What are some decent computer speakers 50$ and under?

What are some decent computer speakers 50$ and under?

Pic unrelated

Other urls found in this thread:

youtu.be/J-3_Co7yCTM
noaudiophile.com/Micca_COVO-S/
decware.com/imperial.htm
youtube.com/watch?v=8DfhioKq68Y
youtube.com/watch?v=Ku4zG3IMopY
amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-B652-Bookshelf-Speaker/dp/B002RMPHMU/
amazon.com/Lepy-Amplifiers-Component-LP-2020A-Class-D/dp/B01FZKA28Y/
store.acousticsounds.com/c/76/Speaker_Cables
procables.audio/epages/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2/Categories/Audio-Connectors-Cables-Accessories/Cut-Cables/Speaker-Cable
twitter.com/NSFWRedditGif

There aren't. Not even at 100 bucks.

Been there, done a lot of research, all the speakers under 200 bucks a pair sound awful, one way or another.

Unless you want something that sounds like a box, with crowded frequencies, shitty staging and imaging, and which doesn't output much bass.

That pretty much describes cheaper speakers.

I've seen some decent passive speakers which are below 200, but you have to buy the amp too, so, not quite so cheap, after all.

Prepare for lots and lots of compromises if you want cheap.

Or buy used, if you can stand that and can take the risk.

first off you can forget anything labeled as "computer speakers"

Basically this.

It's slim pickings in the US. If you're outside the US look for Microlab monitors.

Get some headphones instead.

just go to a value village or goodwill or something and you're guaranteed to find at least something similar to pic related

The only thing decent new and that price and I use the word "decent" loosely would be the Dayton B652. It's not necessarily cheap since you're on your own for an amp. The B652 AIR and Micca MB42X sound a hell of a lot better and are in the $65 to $100 range but again, you need an amp.
Upping your budget to about $100 would do a world of wonder for your options. There are tons of options like your pic for $100 with built in amps. I run a pair of Behringer MS16s and they're breddy gud paired with a 12" sub handling bass. At that price point you get a lot of decent sounding speakers but they're anemic as hell so you need a subwoofer to compliment them.

I use a small Panasonic stereo and sounds pretty good.

How important is audio quality to you?

not very important:
any speakers that look cool

somewhat important:
buy the best pair of headphones you can find for 50 dollars

very important:
save up for a good set. Honestly wouldn't spend less than 100 dollars for a pair.

Look at speakers geared towards music recording; I've had the best luck with those for inexpensive but decent sound quality.

...

Since this is a good thread to ask, thoughts on pic related? I have an AudioSource Amp ONE/A but would really -really- like to be able to adjust the LPF in hardware. Setting up subwoofer out in software is a bitch in barebones GNU/Linux and realtek software in Windows sucks ass. So much easier if I just run a single stereo out for a 2.1 setup.

get a job instead of shitposting on Sup Forums, boom, suddenly you can afford good gear
you can't even get good headphones for $50

I've been looking for some good speakers as well... mostly for 50% everyday use/gaming/listening to music, but also 50% for music production.

I've been tempted by those Mackie CR speakers in OP's pic. Anyone know if the 3" ones are decent, or better to go up to 4" at least?

They are more than fine for listening, but for production you can do much better for the same price if you browse used speakers.

I had the 4" mackies for a while, they are okay, but not suited for mixing. I grabbed a pair of JBL lsr305 when they were on sale because of the refresh, $80 each. Makes a world of difference for production. Okay for listening too but I'm looking for a woofer to compliment them.

>you can't even get good headphones for $50
superlux hd668b are decent

You asked for decent speakers and everyone here is taking you for an audiophile.
I have Logitech Z323 and they are acceptable speakers for casual use. $46 on Amazon. Haven't had an issue with sound quality because I'm not exactly producing studio quality music with them.

I got these for about $70, add about $20 for an amp and they sound really great.

