Tír Na HiFi

Sorry if this is a silly question, or if this the wrong place for such a question, but I wonder if anyone has recommendations for decent-sounding kit that can be used to listen to audio from a laptop.

From what I can see there are two extremes - the Creative/JBL etc. cheap and nasty solutions, or the B&W MM1 which although highly recommended, seems a little expensive for the casual listener. My son is hugely into music (and baroque/Early music in particular) but is not a techie or audiophile. At present he has a set of Creative speakers with a sub which cost about €50, and they sound reasonable, but not great. He is not interested, nor can he afford the €500 needed for the MM1s which are supposed to be the best solution. He would prefer to spend the money on a new laptop. Is there anything in between that people could recommend????

DNT

It's really no different from any other entry level system nowadays!

Any pair of small secondhand speakers and a small amp if he has room

A pair of active speakers ( Epoz, Kef? etc.)

The computer audio section will boil your mind with options for getting the music from the laptop to the amp....!!!!

any of the above, and all of the various ways to get the music from hard drive to amp ( 3.5 mm jack, USB dac, airplay) will jump up and down on the creative 2.1 setup ( speaking from firsthand experience! )

just think of the laptop as a CD player, now what setup for playback can you fit/afford....??

My PC runs to arcam rDac, to Fatman itube to monitor audio satellites.

Remove the dac and that system via laptop's headphone out will set you back €150-200 on adverts/eBay

used airport express for airplay will set you back 40-60 and then he doesn't need wires at all, and can stream from his iPhone too....

Thanks jaybee