The Z323 said goodbye It all started last Wednesday. I wanted to listen to some lo-fi music while coding. I turned on my speakers, and nothing happened. I tried turning them off and on again: nothing. I even plugged them into another wall socket, but the LED stayed dark. It came as a surprise. I had that 2.1 speaker system for 15 years and never had any problems with it. It also never showed any signs of issues before it broke. It was a Logitech Z323. The first movie I watched with it was The Fellowship of the Ring. I had seen it before, but this time, the pounding of horse hooves shocked me with how real it sounded. To be honest, I wasn't the best owner of it. I mean, I took care of it, kept it safe and clean, but I mostly used it for playing video games quietly, listening to quiet background music, and watching old movies, mostly with mono or old stereo audio tracks. None of these let the system use its full potential. Later that day, I checked its internals to see if it was fixable, but one of the larger capacitors had burst, creating a small chain reaction that damaged 5-6 other parts on the circuit board. So I decided to buy another set. It wasn't easy because I liked it despite its little shortcomings. The cables were irreplaceable, and not two of them followed the same standard. Also, the AUX cable was unshielded and picked up noise if it ran too close to any power cables. I looked for a successor to the same set. But the currently available Z313, which is about the same price (€60), was not even close in quality based on the reviews I found. The Z625, which seemed to offer the same performance, costs around €200, which I simply couldn't afford. Then I stopped to think. It looked like I was just trying to spend extra money to pretend nothing had changed. Why not choose one that fits my needs instead of mindlessly hunting the most similar option? I checked a couple of pages, like Tom's Hardware, and chose the Edifier 2000. It arrived yesterday and cost under €80 with shipping. I'm quite satisfied. It has a clean sound, and the bass is fair. At the volume level I usually use my speakers, it's perfect. I haven't tried it for gaming yet, but it has separate music, gaming, and movie modes. I'm curious. I also have more space on my desk, as they don't have a subwoofer (although they support connecting one). I also like the RGB lighting and the fact that they are black and white, just like my other gear in my study corner. I also tried the USB and Bluetooth connectivity. They work fine, but they are too loud even when set to the lowest level and with the master volume of my PC at 1%. So I continue using the 3.5mm AUX. It was a good decision. It's great value for its price and a perfect fit for my use case. I'm proud that I let go of the idea of getting the Z625. It would have been an overkill. I'm a bit sad that I had to say goodbye to my old sound system. We had a fine 15 years together. More than a third of my lifetime so far. We moved five times and traveled across half of Europe. We played a lot together, from Mount & Blade to Genshin Impact, from The Sims series to Stardew Valley, and from Among Us to Along the Edge. We watched lots of great comedies, dramas, documentaries, and science fiction together. Farewell, Z323. Farewell, my days of youth. Sorry, I couldn't help quoting the end of Galaxy Express 999. Just for clarification: I don't think I'm old. And I think it was a bit overly dramatic for the teenager Tetsuro to mourn his youth. But I admit it was a moving movie closure. The original version of this post is part of the Blaugust 2026 series on my blog along with: My very first blog A library without walls Memories Taken by the Heat Bombanana! Blaugust 2026