I want something that can handle my speakers and headphones at the same time so I don't have to keep unplugging my headphones and wearing out the plug.
Any options? A switch or button to change between headphone and speaker output would be ideal.

GLHF
It's like asking for a decent gaming-rig for $5

Not quite. Decent speakers start from about 200ish per pair, if we're talking about active ones. That's entry level decent quality, not even audiophile or studio reference models.

So no, unless you're buying used, you're gonna have some significant compromises under 200 and even more under 100.

The circuitry and manufacturing that is needed for a decent speaker costs more than 50 bucks.

these are the cheapest speakers you can get

>50$ and under

Logitech

Well I got creative t20 speakers for 15€. They're great.

The sub has awful hiss
youtu.be/J-3_Co7yCTM

They basically have no staging and have a boxed sound overall. You're wasting 100 bucks if you buy that.

For 100 bucks, you could pick something better than those Klipsch:

PreSonus eris 3.5 (also boxy sound, crowded freqs, but at least they have balanced inputs)

Or some Edifiers, like the Edifier R1280T.

Sure, no sub, but better sound, clearer frequency separation, better inputs.

used real speakers. computer speakers are garbage.

OP don't bother listening to all these headfi circlejerk fartsniffers there are plenty of options around the $50 mark, you just have to make a few concessions.
Personally I prefer the Micca COVO-S because they're compact, sound good for the price and are only $40

>I prefer the Micca COVO-S
Somebody please post that article that they're worse than your average Creative/Logitech sound set.

Have my swan meme10s on the way at the moment. Its very much a V curve but that's fine with me as I'm told they have decent clarity and I'll just be using them for games/film. Generally in my albeit limited experience, $500-700 range is peak for headphones and 2.0 speakers and beyond that is increasingly snake oil and audiophile delusion/buyers remorse

I disagree about $100 claim. I have pair of Edifier r1600 tiii, those cost around $120. I find them very decent for most things. Imaging and separation is good (with decent placement obviously). Low frequencies are lacking, but this is true for all cheaper speakers, actually for all speakers with sub 6" mid-low driver. That's just how it works. Even the much praised lsr 305 will be lacking in low frequencies without sub.
I mostly listen to music on my HD600 though. I guess it all depends on what you are looking, if I wanted to switch to speakers only then Edifiers would not be enough. Right now I mostly switch to speakers when I get tired of headphones or for anything that doesn't involve listening to music.

>noaudiophile.com/Micca_COVO-S/
>These speakers sound like shit.
>"But it's small" you say... well if this is the cost for being small the price is too damn high, even if the speaker is cheap.
>I'm missing treble, not just upper roll off, I'm hearing half of cymbals and parts missing from guitar solos.
>The lower midrange is bloated like a beached whale, in an attempt to distract you from the lack of actual bass.
>The distortion levels are just unnaturally bad even at low volumes, smothering vocals with a haze of unintelligibility.

Solid recommendation here, user.

creative doesn't make decent speakers to begin with. same with logitech. you're just deaf.

save for lsr305 faget

Are those Decware imperial folded horns?

I honestly have no idea. I just love horns and big speakers

>lsr305

The LSR305s sound hollow as fuck.

decware.com/imperial.htm
Here's a writeup explaining how they work. I'd love to build a set but you need a lot of room for something that big to breathe.

that's just your shitty room

Yeah there are some Edifiers around the 100 mark which sound okish.

This is my reply here In the meantime I added a few models around 100 bucks which might be ok, the Presonus and the Edifier.

You're still making lots of compromises for that price though.

And they hiss too. Not to mention they look like ass.

Other than that, yea, you get a lot for the money in terms of features. But they're far from perfect, as everyone is trying to portray them.

People must be stupid if they think a $300 active speaker is uncompromised. Even if it's made by the greatest manufacturer on the market.

