Do USB Sound Cards Improve Laptop Speaker Audio Quality?

[TDRKZ]

The headphone jack from my new vostro 1700 picks up a ton of noise from the motherboard and various other things making my er6i's impossible to use. After speaking with dell about the issue, I am receiving the turtle beach voyetra UBS Sound Card.

Amazon.com: Turtle Beach-Voyetra TBS-1120-01 USB Drive: Electronics

I'm not too familiar with sound cards and have a few questions.

1. Will this fix the static and possibly even boost my er6i sound quality?
2. Does plugging this thing in improve the sound quality coming from my built in laptop speakers?
3. Is this product any good -_-'''?

Thanks for the help.

 

[VeipaCray]

It works a little different that what you think. It doesn't replace your built in onboard sound card. It adds a second sound card. You will need to go into your audio preferences and select this soundcard as your output device instead of your onboard laptop card. You can then plug powered speakers or an optical line out from this usb card. There is no amp in that usb soundcard so you will not be able to drive a pair of headphones from it. It's line out only. It will do nothing for your built in laptop speakers. You would need to plug in a pair of powered speakers to this usb device.

 

[vulc4n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDRKZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif The headphone jack from my new vostro 1700 picks up a ton of noise from the motherboard and various other things making my er6i's impossible to use. After speaking with dell about the issue, I am receiving the turtle beach voyetra UBS Sound Card.

Pretty typical, there are few laptops with a decent headphone out.
Quote:

Originally Posted by TDRKZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif 1. Will this fix the static and possibly even boost my er6i sound quality?

It should certainly be better. I've never used this particular product, but I suspect the the quality will be noticeably better than what you get from your laptops onboard audio.
Quote:

Originally Posted by TDRKZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif 2. Does plugging this thing in improve the sound quality coming from my built in laptop speakers?

Absolutely not. Your laptops speakers are tied directly into the on board audio. Basically, your laptop speakers are not connected to the usb sound card, thus it has no effect on them.
Quote:

Originally Posted by TDRKZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif 3. Is this product any good -_-'''?

Well, we are talking about a 25.00 sound card. It's probably not rubbish, as Turtle Beach stuff is usually pretty decent, but don't expect miracles. If you want to step up to something nicer, maybe try an E-MU 0404 USB.

 

[vulc4n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by VeipaCray /img/forum/go_quote.gif There is no amp in that usb soundcard so you will not be able to drive a pair of headphones from it. It's line out only.

You are mistaken about this. There's no reason you couldn't plug a pair of headphones into it. Its certainly not going to be able to drive high impedance phones but it should be sufficient for most.

 

[VeipaCray]

Quote:

Originally Posted by vulc4n /img/forum/go_quote.gif You are mistaken about this. There's no reason you couldn't plug a pair of headphones into it. Its certainly not going to be able to drive high impedance phones but it should be sufficient for most.

My mistake... you are correct. Thank you.

 

[TDRKZ]

Does an internal one have the same effect?

Dell : Creative Labs Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Laptop - sound card : Sound Cards : Small & Medium Business

AKA something like this?

*edit* sorry that was vague
Does something like this change any of the questions above?

 

[vulc4n]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TDRKZ /img/forum/go_quote.gif Does an internal one have the same effect? Dell : Creative Labs Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi Xtreme Audio Laptop - sound card : Sound Cards : Small & Medium Business AKA something like this? *edit* sorry that was vague Does something like this change any of the questions above?

Different interface, same concept. Its just USB vs Express Card... IIRC USB is actually integrated into the express card standard, so the X-Fi may be USB based as well... Not that it makes any difference.

Note, that there obviously are some potential SQ differences between these two devices, but I'm not familiar with either. I wouldn't expect either to be particularly good, however.