I have a hi-end Dell Precision Laptop but the sound output sucks. Solutions ( I have spdif ) ?

[C0rnholio]

hey everyone, I currently own a pretty nice monster of a laptop. I've had it for 2 years now but it still pretty awesome compared to what's on the market today.
 
It's a Dell Precision M6300 with the following specs:
CPU - Intel Core2Extreme X9000 2.8 Ghz
4GB Ram - Geil Extreme DDR 2 @ 800 mhz
Screen : 1920 x 1200 WXUGA ( or something )
GPU : nVidia Quadro FX 3600M ( based on the famous g92 chip ) - 512 DDR3
Sound : Sigmatel High Definition Codec something
 
The analog output on it it's simply AWFUL. I think it's comparable to the onboard solutions on the PCs 10 years ago.
 
The laptop has this 10 pin output on the back and an adapter to use it on. The adapter acutally gets the video out through regular RCA out and S-Video but also carries digital sound via a S/PDIF. It looks exactly as this one :
 

My question is : what can I do to have a decent analog sound on this laptop to use with my headphones. Mind you I only use it on the road and would like to be able to listen to some decent music on the go and I would not be interested in purchasing a USB DAC which would throw me more money than the laptop's actual value Can I use the digital out in anyway to enhance the quality ( maybe via a cheap adapter or something ) to my headphones ? Also, would a PCMCIA sound card be any helpful ? I suppose anything would be better than the current analog 3.5 out.
 
BTW - what the hell is this ( at this price ) http://www.amazon.co.uk/Behringer-UCA222-U-Control/dp/B0023BYDHK/ref=pd_cp_MI_1
 
Thanks

 

[hedrick]

To use a digital output with headphones, by definition you need a DAC. I don't know what you consider expensive. The Headroom Total Bithead is $150.
 
Newegg has a Turtle Beach USB DAC/headphone jack for $28. I don't know how good it is.
 

 

[HardDrive]

Quote:

 
Newegg has a Turtle Beach USB DAC/headphone jack for $28. I don't know how good it is.
 

I do! The Turtle Beach Micro II comes with a s/pdif adpater so you can use it for digital or analog and offers great SQ. Even better is that it is only £21.76 w/ free shipping anywhere in the UK. I have had one of these for about 6 months now and I love it. one of the best price/performance buys for a USB DAC/soundcard. It is driverless but if you want to use the s/pdif you have to download the driver of the turtle beach website. I almost got the Behringer, but I saw a lot of people here recommended the micro II so I went with it and I'm happy the way it turned out. Also it can drive high Ohm headphones and speakers very well unamped. No noise or hiss or background noise from the computer at listenable volumes. Something to note is that this DAC can be set to be quite loud (there is a enchament under the control panel that you can turn on or off actually called "Loudness"). With the enhancement on I set the DACs volume to 8% on the PC and that is plenty loud enough for my sr80is or my hd201. With my speakers I leave the Micro at 8% and adjust the voloume of my speaker array to the equivilent of about 5-7% and that is well loud enough to fill a bedroom with sound corner to corner.

 

[C0rnholio]

From the first look at it, the Berhringer also alows you to record sound from an external source as it also provides a line in connection. I am curious if anyone has tested the Turtle Beach and the Berhringer head2head they seam to be very cheap solutions and for what I need exactly, it could be quite enough.