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Laptop Sound

O

ooze

n00b
Joined
Mar 27, 2005
Messages
34
What's the best non-wallwart/AC powered single box audio card for a laptop?
(listening, not gaming)
 
Probably a pair of headphones. If you think about it, if you aren't interested in something powered, your headphone jack is pretty much just capable of driving tiny drivers like that =]

You might be able to find battery powered speakers, but headphones would be a much better bet on all levels.
 
That's something I've been casually investigating recently, because a change in circumstance might remove me from the world of desktops for a while.

There are external units from companies like M-Audio, Terratec, Edirol, even creative, that do great sound, but off hand the PCMCIA version of the Audigy2 is the only one I know for certain is entirely host powered.

The laptop itself will also put limitations on this, as many don't do hostpower to external devices at all (Viva Mac!), particularly firewire.

That Airhead USB thingy might also be worth looking into.

*Edit*M-Audio has several external sound cards that can be host powered, the fanciest of which is indeed the Audiophile Firewire (as long as you have a Laptop that does 6-pin FW output). That's me sorted then.
 
@BO(V)BZ: I was hoping that the fact I'd be using headphones would be too fricken obvious to actually type :p
@anyone else: All my laptops have the small firewire port, although they have a (proprietary to Sony?) seperate DC output as well. If I wasn't specific enough, I want something bus-powered or battery powered.
 
Probably the m-audio sonica theatre then.

Powered by usb.
 
Terratec Phase 26?
Edirol UA-25?

Contextualise "Best".
 
God F'ing christ.

One of these days I should learn to read properly. I read it as you being interested in battery powered speakers for your lappy :eek:

Anyways, what headphones do you have, and in what ways aren't you happy with your current sound quality?
 
I'll be using the Grado PS-1 headphones with it. I've always taken a seperate player with me before, but I'd like to start using the laptop for music.
 
That's what I was expecting for 'the best' but I'm after a one-box thing. Granted, this can mean taping / bolting two smaller boxes together but I'm not seeing any good anywhere near portable answers for getting digital out, a DAC and an amp.
 
You could get a Benchmark DAC1 and jury-rig a battery pack for it somehow. Also, get a standalonge sound card that has a digital out, then get an Ack! Dack, which is a battery powered DAC.

If you are going to be using a pair of phones like the PS-1's, then you should have at least 1000 in your source I'd say.
 
There's also the M-Audio Transit. Its a USB bus-powered device with an optical S/PDIF that could hook to an outboard DAC. Perhaps an upgraded ART DI/O? Perhaps you might even be able to commision a builder to do an ART bundled with a portable PiMETA in the same enclosure? The non-wallwart requirement would necessitate a battery pack of course. So, you'd probably end up with 4 quality NIMH 9v batteries and a charger.

I like spending other people's money...

What is the budget?
 
I'm not sure about my budget. I'm flexible, as although I'd like the soundcard to be very good I don't want to spend needlessly on overpriced / overspecced / overhyped equipment because I've already done plenty of that. My aim is quite simple, it's to get very good sound quality on a technical level from a laptop and let EQ (either hardware or software) and the headphones handle how it's colored. There are limits to juryrigging and portability - the DAC1's too big even by itself. I really would like something that's single box and USB because the whole thing's not going anywhere but on a laptop and I don't want a tangle of cables.
 
I think the Total bithead is your typoe of unit. I've never heard it, however. I seem to recall that MisterX didn't like it.
 
I'm using an Audiotrack OPTOPLAY when i need the external sound option. Sounds nice to me (built in small headphone amp). Also does optical spdif through the same port (one of those funky mini-fullsize optical adapters). Oh.. and its cheap ;)
 
GodsMadClown said:
I think the Total bithead is your typoe of unit. I've never heard it, however. I seem to recall that MisterX didn't like it.
Click to expand...

Yea, I didn't recommend the bithead because I've heard a lot of negative stuff about it at Head-fi. However, they are really picky over there, so who knows =]

Still, to do those headphones justice, I'd want something really nice. Don't they only make a few pairs of those a month?
 
Yea, I didn't recommend the bithead because I've heard a lot of negative stuff about it at Head-fi. However, they are really picky over there, so who knows =].
Click to expand...
Can you see the problem with posting second hand opions about products you have never used?
How about you try something new?
Restrict your recommendations/comments to products that you have actually used and you won't have to worry about dealing with that kind of nonsense. ;)

Anyhow, to get back on topic here....
I would suggest the now discontinued Echo Indigo for a cardbus solution or the Edirol UA-25 for a USB solution.
Both of them are very adept a driving headphones. ;)
 
Thanks, the UA-25 looks interesting. Did you rightmark the UA-25 at all? If so, how did it compare? The only other thing is that it seems to have a lot of other stuff on it which I would never use. Isn't there like a non recording version of things like these?
 
Mister X said:
Can you see the problem with posting second hand opions about products you have never used?
How about you try something new?
Restrict your recommendations/comments to products that you have actually used and you won't have to worry about dealing with that kind of nonsense. ;)
Click to expand...

Understood, but oftentimes nobody has heard all the products mentioned, and certainly not ABX'ed them. Better to at least have a couple snippets of info than none.. it can at least get a person to give it a closer look. I don't think that anyone should immediately rush out and buy anything because a person on a forum said to. Hell, most audio reviews are all hyperbolic effluent, so they most of the time aren't good for anything either :D
 
Yeah, I never take recommendations at face value. I can't search everything so that's why I'm posting for ideas. That and my definition of 'the best' will probably differ from most - for example my PC speakers are from Hørning, not Klipsch. What I want is something that wouldn't feel very compromised while remaining reasonably portable. You don't have to have used it, but if you have like MisterX(?) then it's even better.

Now I've got a better idea of what I want:
^ Portable, ideally one box and small
^ USB or mini-Firewire
^ Within reason, 'the best' sounding for use with the PS-1. The best DAC and good measurements for the headphone amp into a low impedance load would be a start.
^ Ideally bus or battery powered. If bus powered, shouldn't suck the life out of the laptop too much. If you think this is a barrier to 'the best' then I'll look at wallwarted alternatives.
^ Good EQ in DSP would be ideal
 
Not sure if you've tried, but it would definitely be worth heading over to www.head-fi.org and asking them. They have an entire forum for portable audio, and some of those people have some insane rigs, like portable Stax setups.

I can't say I spend much time at head-fi these days, but it doesn't seem like there are really any quality, all-in-one-box setups out there. I'm guessing you'd probably have to compromise and either go for lesser quality, or lesser portability.
 
ooze said:
Thanks, the UA-25 looks interesting. Did you rightmark the UA-25 at all? If so, how did it compare?
Click to expand...
Nope, I pretty much gave up rightmark testing stuff cause it doesn't really tell you how something will sound.

ooze said:
The only other thing is that it seems to have a lot of other stuff on it which I would never use.
Click to expand...
That was my big issue with it.... well, that and it wasn't entirely as portable as I would have liked.
That is why I ended up buying the Indigo.
Sound quality wise it is the better of the two.

ooze said:
Isn't there like a non recording version of things like these?
Click to expand...
Good question. ;)
 
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