something like xonar dgx is cheap is good I think

Cheap audiophile stuff is all about what you find

Because audiophiles go through hifi gear so fast upgrading

what he said

Or get huge regret and sell it all

lol

So you just grab what you can

how much of a difference does a soundcard make?

I can tell a difference with my cheapo audio interface vs motherboard integrated sound

"my car broke so I'm forced to sell my headphones to pay for it" - average audiophile post

Keked hard

Hexaphile, you can get a bigger difference with an interface or sound card with dedicated drivers

Because they completely take over your sound

I use bitstreaming to my amp now

My current one just uses my current drivers with cleaner signal

so soundcards wont make a difference to me, all my audio out of my computer is digital

My interface is good because it has rca out

So I can make it all analog out

neat

If I want

That's basic I guess

im happy with the DAC in my amp

shit, looks like i need to research. completely lost.

DAC - Digital to analog converter

Yeah

You need some kind of converter

Because old speakers are analog

So usb out to a dac or interface

Or sound card into motherboard

Then wire to amp

Or dac/amp combo

Then to thrift shop speakers

People don't make the connection that you can use hifi speaker on PC

if you don't know what to buy first then just get the cheapest working bookshelf speakers you can, cheapest working amp you can, and a 3.5mm to RCA cable to plug into the jack on your mobo

Yeah

then when you can get either a new soundcard or external DAC, or new amp with digital inputs (which will have a built in DAC)

An amp and speakers is basic start

And those are C H E A P

and will sound miles better than any trash you will buy in your local tech store at 20x the price

ok maybe not 20x but you get the idea

Hifi shit is built for good sound, gaymur pc speakers are built to rip you off