I agree. There are lots of options out there in this class. However, I think it best that people educate themselves since many manufacturers play the watts of power game, especially, I bet, PC speaker makers, with peak power ratings at 10% THD which, likely will not sound good - IMO.
Agree here as well.
Now that I have become a bit of a audiophile, advertised "watts" is usually not anywhere in my purchasing decision anywhere at all.
If I see advertised something like "50w @ 10% THD" - I immediately think,
"ok, so we probably have about only 10 - 20w of actually useable power here, and I don't know the distortion at lower levels ... hmmmm what if 1% THD is the best it can muster?" -- unless maybe its through a <65hz subwoofer, 10%THD is going to sound
horrific; so even allowing the amp to output 50w is
way beyond what it is actually capable of in any reasonable listening experience ...
Likewise if I see "10w @ 0.1% THD" - I know that the amp is likely capable of at least a usable 20w range before distortion properly sets in, but, I
also know that the mfgr wanted me to know that 0.1%THD is possible with this system - which indicates a high quality sound, and a potentially higher output level that will still sound great. I would choose this over the 50w system I described above, even though the manufacturers rating is "only" 10w.
Also people tend to associate watts with how loud a speaker can be - but without knowing the sensitivity and impedance of the speaker/amp, watts alone does
not dictate loudness either.
Frequency range is also a consideration to quality, but is
also abused in marketing.
60-18,000hz at -6dbs will be likely superior to 40-21,000hz at -12dbs. Cheaper brands will use the -12db metric to try to make it looks like the range is better than it probably is, but any quality speaker brand will likely use the -6db metric. It should be listed - if not, assume -12db. Either way, knowing the difference between the two is really what is needed to interpret the frequency range data that manufacturers list.
So TL;DR
1) Watt metric is almost useless unless you know and understand the THD rating.
2) Frequency range data is almost useless without knowing if the metric used is -6db or -12db - and understand what each metric means.
Research is needed to narrow down choices, after that, listen to them and choose what works for your ears best.
