Radical Vision wrote:Well he need as minimum X-Fi chip on some Creative, or Auzentech, or even ASUS Xonar Essence, that will do the job..
This is not true. For speakers that are not ludicrously expensive, the motherboard's built-in codec is a perfectly adequate solution on modern computers. For audiophile purposes, a dedicated external DAC like the Schiit Modi 2 is superior to any sound card, but to actually make an external DAC worth buying (with typical computer speakers you'll never tell the difference) you're talking either a headphones and amp setup that costs hundreds, or a full-on stereo system with discrete amp and bookshelf speakers that costs even more. The motherboard on a modern computer is good enough. Modern sound cards are mostly a waste of money. And if you want to put an X-Fi in your retro computer, well, good luck finding Windows 9x or DOS drivers!
P.S. self-powered computer speakers have always, always sucked. I was there. My family eventually bought expensive Monsoon planar speakers and some brand of "XPS" speakers endorsed by Von Schweikert (a maker of very, very expensive audiophile loudspeakers), and none of them were great. Personally I would recommend headphones over speakers unless you're willing to spend thousands of dollars. And don't buy "gamer" shit either, buy from a reputable manufacturer of hi-fi headphones like Sennheiser, Grado, or Beyerdynamic.
So, OP, I think if you want good sound quality for a reasonable price, you should try either the Sennheiser HD 280 Pro (closed back, blocks outside noise but has slightly lower sound quality) or the HD 559 or 579 (open back, works best in a quiet room but has higher sound quality). All three are $100 on Amazon currently, but the 579s are probably on sale and will go back up in price soon. They do not need an amp and produce excellent sound for the money.