What equipment do you use to listen to the music on your computer?

mine is following:

PC: Celeron 333MHz, 196 Mb RAM with Win2000 pro (SP3) OS
soundcard: A-Trend, based on Yamaha 724 chip
speakers: AIWA Z-R700 musical centre
headphones: AIWA XP-X225

audio player: Winamp 2.81 + plugins (sometimes Foobar)

not the best choice, but it's far beter, than Genius computer speakers

I use a soundcard and speakers.

PC: AthlonXP 2000+, 256MB DDR RAM, WinXP Home, Ge4 MX440
Soundcard: Soundblaster DE 5.1
Speakers: Logitech Z-560
Software: Winamp3 Most of the time (because I can use VorbisGain) or Sonique2 Alpha sometimes


After upgrading my speakers from Creative Inspire 5300 to the Logitech's I can now tell the difference between -q3 and the CD. My ears aren't as bad as I thought!!

This is my system:
PC: Dell Inspiron 4150, 1.8GHz, 512MB Ram, Win XP Pro.
Soundcard: Internal something..
Headphones: GRADO SR80
Audio player: Foobar2000 0.5 Beta XX

Working great!

PC: AMD Duron 1.3 GHz, 128 MB RAM, Win98SE
Soundcard: SB AWE64
Speakers: JVC SP-D501T with JVC MX-D551TR amp
Headphones: Sony MDR-CD170
Software: foobar2000

I wish it was:

PC: CPU-1024QBit 1000Mhz, RAM 512Mb;
Soundcard: MAudio Revolution;
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 600;
Software: fb2k 0.43.

But the reality is:

PC: CPU-AMD XP 1900+, RAM 256Mb;
Soundcard: Onboard AC97 5.1;
Headphones: Broken; Speakers-2.1 100Watt;
Software: fb2k 0.43.

yup...


PC: AMD Duron 1.7 GHz, 256 MB RAM, win98 and 2K

for listening:

Soundcard: SMI8738 C3DX chip w/spdif
Amp: modefied NAD 3240 w/external power
Speakers: homemade.. Thiel elements.. studio monitor
Headphones: Grado SR80
Software: foobar 0.43

CPU: p4 1.6a @ 2.4ghz
Soundcard: Turtlebeach Santa Cruz
Headphones: JVC something
Speakers: custom made (Velodyne tweeters and polypropylene midrange drivers) off a denon amp
Software: foobar 2k and winamp 2.81 (w mad and in mpc 0.97i)

tannoy reveal active monitors, decoupled from my wooden desk with icehockey-pucks
m-audio delta44 soundcard
software: MAD mp3 decoder

Computer - silenced Dell box with a TB Santa Cruz
Amp - Yamaha rx 795 connected via spdif
B&W 602 speakers
Paradigm PS 1200 subwoofer

upgrading to a Nad t 752 receiver soon. 1300$ Canadian though so it may be a while

on my computer

cpu: duron 700 @ 850
soundcard: sb live 5.1 (wanna upgrade!)
pc speakers: yamaha yst-m40 + yst-msw10 sub
headphones: sennheiser hd450
software: foobar2000 0.5 latest beta

on my hifi

source: pioneer pd-s705 cd player
amp: pioneer a-405r
speakers: kef q1

PC: Athlon Thouroghbred B 1700+ @2GHZ - 2400+, 2*80GB HDD
Soundcard: M-Audio Delta 410 (24/96)
Amp: Harman Kardon HK440
Speakers: custom/ Visaton drivers, 3way, ~150W
Headphones: SONY MDR-CD480
Player: Foobar .5 beta

Computer:
Athlon 850 w/ 256 meg ram
SB Live
Win 2k
Foobar 2k

which goes into

Sound:
Yamaha DSP-AX620 via SPDIF
5x Acoustic Energy Aegis Compact Speakers
Paradigm PS-1000 Sub

Computer is due for an upgrade sometime soon. I sorted out the Hi Fi last year so its the PC's turn

Computer: Abit KT7RAID + Duron 750@896Mhz, 512MB RAM
soon to be replaced with a BX133 + Tualatin Celeron 1,2Ghz@1,6Ghz
Soundcard: Terratec DMX x-fire 1024
Win2k
Foobar2k

Amp: Sherwood AX-5090R
Speakers: Pioneer SA-970 / Magnat Motion 80

Computer: P4 2.53 @ 2.85 GHz, 1 GB RAM, 2x120GB HDD (+1x250 GB IEEE1394)
Soundcards:
- Videologic SonicFury (or Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, whatever): Dedicated for music
- Analog Devices SoundMAX onboard AC97: Default soundcard, for Windows sounds, flash animations, games, etc...

