How To Output Audio From Notebook?

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surefire888

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Most notebooks do not have an unamplified line-out. If I connect the headphone-out to my AV Amp line-in, will this blow my AV Amp or will I get awful noise? What about those USB-Audio adapters I have seen on sale - will they provide a line-out? Appreciate any help - thanks.
 
There is nothing wrong with running 3.5mm TRS to stereo RCA cable from you're laptop's headphone jack to you're AV amp...

Although, with pure sound quality in mind, I would suggest a USB device that will give you a S/PDIF out so you can use the DAC in you're AV amp instead on the DAC in you're laptop to the the D>A conversion.
 
I am fairly sure notebook "amps" don't amplify much, anyhow. It would almost act as a preamp. Notebooks were made to allow people to hook up active speakers to the headphone jack. Active speakers come with internal amplifiers that range from pitifully weak to astoundingly powerful. I would not worry about your amp at all. Now if you were trying to hook up a full blown amp to another full blown amp... THEN I would worry.

Due to this reason, criccio's advice about TRS to RCA cable is probably the best and easiest solution (also cheapest).
 
What kind of laptop do you have?

I know my laptop (Vostro 1500) has SPDIF COAX vis the svideo jack. Most newer Dell's should have this feautre as well. Mac's have optical audio via the headphone jack so if you've got a Mac then just get a $2 3.5mm converter and a optical cable and you're good to go.
 
The Line level is really not that mismatched, as everyone here says, TRS to RCA is pretty much the de-facto way of hooking up your computer to your stereo; I know I've been doing it for years. Typically you just turn the volume somewhat south of maximum and it runs great.

The sound chips in most laptops are pretty shady, so an external USB digital sound card (newegg, $18) may be the way to go. You'll get more latency though, if that matters at all; not horrendous, just not ideal for gaming or pro audio work.
 
450 said:
What kind of laptop do you have?

I know my laptop (Vostro 1500) has SPDIF COAX vis the svideo jack. Most newer Dell's should have this feautre as well. Mac's have optical audio via the headphone jack so if you've got a Mac then just get a $2 3.5mm converter and a optical cable and you're good to go.
Click to expand...

I have 3 laptops - all pretty old; an IBM Thinkpad, a Sony Vaio and a Compaq - none of which have an SPDIF output. In any case, I was also asking in consideration of a future netbook purchase which mostly have the same microphone/headphone outputs. It's promising however that some netbooks are already coming out with HDMI outputs.
 
whatever laptop you get should have either a pcmcia or express card slot. I believe there is an audigy2 version for pcmcia and x-fi version for expresscard which will output spdif if you want to feed an external dac.
 
You can use the headphones output without problem. However, the sound might be distorted because you'll have to crank it up a lot, because the line-in you're going to connecting it to has a high impedance (10kOhm), while the circuit is meant to drive headphones(about 32 ohms). You'll probably hear a lot of digital noise as well, since laptops are NOISY.

A USB solution will probably have less background noise, but if it's meant for headphones as well, then it's no better than the laptop interface.
 
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