Cheap $10 Speakers vs Others

Hey Guys. I've been using a cheap pair of Inland speakers for my gaming PC for the past year. Before that I had some cheap speakers for 8 years for my gaming rig (that died before I switched to these). I never found myself caring about the sound (sound quality seemed fine to me). Maybe it's because I've not experienced really good speakers or I myself am not that picky. One thing I notice though with these is how hard it is when I play games like ARMA 2 to pick up which direction something like a far away sniper shot comes from when I'm not facing it. Other people seem to say right away the direction. Is this because they have surround sound headphones or speakers, or can 2 good quality speakers in front of you make that much of a difference? If so, around what price range is good enough to do that? Remember, I'm obviously not that picky on sounds effects so I'm not looking for the top of the line. Just something that can tell me directions of shots if that's possible with 2 speakers.

These are what I have if anyone would like a nice laugh :cool: http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16836172002&IsVirtualParent=1

You're looking for soundstage, and it's likely they were using headphones. You don't even need surround sound headphones, they're unnecessary.

What you want is a pair of open back headphones.

I have always enjoyed the beats in-ear earbuds, seemed like good sound quality for a low budget.SkyeFox1

It will be a case of you don't realise what you are missing until you've tried something better and quite literrally heard the difference.

My advice is to decide how much you are willing to spend, and whether you have suitable places to put more speakers if you want to go 5.1, then see what is available within your budget. Post a few things you've found and then see what people recommend.

A set of 2.1 speakers will be able to give you a clue as to which side an enemy is. A set of 5.1 speakers will be able to give you a more accurate idea of where they are by whether the sound comes out of the front or rear side speakers.

I'm not a big audiophile, but have gradually upgraded my spekers over the years from 2.1 / 4.1 / 5.1 to much better 5.1, and each time the upgrade is instantly noticeable.