Computer based hifi system on £500 budget.

Hi.
I currently listen to music from my laptop soundcard into a set of OKish creative computer speakers, and am thinking of upgrading to something a bit more hifi - looking to spend around £500ish.

I am considering Firestone audio. They do a usb dac with built-in headphone amp for £157, and an amp for £165. Not high power (8w per channel), but supposed to be good quality. System will be in a fairly small room, so this is not a problem, and the small physical size is an advantage too. This brings me to £322, leaving £178 for speakers & interconnects. I already have some reasonable speaker cable.

Would prefer not to delve into the realms of 2nd hand if possible.

Thoughts? Alternatives? Speaker/Interconnect suggestions?

Many Thanks,

[edit] btw, woulud be using itunes, CDs burned using lossless codec.[/edit]

 

Does the DAC have a volume control? If so, I'd go with active speakers like these Tannoys.

Edit, sorry, just saw your no "second hand" wish.

 

I'd also go for some active speakers. Perfect for attaching to a laptop.

Get a £10 interconnect, and blow the rest on the active speakers .... unless you must also have a headphone amp and headphones.

This is only JUST beyond budget if you don't need the 'cans..

http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ADAM-A7-A-7-A...eZWD1VQQtrksidZp1638.m118.l1247QQcmdZViewItem


Give your mates with £2k systems the fright of their lives..

 

I know the firestone importer, Tony at ABC Audio. I have had a listen to the DAC and the power amp. The power amp is very fast, as its chip amp similar to 47 labs, but with only 8w it would be perfect for some fostex drive unit speakers or something similar.

I havn't heard the USB DAC but it got a very good review on 6 moons. send Tony an email. http://www.abc-audio.co.uk

I forgot to say, the firestone kit comes with interconnects and the amp comes with banana plugs.

 

Get active speakers like those Bottleneck just proposed. Alesis and Mackie also make good affordable offerings. Depending on the quality of your soundcard you may or may not be happy just connecting it to the speakers directly and using the volume control in the OS. Given its a built in soundcard its unlikely to be that great and have some noise on the outputs. You could take the laptop to a shop, connect it to some active speakers and see if you can hear any noise from them with your ear close up.

I'm not too fond of any DAC for computer use that connects to the computer electrically since all the noise from the computer can be passed down the ground line and in to your hi-fi and speakers. I'd suggest a DAC with an optical digital connection to the computer. The Behringer DEQ2496 is superb and has digital volume control (30dB of gain adjustment in the dynamics menu) as well as digital room correction to improve the bass accuracy. All for about £200. My business even offers modifications for it should you wish to upgrade the sound quality of your system later on. Still , any good DAC with an optical input might be alright if its 24bit so the volume can be controlled from the computer.