Help me build a Laptop System
Aug 19, 2004 at 6:50 PM Thread Starter Post #1 of 12
lagavulin

lagavulin

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Hello,

I am taking a travelling position and need to pair down. I will be using a T23 Thinkpad as my source. I have 2 PCI slots and one is filled with two
USB 2.0 and 1 Firewire Port. So I can use the USB 2 or Firewire Port, or use the other slot.

I need Speakers (not too big), a sound card (to connect to my Corda HeadAmp and speakers) and possibly a DAC (not sure if I can afford on my budget).

My budget is between $600-700.

What do you guys think?
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 7:07 AM Post #3 of 12
Wow! Alot of takers on this one.
biggrin.gif


I can only recommend what I like and own. There are other and possibly better options. I use and Echo Indigo IO card. Sounds great. Drivers are rock-solid. Flawless integration. I use Foobar2000. Kernel streaming was very easy to setup. It seems to work well coupled with an amp, but I currently only have the SHA-1 to test it with. It does not provide S/PDIF output, so if your serious about getting a DAC, pass on this one. Someone mentioned in another thread the M-Audio Transit for a digital out option.

As far as speakers go, I really can't recommend any. The only thing that sounded decent to me was running to an integrated amp with full size speakers. My guess is that a portable speaker solution will pale in comparison to headphones. So I can't help you there. Good hunting bro.
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 5:41 PM Post #4 of 12
Quote:

Originally Posted by Budley007
Wow! Alot of takers on this one.
biggrin.gif


I can only recommend what I like and own. There are other and possibly better options. I use and Echo Indigo IO card. Sounds great. Drivers are rock-solid. Flawless integration. I use Foobar2000. Kernel streaming was very easy to setup. It seems to work well coupled with an amp, but I currently only have the SHA-1 to test it with. It does not provide S/PDIF output, so if your serious about getting a DAC, pass on this one. Someone mentioned in another thread the M-Audio Transit for a digital out option.

As far as speakers go, I really can't recommend any. The only thing that sounded decent to me was running to an integrated amp with full size speakers. My guess is that a portable speaker solution will pale in comparison to headphones. So I can't help you there. Good hunting bro.


Any reason you got the IO over the DJ?
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 6:33 PM Post #5 of 12
i just got an m-audio audiophile usb with the stancor ps and its much better than my stupid ass internal sigmatel audio
biggrin.gif


:a900smile:
 
Aug 21, 2004 at 8:59 PM Post #7 of 12
it only gots up to 48khz output......
 
Aug 26, 2004 at 10:01 AM Post #10 of 12
Quote:

Originally Posted by pirate
Any reason you got the IO over the DJ?


Yes, I use Cakewalk Sonar and the IO allows me to do HDD recording of my audio from another computer. It's completely unnecessary for listening to music, so you can save some money with a different model. (sorry for the delay in response, the thread slipped by me at work)
biggrin.gif
 
Aug 26, 2004 at 11:50 AM Post #11 of 12
I use a Sony PCG-TR2 and I've just upgraded the TR1 to a TR5. I (infrequently) use the same Echo Indigo card both of them. I have no problems with it, but I do tend to use my portable audio devices far more often for storage reasons (The TR's use a 1.8" HDD so a maximum of 40Gb is what's available now). I don't really see the point of lugging anything else around unless it's self powered and takes the load off the laptop's batteries.


I wasn't aware of the DJ version when I bought the Indigo, otherwise I might have gone for that for the flexibility.
 
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