I don't mind the looks all that much, the waveguide is a great feature. I don't get the hiss thing everyone seems to have a problem with. I run them unbalanced from a shitty behringer dac with the volume knob set to 6 and sitting an arm length from them there is no audible hiss. Sure when you listen close to the tweeter you can hear the typical class D amp hiss but in normal operation it's not audible at all. They are not perfect and I don't think anyone is saying they are, but at ~200 a pair it's pretty much impossible to find anything that performs better not to mention their great tolerance of less than ideal room conditions.

JKR KR-1000 chink soundbar for $35.

Beats cheap classic grandpa "hi-fi" style monitor with no bass since those have some pretty nice dynamic equalization meaning at lower volumes it'll drive low frequencies to the limits of the driver.

Maybe the same can be done with Eq APO and classic speakers but I haven't tried.

>You're still making lots of compromises for that price though.
Obviously, which is why I said that if not for the fact I mostly use headphones, I would invest into better speakers. The point is that at around $100 you can already get speakers that sound decent, at least in terms of imaging and separation. If you are looking for things like correct low frequency response... well you will have to invest a bit more than that.

>soundbar
>chinkshit
>$35
>Nothing but amazing bass
I can already imagine how shit this sounds. By the way user, no soundbar sounds good. Especially not $35 ones. Soundbars by design break all acoustic rules that you have to meet for audio equipment to sound good. You could put the best drivers imaginable into soundbar and it would still sound inferior than $200 set of studio monitors.

>at ~200 a pair it's pretty much impossible to find anything that performs better

I like the Presonus Eris E5 better in the same price range. The LSR305 have better staging because of their tweeter design, but the mids seem a bit too weak for me.

The E5 are also inferior in terms of lows, but they are more punchy and offer more knobs for frequency control on the back. They are also much smaller than the JBLs which are kinda huge.

In some songs they sound almost the same though. I think it comes down to preference and how much space you have and the kind of room you have. The JBLs need more space, I think, because they get their sweet spot in a bigger space, so they are better suited for listening in the home.

youtube.com/watch?v=8DfhioKq68Y

the fartsniffing in this thread is unbelievable.

>no soundbar sounds good

I've been telling people this for years and they still waste money on soundbars. They probably just buy them for the design and the fit with their TVs.

But in terms of sound, they're crap.

>>soundbar
>>chinkshit

Op asked for something under $50 which $200 monitors are not.

I just want to say that this $35 chink soundbar sounds better to me than $100 cheapo "monitors" (which all sound like PA system)+amp.

There are ton of reviews and frequency response tests/graphs for that chink soundbar online so if anyone is interested just take a look.

Once you're informed, you tend to know what you're talking about.

Your cheapo monitors are just most likely crap, if they sound worse than a soundbar.

>Op asked for something under $50 which $200 monitors are not
The point is: you don't buy sub $50 speakers and expect it to be good. Period.

>I just want to say that this $35 chink soundbar sounds better to me than $100 cheapo "monitors"
That really depends on what you compare it to. I know $100 speakers that sound better than any soundbar you will find, including few hundred dollar ones. But it really comes down to what you expect out of your speakers, soundbars tend to have a lot of bass that sounds like shit and is not accurate at all - focused on being effective and impressing normies. I like my speakers to be accurate and natural sounding, as much as possible.

The only fartsniffer here is you, poorfag. Get a job.

I was considering the E5s too but a subwoofer is absolute must with them so I don't think I would count them as being 200ish. I have no problems with midrange on the 305s. Yes they are quite big but the great overall performance even without subwoofer makes it well worth the extra space on the desk.

>the fartsniffing in this thread is unbelievable.
What does this even mean?

They're very eh.

Unconstructive, intolerant, egoistic and hostile atmosphere - just like hi-fi scene in real world.

