How to get great sound from Laptop

[jilgiljongiljing]

Well I have tons of music and just 20gb in my MP3 player, plus I like the control I get in Winamp in terms of plugins and such.

But somehow, the only external soundcard I could find was the creative 24bit external which is decent for a 5.1 speaker setup, but pretty crap for headphones.

EQ doesnt do anything at all, volume is pathetic and it really doesnt sound anything like what I can get from those Logitech Z speakers or my mp3 player for that matter.

So do any of you ppl know any other external soundcard solutions, cos running the headphone out the laptops soundcard to an amp is pretty lame and pointless, so there has to be an external soundcard as such.

I heard the Audigy PCMCIA card has tons of compatibility issues and bugs so I chose to stay away from them.

PS:Asking me to buy an 80GB IPOD is not a solution...

 

[Meyvn]

The Headroom Total Bithead is both a USB DAC (effectively, a sound card) and supposedly a pretty good portable headphone amp.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

Quote:

The Headroom Total Bithead is both a USB DAC (effectively, a sound card) and supposedly a pretty good portable headphone amp.

but its 200$

I was hoping for something under the 100$ mark

 

[Evisu]

Edited

 

[TheVoxHumanus]

Creative just released the "Xmod", it's a little USB device. The gimmick is their "crystalizer" technology, that's supposed to "improve the quality of compressed music by restoring bits lost in the compression process", whatever.

I don't know about all that, but it seems like it could be used as a pretty straightforward portable headphone amp. It's only 80 bucks, too.

 

[BeNME]

Quote:

Originally Posted by TheVoxHumanus Creative just released the "Xmod", it's a little USB device. The gimmick is their "crystalizer" technology, that's supposed to "improve the quality of compressed music by restoring bits lost in the compression process", whatever. I don't know about all that, but it seems like it could be used as a pretty straightforward portable headphone amp. It's only 80 bucks, too.

It's not portable unfortunately.

 

[Ypoknons]

Check my sig and try the "Computer-as-source" forum.

 

[DRSpeed85]

I bought a DIY AlienDAC from the FS forum for $96 and it works great with my laptop through a standard usb cord. The dac is then attached to a little dot 2+ which together with the dac makes an excellent setup in less than $300.

 

[granodemostasa]

i second the M-audio suggestion. or you could get the april music DA-100 or Stello 220 MKII for better usb

 

[theobservatory.]

Wow I didn't know the M-Audio Transit was a DAC and amp. I thought it was only used to obtain a line out from USB. Sounds like I could use this for my iMac! Been tempted to get the Total Bithead but the M-Audio's more affordable. How do they compare?

The M-Audio is also a good idea in that it offers a good upgrade path. You can add an amp of your choice when you do have the funds.

 

[TheVoxHumanus]

I decided to head out and pick up the Xmod to check it out.

Don't waste your time. It's got a serious hiss problem and without the "crystalizer" nonsense, it sounds thin, dull and lifeless -- which leads me to believe that Creative is engaged in some funny business by degrading the sound quality of the "normal" setting in an effort to make THEIR technology seem better when it isn't. My iPod sounds better than this.

I'll be returning it to the store tomorrow.

 

[GreatDane]

 

[GlorytheWiz825]

Another vote for the BitHead 2006. You can pick up a used one on the for sale forum for around $125. I'm running a BitHead out of my gf' old Thinkpad 23 and it works great.

 

[jilgiljongiljing]

SO the Xmod is crap eh...hmm.. cnet seems to think its pretty awesome for some reason. But I feel its expensive and they shudve made it run off battery for portability. But I wanna give it a test run as well just to see what the hype is all about.

THe M-Audio looks like a good option however, bithead is way over my budget, and I am not a big fan of used stuff

 

[kugino]

the HPDAC might be what you're looking for at that price point...

or my poor man's microstack (though it doesn't sound "poor" at all)

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