Amp: Yamaha AX-590
Speakers: B&W DM602 S3
Headphone: Sennheiser HD535

Audio player: Foobar2000
OS: Windows 2000 Professional

Elitegroup K7S5A, Athlon XP 1700+, 256MB-SDram PC 133
soundblaster Audigy 2 Platinum with

• Sennheiser HD 600 (very soon! , I just ordered them!!)
  
• Sony TA-VA 777ES amp, with Canton Karat M50DC speaker

Windows XP Pro
Winamp 2.81

fragtal

P4 Northwood 2.0 GHz
1024MB RD-RAM PC-800
Asus P4T-E / Intel i850 chipset
Windows2000 Pro
Soundblaster Extigy (still )
Sennhesier HD600
Foobar 0.5

Computer:

• AMD Athlon T-Bird @ 1400mhz
  
• Shuttle AK-31 v3.1 Motherboard
  
• SB-Live Value
  
• 256mb PC2100 DDR Ram
  
• Asus V7700 Deluxe (GF2 GTS)
  
• Windows 2000 SP3
  
• Winamp v2.81 w/ Peter's SSRC Plugin & Shibatch Super EQ (To make up for SB-Live )

Sound Equipment:

• Kenwood VR-505 5.1 Surround Receiver (Fed off of SPDIF of SB-Live)
  
• Marantz PM325 Stereo Amp (Used to power an 8in Sub - It's a crime, I know )
  
• Speakers - 2 KLH L835B Front Channel, 3 Kenwood KS-205T for Surround / Center Channel, Kenwood 8in Sub
  
• Awia HP-X222 Headphones
  
• Marantz TT1060 Turntable for all the old vinyl stuff

Currently a SONY laptop with Intel P-III 700/500MHz, 320 Meg of ram, 20 gig HD, CA Extigy sound card, crappy little SONY 750 powered speakers and some great Etymotic earphones. Soon, Dell 2350 w/ P-IV Celeron 2.0 gHz, speakers HK-395 w/subwoofer and, CA Extigy sound card. Home system: 2 halfer mon-bridged 500's. hafler pre-amp, hafler tuner, KEF 104/2's and Sound Lab Pristine electrostatics w/ReVox CD player and an old SONY turntable for LP's.

computer: dell p3 600mhz
os: win2k pro (sp2)
ram: 256mb 600mhz rdram
soundcard: sb live! digital
player: winamp 2.81 (directsound)
speakers: two sets of microsoft digital sound system 80 (powered via analogue from sb live!)

my setup is a noobie one for sure, but it plays --alt-preset standard mp3s very nicely. has anyone else used the speakers that i have? i think they were essentially phillips-developed, microsoft-marketed systems, and they sound fantastic. microsoft set the price a little too high for them so they didn't sell, but that worked nicely for me, who found them at reduced price at costco (so i picked up a second set after i listened to the first one).

btw, i'm really impressed with this forum. yay for my first post!

PC: Athlon 500 / 256 MB RAM / Linux (Gentoo)
Soundcard: Guillemot MaxiSound Fortissimo (?) with Yamaha YMF744 chipset
Amp: Technics SU A-808
Speakers: Canton Ergo DC 300
Player: XMMS

Actually we already had an identical thread earlier but since I didn't post into that, here goes:

PC System:

• P4 1.8A in EPoX 4G4A+ with 512 MB PC2700 memory
  
• Terratec EWX 24/96 dedicated for music
  
• Integrated Realtek AC650 chip for games
  
• Windows 2000 SP3

Audio system:

• Marantz PM-64 Mk. II
  
• Wharfedale Diamond 8.4 floorstanding speakers
  
• AKG K-66 headphones for the Realtek chip
  
• Plenty of heavy-duty wire

As a musician I use my system very comfortably as a music producing station (recording, mixing and processing), as well as a HTPC for DVD's, a movie ripper & encoder and an audio encoder. Oh yes, and for programming, surfing and gaming (in that order)

Edit 31.07.2003:

I got a Marantz

PIII-733 with a SoundBlaster 128 and crappy standard speakers.

