small USB powered monitors ?

i was going to buy some mini speakers for my desk then i thought maybe i could spend more and get some monitors so i'm looking for some mini monitors for my pc setup. my space is small so thinking of something smallish. i also have no plugs spare so thinking USB powered. are small monitors suck? the bigger the better? do they come in USB powered flavour?

also is it bad to listen to CDs through them all day long? i can't see why

advice please

from what i've heard, headphones are worse for your ears than speakers (in general).

  On 12/27/2009 at 9:23 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

also is it bad to listen to CDs through them all day long? i can't see why

I think this would be a good idea because you'd be able to compare your own mixes with professionally mixed CDs on the same speakers.

  On 12/27/2009 at 9:23 PM, Benedict Cumberbatch said:

i was going to buy some mini speakers for my desk then i thought maybe i could spend more and get some monitors so i'm looking for some mini monitors for my pc setup. my space is small so thinking of something smallish. i also have no plugs spare so thinking USB powered. are small monitors suck? the bigger the better? do they come in USB powered flavour?

 

also is it bad to listen to CDs through them all day long? i can't see why

 

advice please

Never seen any USB powered monitors, certainly wouldn't buy any like that either! when you buy monitors you are traditionally buying just the drivers, with active speakers the drivers and a matched amp to go with them (usually built in). it all starts go bad with speakers with an optical/digital input, suddenly you factor a D/A converter into the price, as WELL as the amp and speakers. Add a usb interface (ie some mini computer that can communicate in 'usb' and send the data to a coverter) to that mess and I can't imagine the result being any good.

So no, start of with active or passive-with-an-amp set of speakers and come out of the speaker output of your computer, when you can afford i get an interface and go from there!

small is fine, its about what you are used to, you can get some great small format speakers. They will never sound like big speakers, but with monitors thats not often a bad thing!

I thiiiink Edirol came out with some cheap USB powered monitors. However, I have an older model of the same speakers and they turn to shit within a few years.

yeah, Edirol (Roland) make some pretty good mini monitors - not sure if they're USB powered though...

job done!

http://www.rolandus.com/products/productdetails.php?ProductId=708&ParentId=114

seem to be suited for casual listening rather than monitoring though.