Klipsch HD 300 VS Z-5500

[Mkilbride]

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16882780017

100$ cheaper than the Z-5500


http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produc...82E16836121120



From what I've been told, Klipsch is amazing and speakers from them will beat ANY PC Speakers.

But I've also been told that for the HD 300 I'd need a Receiver or something...and then there is the question of Digital Audio, because I've been told Digital Audio sounds worlds better than Analog Audio, so I'm not entirely sure what I need.

Recommendations?

[Helpful]

I have the Klipsch Promedia 5.1 setup. It IS awesome to listen to movies, games, etc. but, they do not come with a DAC (Digital to Analog Converter). That work is done by my sound card. If you need a DAC you can buy one from Klipsch, but the Logitech Z-5500 comes with a DAC. They are both great packages. You would have to set them both up in the same room and listen to tell the difference IMHO

[Laykun]

Just to debunk the rumor, digital audio is not better than analogue audio if you have a good sound card. Digital audio compresses the audio into a digital format so that it can be sent over a digital cable for your receiver to decode, which effectively means you're listening to a compressed version of your original audio source. This is also assuming you have a card that can encode into a digital format like DTS, otherwise you won't be able to play games with surround sound (or any other sound source that isn't pre-encoded into a digital format like DTS). With creative X-Fi cards I think you can buy the encoder as separate software. That's why I picked my Xonar DX as it comes with the encoder stock (not to mention its better analogue outputs comapred to my older X-Fi Xtreme music). In short, if you can, go for analogue audio, if you have a good sound card, otherwise if you've got onboard then digital is the way to go. However, movies that are already encoded in a digital format simply get passed straight to your decoder (reciever) meaning you can get the surround sound with or without an encoder on the sound card.

Myself, I use the Z-5500 and they are good speakers, I haven't heard the Klipsch as they aren't a common brand where I live so I wouldn't be able to give you any comparable opinion. All I can tell you is that the z-5500s are amazing speakers and I don't see the need for me to purchase anything else in the forseable future (atleast not for my computer ).