Newbie requiring first system advice...


Hi all.
I'm a "newbie" who is in dire need of some advice.
I'm looking to build a hifi system on a very strict budget.

This would be for a bedroom system, replacing a 10 year old Aiwa mini system, so hey, anything will be an improvement.

My main source would be my PC, playing AAC and MP3 files [not the best source I know, CD player to come later].

Ideally, what I'm looking for is the best sound I can get on at a very limited budget.
NZD $2000. or USD $1,391.71

My music taste is far ranging from rock to very ambient work.

This is what I've come up with so far:
Nad C320BEEE
Acoustic Energy Evo One
Deftech Sub 80.

I would appreciate any advice on this setup, and be interested to hear from anyone running a system in a similar budget that could offer alternatives.

Thanks in advance,

Ben,
In little old NZ.
benlim4b80

Showing 2 responses by rsbeck

Ben -- Nothing wrong with a hard drive player for your source. You can also rip your CD's to the hard drive uncompressed using AIFF or WAV.
CD's ripped to a hard drive uncompressed will sound better than a lot of CD players -- you'll have to spend quite a bit to outdo the quality. Try
ripping some CD's uncompressed and then A/B your hard drive player --
run through your system -- against any CD player you are considering -- you'll be surprised. You might not be in as big a hurry to buy a CD player.
ben -- a sound card upgrade will increase your sound quality -- and if you've got an spdif output, that's great -- that's the way to go. As for
sound card upgrades -- I'm out of my league there -- hopefully, someone who is more computer literate than I will jump in and provide some info.