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Best Laptop Sound Source under $150?

post #1 of 22
12/22/04 at 3:00am
Thread Starter 
Ive just come to the realization that my HD600's that i have in the mail will be all but wasted if i cant find someplace quiet to listen to them since they are open back. My only solution really is to find a soundcard for my laptop that will provide 24/96 playback, preferably digital out, and the best possible analog line out to be used with my Perreaux SXH-1 so that I can have a quiet means of listening to computer stored music.

The system will go like this...

Monkeys Audio ---> Foobar2k upconverting files to 24/96 ---> *Kernel Streamed* (important) ---> Soundcard ---> Line out ---> Perreaux SXH-1 ---> HD600

what sound cards fit this bill? I was thinking the M-Audio Audiophile USB, and that indigo thing were options, but my Dell laptop only has one PCMCIA slot so I wouldnt be able to use my wireless card and stream music from my main computers if i didnt have it in, so im kinda shying away from the Indigo unless its good enough that I should buy a USB wireless net adapter for the laptop to use it.

any other suggestions welcome.

one more question... does anybody know if the M-Audio Transit supports WDM Kernel Streaming?
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post #2 of 22
12/22/04 at 3:31am
I use the M-Audio Audiophile USB, and I love it in my setup (see "office rig" in my signature). Kernel Streaming at 24-bit works like a champ. To get 96000 Hz, you'll have to use one of the Resampler DSP's under Foobar2k & setup the Audiophile appropriately...but in the end, it works great & sounds great.

The Waveterminal U24 shares a somewhat similar architecture with the Audiophile & might be a nice alternative in the same general price range. It's a nice, smaller package & doesn't have a lot of the "unnecessary" stuff you get on the Audiophile (I'm guessing you wouldn't be using the midi in/out much, if at all).
http://www.esi-pro.com/viewProduct.php?pid=10&page=1

From what I've read, the AOS Piccolo is pretty sweet as well...very small & can operate on AC or DC. At $270, it's well outside your budget though...
http://aoselectronics.com/piccolo.html


Peace,

Graz
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post #3 of 22
12/22/04 at 3:50am
Thread Starter 
so if I get the M-Audio Transit, all i'll have to do to get 24/96 kernel streaming up and running is install the drivers, set foobar2k's kernel streaming options to point to the USB device and set the SSRC Resampler to 24 bit padded to 32 with 96k sampling, and it should work?

one last question for anybody that knows, does the Transit offer independant left/right volume adjustments like some soundcards do. This is really important to me because my left ear is a little lazy compared to my right so I need to turn the right channel volume down a few db to compensate and give me a solid center image.
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post #4 of 22
12/22/04 at 4:06am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Snoodge
one last question for anybody that knows, does the Transit offer independant left/right volume adjustments like some soundcards do. This is really important to me because my left ear is a little lazy compared to my right so I need to turn the right channel volume down a few db to compensate and give me a solid center image.
I thought a guy gave a link to a foobar plugin to adjust the balance in another thread that you made? That didn't work?
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post #5 of 22
12/22/04 at 4:16am
Quote:
so if I get the M-Audio Transit, all i'll have to do to get 24/96 kernel streaming up and running is install the drivers, set foobar2k's kernel streaming options to point to the USB device and set the SSRC Resampler to 24 bit padded to 32 with 96k sampling, and it should work?
I think it'll work as you've described. I'd have to pull out my Transit & re-install the drivers to confirm...but I'm pretty sure that config works.

For my config with the Audiophile, I'm using the PPHS Resampler (with Ultra mode checked), at 24-Bit Fixed Point Playback. After much experimentation, this is my preference...I encourage you to try all of the options & see which one sounds best to your ears. You will probably have to play around with it on the Transit...as I recall, yeah, you may need to go with "24 bit padded to 32" in order to get it to work. There are many Transit/Foobar/Kernel Streaming/ASIO threads on head-fi that you can search on. These topics have all been touched on in pretty good detail. You'll find your way, I'm sure .

Quote:
...does the Transit offer independant left/right volume adjustments like some soundcards do.
I don't recall it having that feature. I'd have to say no.

