comp speakers questions

[manhattanproj]

for headphones, i know there is a dac that can act as an external sound card for a laptop which improves the quality of the sound. and there is an amplifier that drives the headphones.

are there similar devices that can do this for computer speakers? do speakers, like headphones, benefit from having a better sound card?

[nightflier]

for headphones, i know there is a dac that can act as an external sound card for a laptop which improves the quality of the sound. and there is an amplifier that drives the headphones.

are there similar devices that can do this for computer speakers? do speakers, like headphones, benefit from having a better sound card?

My experience was mixed (no pun intended). I disabled my cyrus (?) sound chip on the motherboard and installed a higher-end Roland card. The sound improved noticeably. The problem, however, is that not much that is digital will sound that good coming from a computer. Most of my MP3's are 128 or 256 so the quality is marginal, and forget about steaming audio & video. Somehow there is still something about the way the computer processes the sound that is nowhere near what my cheap NAD C320BEE sounds like. I have it sitting next to the computer, and it is a much better solution even when I connect my Rio directly to it to play the MP3's rather than passing this through the computer.

[manhattanproj]

but my main source is my laptop. that's why i'm wondering if speakers benefit from having a better source.

i know that if you get a dedicated dac and amp for headphones, the sounds are much better. just wanting to know if there are any similar devices that will improve the sounds coming from the speakers.