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What is a decent external/USB sound card for a laptop?

post #1 of 17
1/9/11 at 5:30pm
Thread Starter 

Hey all,

 

So I have a pair of Sennheiser HD595s which I have grown to love with my Creative X-Fi XtremeGamer Fatal1ty Proffesional which are put into the Audio Creation mode so that I can use parametric equalizers and other effects. To me, that combination sounded perfect but recently I've been trying to switch my main computer to my laptop due to a need to be able to move around.

 

On the laptop I did a X-Fi Mod conversion to install the X-Fi drivers and software over the realtec integrated chip it had and it worked but as it's integrated audio, its pretty bad. (Big improvement over the realtec drivers still lol). Specifically, I'm getting tons of distortions when I play with the bass on the EQ. On my speakers (Logitech Z-2300) and in-ear headphones, its almost invisible so I'm not concerned. My Sennheiser HD595s though pick up EVERYTHING and amplify it.

 


MY question to this wonderful community is:
What external sound card should I get for my laptop. Size is not a requirement as it will be stationary on my desk at home along with my Sennheiser 595s. I just need it to connect to my laptop and be relatively high-quality. It MUST have a configurable equalizer.
I looked at the Creative X-Fi HD external sound card but that does NOT come with an equalizer (how, I don't know but it doesn't) so it's not an option. What would you recommend under $200?

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post #2 of 17
1/9/11 at 5:57pm

Why not just use the equalizer from your music player (Foobar/iTunes/whatever)? Then you can have more freedom in choosing the soundcard.

 

External soundcards are usually referred to around here as DACs (Digital to Analog Converters). The popular ones below $200 are the FiiO E7, Nuforce uDAC-2, and Audinst HUD-mx1. These can all be used semi-portably with a laptop over USB, though the Audinst one can also be plugged in to a wallwart for extra power when you are at your desk. 

 

None of them come with any software EQ, but the E7 has three fixed bass boost settings. The uDAC and Audinst both have RCA outputs that you can use with speakers.

 

The only reviewer I know of that has tried all three of the above DACs (Mike @ Headfonia) likes the Audinst the best. I personally have not used any of them myself.

 

Also, welcome to Head-Fi!

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post #3 of 17
1/9/11 at 6:16pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah...unfortunately I don't think that will work for me. I currently have a good equalizer but the sound chip CANNOT perform the EQ cleanly so it results in distortion and its really annoying me with those headphones. I'm looking for a card that installs software/drivers which possess a powerful and full EQ with 2 or 3 easily switched profiles.

 

Currently I have a FiiO E5 hooked up to my laptop to boost the signal and add a little extra bass but it's not comparable to my X-Fi on my desktop. Essentially, I suppose I'm looking for an X-Fi with its Equalizer settings and driver suite or something equivalent with just as much room for tweaking. I do heavy EQ work to my sound to get it to my taste.

 

 

PS: As for using an EQ in my music program, I dislike that for 2 reasons. 1. I'm using Foobar and the EQ pluggins on that are light years away from the X-Fi parametric EQs or the current X-Fi mod EQ I'm using. Reason 2 is that I want the EQ applied to EVERYTHING, particularly my games as I'm a hardcore gamer. I need it as a system-level EQ for this reason.

Also I'm not sure if by a DAC you're referring to a whole external sound card or just an amplifier. I'm not interested in an amplifier as my source integrated audio is not clean. I'm interested in replacing the integrated audio completely with the external sound card.


Edited by ysaliens - 1/9/11 at 6:31pm
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post #4 of 17
1/10/11 at 6:24am

Hey man, I pretty much have the same problem you have with my laptop that has Realtek audio. I have not tried the mod drivers though... I did a lot of research and decided that for me, the best solution is the Asus Xonar U1. They don't make them anymore, but I found some new ones for sale on Ebay the other day and ordered it. I don't have it yet so I don't have any first hand experience with it yet, but it got pretty good reviews. I think the good thing about it is that it kind of combines the best of both worlds in terms of DACs and gaming sound cards. It should be able to power most headphones with ease as well. I am pretty sure its software suite comes with an EQ. You should google it and check it out, it might be exactly what you need.

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post #5 of 17
1/10/11 at 7:19am

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/sound-cards/audio-advantage-micro-ii.aspx

 

(I haven´t heard it myself,  but there are some positive avaliations in this same forum)

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post #6 of 17
1/10/11 at 8:02am

If you are not into eax or similar mambo jambo you can get emu0202 usb which powers through usb only.

