[Observer]

Hello Folks,
 
Lots to read and lots to learn.  A search didn't quite answer my question, so hoping asking in this forum is OK.
 
My laptop appears to have a rather poor 3.5mm headphone ports, which I've used to listen to music and movies.  There is a noticeable "hiss" (that I can hear) regardless of content material (.WAV from CD, MP3), players (ie: VLC or Windows Media Player), which is likely hardware limitation.
 
In my quest for better performance, I've come to the conclusion that a nice set of cans powered from an external (portable or desktop is still yet to be determined) amplifier, and a very nice to have feature would be an integrated DAC.  It seems there are a few players in this arena, so it's just a matter of seeing which suits me best, that will likely satisfy my objective for the time being.
 
A particular use case that I'm not sure could be handled (or perhaps it can) would be watching a movie from the laptop, and having just the audio stream via USB to the yet to be identified external DAC/Amplifier, which I would plug my headphones into.  Can this be done?   Taking things a bit further, I do have an HDMI output, so would it be possible to send just the audio component to the external DAC/Amplifier, and still have the video on my laptop?  This second question would be more useful for applications like watching a Blu-Ray on a PS3, and maybe having a "Y" connector? (One going to the flatscreen with volume turned off, and the other end going to the external DAC/Amplifier, so I could listen via headphones?)
 
Thanks
 

 

[r_monk]

A very nice, almost portable, desktop USB DAC with integrated amplifier is the Audinst HUD-mx1 (ebay $179,--). It's plug and play, no extra drivers needed (Windows, Mac and Linux), so with that I think you're done. But maybe I don't understand your question completely, regarding the HDMI part.

 

[Szadzik]

When you set the DAC up you can go into Windows sound preferences and set the DAC output as default and then the player you use will output the sound to the DAC.
 
You can also use a player that allows to choose devices to be used for audio like KMP or GOM.

 

[deaththeorist]

i think your hdmi is damn cool but i havent seen any portable dac or dac/amp with hdmi input, maybe manufacturers should take note! (or maybe they did and perhaps hdmi doesnt provide an increase in SQ as compared to usb? *shrugs*)

 

[grokit]

Try toslink optical for surround audio instead of USB or HDMI

 

[Observer]

Perhaps my main question got lost in the background information.
 
Let me try to clarify.
 
Assumption: 
 
While watching a movie on a laptop, sound is routed to the laptop's PC speaker by default.  If the user plugs into the headphone port of the laptop, sound will get routed to the headphone port, and the PC Speaker will be disabled.  This assumption is based upon what I have observed as standard behavior on a few different laptops.
 
Question:
By using the laptop's USB Port, is it possible to output just the audio component of the movie to an external DAC, so I can watch the movie (video) on my laptop, while having the audio streamed to the external DAC, so my headphones (which would be plugged into the external DAC/Amplifier) would be driven?  This would result in resolving the "hiss" I hear from the laptop's D/A, and also not bother my neighbor by using headphones.  (It is implied that I would not want the PC Speaker to be playing).
 
If this is NOT possible, would it be possible to do this using the HDMI output of my laptop?  This would require me to find an external DAC/Amplifier that has an HDMI input port.
 
Hope this clarifies.
 
Thanks,

 

[Observer]

 
Quote:

When you set the DAC up you can go into Windows sound preferences and set the DAC output as default and then the player you use will output the sound to the DAC.
 
You can also use a player that allows to choose devices to be used for audio like KMP or GOM.

Thanks Szadzik.  I'll look into KMP or GOM to see if this works. 

 

[Observer]

Quote:

Try toslink optical for surround audio instead of USB or HDMI

Thanks.  Unfortunately, my laptop does not have toslink optical out.

 

[labrat]

Delete

 

[Observer]

Thanks Labrat!

I'll take it on faith that it CAN be done.  Now, I just need to find the courage to dump the cash! 

 

 

[labrat]

Delete

 

[alistaire]

Yes, it can be done, and yes, it will solve your hiss problem. That's what USB DACs are for. Or SPDIF or optical if you've got the ports, but ordinarily that involves conversion/sound cards, plus there's already a lot of great USB DACs and DAC/amps. No one uses HDMI as an audio out for headphone DACs as far as I've seen, unless you're going through a full home theater receiver, which kind of defeats the purpose. Most digital headphone audio is USB, mostly out of convenience.
 
The flowchart: video out (monitor)<---laptop--->audio out (USB)--->DAC--->amp--->headphones. Amp and DAC can be one box, depending on your hardware.
 
Depending on your budget and your headphones, check out portable amp/DAC combos, like those from iBasso, RSA, etc. The Pico and the iBasso D10 (Cobra, I think) seem to be quite popular, in particular. There's a lot of comparison and review threads here; do your homework. One note: if you're using higher-impedance cans (30 ohms is low, 300+ high; look up the specs if you're not sure), or ones that are tough to drive like the AKG 701s, you'll need a desktop amp (probably with a separate DAC). IEMs do better with portable amp/DACs; too much power can make them hiss.
 
Another note: your sound can only be as good as your weakest link. Once you get a decent amp/DAC, and presuming you've got some nice headphones, this may be your source file. A lot of downloaded video only has 128 kb/s .mp3 audio. Sometimes even with high-def files, the audio is still crappy. In general, look for high bit rate .mp3/.aac, or AC-3 audio (DVD audio codec). If you watch from discs, this is less of a problem, obviously. Multi-channel mostly doesn't matter, as headphones can obviously only play in stereo.
 
Buying notes: in general, open headphones have better soundstaging (where you hear sounds from), but closed have better isolation and bass punch. Both soundstage and bass can be important for movies, so you've got to decide what you prefer. A better amp can sometimes improve bass (and sometimes both). There's lots written on this in other threads here. Desktop wins over portable in that way. Prices aren't really better, though. The Nuforce uDAC 2 into whatever desktop amp you can afford (Little Dot or Schiit, maybe) might be a good bet. Otherwise a portable amp/DAC will definitely at least clear up your hiss problem. The problem with good audio is that you can always spend more. Being reasonable is hard. And since nobody else has said it yet...
 
Welcome to Head-Fi, and sorry about your wallet.