Peace,

Graz
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post #6 of 22
12/22/04 at 4:36am
Thread Starter 
Quote:
Originally Posted by lan
I thought a guy gave a link to a foobar plugin to adjust the balance in another thread that you made? That didn't work?
using the plugin to adjust the balance i find doesnt have the exact same effect as simply lowering the volume slightly of one channel... I feel like when I pan the balance to the left, im losing information from the right channel.

That could be just in my head though...
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post #7 of 22
12/22/04 at 9:21pm
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graz
I use the M-Audio Audiophile USB, and I love it in my setup ..snip
I'm noobie curious why the M-Audio Audiophile wouldn't go directly to your amplifier. Is the standalone dac high quality than the dac in the M-Audio?

I'd like to find something that takes the usb output from a computer and can directly power my HD580 all in one shot without any additional house mortgages.
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post #8 of 22
12/22/04 at 10:49pm
Thread Starter 
My Yamaha DP-U50 will do that, and do it up to 24/96 in stereo mode, I only paid $80 for it shipped off froogle.com. That goes without mentioning that it will decode dolby digital or dts and encode it into a headphone mix that sounds amazing for movie viewing.

also, regardless of what anybody on head-fi says, i think the headphone amplifier section in the DP-U50 would be more than acceptable for most casual listeners, ive not been able to find any major flaws with it, im constantly pleased with the value that i got for my money.

It provides USB connectivity, digital in and out up to 24/96 + AC3 and DTS, and also has analog in/out.

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post #9 of 22
12/23/04 at 1:15am
Quote:
Originally Posted by geardoc
I'm noobie curious why the M-Audio Audiophile wouldn't go directly to your amplifier. Is the standalone dac high quality than the dac in the M-Audio?
Yup, I could run my headamp straight off of the Audiophile analog outputs...I used that configuration for a while, and honestly it sounds very good.

In looking for ways to upgrade my system at the office, I decided to go with a dedicated dac. It definitely sounds better to my ears.

Peace,

Graz
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post #10 of 22
12/23/04 at 9:36am
Quote:
Originally Posted by Graz
Yup, I could run my headamp straight off of the Audiophile analog outputs...I used that configuration for a while, and honestly it sounds very good.
..snip
I'd been considering getting the M-Audio Transit, but the Yamaha DP-U50 looks sweet. Sounds like either one would have a good headphone output.

From http://www.yamahamultimedia.com/yec/...avit/dpu50.asp
I'm puzzled by the Yamaha site's spec for the headphone output:

Headphone Jack Rated Output/Impedance
PC IN, AUX1 IN, etc. — 320mV/61W

Do they mean 61 ohms and not 61 watts? Or would the impedance be calculated by the P=V^2/R, eg R=(0.32)^2/61 = 0.00167 ohms? I guess I've answered my own question - it looks like they mean 61 ohms, not 1.6miliohm.
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post #11 of 22
12/24/04 at 8:24am
Thread Starter 
im listening to some music on my HD280's right now plugged directly into the DP-U50 and it sounds awesome. I have foobar2k set to output 24bit 96khz digital and my av-710 passes that to the yamaha for d/a conversion and amplification. Its a really decent setup for a great price.

when im gonna listen seriously i use my hd600's and perreaux amp.
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post #12 of 22
12/24/04 at 11:51am
Have you tried no upsampling and USB connection directly to the Yamaha? I suspect it will sound better.
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post #13 of 22
12/25/04 at 11:16pm
Thread Starter 
I like to keep the yamaha out of the loop as far as the computer is concerned because i use the microphone input on the av-710 so i can talk with friends over ventrilo while playing video games. I dont know if the sound would be much better with the yamaha receiving the signal via USB instead of Toslink from the av-710.
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post #14 of 22
12/25/04 at 11:50pm
You might like to take the advice about researching the ability of the M-Audio Transit to support Kernel Streaming. I was never able to get it to work and gave up after this thread. If you find a solution, please post it.

Regards,

BW
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post #15 of 22
12/26/04 at 3:50am
The foobar plugin for adjusting channel balance is called foo_dsp_wider, and can be found here .
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