[8140david]

Hi all,

I have a portable PC, a Dell Latitude X200 (it has firewire, usb1, and pcmcia).
I am looking for a soundcard for it.
I would like to better the quality of the music I hear 1) when I plug it on the Auxiliary output of my soundsystem (ampli Cambridge 640Av2), and 2) when I plug hearphones on the hearphones output (these would be on the soundcard). (I don't do any gaming.).
If possible, I would prefer a portable solution: PCMCIA, or, if firewire or usb1, a card that does not an external power supply.
Which kind of card would you recommend?
(It seems that there are excellent firewire cards, like the Terratec Aureon Firewire 7.1, but these need an external power supply...)

Thanks,
David

 

[mobayrasta]

I bought my wife a creative X-fi Xmod to hook to her laptop and hook her Pro Media 2.1's into. I think it sounds very good. It uses a usb connection.


http://www.creative.com/products/pro...&product=15913

 

[8140david]

Thanks. It seems a good option.
However, I see in the minimum requirements:
"Intel Pentium® III (1GHz or equivalent) or AMD Processor"
My laptop is a Pentium III, 800Mhz.
It may be not enough?

What about a PCMCIA (Carbus) card like an Echo Indigo IO?
http://www.echoaudio.com/Products/Ca...goIO/index.php
Or does anyone have a better recommandation for this kind of card?

 

[HFat]

There are USB cards that don't require a wallwart. I have an Edirol UA-25 but there are much cheaper cards around obviously.

USB vs. PCMCIA is mostly a practical issue but there is something else to consider: PCMCIA cards won't work on a desktop should you decide to get one and they won't work on some newer laptops too (or so I've heard) so there is an argument against sinking money into PCMCIA.

 

[8140david]

Thanks, the Edirol seems very nice.
Is there an equivalent with Firewire (not needing an external alimentation)?
I imagine that using Firewire rather than Usb1 (as on my "old" portable Dell) would be better?
What do you think?

 

[syndrome]

Hate to borrow your thread, but I need to ask this:

Quote:

Originally Posted by mobayrasta /img/forum/go_quote.gif I bought my wife a creative X-fi Xmod to hook to her laptop and hook her Pro Media 2.1's into. I think it sounds very good. It uses a usb connection.

Is it a portable soundcard, or is it just a piece of plastic adding some crystaliser to the soundcard in your computer?

Original Poster: I would go for the USB/Firewire card if I were you. As somebody already said, you can always reuse it should you get a desktop computer or anything without pcmcia. There are some really good USB/Firewire soundcards out there, but I've experienced the FW ones to be more expensive. Good luck with your search

 

[8140david]

So, which cards do you recommend, Syndrome?
Firewire = ?
USB = ?
Thanks,
David