Please General Advice Fiio Products DAC & OR Amp

[cprogrammer]

OK first the FiiO products appear to be amazing.

I originally was just looking for something to get from my IPhone to my Fender G-DEC Amplifier. And low and behold a simple cable from FiiO was enough I didn't need an amplifier like their [http/www.fiio.com.cn/products/index.aspx?ID=100000038781911&MenuID=105026001 ] Kilimanjaro-E11 or their FUJIYAMA-E06.

But Now that I have a CURRENT strong Desk top system and am a big audiophile I am considering the purchase of the Genius SW-G2.1 3000 speaker system.
So to augment all of my audio sources (PC PHONE GUITAR AMP whatever) a small amplifier like the ones mentioned above appears to be very interesting.

However please note I have all modern devices,,, do I even have a have a need for Fiio products like a DAC unit [ PORTABLE AMP&DAC ALPEN-E17 ] or portable amplifier like the ones mentioned above ??

Do these devices help for laptop or Iphone, guitar amp use as well as desktop...?

Since I mentioned the speakers by name apparently Logitec speakers SUCK now days and Altec Lansing has gone down hill as well. Have I selected a quality set of PC speakers ??

As afore stated my original thought was getting a Kilimanjaro-E11 or their FUJIYAMA-E06 for my digital guitar amplifier, (Iphone to 1/8" input on Amp) so I of course wonder if it would be advantageous, as well as, would a DAC help in these scenario as well. Sorry for the neophyte questions, but I assuredly appreciate the answers I obviously just don't understand the use of a external portable DAC unit, a internet searches were not educating me on this to my satisfaction

 

[ssddx]

logitech speakers do not "suck" nowdays. they are a perfectly fine option and offer very good value for the money. while their top of the line system like the z906 might not be as good as their flagship of old the z5500 its still good.

other good computer speakers would be the creative gigaworks t20 (no subwoofer) or the jbl creature speakers. of course there are others... those were just a few that are easy to remember.

perhaps an even better option (if you dont mind having just a 2.0 only) is to use bookshelf speakers and a stereo receiver or DAC/AMP.

the genius speaker set you have selected is considered "loud" but thats about it. audio quality really isnt that good. definitely not my first choice for an audiophile system... in any case they are powered speakers so dont need an amp.

as far as fiio products generally they are regarded as low end if you look on any audiophile forums. while they no doubt work and arent badly priced (at least not some of their stuff) its not going to compete with anything remotely audiophile quality.

why would you want an external DAC/AMP?

perhaps you have a nice pair of $300 studio headphones and you need something which can power them (which could be just an amp) but also wanted to eliminate any electrical noise you might be getting from an onboard soundcard (hence why an external dac PLUS amp).

or perhaps you already have a very nice amplifier and speakers. your amp takes a rca r+w input and your onboard soundcard sucks and you want the best quality you can get so you would just get an external DAC (no built in amp) to translate the digital to analog signal for the amplifier input.

or perhaps you already have a stereo amp of good quality and good headphones and just need a way to convert from digital to analog for the input which a dac (no amp) would work.

onboard sound and internal soundcards are dacs and amplifiers but just arent referred to in that terminology often. in terms of sound quality typically we have onboard sound, followed by soundcards, followed by external dacs. a soundcard can provide good isolation for electrical noise and better quality but since it is still in the pc case its not perfect. this is why we have external high end soundcards and also dacs (and seperate amps) and also dacs (with amps.. which are similar to soundcards without the extra outputs)

 

[cprogrammer]

logitech speakers do not "suck" nowdays.

Kinda confusing still but I appreciate it .... The set you commented on as loud. Would a fiio product or example ' augment ' the QUALITY of this set? I will research the speakers you cited. I am still in clear about the real uses for fiio products.
Like I mentioned phones various audio peripherals. Guitar amp input for play along with. etc thank you for your assistance

 

[ssddx]

what do you find confusing?

please explain and i can elaborate or perhaps put it more simply.

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it will not matter if you have $10,000 worth of audio equipment producing an almost perfect sound hooked up to those genius speakers or a $10 mp3 player. they will still sound worse than better speakers. now granted there would be a difference in quality.. but they are only so good. another way of saying it is: if you hooked up the same source to the genius speakers and some other better quality speakers the other speakers might not be as boomy or loud (depending on the model you are comparing with of course) however the sound quality will be better.

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would a fiio (i'm guessing you meant DAC here... since an amplifier wouldnt do squat) augment the sound quality.

perhaps... if your onboard sound on the motherboard is total crap and you are getting lots of electrical noise, hissing, etcetera. this could also be solved (most times) with a decent internal soundcard which gives you a whole lot more options.

however... a portable DAC could potentially be used with a home tower pc, a portable laptop, other digital input sources such as a ps3, etcetera so perhaps might fit the need for people seeking a portable unit (then again... most of them need a power supply making portablility only so useful..)

the good thing is that if it fits your needs they arent terrible priced however the bad news is that they are on the low end of DAC options you can get (and might actually not be any better than going with an internal soundcard for less money)

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you really need to provide some exact examples of what you are thinking of buying for headphones also.