Best buying choice for laptop sound card/interface?

[shmoreblore2009]

Hey there,

I'm on a rather tight budget of <$100 for this one, but I'm looking for a sound card to plug my awesome Audio Technica M50 cans into my laptop with mostly for video games, music, and multitasking with combinations of one or the other.

I'm looking for a card or interface that will stop the popping/crackling hissing noises, especially whilst playing heavy games, and of course preferably to take the load off of my cpu and therefore improve overall performance. A boost in audio clarity to bring these cans to their fullest potential would be a cherry on top of the icing as well

Thanks a bunch to any and all help or pointing in the right direction.

 

[Spasticteapot]

Save up and buy an external card with its' own power supply - preferably FireWire, but USB works too. I have an M-Audio Audiophile USB, and it's pretty good - I paid about $40 for mine, but you can expect to pay around $80 to get one secondhand.

 

[Armaegis]

For video games, I would suggest either one of the sound cards from Turtle Beach ($40-80), the Steelseries Siberia (about $40), or Creative X-Fi Go (about $80). Mind you, these are all usb and they may or may not make the load on your cpu worse. From the reviews I've read, the X-Fi Go is probably the best sounding, but can be a bit of a cpu hog (which shouldn't be too much of an issue if you have a good gaming rig). I have the Turtle Beach Micro and am quite happy with it. The sound isn't as good as a dedicated usb dac, but it's one of the cheapest options out there, gives a good volume boost and plays nice with my cpu.

 

[shmoreblore2009]

I've been reccommended a HotAudio DAC Destroyer USB for a headphone amp for my M50's... Would this have any performance gains whatsoever for games as well, or the better question would be does it take any load off of the cpu for sound processing at all? I'm still not absolutely sure about what the function is of a DAC.

Linky - DAC DESTROYER [DAC DESTROYER] - $65.00 : HOTAUDIO.COM, Hand Made Audio Perfection!

 

[Armaegis]

DAC - digital to analog converter - it's the part that converts the digital bits into the signal that will drive your speakers/headphones

All sound cards have a DAC in them, but your little usb gaming sound cards generally don't have very good ones. On the other hand, those gaming cards will let you run more sound features/effects (EAX for example) and handle positional audio better. All that additional processing tends to use up more cpu however.

A simple usb dac should not use up much cpu, as all you're doing is feeding it a signal which is then handled mostly by hardware alone. Since most of your cost is going into a higher end DAC chip and components, your music will sound better. In game, the quality of sound may be better, but it likely won't be as complex or "rich" for lack of a better word since most game audio required additional processing.

 

[fenixdown110]

You can do better. Get a DAC Amp. You can find one for under 100.

 

[Armaegis]

DAC: digital to audio converter - it converts the digital bits into the signal that drives your headphones/speakers

All sound cards have a DAC, but the ones in your cheap usb gaming cards generally aren't that good. A sound card however offers additional processing and effects (EAX for example) which will improve upon game sound. This extra processing does use up a bit more cpu though.

A usb dac is purely that. It's a higher end dac chip, and typically a higher end amplifier circuit as well. You pump out the digital signal via usb into the dac and the hardware pumps out your audio signal. There should be minimal usage of your cpu. Music will be better compared to a gaming card. In game sounds and music will sound better, but will usually lack any complexity and depth and positional effects that you'd get from a gaming card.

tl;dr... If you value music more, get the usb dac. If you value gaming more, get the game card. If you want the best of both worlds, you can technically afford both if you shop around a bit. HotAudio has an ebay store and you can get his stuff for $50. The Turtle Beach Micro is $30 on amazon. Links below...

eBay Store - Personal Audio: Headphone Amplifiers

Amazon.com: Audio Advantage Micro USB Sound Card: Electronics

 

[shmoreblore2009]

So I can use the audio advantage micro along with the DAC destroyer side by side?

 

[Armaegis]

They won't work at the same time. I'm just saying use the turtle beach for games, and use the hotaudio for music.

 

[shmoreblore2009]

would the turtle beach Audio advantage SRM be better for games or compensate for the subpar DAC that the micro has, or is it a waste of $40?

 

[Armaegis]

In a broad sense, yes, the SRM is better for games (it's a gaming sound card by a company that makes gaming peripherals after all). The SRM also has a ton of features that the Micro does not have, most notable of which is the 5.1 capability and optical in/out. In the future if you start investing in higher end audio gear, you could use this simply as a usb to optical converter (to plug into a higher end DAC) which is actually pretty good considering the price and everything else that it can do.

In terms of sound quality, my guess is that it would be the same chip and architecture as the Micro. That's not to say it's bad; I've had a Micro for years and like it just fine. If all you're used to is your laptop's onboard sound, then then either the Micro/SRM will be a significant improvement in your sound quality.

Simply put, within your budget you are not going to find a "perfect" solution, and even with more money I don't think there are any gaming usb sound cards which will start to compete with the sound of a dedicated usb dac.

In my opinion, your options are thus...
sort of balanced: get both the hotaudio and micro
lean towards gaming: get the SRM
lean towards music: just the hotaudio, nuforce icon mobile, or wait a month for the FiiO E7

 

[shmoreblore2009]

Leaning towards gaming then... I am primarily looking for a card that will improve gaming performance FPS wise and hopefully remove the sonic popping and crackling that is caused by stress from the CPU.

Did anyone ever have experience with the newish creative x-fi notebook? I save myself a USB port with that one, since it plugs into the expresscard slot... It's more expensive than the turtle beach SRM, so could it be worth it?

 

[Armaegis]

I haven't used that one specifically, but I've used cart slot sound cards before and quite liked them. It's basically like cramming most of the goods of a desktop card, but into a laptop. It should be a step up in quality compared to the X-Fi Go, and less of a drain on your cpu. I honestly couldn't tell you how it would compare to the SRM though, but I would guess the X-Fi Notebook would be a bit better.