Improve sound output of laptops?

Footyslayer · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:43

Hi everyone,

so my friend wanted a laptop purely for web browsing and good music quality. He knew I would help him with this as I build my own PC's etc.

Basically he was too impatient and went without mt to buy it. I am not sure of the model number yet. So to improve the sound quality I am guessing a good USB speaker system instead of the onboard sound? Also what about a USB soundcard.

Bear in mind i needs to be portable so maybe a USB soundbar? Bass is important, as is a good sound quality.

Can anyone advise or recommend anything?

TwsT · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:47

usb DAC to replace the onboard sound would be a good start yes.

Footyslayer · 21 Jul 2015 at 14:57

Cheers, any recommendations? Nothing overly expensive, as long as sound and bass are loud and decent!

hyperseven · 21 Jul 2015 at 15:04

Topping DAC amp tp30 + wharfedale 9.1's ?

Marine-RX179 · 21 Jul 2015 at 15:13

Footyslayer said:
Cheers, any recommendations? Nothing overly expensive, as long as sound and bass are loud and decent!

"Not overly expensive" could be vague/a subjective thing...so it would probably be helpful if you can provide some actual budget range, so that people will have a clearer idea what they make suggestions.

Footyslayer · 21 Jul 2015 at 17:13

Marine-RX179 said:
"Not overly expensive" could be vague/a subjective thing...so it would probably be helpful if you can provide some actual budget range, so that people will have a clearer idea what they make suggestions.

Well I am guessing top budget would be about £100, this would probably need the DAC and a good set of speakers.

dacads · 21 Jul 2015 at 17:36

You could literally get a plug and play USB stick DAC such as the audioquest dragonfly or Audioengine d3

rids57 · 21 Jul 2015 at 18:35

LoL, I was going to suggest those two and the Cambridge DacMagic XS, all around the same price but then saw that OP wants the DAC and speakers for £100 or less

Footyslayer · 21 Jul 2015 at 19:08

dacads said:
You could literally get a plug and play USB stick DAC such as the audioquest dragonfly or Audioengine d3

rids57 said:
LoL, I was going to suggest those two and the Cambridge DacMagic XS, all around the same price but then saw that OP wants the DAC and speakers for £100 or less

I'm just guessing a price, as my dumbass mate already went and bought the laptop with no knowledge of computers. I'd have recommended a cheaper one and then the DAC and speakers seperately.

So a decent DAC is about £100 I see (I have limited knowledge of laptops, I'm a desktop kina guy).

Then just a decent set of bassy speakers / soundbar setup seems the best option!

TwsT · 21 Jul 2015 at 19:35

nah a dac on it's own with no headphone amp can be had for £30 wouldn't worry about Decent in that sense as it's all subjective anyway

Fiio D03K is a perfectly good DAC upgrade to a Laptop.

then a pair of speakers that have a JAck to phono.

rids57 · 21 Jul 2015 at 19:55

You only really need a good DAC if you're using decent headphones, mobile speakers are not going to be too choosy.

Marine-RX179 · 21 Jul 2015 at 20:28

rids57 said:
You only really need a good DAC if you're using decent headphones, mobile speakers are not going to be too choosy.

IMO with that budget, OP's friend might as well grab a Hyper X Cloud II headset and forget about getting speakers

Rroff · 21 Jul 2015 at 20:37

Any idea what sound hardware is on the laptop? potential noise from internal interference aside some laptops have a fairly decent sound chipset i.e. mine has the ALC269 that you'd have to spend a reasonable amount of money on a DAC to beat. In which case you'd want to spend the budget on the speakers really.

Admetos · 22 Jul 2015 at 12:56

How about a USB to S/PDIF converter. Then an amp that accepts S/PDIF.

Marsman · 22 Jul 2015 at 13:14

You still need a DAC though, as SPDIF is digital just as USB is. Converting USB to SPDIF only makes sense if SPDIF output is required.

Admetos · 22 Jul 2015 at 13:35

Some amps have the DAC built in. I have a couple of Pioneer amps that accept S/PDIF.

Marsman · 22 Jul 2015 at 14:27

That is true. Sorry, didn't read the second line of your post properly.

I'm not sure that's going to be possible anyway with a £100 budget without spending time trying to find some great bargains, as surely a stereo amp with a DAC will sell for more than just one with analogue inputs. Also, just noticed, portable is mentioned in the OP, which rules out an integrated amp.

TwsT said:
nah a dac on it's own with no headphone amp can be had for £30 wouldn't worry about Decent in that sense as it's all subjective anyway

Fiio D03K is a perfectly good DAC upgrade to a Laptop.

then a pair of speakers that have a JAck to phono.

D3 is SPDIF input only, no USB. That would be possible by adding a USB to SPDIF converter, but with that and a DAC it's going to get messy.

If I were the OP, I'd forget about a sound card or a DAC for now. With £100 to spend, spend as much as possible on good speakers. Use the onboard audio for now, he may find that it's good enough, then he can always add a sound card or DAC at a later time.

Far better to spend the money where it matters, on the speakers. Skimping on the speakers just to get a sound card or DAC at the same time, is going to be worse than putting up with onboard audio for a time but having spent the money on better speakers.

Admetos · 22 Jul 2015 at 14:44

Marsman said:
I'm not sure that's going to be possible anyway with a £100 budget without spending time trying to find some great bargains

It it possible as both my Pioneer amps are vintage, you can get them £50 or even below on eBay if you search. Very high quality amps but don't fetch what there worth second hand.

Marine-RX179 · 22 Jul 2015 at 15:12

JasonM said:
It it possible as both my Pioneer amps are vintage, you can get them £50 or even below on eBay if you search. Very high quality amps but don't fetch what there worth second hand.

The issue is that for OP's friend laptop, he would need a USB DAC/Soundcard.

Marsman · 22 Jul 2015 at 15:21

JasonM said:
It it possible as both my Pioneer amps are vintage, you can get them £50 or even below on eBay if you search. Very high quality amps but don't fetch what there worth second hand.

I must claim ignorance. I didn't realise that some old vintage amps had DACs. Not spent enough time looking into them!

I still feel it's not the direction the OP is looking for though. A huge monolithic amp is about as non portable as you can get, plus I get the feeling his friend's desire to impulse buy suggests to me he's not someone who is willing to wait and look around for good used bargains. More that of someone who prefers to buy new. For someone who's maybe a bit more appreciative of older things, it's certainly a good direction to take.

Marine-RX179 said:
The issue is that for OP's friend laptop, he would need a USB DAC/Soundcard.

A USB to SPDIF converter will allow connection to an amp with SPDIF input, but he would need to be willing to buy an old vintage amp, which is something some people don't like doing. They'd prefer new, and then there's the size and non portability of it, if he is looking for something he can move about with more ease.