Given you have just a stock midrange gaming computer, there are probably two or three options you could consider. Firstly, you could buy an Audioquest Dragonfly Red and connect your headphones to that to get a really nice uptick in sound.

Secondly, you could buy a Dac/streamer/pre like an Auralic Altair & initially just use your headphones, then add some monitors later.

Or third, you could look for some pre-loved active monitors which don't require an external amp such as Kef X300a's which can be found 2nd hand for around $400US. The Kefs have a dac and USB input, so basically all you need to do is connect a decent USB cable and go. The only thing is, being an active speaker you'd need to an example with the right voltage for your country. Otherwise if that didn't pan out, you could try to get a good deal on a new or ex-demo pair through a Dealer - http://us.kef.com/x300a

Hope that helps!

Chrome wrote:

Thank you for your answer! Which option do you recommend me the most? I'd like to use both speakers and headphones. My headphones aren't good, they are a gaming headset, the Logitech G430 7.1 but I want to get the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x What do you think of them? Are they good or do you know any other better ones for me?

YW. If you mostly listen to music & watch Youtube video's via your speakers, but also want to occasionally use your headphones, my advice would be to buy a mint used or Dealer ex-demo pair of Kef X300a's, then when you can afford it buy an Audioquest Dragonfly Red which you can pick up new around $200US. That will give you the flexibility to easily switch between your speakers and headphones. The Dragonfly Red is also good to have on hand if you take a laptop out to wifi hotspots or on holiday, so you can get good sound on the go. Then later on when you upgrade your headphones and have a bit more money, you could buy something like the Auralic Altair which will give you a better dac and headphone amp, as well as adding a streamer.

Re: headphones, I'm more of a 2-channel guy. That said, I plan on buying a pair of Hifiman Edition X V2's in the near future which I plan to use on my laptop with an Audioquest Dragonfly Red. The Hifiman range offers good value for money imho. I also like the Focal Alear and Clear models, though they're not cheap. There is a huge range of different headphones out there. If you're upgrading, my advice would be to get into a headphone specialist which also carries Hifiman & do some auditioning. That is particularly important with cans which you're going to wear, so you want them to be comfortable.

Chrome wrote:

Thank you for your answer! Which option do you recommend me the most? I'd like to use both speakers and headphones. My headphones aren't good, they are a gaming headset, the Logitech G430 7.1 but I want to get the Audio-Technica ATH-M50x What do you think of them? Are they good or do you know any other better ones for me?

The best powered speakers I have found are the PSB Alpha PS1 speakers.

I used to have the Audioengine 2 speakers, and they are not bad, but these are better.

You will probably want to get a subwoofer to use with them; it can be a relatively low-powered inexpensive one, because you will not be using it in a large venue. The Polk PSW10 might be good.

it really depends on your budget, but I won't recommend KEF x300 or x300a, they used to fail in 2-3 years. My brother and I bought one pair each and both failed within 2-3 years. and this is likely going to happen for all active speaker.
So if you got the budget go for DAC(=sounds card) with Amp and passive speaker. This way you can upgrade each of them as you go.
Music headphone is very different to gaming headphone, I would suggest going for the massdrop HD6xx as a startup. $199 for this headphone you can't go wrong with it.

berman002 wrote:

it really depends on your budget, but I won't recommend KEF x300 or x300a, they used to fail in 2-3 years. My brother and I bought one pair each and both failed within 2-3 years. and this is likely going to happen for all active speaker.
So if you got the budget go for DAC(=sounds card) with Amp and passive speaker. This way you can upgrade each of them as you go.
Music headphone is very different to gaming headphone, I would suggest going for the massdrop HD6xx as a startup. $199 for this headphone you can't go wrong with it.

Wow, both sets of speakers failed within 2-3 years? And by your deduction that "is likely going to happen for all active speaker". May I ask what part of those two pairs of speakers failed? And what was Kef's response (since my understanding is those speakers have a 5 year factory warranty against faulty materials and/or workmanship)?

As an aside, I think the OP would get better bang for his buck going for an Audioquest Dragonfly Red initially since he had already budgeted to upgrade his cans. No question, a separate full scale dac/pre/streamer, power amp & passive monitors would out-perform the Kefs, but at a significantly higher cost.

x300 doesn't come with 5 years warranty, it comes with 1 only (included the awesome sounds LS50 wireless!) all their active speaker are 1 year. as I remember my brother said his left-hand side amp need to replace. mine is the left-hand side issues as well, right hand side speaker still works.
i haven't got the time to get it repair yet. but I believe it will be the amp inside having issues.
and both are x300a, not the wireless version.
because all active speaker have DAC and AMP within, and these electronic devices are much more likely to fail then a speaker itself.
I did said if your budget allows go with a passive speaker, it's all depends on your budget. Also go with passive just my personal experience because i spend 1000 for a new x300a Kef then 1 years later i spend few k into separate DAC power amp speaker etc.....

Berman, I owe you a slight apology. You're right, only Kef's passive speakers are covered by a 5 yr warranty, whilst their active speakers have a 1yr warranty. The fact both sets of speakers had a similar failure suggests the likely cause was a manufacturing issue such as a bad batch of boards. I would think Kef are aware of the issue & have rectified it with the supplier. At that price point, you can luck out like that.

I agree with you that a full scale dac/pre/streamer, power amp & passive monitors would easily out-perform the Kef x300a's, but at much greater cost. My go to bookshelf speakers are the Ascend Audio Sierra 2's which offer great 'bang for the buck' as they sell direct, and offer a 30 day satisfaction guarantee & 7 year warranty - http://www.ascendacoustics.com/pages/products/speakers/SRM2/srm2.html. Though in that case the smarter move would be buying a decent dac/pre/streamer like the Auralic product I mentioned earlier which will allow you to get up and running straight away using your existing cans. Then you can add a power amp & passive monitors later on as funds allow. That said, their are also products (like) the Auralic Polaris which offer a single box solution (sans headphone amp) - https://us.auralic.com/products/polaris

My brother bought his in Hong Kong, and i bought mine in New Zealand. so i guess it is a common problem for x300a, may be the wireless version is not affected. (but i also saw someone selling a x300a wireless with one speaker not working).
my $1000 investment gone....><.... i am a KEF lover, so i used to own R300, R900(just sold last week) and LS50, but not their active speaker anymore.
I have not heard of srm2 but for a cheap bookshelf, u can try Q Acoustics 2020i, or their lower older model. it's $200-300 but it's a very good bookshelf for the price.
DAC can look for some second hand Dagmagic(200-300), it's very good for the price as well.
you can try a second-hand integrated amp as well, anything 40W+ would do IMO.