What are the best PC Speakers at 30-40 Watt in 2.0 Stereo for retro gaming (like ZSNES emulator 8 channel sound audio), Music and composing that works well with an internal ESI Maya 44ex soundcard (6,35 in) on Windows 7 SP1 64bit for a maximum budget of 120 Euros?
Question2) Why did my old Win XP hardware audio setup sound better in retrogames (+ as OS in general) than my current on Win7, although it was way cheaper? -> See comparision below
Old Setup -> Win XP SP3 32bit / Intel Pentium 3: Speedlink SL-8861-SRD 4 channel PCI Audio card (10 Euros) + Quadral SM-240 Stereo Satelite Speakers (100 PMPO Watt / 10 Euros)
Current Setup -> Win 7 SP1 64bit / Intel Core 2 Duo: ESI Maya 44ex Soundcard (150 Euros) + Creative Inspire T10 Speakers (with 10 Watt / 40 Euros) connected over a high quality and 100% suiting 6,35mm cable.
Or do I just need more Watt power, like 30-40 Watt to take advantage of that '150 Euro'-ESI Maya 44ex soundcard? For sure is, that my old 100 PMPO Watt speakers had about the triple amount of power, than my newer ones, although it was just PMPO Watt. (Could mean: 100 PMPO Watt = about 30 W?)
Or may it has something to do with that special X-Large Reverb on Win XP Sp3? Or even with that old EAX support + 4 channel mixing support of these cheap 10 Euro speedlink soundcard, that suits just better for older games, than newer stuff? Curious to hear the answers of 'audio experienced' members with a deep knowledge about these mysterious contextes.
The only explanation I had so far, was, that XP SP3 had his own X-large Reverb Sound which obviously suits better for soundcards with no extra reverb adding, when on the other hand, WIn 7 seems to handle soundcards with extra reverb on them better, for the following logic reason..
Reverb in your OS + Reverb of your Soundcard = Worse audio quality in your ears / Too much reverb
Reverb in your OS + no extra reverb or no OS Reverb + extra Reverb of your Soundcard =
acceptable sound in your ears!
Maybe this fact also explains the reason, why the opinions about the question, which OS has better Sound (XP Sp3 or Win7?) are so different in several forum debates over the web. My experience at least was, XP SP3 had clearly the better sound quality and I really tried everything out, in order to improve Win7 Soundquality, but without the wished success of an acceptable satisfaction.
Hope anyone can help me out, getting a better audio setup again...it's so frustrating, listening to bad audio, you know. And I can definitely confirm, that the "Creative Inspire T10" wouldn't have decent sound, if its just a speaker thing, well, anyway, I'm completely openminded to your advices on how to improve my audio setup for better gaming audio like in the good old days with the cheap 10 Euro Soundcard + cheap 10 Euro Speakers (yes, honestly, the 150 Euro Soundcard + 40 Euro Speakers on my Win7 PC gives worser quality in comparision to the old setup although all the setup is 100% correctly configured, only in terms of listening to normal music, I cant see any drawback, but when it comes to Emulator/Retro audio, the XP Setup leads by far in terms of producing better soundquality) Also wonder why it is so complicated to buy decent stuff nowadays for decent money. My personal feeling: They are selling lots of garbage nowadays for huge money.
