RedLeader
Headphoneus Supremus
- Joined
- Jun 6, 2005
- Posts
- 3,413
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- 12
I have a problem. This problem being that I'm in school (make that schools) and am as such, not terribly wealthy. I used to have a nice setup complete with tube amp and full size open headphones. That.... went away to a better place. I used to have an awesome gaming rig with a nice Maudio soundcard in it. That.... also went to a better place. And as such you have me as I am now, an audiophile with no money to spend.
I have a laptop for schools with integrated audio. Realtek AC97 laptop sound, with spdif out! Originally I thought that because it had integrated spdif that I would be able to get myself a decent DAC and enjoy all my K81DJ had to offer. Unfortunately my budget bombed when I got my booklist and had bank problems. (Student lines of credit are murder) So I reached my dilemma, how do I improve on this audio without spending any money? Enter... The Solution
I'm not advertising for the company, but I'm adding the link so you can see how much I ended up spending. The postage came to about $3 (all the way from Hong Kong direct) so all told it was about $13US. That blew my budget by about $13, but I had hope! I ended up translating the review they link to at the bottom, and it essentially said according to babelfish that it had too much packaging and had "strong outs". Taking this as a positive sign, I decided to purchase it.
I got the package (less than a week from HK
) and it had features listed on it. It also had features listed for the software that came with it.... but no software. One of the features was "External PowerNO NEED". Ecstatic that it had external powernoneed (how many of your fancy maudio cards have THAT?) I plugged it in and held my breath.
It was detected! Windows had on its hands a "C-Media USB Headphone Set". Headphone! Right in the name of the device! YES! I screamed, happy beyond words. (Except for yes, I guess thats technically a word) After another couple of breathless and wordless minutes, the red LED turned on! I had read from the review that this happened when "audio goes the in" so I was confused. Was I recording? There was a mic port but no mic was plugged in. I looked on the back of the box, but found only the assurance that the "Software Value-added for game" included "SPEAKER SHIETER" I was now happy that I had no software value-added.
I plugged in my K81DJ and hit play. My ears exploded.
After a minute of ringing I realized what had happened. Because the integrated audio is SO weak I had it cranked to 100% to get any kind of sound out of it. Full of crackles and pops perhaps, but sound was coming out. The headphone out of this thing is STRONG and was at 100%. Ow.
In terms of a review? I'm happy with this purchase. The bass recieved an odd boost and the SQ still isn't on par with my H120, but as I lost the adaptor for my european H120 (I live in Canada. Not part of Europe.) I have no way of charging the very dead battery or even doing a direct comparison. I hope to get a power adaptor so I can do a review of this thing, but I'll tell you what it's like compared to the integrated.
The sound floor is lowered considerably. With the integrated, the 81DJ buzzed like a mad hatter, with pops and clicks when I wasnt playing music. The sound would stop, stutter and freeze when I was trying to connect to a wireless network. If I ejected my wireless card the laptop would have to be rebooted before any sound would work again. If I closed VLC and opened it again, the soundsystem would crash. Sound like a software issue? I used every driver I could find, it's a hardware issue. The issue? the hardware sucks. This chinese usb soundstick is amazing. I can listen to music with some degree of clarity and enjoyment.
CONCLUSION : If you have integrated audio that crashes your computer and $13US in your paypal account... GET THIS NOW!!! If you have more than $13US you probably have a laptop that doesnt crash when you try and play music, so this conclusion isn't for you.
I have a laptop for schools with integrated audio. Realtek AC97 laptop sound, with spdif out! Originally I thought that because it had integrated spdif that I would be able to get myself a decent DAC and enjoy all my K81DJ had to offer. Unfortunately my budget bombed when I got my booklist and had bank problems. (Student lines of credit are murder) So I reached my dilemma, how do I improve on this audio without spending any money? Enter... The Solution
I'm not advertising for the company, but I'm adding the link so you can see how much I ended up spending. The postage came to about $3 (all the way from Hong Kong direct) so all told it was about $13US. That blew my budget by about $13, but I had hope! I ended up translating the review they link to at the bottom, and it essentially said according to babelfish that it had too much packaging and had "strong outs". Taking this as a positive sign, I decided to purchase it.
I got the package (less than a week from HK
It was detected! Windows had on its hands a "C-Media USB Headphone Set". Headphone! Right in the name of the device! YES! I screamed, happy beyond words. (Except for yes, I guess thats technically a word) After another couple of breathless and wordless minutes, the red LED turned on! I had read from the review that this happened when "audio goes the in" so I was confused. Was I recording? There was a mic port but no mic was plugged in. I looked on the back of the box, but found only the assurance that the "Software Value-added for game" included "SPEAKER SHIETER" I was now happy that I had no software value-added.
I plugged in my K81DJ and hit play. My ears exploded.
After a minute of ringing I realized what had happened. Because the integrated audio is SO weak I had it cranked to 100% to get any kind of sound out of it. Full of crackles and pops perhaps, but sound was coming out. The headphone out of this thing is STRONG and was at 100%. Ow.
In terms of a review? I'm happy with this purchase. The bass recieved an odd boost and the SQ still isn't on par with my H120, but as I lost the adaptor for my european H120 (I live in Canada. Not part of Europe.) I have no way of charging the very dead battery or even doing a direct comparison. I hope to get a power adaptor so I can do a review of this thing, but I'll tell you what it's like compared to the integrated.
The sound floor is lowered considerably. With the integrated, the 81DJ buzzed like a mad hatter, with pops and clicks when I wasnt playing music. The sound would stop, stutter and freeze when I was trying to connect to a wireless network. If I ejected my wireless card the laptop would have to be rebooted before any sound would work again. If I closed VLC and opened it again, the soundsystem would crash. Sound like a software issue? I used every driver I could find, it's a hardware issue. The issue? the hardware sucks. This chinese usb soundstick is amazing. I can listen to music with some degree of clarity and enjoyment.
CONCLUSION : If you have integrated audio that crashes your computer and $13US in your paypal account... GET THIS NOW!!! If you have more than $13US you probably have a laptop that doesnt crash when you try and play music, so this conclusion isn't for you.