You are easily the most unconstructive, intolerant, egoistic and hostile person in this thread, sour grapes poorfag.

your shitty monitors have so tiny drivers that they cant even reproduce drum sound properly. that kind of sound needs real speakers with at least 8" drivers.

the problem with asking audiophiles for advice on "budget" audio equipment (anything south of $200) is that the only answer you'll receive is "there's nothing that cheap worth buying."
They aren't saying this to be dicks. They're saying this because they've invested significant time and effort into learning about digital audio, different file formats, bitrates, etc, and spend (or have spent) time listening to different files until they can pick out the difference in quality. Along with this, they have dumped several hundred dollars into high end equipment which is capable of playing the files differently. If you were to play a 320 mbps mp3 on your typical Apple earphones, it would be indistinguishable for 99% of people.
So because of how much they have researched and their editionsive hardware, audiophiles think "budget" equipment sounds like trash.
The truth is, it does sound like trash to them, but not too YOU. I already know that by "decent" you mainly have two criteria.
>no tinny audio
>has a significant bass
For something this simple I would recommend just looking online for speakers and reading reviews. You won't get any help by asking any audio experts.

Audiofags are worse than Macfags.

they just want that you spend thousands on a box with some paper and metal parts in it that costs maybe $50 to make. hifi is all about spending as much money as possible.

At $100, there's going to be some compromise. Edifer R128, the Mackie CR3, Cyber Acoustics CA-3908, Swan D1080-IV, and Micca PB42X are all reasonable options in the $100-ish range.
At that price point, the only other option is to look at 2nd hand equipment, and that totally depends on where you live and what the local market for 2nd electronics is like.

youtube.com/watch?v=Ku4zG3IMopY

mackies are shit, krk is shit, guitar center has jbl lsr305's on sale for 100 bux a pop right now.

how are they positioned, are they pointed downwards towards your listening position?
also what interface are you using ?

Dunno how much they cost but they're pretty old so you should be able to find them cheap, they're honestly fucking so good

Save up and buy the LSR 305s. You’d be wasting money otherwise

Audio thread? How are Rhythmik subs? Looking to upgrade to something from a BIC F12. Its accuracy and low end aren't enough for me as I'm finding music that it cannot play well.

amazon.com/Dayton-Audio-B652-Bookshelf-Speaker/dp/B002RMPHMU/
amazon.com/Lepy-Amplifiers-Component-LP-2020A-Class-D/dp/B01FZKA28Y/

You're mistaking people who are knowledgeable about audio with audiophiles.

The former know the optimal gear you can buy for a given budget and purpose, while the latter turn their passion for good sound into gear idolatry.

People who are knowledgeable about audio buy good or decent quality equipment that can be used professionally too if needed (which costs a few hundred bucks on average and is mostly entry-level professional gear), while audiophiles pay insane amounts of money for ridiculously expensive/looking equipment just to quench their obsession with audio quality.

You could say these two categories are extremes on a spectrum. There are very clear differences between them, though. It's impossible for an audiophile to be an audiophile without having and spending thousands of dollars on equipment, whereas audio-knowledgeable people can be sometimes poor and learn to use the optimal gear that they can afford.

You should learn by now that anyone who spends more than 100 dollars on equipment/anyone who takes pride in having good audio is an audiophile now adays.

this.
$90-100 is the minimum.

>they're honestly fucking so good
why would you lie on the internet?

Good speakers are expensive to make. You won't find decent ones for under $50.

He's probably not lying, he just has no reference to anything other than speakers or headphones that merely produce sound as the best quality of those things.

Nah, 200 bucks active monitors are just entry-level for professional quality. That's far from audiophile gear, which is typically ridiculously expensive, often for ridiculous reasons.

The first category is comprised of people who have knowledge close to audio professionals who make music and know how to pick the right tool for the right use.

Audiophiles, on the other hand, are not usually interested in making music, they're interested in masturbating about the quality of their gear and the sound they get with it. There is a pretty obvious difference between these two categories imo.

