A modern AV Receiver and stand alone speakers for it would be the way to go if looking for a more professional step up. It won't be cheap though if you want really good speakers and sub

Sound bars can be good, but a good sound bar won't really work at a desk as you are both too close and likely don't have the room for a good sound bar to do it's thing.

Generally, you'll want headphones, maybe with dolby app through Windows, or a proper surround system for the best sound in a game.

If you play on a couch like I do on a giant screen, then a full home cinema setup is king unless you need to talk to others, then it's back to headphones.

Originally posted by Bad 💀 Motha:

A modern AV Receiver and stand alone speakers for it would be the way to go if looking for a more professional step up. It won't be cheap though if you want really good speakers and sub

You can get some amazing deals second hand if you shop around, good 10 or 20 year old speakers still sound good today, it's the AV unit that works the magic really and sound bars have come a very long way.

In general though, you get what you pay for with new stuff.

I've recently upgraded my old system (well. I'm finishing working it up after lunch) which sounded good still, but was around 20 years old for most of the speakers (atmos was added a year ago), they cost around £1500 new (7.1 system), but now, I'll likely give them to family or sell them for a few hundred.

The AV reciever is generally the expensive bit, even second hand, until you get into really crazy speakers, but, again, you can find second hand bargains, my denon x4700h is between £1500 and £1800 and is still for sale now, but I got it second hand, barely used for only £700.

So there are bargains to be had, while my new speakers are over £5000, so, still cheap when it comes to audiophile, but, id say a few steps up from a good sound bar or the average surround system, it will sound better, but, it's not going to sound £5000 better than what you could buy the old setup for now, that's for sure!

Long story short, buy second hand audio equipment, if I was still in England instead of rural northern Ireland, I'd of gone with second hand speakers and probably ended up with better or equal sound and saved money....

interesting.. i did have a great cheap sony soundbar for the tv and didnt realise there was a sequence of button pushing to turn it on if stopped working... anyway i got a full refund from a
scammer who new how good the soundbar was and way to eager to refund a almost 2 year old sony soundbar so i then decided to go back to logitech for my tv
and plugged 2 speaker and a woofer in using that x box 3 to 2 plug in the earphone jack,,, that sounds great too on my small flatscreen.... and it was only $50aus.... but the sony soundbar was excellent and that was cheap too... around $129aus nothing around like
that now... its all over $200 these days....

what i was thinking of doing is getting a new monitor for the front room and connecting
a tv tuner to it and using it as a tv with a soundbar but now i think i might do one of 2 things.... get a full good sound system with cd and dvd player amp radio and good speakers.... or... just get a new monitor and a another pair of logitech.... i am not really getting the best
of everything anyway just good stuff thats cheap... but cheap good not cheap bad...


all good info provided.... thanks people...

If you are on a budget, look second hand and research what's available, if you are near a major city, your odds of getting a good deal goes up exponentially, hifi hasn't improved massively over the last few decades.

Just buy from place you can return them or can hear them first.

For sound bars, previous years offerings can be found MUCH Cheaper during sales.
The one they had on offer with my new TV for free, was £800 a year ago at release and can be found for around £350 new now, which kind of shows how obscenely over priced sound bars really are!

sound bars are better than tv/monitor speakers, but not by much
with a sub, will still leave a huge gap between low and high range

a receiver and bookshelf speakers will sound way better, and pair those with a sub to cover low to high range

if its the z906 you are talking about stick with it the next step would literally be book speakers but you have to read up on it because you then start to get into the very technical side of audio

personally i ain't going to take the step what i am doing now is using the z906 alongside the 6.1 speakers of the tv with a delay of 64 and it sounds perfect for me it does highlight the issue of the z906 which is that the audio is a bit to dark and bassy so all the tv is doing is adding the brightness in the sound

bookshelves speakers just ain't a rabbithole i am going to delve in because they can easily range from 500-4000 euro and above for a whole setup i already burned myself on the hdr rabbithole with my 3300 nit tv

also the z906 has the ability to be used as a amplifier when you plug in headphones or mics and since i have studio headphones i kinda do not want to give that feature up

I think the space available to you and your budget should really dictate what you go with.

Sound bars can be great for limited space and are the easiest option and the better ones, which can be had at huge discounts, can do a good job of filling a space with sound.

But, simulated surround won't ever be as good as actual surround.

Both are a big upgrade over TV speakers 9 times out of 10.

