[maclion]

I am using my Lenovo X60 as my main source to SR60 or AKG K81. Currently I really enjoy

(X60 is really good, no noise at all) .

But, I am alway curious if adding an sound card could really improve sound quality?

Any suggestions? BTW I am no going to spend more than SR60's price on the sound card. So used one is also considered (if any of you guys happenly have one).

 

[HFat]

It certainly could but would that theoretical difference matter to you? I don't know... my Thinkpad sounds good enough that I'd rather get better headphones. Many cheap soundcards might actually sound worse. The thing is, for all I know your Thinkpad sounds terrible.

 

[maclion]

The only reference is my dell 700m, that why i think x60 is much better

.

So, your point is: x60 is bad, but a cheap soundcard is worse!
Then I should step in higher price card?

It certainly could but would that theoretical difference matter to you? I don't know... my Thinkpad sounds good enough that I'd rather get better headphones. Many cheap soundcards might actually sound worse. The thing is, for all I know your Thinkpad sounds terrible.[/QUO

 

[HFat]

No. Sound quality is not about how much money you spend!

My main points are:
-I don't know how good your Thinkpad is
-I don't know whether you would find a better soundcard worthwhile
-my *guess* is your headphones are way worse than your Thinkpad

Nobody can tell you what you would hear... I think my Thinkpad sounds good enough (not good! just good enough) to be paired with very nice headphones but so what? If you really want to know, you're going to have to try a good soundcard yourself.

In any case, if you're going to buy a soundcard, please consider convenience and drivers. My transportable USB soundcard has good drivers and is more practical to use than my Thinkpad's internal soundcard whenever I'm not moving around. For portable use (moving around the house/office, public transportation and whatnot), a PCMCIA soundcard would be better but then again the internal soundcard might well be the best solution in this case.

 

[maclion]

Thanks for your quick reply!

I am glad to hear your 'guss', which make me feel

Any way i can find how good/bad my internal soundcard is?

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFat /img/forum/go_quote.gif No. Sound quality is not about how much money you spend! My main points are: -I don't know how good your Thinkpad is -I don't know whether you would find a better soundcard worthwhile -my *guess* is your headphones are way worse than your Thinkpad Nobody can tell you what you would hear... I think my Thinkpad sounds good enough (not good! just good enough) to be paired with very nice headphones but so what? If you really want to know, you're going to have to try a good soundcard yourself. In any case, if you're going to buy a soundcard, please consider convenience and drivers. My transportable USB soundcard has good drivers and is more practical to use than my Thinkpad's internal soundcard whenever I'm not moving around. For portable use (moving around the house/office, public transportation and whatnot), a PCMCIA soundcard would be better but then again the internal soundcard might well be the best solution in this case.

 

[HFat]

Try a really good soundcard and compare? I hear Benchmark makes nice ones that retail at a little over 1K$.

From a technical perspective, you could use software like RMAA but to make a really meaningful measurement of how good your Thinkpad is at driving your headphones, you would need a reference microphone and a reference soundcard... I assume you would not be here asking questions if you had access to equipment like that.

 

[MusicallySilent]

Possibly consider something like a DAC to completely bypass the soundcard or any crappy soundcard

You can get all in ones amps like the Move, bithead, and D1

Or you could get a low profile (thickness) dac that uses a mini usb port and cable and a ibasso t2 or something else that is thin for a easy to transport setup

 

[maclion]

thanks, MusicallySilent

i do interest Move. but do not know how much improvement i can get,and also it is not cheap.

maybe i need to calm down and focus on listening musics.
or waiting a cheap used DAC :

Quote:

Originally Posted by MusicallySilent /img/forum/go_quote.gif Possibly consider something like a DAC to completely bypass the soundcard or any crappy soundcard You can get all in ones amps like the Move, bithead, and D1 Or you could get a low profile (thickness) dac that uses a mini usb port and cable and a ibasso t2 or something else that is thin for a easy to transport setup