 

It worked for me pretty good when i was using laptop.

 

Edit: Oh sorry i didnt read your post entirely and equalizer may not be an option for emu0202 but google it anyway cause i never looked for an equalizer.


Edited by ^adm^ - 1/10/11 at 8:09am
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post #7 of 17
1/10/11 at 8:50am
Thread Starter 

OMG! The Xonar  U1 is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Can you post back when you get it for how it sounds?

 

I think it's perfect though. 10-band EQ, gaming effects, hardware acceleration, small package, USB. 

 

Also, anyone know of any other options? I'm only seeing that Xonar on ebay as it's phased out of production. Anything similar to it that is still in production? I'm concerned for the drivers as I'm on Win 7 x64 and its an older card.

 

EDIT: Checked that ASUS officially supports Windows 7 x64 with the card so I guess it's not an issue at all. This is looking really good lol. Tell me when you get it!


Edited by ysaliens - 1/10/11 at 9:02am
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post #8 of 17
1/10/11 at 10:41am



 

Quote:
Originally Posted by ysaliens View Post

OMG! The Xonar  U1 is EXACTLY what I was looking for! Can you post back when you get it for how it sounds?

 

I think it's perfect though. 10-band EQ, gaming effects, hardware acceleration, small package, USB. 

 

Also, anyone know of any other options? I'm only seeing that Xonar on ebay as it's phased out of production. Anything similar to it that is still in production? I'm concerned for the drivers as I'm on Win 7 x64 and its an older card.

 

EDIT: Checked that ASUS officially supports Windows 7 x64 with the card so I guess it's not an issue at all. This is looking really good lol. Tell me when you get it!


Yeah I figured you would like the U1, now you just have to find one. I searched around and could only find one on Ebay for a decent price. The seller is out of Taiwan, but the price is fair and the shipping is not bad. I think the shipping will take about a week total. The rest were waaaaay overpriced, like over 300% in some cases. You might also check the For Sale section of the forum and post a 'Wanted' thread. I was worried about the drivers too, but ASUS is still cranking out updated drivers, so no issue there. Who knows, maybe they will release a newer version at some point. I am not quite sure why they stopped selling it. If you search for Xonar U1 on the Asus website, it will still bring up the product page with all the specs. Good luck, I'll certainly let you know how it performs.
 

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post #9 of 17
1/10/11 at 2:20pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by ysaliens View Post

Yeah...unfortunately I don't think that will work for me. I currently have a good equalizer but the sound chip CANNOT perform the EQ cleanly so it results in distortion and its really annoying me with those headphones. I'm looking for a card that installs software/drivers which possess a powerful and full EQ with 2 or 3 easily switched profiles.

 

Currently I have a FiiO E5 hooked up to my laptop to boost the signal and add a little extra bass but it's not comparable to my X-Fi on my desktop. Essentially, I suppose I'm looking for an X-Fi with its Equalizer settings and driver suite or something equivalent with just as much room for tweaking. I do heavy EQ work to my sound to get it to my taste.

 

 

PS: As for using an EQ in my music program, I dislike that for 2 reasons. 1. I'm using Foobar and the EQ pluggins on that are light years away from the X-Fi parametric EQs or the current X-Fi mod EQ I'm using. Reason 2 is that I want the EQ applied to EVERYTHING, particularly my games as I'm a hardcore gamer. I need it as a system-level EQ for this reason.

Also I'm not sure if by a DAC you're referring to a whole external sound card or just an amplifier. I'm not interested in an amplifier as my source integrated audio is not clean. I'm interested in replacing the integrated audio completely with the external sound card.


Duh, you are clipping your amp, the one on the sound card.  That is why you hear distortion with your Senns.  Best bet is to  learn to use EQ cut NOT boost and to keep it minimal.  And yes you are also correct in stating that EQ in and of itself can create distortion, but my money is bet on too much bass boost.  Remember every 3 db of boost at any frequency will require a doubling in power.  So a sound card that puts out lets say 1000 mv max being played with no eq at 250 mv and then add lets say 9 db of bass boost at x freq.  would need 1500 mv to reproduce cleanly which is clearly over the capabilities of the card, hence clipping.

 

 

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post #10 of 17
1/10/11 at 3:15pm
Thread Starter 

Actually I do not believe it is clipping I am hearing.