Remember that the -phile suffix points to a sort of passion/obsession, which is not typical of people who just use their knowledge to pick the optimal gear for whatever they need. They're not that crazy about what they're using and they don't buy platinum-plated cables for thousands of bucks a piece.

>That's far from audiophile gear
I'm well aware. My setup consists of a 200 dollar sub, 250 dollar speakers, and a 150 dollar amp. There is a startling amount of people that would consider this an audiophile level setup. The term has stopped referring to the crazy old Japs that spend 50,000 dollars on speakers and live in tiny apartments to people that want good audio.

Here's an example.

Speaker cables for audiophiles:
store.acousticsounds.com/c/76/Speaker_Cables

Speaker cables for audio professionals:
procables.audio/epages/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/b0f6386e-46a6-44b1-b8fb-63fabf175cd2/Categories/Audio-Connectors-Cables-Accessories/Cut-Cables/Speaker-Cable

Notice the differences in prices and item descriptions.

The audiophile cables have a whole narrative about their "geometry", "history", "tradition", "purity of materials", blablabla:

>This Double-Star Quad cable does not look normal on the outside, and it is not at all normal on the inside. Amazingly clean and effortless performance is made possible by a sophisticated combination of extraordinary materials and extremely refined design.

>Metal: Extreme high-purity Perfect-Surface Copper+ (PSC+) minimizes distortion caused by grain boundaries that exist within any metal conductor, eliminating harshness and greatly increasing clarity compared to all other conducting materials.

The professional cables only have a short technical description. like:

>Speaker Cable SC-Orbit 225 MKII, HighEnd 1 x 2 x 2,50 mm2 PVC 425-0151

The difference is rly obvious to me. I talked to an actual audio engineer friend and he said they usually make fun of audiophiles who buy these snake-oil products, for which they pay 100 times more and get maybe only a marginal increase in the quality of sound. He also told me about some 100 bucks headphones he said were surprisingly great for such a prize, he said they were better than headphones that cost like 250 bucks. That's what I mean when I say some people just buy optimal things for decent quality, while others buy overpriced gear because that makes them feel like they're getting way better quality if they pay more.

Very often this is not the case.

Logitech Z333

There is literally nothing wrong with them unless you are some autistic audiophile snob who thinks his magic crystals will correct his temporal phase audio signal

Is this good?

...

lol

> cone tweeter
> possible foam rot
> low mass-fi build quality
Probably not great, but if the woofer doesn't have foam rot, and you can get them for $20 or less, they'd be an acceptable deal.

The rack of equipment, providing everything works good, $40 to $50 would be acceptable.

its retro now so at least $500 per device on ebay

is there any small form speakers for the computer? i wanna upgrade from my logitech but i want something small as well

Kanto speakers.

which

It's up to you which. Try the Kanto Yu2. They're 6 inches in height, however they're powered and cost 200 dollars. Definitely an upgrade over logitech speakers however.

they take any subwoofer?

They have a sub out and L/R out which I believe are five way binding posts. You can hook up a sub if you wanted to via those two connections.

any rec for a subwoofer?

Bit difficult to help you with, because you would probably want something that is small form factor, right? I believe there are a few subs out there that are tiny and not garbage. It also depends on your budget, but I would tell you to stay away from any of the logitech type subwoofers.

dont matter the budget as long as it doesent take up a shit ton of space. coming from the logtiech speakers should give u an idea

Maybe the Earthquake Sound FF6.5

hey guys im looking to getting some bookshelf speakers myself, im wondering if a dac with an optical port is all i need to hook them up to my pc and ps4, which i will use independently

Pretty much. DAC with switchable inputs, USB to PC, optical to ps4. Then DAC to AMP over RCA, and from AMP to speakers.

Eho cares. It sound exactly the samw. All you audiophiles should fuck off. I use a $30 Bluetooth speaker i bought from the reject shop and it sounds just as good as some overpriced $3000 tincan in a box

I've seen those in a /bst/ thread today