Mostly I listen to my MP3's on my RioVolt SP250.

Soundcard: Audigy 2
Amp: Technics Steroe Receiver SA-EX320
CD player: Yamaha Natural Sound CDX-396
Speakers: 2 * JBL TLX161
Headphones: Sennheiser HD 497

Software player: foobar2000

Computer

Homebuilt AMD Thunderbird 1.33ghz @ 1.46ghz
512meg of pc2700 ddr ram
60 gig ibm deskstar ide 7200rpm
Gainward GeForce 4 ti4200 64meg
Lite on 16x burner
Toshiba I think dvd
Wintv tv tuner
Soyo dragon motherboard with CMedia CMI8738 chipset which has both coaxial and optical digital inputs and outputs

Sound

Technics SA DX1050 reciever
Br-1 speaker kit from www.partsexpress.com
cheapo stands I built
Blueprint 1803 18" subwoofer driver in a 14cuft enclosure tuned to 18hz.
250w subwoofer amplifier
Behinger feedback destroyer pro (used as a parametric equilzer for my subwoofer)

Homebuilt headphone amplifier using burrbrown opamps
Sennheiser HD 600s

- P3 600 MHz with 256 MB RAM, fans and hard disk (quite) silenced.
- Win98SE and WinXP Pro, the first still for normal use.
- M-Audio Audiophile 2496, Turtle Beach Santa Cruz, CMI8738 motherboard soundcards, usually just the first one in operation.
- Pioneer 60W stereo integrated amp, one of the speaker outputs used as headphone output with some custom impedance adaptors.
- Tannoy Reveal passive monitors.
- Sony MDR-7506, Sennheiser HD560, Sennheiser HD580 headphones.
- Standard interconnects and speaker cable.
- Winamp 2.81+plugins, a few times Foobar2000, sometimes EAC for playing CDs.
- AVC Soul DMP-01 (clone of RioVolt SP100 and iRiver iMP-100) portable cd/mp3 player.

Home:

• AMD Athlon 1.4 @ 1.5GHz, 256 DDR RAM
  
• Modified Soundblaster Audigy with AD8620 opamps
  
• META 42 headphone amplifier also with AD8620 opamp
  
• Grado SR-80 headphones
  
• foobar w/ crossfeed module

For portable use:

• Rio Volt SP100
  
• Cmoy pocket amp w/ crossfeed circuit
  
• Grado SR-80

AMD Athlon XP 2000+, 512 MB DDR
Soundblaster Audigy
creative inspire 5100 speakers
gainward GeForce 4 64Mb
f2k 0.5

Hardware PC:

SC - Builtin SoundCard
SP - Crappy 2.1, in process of getting better speakers

Software PC:

OS - Win2k SP3
AP - fb2k v0.5

Usage - flac, ape, mpc, mp4, ogg, mp3, wav

Portable:

Hardware - iPAC 3630 + 128Mb + 64Mb + 32Mb CF total 224Mb
OS - PocketPC 2002
AP - PocketMVP

Usage - Ogg q1 = upto 7 Hours of music storage space!

PC: p3-800
sound card: SoundBlaster 128PCI
headphones: Sennheiser HD497
player: foobar 2k v 0.5

Computer: Athlon XP 1.4ghz, 256mb DDR
Soundcard: Diamond Multimedia MX300
Player: Winamp 2.81 w/ SSRC resampling, Win2k
Amplifier: Custom-built 18watt amplifier using Sanyo(or maybe Samsung) chip
Speakers: Rebuilt BIC Formula 1's
Headphones: Grado SR60

Anyone here have an M-Audio Sonica or one of those iMics? I really want an external soundcard setup, but I'd like to know how they sound first compared to a regular internal soundcard.