 

It occurs at any volume, even if I under-amp it 20db from the settings or if I lower the volume a lot. The effect I have is as if one is introducing a lot of hiss every time a bass note hits. It occurs when I activate the equalizer. If everything is at 0, it is clean. As soon as I move ANY slider, this effect is introduced (whether I move it to reduce a frequency or increase it). The farther away it is from 0, the more this effect becomes pronounced. My bet is it's the processing engine or the sound chip unable to process everything cleanly.

 

I have had the EXACT same effect when I had a Creative Audigy SE (Later moded to X-Fi XtremeAudio). Since ALL of the processing was done in the software (as it is a software-implemented card), my bet is the processing was not clean. That is the main reason I bought the X-Fi Titanium for my desktop which solved this issue PERFECTLY and permanently.

 

I'm looking for a hardware-accelerated sound card for this very reason. One that has a powerful EQ. I believe the U1 might be the answer for me. And I seem to only find it on Ebay for $75 and from Taiwan....though I'm a bit worried if it may be a fake since it is coming from the Asian region and being sold through Ebay.

As for drivers, I'm not worried. Checked with Asus already and the last update was this last December which is pretty great.

 

 

EDIT: Has anyone used this: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-SB1090-Blaster-Surround/dp/B0017QQQAE/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0

Its the Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB sound card. I'm currently looking up reviews for it as I actually am used to dealing with Creative drivers and have found that once I do set them up, their products sound excellent in my opinion. If this thing has an X-Fi processor, it would also be ideal like the U1...and cheaper.


Edited by ysaliens - 1/10/11 at 3:28pm
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post #11 of 17
1/10/11 at 7:10pm

I could be totally wrong, but I swore that I read somewhere that that card uses a lot of software processing through your PC's CPU rather than doing it's processing on it's own chip.... someone please correct me if I am wrong. Oh, and lets hope the U1 I ordered is not a fake!!

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post #12 of 17
1/10/11 at 7:38pm
Thread Starter 

Yeah. Same. So I guesss a U1 it is...

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post #13 of 17
1/11/11 at 5:57am
Quote:
Originally Posted by ysaliens View Post

Actually I do not believe it is clipping I am hearing.

 

It occurs at any volume, even if I under-amp it 20db from the settings or if I lower the volume a lot. The effect I have is as if one is introducing a lot of hiss every time a bass note hits. It occurs when I activate the equalizer. If everything is at 0, it is clean. As soon as I move ANY slider, this effect is introduced (whether I move it to reduce a frequency or increase it). The farther away it is from 0, the more this effect becomes pronounced. My bet is it's the processing engine or the sound chip unable to process everything cleanly.

 

I have had the EXACT same effect when I had a Creative Audigy SE (Later moded to X-Fi XtremeAudio). Since ALL of the processing was done in the software (as it is a software-implemented card), my bet is the processing was not clean. That is the main reason I bought the X-Fi Titanium for my desktop which solved this issue PERFECTLY and permanently.

 

I'm looking for a hardware-accelerated sound card for this very reason. One that has a powerful EQ. I believe the U1 might be the answer for me. And I seem to only find it on Ebay for $75 and from Taiwan....though I'm a bit worried if it may be a fake since it is coming from the Asian region and being sold through Ebay.

As for drivers, I'm not worried. Checked with Asus already and the last update was this last December which is pretty great.

 

 

EDIT: Has anyone used this: http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Labs-SB1090-Blaster-Surround/dp/B0017QQQAE/ref=pd_sxp_grid_pt_0_0

Its the Creative X-Fi Surround 5.1 External USB sound card. I'm currently looking up reviews for it as I actually am used to dealing with Creative drivers and have found that once I do set them up, their products sound excellent in my opinion. If this thing has an X-Fi processor, it would also be ideal like the U1...and cheaper.


I was wrong, apologies.  Sounds like a terrible card!

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post #14 of 17
1/11/11 at 7:05am

 

Quote:

If you are not into eax or similar mambo jambo you can get emu0202 usb which powers through usb only.

 

However, if you ARE into mambo jambo, you could have a look at my Jambo DAC. USB input and a few other options.

 

http://www.head-fi.org/forum/thread/288159/jambo-dac

 

Jamie

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post #15 of 17
1/25/11 at 9:05pm

Hey there. I got my U1 today, and it is not a fake. Woohoo! Not to mention, it sounds great. It is definitely a HUGE improvement over the onbourd sound. I think my RealTek just didn't have enough oomph to even power my IEMs well. My new Shure 840s sound freakin awesome. I couldn't be ahppier so far. Also, the software it somes with has some nifty features. Be sure to download the newest version from Asus.com. 

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