External Soundcard For A Laptop...

Bunka

Bunka

Bunka

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I've currently got all my music on my laptop so i don't have to take loads of CD's to uni. However, when outputing from the headphone jack of my laptop through my denon dm-31 + tannoy mx1 speakers, the sound just seems flat. Mid range is quite poor, meaning i have to turn up my hi-fi quite to get any decent results.

As i've had no experience with external sound cards, would an external usb soundcard be likely to improve greatly over my onboard laptop sound?

If so, the only reasonably priced/largely available card is the Creative Soundblaster Audigy 2 NX. After looking around it seems i can get this card for ~£70.

Does anyone know if this is likely to help?
 
One of my friend has that, and it turned out to be a vast improvement over the headphone out of his laptop. I don't know whether it is the best you can get for that price range though, I have not looked into external sound card much. Perhaps you might be able to find an USB DAC for that price range? Depends on your priority of course, the sound card add some features you won't have on a dedicated DAC, but a DAC will probably be better from a purist point of view.
 
Personally if I was gonna upgrade my laptops sound I probably would look too much further than the creative laptop card. If you have the slot free its the most tidy solution. One that would be passable on small set of headphones on the move with all the cable bulk removed or rigged up to a decent 5.1 setup when at home and "docked" (I have a kvm so can have laptop hooked up to my "normal" controls if I need to use it)
 
Bunka said:
Anyone know if it will be suitable? :)
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The Silverstone was actually the one I was thinking of. To be honest, I don't know if it is the best for it's price. But it was recently mentioned at the Firingsquad as one way to improve SQ relatively inexpensively.

This DAC was also mentioned on Head-fi a few times, but I don't think there has been a round up with other DAC it compete with (e.g. the Spitfire Fubar II).
 
Hmmmm, i think i'll probably go for the DAC. I don't really need all the extra connections, and the DAC should theoretically be higher quality. Thanks for the help. :)
 
Hi, personally i haven't bought anything yet, but i know someone who's just bought the silverstone DAC. I can't say if it is any better than the creative external soundcard, but it has definitely made a large improvement to his sound. The sound seems much fuller with the DAC as it also bypasses onboard sound, and definitely seems to be a worthwile investment.
 
Check out the Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro. Problem with that Audigy 2 NX is that it needs a seperate AC power connector. Which is a PIA for a laptop. Do a seach over on Head-fi and you find a lot of posts about USB DAC's and laptop sound cards.
 
Bunka said:
Hi, personally i haven't bought anything yet, but i know someone who's just bought the silverstone DAC. I can't say if it is any better than the creative external soundcard, but it has definitely made a large improvement to his sound. The sound seems much fuller with the DAC as it also bypasses onboard sound, and definitely seems to be a worthwile investment.
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Sounds promising. I currently use Windows x64 so would need a device that is compatible, the Silverstone installs as USB speakers IIRC? so should be ok.
I've sent an email to M-Audio asking whether their Audiophile USB is ok to run on x64 Windows or are they releasing drivers soon.

Neil.
 
I've a creative USB MP3+ which I originally got for the optical I/O for my mini disc. Its better than my laptop onboard (which is dire) but overall its not great to be honest. My PC onboard is as good. The Audio Advantage Micro is meant to be decent for what it is. Higher end cards and DAC are obviously a lot better, but you'd need decent speakers and phones to appreciate them.
 
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