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I sometimes feel my computer audio lacks in comparison to my iPod. Help?

post #1 of 7
1/20/11 at 12:33am
Thread Starter 

So I've been listening through Etymotic MC5's (I'm between full-size headphones at the moment) and I sometimes feel that my computer audio is lacking. I don't run through an amp and just have a $500 laptop. Should this be satisfactory? Is something missing? Is there any merit to using EQ? Which EQ is best?

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post #2 of 7
1/20/11 at 7:30am

Some onboard cards aren't that great a eq won't improve the sound quality you should look at getting an external dac.

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post #3 of 7
1/20/11 at 7:44am

Sounds like something is wrong. Your computer should not sound worse than your portable; maybe not much better, but not worse. Check to see if you have some kind of processing going on like sample rate conversion, eq or other software manipulation. How is it lacking?

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post #4 of 7
1/20/11 at 7:48am

Usually onboard sound card arent very good, especially the ones on the laptop which is why you are finding it lacking compared to your ipod. You should consider investing in a dac/amp combo, it will help make quite an improvement in SQ. You can try entry level dac/amps like Fiio E7

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post #5 of 7
1/20/11 at 7:56am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by MR.X View Post

Usually onboard sound card arent very good, especially the ones on the laptop which is why you are finding it lacking compared to your ipod. You should consider investing in a dac/amp combo, it will help make quite an improvement in SQ. You can try entry level dac/amps like Fiio E7


 

How much does the fiio E7 go for again? Will Amazon ship to canada?

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post #6 of 7
1/20/11 at 7:58am

The onboard on my much more expensive laptop wasn't great, it is a bit muddy , bloated bass and the treble sounded funny, the E7 was quite a big upgrade for me and much better than my onboard and it is pretty cheap, the E7/E9 combo was even better.

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post #7 of 7
1/21/11 at 9:50am
Quote:
Originally Posted by HumanAfterYall View Post



Quote:
Originally Posted by MR.X View Post

Usually onboard sound card arent very good, especially the ones on the laptop which is why you are finding it lacking compared to your ipod. You should consider investing in a dac/amp combo, it will help make quite an improvement in SQ. You can try entry level dac/amps like Fiio E7


 

How much does the fiio E7 go for again? Will Amazon ship to canada?


It goes for about 100$. You can get it from Amazon or Head-Direct, both provide shipping to Canada

 

http://head-direct.com/product_detail.php?p=85

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