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I have a Dell Inspiron with crappy sound.. and I want to improve it! I don't have an amp and will be using this setup for speakers and headphones.
Sooo... what do I need between my laptop and my headphones, excluding an amp?
I want to spend 100$ or less.
I don't know where DACs fit into this, or soundcards, or usb stuff or any of it. I don't know if there's just one thing I need between the laptop and my headphones, or if there's several parts?
Fill me in! and any recommendations for 100$ or less would be great.
Internal sound cards tend to be the least expensive, but since you have a laptop, you'll probably have to go with something external (and more expensive). You'll probably want a DAC/amp combo to get the best value.
Internal sound cards tend to be the least expensive, but since you have a laptop, you'll probably have to go with something external (and more expensive). You'll probably want a DAC/amp combo to get the best value.
Rather than start a new thread, I'd rather just continue this thread, since my question is similar.
I also have a Dell laptop (an Inspiron E1405/640m, Core 2 Duo, 2 GB RAM, Vista Home Premium) which also has junkie sound (no bass, I don't know the sound card, but the driver is an HD driver by Sigmatel).
I use iTunes as my music player (everything is in AAC 128 kbps or 256 kbps format), and listen through UE super.fi 5 pros.
My question: how can I best improve my sound quality if I'm on a $150-$200 budget?
The following points need to be taken into consideration:
-I do lots of listening on my laptop at a desk, but I travel to and from school each day, so whatever I end up getting should be able to easily fit into a backpack and come with me.
-Most of everything I do with this laptop is listen to music (not many games), although I sometimes connect it up to my home system (Panasonic stereo shelf system) and will watch a movie with my wife.
-While on the train, I listen to my tunes through my PDA (a Dell Axim x50v running CorePlayer), and NOT using my laptop.
The EMU 0404 USB seems to be a popular suggestion on these forums, but I'm wondering if connecting the Total Bithead to my PDA (through the headphone jack) would improve its sound at all.
For this question, what would you recommend for me?
The EMU 0404 USB seems to be a popular suggestion on these forums, but I'm wondering if connecting the Total Bithead to my PDA (through the headphone jack) would improve its sound at all.
For this question, what would you recommend for me?
All are semi-portable, but the 02 CardBus Card requires the laptop to be on, and the 0404 USB requires an external power supply, so neither could easily be used on-the-go. The Total BitHead can function as a portable amplifier--as HardHeadCase said, it can run on batteries--but if your PDA doesn't have a line-output jack, you'll only get more volume, not better sound quality.
The advantage of the 0404 USB is that it can function as an external DAC (it has coaxial and optical S/PDIF inputs), while the others (02 CardBus and Total BitHead) respectively require PCMCIA or USB input for that purpose.
I think that you'll need to narrow down your usage for this particular device, since it seems that none of them will be 100% perfect in all cases.
The bithead will most likely not work on the PDA, since the PDA has neither usb hosting services nor usb audio drivers.
The bithead will be a solid purchase, you can just close your eyes and buy it, and there is a very high chance you'll love it.
I use a creative () sb live external, and it is very much a step up from laptop sound. It's only $50, and bestbuy or a similar shop probably has it in stock! It has Line out, optical out, analog 5.1, mic in, and headphone out. Even the built-in headphone amp has very little noise which I can only detect with iems.
All are semi-portable, but the 02 CardBus Card requires the laptop to be on, and the 0404 USB requires an external power supply, so neither could easily be used on-the-go. The Total BitHead can function as a portable amplifier--as HardHeadCase said, it can run on batteries--but if your PDA doesn't have a line-output jack, you'll only get more volume, not better sound quality.
The advantage of the 0404 USB is that it can function as an external DAC (it has coaxial and optical S/PDIF inputs), while the others (02 CardBus and Total BitHead) respectively require PCMCIA or USB input for that purpose.
I think that you'll need to narrow down your usage for this particular device, since it seems that none of them will be 100% perfect in all cases.
Hmmm... the E-MU 02 CardBus Card is a PCMCIA card, which my laptop doesn't have (just a port for an Express card).
As far as the 0404 USB needing external power, I only really use my laptop for music listening when near a power source, but isn't the unit big? I'd have to lug it between home and school every day.
Laptop sound, I got 100$. What do I do?
) sb live external, and it is very much a step up from laptop sound. It's only $50, and bestbuy or a similar shop probably has it in stock! It has Line out, optical out, analog 5.1, mic in, and headphone out. Even the built-in headphone amp has very little noise which I can only detect with iems.
Linear Mode
