External Soundcard For A Laptop...

Bunka · 8 Apr 2006 at 02:33

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?

Bunka · 8 Apr 2006 at 14:21

Thanks for the help. A DAC does seem to be an excellent suggestion actually, i was unaware that usb dac's were even made.

Does this look like a suitable option?

http://www.silverstonetek.com/products-eb01.htm

Bunka · 9 Apr 2006 at 18:31

Anyone know if it will be suitable?

Bunka · 10 Apr 2006 at 14:23

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.

Bunka · 18 Apr 2006 at 12:27

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.