I don't know if you want to spend this much, but I have a pair of these, and they are great.

http://www.theaudioinsider.com/produ...products_id=43

If you don't want to spend that much, you might want to look at some of the m-audio speakers. I have a pair of them also (I don't remember which model, though) and they are also pretty decent. Not nearly as good as the Divas though, but still pretty decent and they are cheaper than the Divas.

And, yes, these are all powered speakers. The computer sound cards put out enough power to power headphones, and that's it. For speakers, you need an additional amplifier, which are usually built in to computer speakers. You could run the audio out through a receiver (analog out or digital out if your sound device has an optical or coax out) and power it that way and then use normal non-powered speakers too. If you want to do it with digital out and your system doesn't have a coax or optical output, you can buy a very nice $29 sound card that has a digital output.

http://www.zipzoomfly.com/jsp/Produc...uctCode=292003

(looks like it's $18 at zipzoomfly). If you care about DAC quality, look at the m-audio sound cards. Some of them use the same sound chip as this card, but have much better surrounding circuitry including the DACs. Of course, that makes them more expensive too.

-David