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The laptop itself is more powerful (processor & stuff), but a music player is designed to do that only. What I mean is, when brands make a music player, their concern is to make it sound good. When laptop brands make a laptop (especially if it's from the "office work" line) many times they don't care what audio chip they put in there, the cheaper one will do. After all, that thing is to work, not hear music
My advice: An USB Dac/Amp (or just dac, as you seem to already have an amp)
Last edited by Skywatcher; 05-08-2008 at 12:00 AM.
Your problem is the soundcard. Change it and you will see a significant improvement.
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Main Rig:Foobar2k+ASIO -> EMU 0202 -> Canare+Neutrik IC -> Gilmore Lite -> Sennheiser HD650 recabled Dowin DW12
Home rig : Sony SCD-CE595 -> Onkyo TX-8222 -> Insignia NS-B2111/AT ATH-A700
Portable setup:Creative Zen Sleek 20gb-> AT ES5/KSC75 w Extra Comfy
I whole heartedly recommend the EMU 0202 to anyone who is looking for a reasonably priced USB DAC/Soundcard. You can consider the EMU 0404 as well. I compared the two a while back, you can look at that to get an idea on which one to get.
There are several other options beyond 200$, but if you would like to stay in the 100$ territory, the 0202 is hard to beat and I still havent had the urge to upgrade it cos I am quite happy with it.
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Main Rig:Foobar2k+ASIO -> EMU 0202 -> Canare+Neutrik IC -> Gilmore Lite -> Sennheiser HD650 recabled Dowin DW12
Home rig : Sony SCD-CE595 -> Onkyo TX-8222 -> Insignia NS-B2111/AT ATH-A700
Portable setup:Creative Zen Sleek 20gb-> AT ES5/KSC75 w Extra Comfy
Bare in mind Nocturnal that a <$100 sound card is probably not going to compete with say an iPod sound quality. Remember a sound card for your laptop is probably both an ADC and a DAC, breaking your costs down, that probably means $20 or less for each of the two DACs. The iPod (at a guess) probably has more expensive and therefore better quality DACs.