Get Better Sound!

So I'm sitting on my dad's computer right now because my printer ran out of ink, and I'm waiting for open office to download so I can print out a cover letter.

All of that is completely irrelevant though. The point is I'm sitting on my dad's computer, and it's an old build of mine that I used to use (still a great computer but I won't go into specs because that is also irrelevant).

Anyway, I'm noticing for the first time how much of a difference a sound card and some nice speakers make. This computer is using the integrated Realtek sound with a $35 set of 2.1 logitech speakers. It sounds god awful in comparison to the ASUS Xonar Essence STX and the Polk Audio system I hooked up to it in my current rig.

Everyone do yourself a huge favor and buy a good sound card with some decent speakers! The difference is HUGE!

People always neglect the soundcard and the monitor... which baffles me. This is how you see and hear your games, movies, websites, music, etc. 

So, you spent $1500 on hardware... but in the end you are using a crappy monitor that does 1440x900 or even 1080p, but with bad color and contrast... and you are using crappy speakers and onboard sound... what's the point?!

Hell, When I use my Creative Labs Audigy SE with my Creative Labs SBS 330 2.1 Speakers, very clean sond, along side the HDMI to my monitor, I'm using my Sony MDR-ZX100 headphones with my G510, really good audio. When I get my TekNmotion headphones back, I'll be getting the both of 2 worlds. Bass and Clarity.

Yeah, I'm using my Xonar Essence STX, like I said before, along with a set of Polk Audio Monitor II 40's, a Polk Audio 10" subwoofer, and a Sherwood receiver. The sound is very clear, and very loud. I love it. I've also got my Sennheiser 558 headphones plugged into the sound card, and I think I might actually like the sound from those even more than the speakers I'm using.

Exactly, hahaha.

I really want to get a new monitor, especially because I have the graphics horsepower to run Nvidia Surround now. I'm so anal about monitors though that I really don't know what to get. I've been thinking about getting three HP x2301's. The specs look pretty nice, and they'd be really cool looking in surround I'm sure. Normally I would get an ASUS or Acer with specs that are slightly better, but it seems like every monitor on the market now has a matte screen, and I hate matte screens because they wash out the colors. This HP is literally one of the only glossy monitors I could find.

I'd love to get three IPS panels with low response times, but those things are so damn expensive.

Any recommendations?

I'm planning on getting a new pair of headsets when I get the money