[Cortes]

Hi gals/guys,
I'm having a hard time trying to decide what would be the most convenient setup. I own a laptop Thinkpad T42 + er4p/s and probably in the near future a pair of Sennheisers. I want to upgrade my source/amp and I'm willing to spend up to ~450$. The setup must be semi-portable, so I'd prefer not extra wallwarts.
From what I've read in head-fi some possibilities could be

a) Echo Indigo DJ (160$) + SuperMacro with extra switches (300$) => ~460$
b) WaveTerminal U24 (210$) + Supermacro std ( 250$) => ~460$
c) Edirol UA25 (210$) + Supermacro std ( 250$) => ~460$
d) AOS Flute (400 $) + very cheap digital out (used Transit or Sonica??) => ~460$
e) Headrom Overture ( 300$) + 150$ amp (JMT, MaxiMoy ...) => ~450$
f) Save the money and stick with the anolog out of my Thinkpad
g) Other possibilities


What do you think is the best option? Other possibilities

?
I'd appreciate your suggestions. Thanks!. Salu2

 

[KobaltBlau]

do you want to use this rig with your laptop at a desk, or on the go, or just places with an outlet, or on the couch, or what? Cheers.

 

[Natsuiro]

I think you can't go wrong with the flute. I think it's simply an amazing product.

 

[Cortes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by KobaltBlau do you want to use this rig with your laptop at a desk, or on the go, or just places with an outlet, or on the couch, or what? Cheers.

The rig will be used wiht the laptop at a desk, sorry I forgot to mention.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Natsuiro I think you can't go wrong with the flute. I think it's simply an amazing product.

the problem would be to find a good and cheap digital out from the laptop . Thanks

 

[james__bean]

I'd recommend a Larocco Pocket Reference if you can get in on a group buy. I'd talk to Ipodstudio about that if you're interested in the group buy. Link to info on the Pocket Reference

edit: scratch what I said about the EMU, I was thinking desktop for some reason. I'm not really knowledgable about usb sources.

 

[Natsuiro]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortes the problem would be to find a good and cheap digital out from the laptop . Thanks

Yea I'm looking for a cheap but decent digital out for a laptop as well. From what I know, the sonica is discontinued so I was looking into the m-audio transit. Anyone know which external soundcard would give good digital out?

 

[Cortes]

from what I've read in the forum the waveterminal u24 has a good digital output, but is 200$ and 400$ for Flute you have 600$, that's too much for me.
Take a look to this review
http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showt...nal+u24+review

Regards

 

[Cortes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by james__bean I'd recommend a Larocco Pocket Reference if you can get in on a group buy. I'd talk to Ipodstudio about that if you're interested in the group buy. Link to info on the Pocket Reference edit: scratch what I said about the EMU, I was thinking desktop for some reason. I'm not really knowledgable about usb sources.

wow, first time I see this product, I've to study it in more detail. Thanks!

 

[lan]

Overture is sold out so you can't get it. You couldnt get it separately anyhow. There aren't too many choices unfortunately. Of the options I would choose AOS Flute. This is the simplest, most convenient, most performance for the $ since it's one unit. I think it may match Etys nicely as Flute has good microdynamics, smooth highs, nice bass, and wide soundstage. Later on you could always add your own amp if you so choose.

 

[KobaltBlau]

I assume your laptop does not have S/PDIF. Mine does on coax through the dock. If I were in your situation I would buy a Flute, which I also think is a great product. here is some detail on its design, it uses very nice chips:

http://www.aoselectronics.com/flute.html

I'm not sure if a Transit's digital output would do it justice, I just don't know one way or the other. I would ask aos himself what he recommends from USB to S/PDIF, I'm sure he has thought about it and he knows the electronics.

If you wanted to be more mobile I would think about something like an indigo dj line out to a maxed out pimeta stuck to the back of the laptop screen. I don't think the headroom Total BitHead would compete with a flute on a good digital source, but it is hard to beat for portability. the indigo dj + maxed pimeta is an attempt to provide similar portability with higher quality.

 

[Cortes]

Quote:

Originally Posted by lan Overture is sold out so you can't get it. You couldnt get it separately anyhow. There aren't too many choices unfortunately. Of the options I would choose AOS Flute. This is the simplest, most convenient, most performance for the $ since it's one unit. I think it may match Etys nicely as Flute has good microdynamics, smooth highs, nice bass, and wide soundstage. Later on you could always add your own amp if you so choose.

The flute has only one digital in and one headphone out, how is it possible to bypass the internal amp with and external amp?. thanks


Quote:

Originally Posted by KobaltBlau I assume your laptop does not have S/PDIF. Mine does on coax through the dock. If I were in your situation I would buy a Flute, which I also think is a great product. here is some detail on its design, it uses very nice chips: http://www.aoselectronics.com/flute.html I'm not sure if a Transit's digital output would do it justice, I just don't know one way or the other. I would ask aos himself what he recommends from USB to S/PDIF, I'm sure he has thought about it and he knows the electronics.

yes, it's a good idea to ask Aos directly, I'll do it. My laptop has the typical S-video out, is that are you talking about?. Is it possible to get a digital out from the S-video

?. Thanks!

 

[KobaltBlau]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortes The flute has only one digital in and one headphone out, how is it possible to bypass the internal amp with and external amp?. thanks

On another thread someone said that if you turn the volume all the way up you can use the flute as a DAC. They thought it had to do with the unit using digital volume control (which it does) compared to other units using analog. This is another thing that AOS could answer best.
Quote:

Originally Posted by Cortes yes, it's a good idea to ask Aos directly, I'll do it. My laptop has the typical S-video out, is that are you talking about?. Is it possible to get a digital out from the S-video ?. Thanks!

My dock has an RCA jack with a black center that says S/PDIF below it. the S-video jack is separate. I've never heard of anyone getting digital audio out of S-video ports. I actually looked the T42 up on ibm's site, and it appears that USB and PCMCIA (a la indigo) are going to be your options.

If AOS can recommend a USB->S/PDIF for under $100 (you might go slightly above $450), I think you'd be really happy with the Flute.

Cheers,

Andy

 

[KobaltBlau]

More specifically, if AOS likes the Transit ok, you should be in business.

 

[Hamsterball_Z]

Here's a cheap option for optical out through USB for about $30, Turtle Beach Audio Advantage Micro. PC and Mac compatible. I've got one but I haven't tried it for optical, only analog. The analog is pretty good though, warm and bassy and seems to add an expansive soundstage. I don't know if that's an effect or not. I'm using the Windows generic USB Audio driver so I wouldn't think so.