Best way to connect studio monitor to PC? No Preamp

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kawasakiguy37

New member
Recently picked up a cheap m-audio BX5 on craigslist for $25 just to listen to music and whatnot in my room. Right now I just have the unit connected to the speaker output (3.5mm) as I dont have a pre-amp interface and then an adapter to 1/4 inch plug into the back of the monitor.

Sound is pretty muddy and really not what I expected - I heard the monitor previously over balanced XLR and it was a lot cleaner. Thankfully doesnt seem to be much line noise from competing components.

My mobo does have digital coaxial output and TOSLINK, is there any way to get a higher quality signal to my monitor? Trying to do this as cheaply as possible - its just for listening to music in my room.
 
The problem is likely to be the sound out of your computer's built-in soundcard. When you heard the monitor before, was it plugged into an audio interface of some kind?
 
Check to make sure you don't have some EQ settings in some control panel on the built-in soundcard.

Built-in soundcards are crap (40cents worth of chips vs. pro interface much better stuff) but it should be at least listen-able.
 
$25 for BX5 is really a deal. Agree wioth above posts, if you can find a sound card, firewire or usb you'll probably hear a big improvement.

theres an ocean of them. First figure out if you want USB or Firewire, then go from there.

usb Tascam 122 for $25 would be a steal, usually around $50 though. great little no frills audio card.
 
mjbphotos said:
The problem is likely to be the sound out of your computer's built-in soundcard. When you heard the monitor before, was it plugged into an audio interface of some kind?
Click to expand...

I can send audio from my computer to my stereo several different ways, including analog from the stock sound card's line out and coax digital from a pro sound card. There's a difference but it's not all that great. I bet there's something else going on, like a cabling mismatch or a software setting.
 
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