[Mercuttio]

Laptop soundcards are the worst. Because everything is on one board (most of the time) you're going to get the interferance of other componants bleeding into your soundcard / music.

Example: My powerbook's audio stinks. Yeah, it's a high end laptop, but I can still hear the hard drive spinning up and down and nasty interferance (sometimes even clipping) when the processor's working on something.

 

[stewgriff]

Last year, Intel replaced the AC'97 codec with their new "High Definition Audio" for their integrated sound cards. It's not so much for audio quality improvement as much as increased stability and support for home theater, gaming, etc.

That said, I have a crappy laptop card...soldered in the right place on the motherboard to get constant interference from the hard drive and CPU.

 

[Jesse40902]

how much are those pcmcia sound cards? those cards are usually plug and play right?

Dont i have to diabled my onboard sound card first?

 

[skudmunky]

Right now, I'm using a Sound Blaster Live! 24 bit. I'm hoping over the summer to buy a good DAC and a better soundcard. Doesn't sound too bad though.

 

[ken36]

You can't get away from it. You have to spend money to get high quality sound. It demands an external DAC.

 

[Febs]

I have a Headroom Bithead (the last generation, not the new one) and it is a substantial improvement over the on-board sound in my Dell Latitude D600.

(And I *really* want to try the new model.

)

 

[Trogdor]

I use a Thinkpad (from work) and the onboard soundcard is horrible as well as the output headphone jack.

You need to use that Search button again in the "Computers-as-Source" forum that has loads of information regarding this topic (this post is in the wrong section). In fact there is one thread that lists a crap load of DACs on the market for this exact purpose.

Bottom line is you need some kind of DAC whether it be USB/FW based, PCMCIA etc. if you want higher more detailed sound. I use the Apogee MiniDAC USB with my notebook.

EDIT: To get you started: http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=162717

 

[Jesse40902]

how much will this upgrade cost me? i already have a good headphones ( which i use mostly for the tv) but i want to use it for computer as well now...

 

[jagorev]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Jesse40902 how much are those pcmcia sound cards? those cards are usually plug and play right? Dont i have to diabled my onboard sound card first?

They start around $100 for used, go up to $150-$200 new. You can usually find prices and sellers for yourself by using www.froogle.com

They come with a CD that will install some software. The installation process will take care of disabling your onboard sound card. It's very easy to install.

Also, a search for laptop sound will turn up a huge thread on this in the computer-as-source forum.

 

[jagorev]

Here's the listing of laptop sound solutions:

http://www4.head-fi.org/forums/showthread.php?t=162717