Computer: WinXP Pro SP1, Pentium 2.53Ghz Pentium 4, PC800 RDRAM, Radeon 9700 Pro
Soundcard: M-Audio Revolution
Software: Winamp3 & Foobar
Headphones: Pro.2 PH-S560 (need new cans. these suck.)
Speakers 2 * RCA 75-Watt PRO-LX550 with 5" honeycomb cone woofer and Linaeum dipole tweeter
Subwoofer: RCA 8" 60-Watt PRO-SW60P Powered Subwoofer
Portable: SlimX 400 and Sony w.ear headphones

Soundcard: Hercules Fortissimo III 7.1
Headphones: Kenwood KPM-410
Player: Foobar2000 .54

Pentium 4 2.400 GhZ
500 mb ddr ram
HD Maxtor 80 gig 7200 rpm
Soundcard: Terratec DMX 6 Fire LT
Headphones: AKG K240 Monitor
Players: Foobar 2000 0.5 and Winamp 2.x with mpc plugin
JVC Hi-Fi system
Altec Lansing ATP3 with subwoofer

ears.

seriously:

Computer: Athlon 600, 512 MB RAM, WinXP - not that it matters much
Soundcard: SB Live! Player 1024 *
Player: foobar 2000
Amplifier: Technics SU-A600 (does the job ™)
Speakers: some old Universum with paper cones.. very pleasant
Headphones: Sony MDR-S50

* a local retailer who has M-Audio products is less than 200m away fom my place.. maybe I should pay him a visit? (w00t)

GENERAL HARDWARE:

-AMD Athlon XP2100+ T-bred B, stepping AIHUB @2100 MHZ (it will be more overclocked when I change my mobo).

-Thermaltake Volcano 7+ HSF (on low speed setting--quiet enough)

-Asus a7a266 (it will be replaced by an Asus a7n8x).

-1 Seagate HD 5400 RPM 40 gigs.

-1 Segate HD 5400 RPM 60 gigs.

-MSI geforce 4 TI 4800SE VGA (at nominal speeds, ATM).

-TDK 40x burner @ Lite-On 48125w (48x).

-Mathsita 16x DVD.

-2x256 MB Hyunday DDR 266 ram (it will be replaced by 2x512 Kingston DDR 333).

AUDIO EQUIPMENT:

-Creative SB PCI 64 soundcard (not plugged ATM).

-Terratec DMX 6 Fire 24/96 soundcard.

-Yamaha HiFi with speakers included (don't know model number. It is +10 years old. It is limiting my audio setup currently, but anyway has good sound and a decent EQ).

-Sennheiser HD 590 headphones (I know they aren't very popular around here, but they are awesome IMHO).

SOFTWARE:

-Foobar 2000 for listening.

-EAC and Audiograbber for ripping.

-Musepack -q 8 -xlevel for encoding.

P4 with GigaByte board and (sadly) onboard PCI128 (other people have same bad experience with that?),
connected to my Pioneer HTS (DV-444-K, VSX-C300) which then again goes to my ears over Sennheiser HD 570.

I tend to burn CDs and then hear them over that Pioneer-DVD directly - the difference is incredible!

I plan to get a SB Audigy and make that connection at least optical digital

pc: p4 2.0ghz xp home
soundcard: turtlebeach santa cruz
headphones: sony mdr-v900
software: EAC (of course!!) lame 3.90.2 (--alt-preset standard) winamp or foobar

I have a system at home and one in the office that I both use a lot.

Office:
Dell shoebox 500 Mhz Pentium III with M-audio DIO24/96 TOSlink
Monarchy Audio DAC with build in Preamp Model 22C (stacked PCM63P-K)
Spendor BC1A active monitors via standard balanced interconnects

Home:
Rega Planet
800 Mhz Pentium III with M-audio DIO24/96 TOSlink
Monarchy Audio 24/96 DIP jitter reducer (also electrically decouples PC from the rest of the audio chain)
Bryston SP1.7 surround sound proc (CS43122) and 2channel analog only preamp

Bryston 9-BST via standard balanced interconnect
Harbeth Monitor 40 via standard speaker cables

Earmax Pro headphone amplifier via standard unbalanced interconnect
Sennheiser HD600 with Clue blue cable 4m

As a player I use Winamp 2.81 with bookmark manager as a jukebox frontend. APE input plugin and ASIO output plugin for bit perfect playback. I listen in nearfield setup at home and in the office.

Cheers

Thomas