PCI soundcard. A PCI card lives in a very electrically-noisy environment. A high-end PCI soundcard manufacturer has to make great efforts to shield and isolate the card from this interference.... And, he never really knows what specific interference the card will be exposed to. The (audio) noise measured at the factory can be different from the noise you get in a different computer. An external card lives in a less-noisy environment, and the noise measured at the factory will generally be the same noise you get in the real-world. (If you can trust the manufacturer's specs is another matter... but the performance shouldn't change from computer-to-computer.)

A good external soundcard should have its own power supply and should not even touch the power provided by USB. Otherwise, it can be as bad as (or even worse than) an internal one (regarding noise).

Thanks for the info you gave me, but it's not what I'm asking for
I know about the electric noise you spoke, a must have on the card I'm looking for is a balanced output TRS or XLR, it has to have their own power supply aswell.
What I'm asking is some examples of DAC's or soundcards that meets that requisites (Linux compatible, balanced outputs, usb or firewire, a price about 200€ or lees hehe) I wont make any recording so I don't want to spend money on Inputs, preamps etc I only use the outputs.
The speaker I'll use are 2 way active with balanced inputs.
Thanks in advance and hope u can say me some models.