need sound card and stereo system

[viperx116]

Can someone recommend me a 5.1 sound card and stereo system. Something that's good but relatively cheap, around a $100 budget.

[daamon]

Hi viperx116,

Update your profile with your location - there is more than one country on the planet that uses the dollar as its base currency...

I've recently got a set of "Creative Inspire 5200 5.1 Speakers" that were a little over one hundred of my dollars. They're easy to set up and, to me, produce great sound.

See www.centrecom.com.au, for anyone in Oz who's interested, particularly Melbourne.

The sound card I've got came onboard with the mobo, so can't comment there.

[viperx116]

Hehe didn't consider the currency. I want to spend around $100 on both speakers and card, as I am extremely broke right now.
Oh yea, can someone explain the difference between analog and digital audio?

[thecoalman]

Something that's good but relatively cheap

The mythical good but cheap audio system A very rare animal indeed.

Soundcard:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=29-102-173&DEPA=1

Speakers:
http://www.newegg.com/app/viewproductdesc.asp?description=36-116-151&DEPA=0

The speakers themselves I have no experience with but they fit the bill.

Oh yea, can someone explain the difference between analog and digital audio?

In short....Analog would be what's on a record, cassette etc. The quality can diminish over time by playing it, copying it... Digital is what's on a CD, it's made up of numbers and can be played a million times and still remain the same. It can also be copied and as long as the file remains unchanged it will still be the same even on the millionth (is that a word) copy. This doesn't neccesarily mean CD audio is superior to say a record.

A good record on a good turntable will sound superior to a CD played on the same system. This due to the limited amount of information you can put on a CD. The best analogy would be if you look closely at a digital image where you can see the pixels. It's the same for CD audio, the record on the other hand would be smooth. DVD audio on the other hand (not the kind on movies)........ Superior digital reproduction in every form of media is just a matter of time and disc space.