Hey, I'm new and i need a bit of help

So, for the past 3 to 4 i’ve been using my fathers old set up that he used to listen to vinyls when he was young it’s a Sansui RZ-1900 Amplifier (i think it’s integrated i’m not sure , i don’t get the differences yet sry) and some speakers that i don’t know the brad of. I’ve been mainly using the set up as my computer speakers with a rca to 3.5mm jack cable so i’m using my motherboards sound card. The past few days i’ve ben thing of doing a gift to my self and i saw the Sound Blaster AE-9 since i can use an rca to rca cable and get a better sound in general. But after some digging around i found that sound cards don’t have the best reputation. So what i want to ask is if there is a solution at that price range (370 $) so i’ll be able to give a better sound through my pc to my speakers and to of course be able to use a good pair of head phones in the near future

Thank you in advance and i hope i posted under the correct section ^^

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With a $370 budget, you have quite a few options that would give you better performance. Something like a Topping D10/E30 or SMSL M100/Sanskrit 10th as your DAC for in the neighborhood of $100, give or take $30. For and amp, Schitt Magni 3+/Heresy/Asgard, Monoprice Liquid Spark, or JDS Atom also in the $100 range (Asgard is $200). You could then use the amp passthrough to feed the Sansui via RCA and have a pretty nice setup for headphones as well, which you’d still have room in your budget to get something like the Hifiman HE4xx, Sennheiser 58x, or Better Dynamic DT880 (heavily recommended for gaming).

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You should let us know what speakers you have. That could be the big difference on what to upgrade first.

mmmmm thank you alot i’ll check them out ^^

i just asked and he told me that they aren’t from a brand they are more to the good diy side ( Greece in the 80’s was a bit weird lots of people made speakers and Amplifiers in their basement and sold them) but if it helps i know they are 8 Omhs and 75 Waths each so yea…

Thats really cool! How do they sound? If you are happy with their performance and you think the amp is good/no problems because of age, You should get a decent DAC and see if that helps. So many good dacs in the $100-$300 range. Jds labs, Schiit, and Geshelli Labs are what i would recommend. If you cant get those, topping and Smsl are solid. Currently I use jds labs atom amp and geshelli labs enog pro 2. It cost $280 and I think it’s an amazing price to performance.

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They are pretty good the only problem they have is when i change the balance completely to the left speaker it’s not as strong as the right side (probably the problem is in the Sansui itself ) other than that i have no problems

Could be as simple as a wire connection or the amp itself. But if you are happy with it that’s what matters. Dac it up and see how you like the improvement.

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The Sansui you have is rated at 27 watts into 8 ohms, so it may not drive the speakers to their potential, but as has been stated, if you’re satisfied with the performance, no need to change anything right away.

Unless you want your windows to vibrate, you don’t need hundreds of watts at home.