Originally posted by Midnight Aurais:

if its the z906 you are talking about stick with it the next step would literally be book speakers but you have to read up on it because you then start to get into the very technical side of audio

personally i ain't going to take the step what i am doing now is using the z906 alongside the 6.1 speakers of the tv with a delay of 64 and it sounds perfect for me it does highlight the issue of the z906 which is that the audio is a bit to dark and bassy so all the tv is doing is adding the brightness in the sound

bookshelves speakers just ain't a rabbithole i am going to delve in because they can easily range from 500-4000 euro and above for a whole setup i already burned myself on the hdr rabbithole with my 3300 nit tv

also the z906 has the ability to be used as a amplifier when you plug in headphones or mics and since i have studio headphones i kinda do not want to give that feature up

If you have a good TV, you are missing out if you skimp on sound and speakers will last you decades

the logitech 5.1 setups are ok, not much better than sound bar, but still nowhere near a receiver and bookshelf speaker level

they are cheaper but you get what you pay for

a 5.1/7.1/atmos receiver alone will coast about as much as the logi setup
then you need to get the speakers

or a good 5.1 htib with receiver and speakers will be $500+
one like this is easily upgraded and built on (but limited to 5.1 until replacing the receiver with 7.1/atmos)
https://www.amazon.com/YAMAHA-YHT-4950U-5-1-Channel-Subwoofer-Bluetooth/dp/B0D5SKBKFV

Originally posted by DefinitelyNotMonk:

If you have a good TV, you are missing out if you skimp on sound and speakers will last you decades

there is a problem about that concept which is if you never experienced better you can't miss out because there is nothing better in your world till you bought or heard something better

its not like the z906 is bad and if i purchase a soundbar i lose the amplify function if i put the beyerdynamic headphones on i can clearly hear they are better quality then the solution i have with the tv speakers+z906

but again its a rabithole because i cant stop myself from wanting the best once i realize there is something better so i end up replacing the book speakers for even more expensive ones every time

its for my own sanity that i do not invest my time further then the logitech z906 speakers in audio specifications it just ain't financially viable

also you talked about simulated surround the z906 is actual surround just started to become dated it has the thx certificate and dolby digital and dts i also have it connected to 2 pc's which means if i replace it i do need enough connectivity

so yeah i might be missing out but not being aware that i am missing out means i ain't missing anything its how people can not care about hdr at all and again financially i would have been better of not caring either i now no longer can accept sdr content unless its has been converted to hdr which i have plenty of tools for within the tv but also software on the pc

with the logi and many cheap htib setups, you cant upgrade one part without replacing it all

Originally posted by _I_:

with the logi and many cheap htib setups, you cant upgrade one part without replacing it all

wel not 100% you can take the subwoofer with you if you get bookself speakers its capacity max is 1000w which the z906 does not even fully utilize pretty sure max is 500w

its were the z906 shines in after all the bass if you look at any reviews that is mentioned alot

with most cheap, and all logi the sub is the amplifier
or the receiver has the amp for the sub

not a powered sub with its own amp

the better option over any sound bar......KLIPSCH 2.1 PROMEDIA

https://www.klipsch.com/products/klipsch-promedia-2-1-thx-certified-computer-speaker

in the US you can get a set for around 120 US dollars....these still go by the old standard of THX before the company was bought out and the standards lowered (meaning they will hit a 115db with a distortion rate under 0.09% with a separation of 105db)

the problems.....no real power switch other then one on the back of the SUB that can be a pain to get to depending on where its placed.....only headphone inputs in the 3.5mm size is used with a wire male main input and a secondary female input on the speaker that will disconnect the main input when something is plugged in to the female socket.....NO remote....the model with blutooth has a trash blutooth module that disconnects and sounds bad

but with all the negatives its one of the best speaker sets on the market and they have been producing them for over 30 years now......(i got my first set in the late 90's)

after this its a real 5.1 AMP and speakers.....and if you want to game on PC using this system a real sound card with DOLBY LIVE support is needed so you can encode a 5.1 dolby signal to dump in to a real receiver

for myself i have always run real 5.1 since the original Xbox....getting the SPDIF breakout box for the console doubled my K/D in UNREAL back in the day......then when i switched to PC it did the same thing when i got a sound blaster USB sound card to dump DOLBY LIVE in to a onkyo amp when playing Battlefield Bad Company 2.....

real 5.1 in a first person shooter is a leg up as i will always hear you moving in a real space environment and i will be able to get a location off of it.....i dont get knifed anymore as i always hear people walking up behind me.....in single player games it gives a lot better immersion

no headphones with trash matrix surround sound will ever be able to match it.....