[mindflash]

I have a pair of amplified Edifier R1200 speakers that I am very fond of, despite its quite cheap price. I used to run them on my Sound Blaster X-fi Xtreme Gamer PCI, but I replaced my desktop with a laptop and I am wondering if laptop soundcards nowadays are good enough for my speakers or if I need to buy an external sound card (I hear people refering to them as external DACs now) to try to achieve a better sound quality. I bought that Sound Blaster because the internal sound was awful, but my laptop sound doesn't seem too bad, but I am wondering if I could try something new. I was running that Sound Blaster in "monitor" mode so every bit was tried to be delivered without any equalization or special effects, to make it sound natural.
 
Is there a sub-$100 external DAC/sound card that I can buy that will make my sound be clearly better than internal laptop? My speakers are amplified "shelf" sized. They are quite inexpensive for hi-fi, but they are so much better than anything that I have owned before. They work as simple amplified monitor speakers.
 
I only see "headphone amps" or some external Sound Blasters in that price range, but I wanted to buy something better or more geared towards music/amateur audiophiles because I will only use 2.0 speakers.
 
Should I try headphone amps with my speakers? Please recommend me some models that are easy to buy on Ebay.

 

[JRG1990]

Fiio e10 can be had for $80.

 

[mindflash]

Quote:

Fiio e10 can be had for $80.

Aren't those supposed to be used with headphones?

 

[JRG1990]

It has a 3.5mm fixed line out on the back for speakers.

 

[christophrowley]

Personally, I doubt a $100 DAC would give you a significant boost over the Sound Blaster you had. If you think the difference in sound quality between your laptop and your old Sound Blaster card is worth $100, then go for it. 

 

[mindflash]

The problem is that my old desktop with that Sound Blaster is broken down so I don't have anything to compare to. Sound is different somehow but I can't quite tell if it is really worse or not, but the lack of configuration that the internal sound output of the notebook has (it is has Realtek sound) makes me believe that the sound might not be pure enough for quality listening with amplified monitor speakers.
 
I checked that E10 model and it seems nice, but you can't use it to change volume if you are using line out for speakers, right? I read that changing the volume in the computer will make DACs sound worse. Problem is that I can't leave it in maximum volume because my speakers volume control is in the back (I know, sad design). Is there any truth to that?
 
Also, is it really not that obvious that something like the E10 will sound better than Realtek internal sound or it depends on the quality of the speakers above all? I think my speakers are able to do more even though they are not expensive. I used to believe that internal sound was awful until I tested some 2011 notebook models and thought that the sound was really great connected to them (for someone that is not an audiophile), but I might be missing something.

 

[sclee]

$100 external usb sound card may not better that internal sound card, good laptop design will prevent noise affect the sound quality, although poor laptop will have background noise come out, try to use a headphone to test the laptop sound quality and confirm without background noise (connect with AC power supply).
 
$300 up DAC will sure better that internal sound card, but not for $100 

 

[mindflash]

Quote:

$100 external usb sound card may not better that internal sound card, good laptop design will prevent noise affect the sound quality, although poor laptop will have background noise come out, try to use a headphone to test the laptop sound quality and confirm without background noise (connect with AC power supply).
 
$300 up DAC will sure better that internal sound card, but not for $100 

So you are saying that $100 DACs are practically only useful to amplify headphones? I am testing my internal sound with some medium quality Philips headphones and sound quality could use some "boost" or clarity with some tracks, but I don't use those phones for ages and I don't remember if they have sounded any better before. I can't hear any noise, clicks and stuff like that, though.
 
I don't listen to music with headphones anymore, only speakers, so I was wondering if I should try those DACs, maybe someone has compared some good branded laptop sound output to one of those DACs, using amplified speakers in the price range of $100-200, and could confirm if it was worth it.