Connect Laptop to Hifi

[admin_exported]

I own a denon dm37 and some monitor audio br1's and have recently hooked my laptop up to them. I have all my music stored on my laptop in the highest mp3 quality (320kbps, i know this is a third of cd quality) and some in WAV, and i want to get the best possible sound from the speakers. I currently have my laptop plugged into my TV via HDMI. so the sound and video is carried to the TV then i use the analogue outputs from the TV into my HiFi, therefore using th TV's digital to analogue converter, which basically sounds rubbish! i know using a seperate usb sound card will hugely improve the ound quality as i did a test by playing an mp3 track on both the laptop and from a usb pen drived plugged into the dm37. the sound from the usb drive sounded leaps and bounds better as it will be using the denons DACs. so basically i need a USB dac. i dont want to spend anymore than £80

i have been looking at the project USB box which does exactly this, but there are no reviews out there at all for this so i dont know how good it will be.

please can someone give me some advice.

 

[chebby]

I use a DAC that has USB and optical (and coax). I have the computer plugged in using the USB and my DVD/HDD/Freeview recorder connected with optical.

This means I get to play all my losslessly ripped CDs and downloads (plus internet radio etc) from the computer - via the DAC - and also get better quality sound from DVDs and television and Freeview radio (better than DAB).

 

[Anonymous]

thats exactly what i am after, but i really only need the usb as i use my laptop for everthing (going to uni soon so wont have a lot of room for everything!) and its i bit on the expesive side. surely at that price it would be better to go for the dacmagic. but i only want to spend about £80

 

[chebby]

robbye91:...surely at that price it would be better to go for the dacmagic.

Really?

 

[Anonymous]

im not surei have just heard a lot of glowing reviews about tha deacmagic, and have not heard of the one you have until now. nut i guess it call all be down to brand awareness. any ideas of what i could get for about £50 to £80. cant really find much apart from the projecy usb box

 

[Anonymous]

Go to the Dolphin Music website and purchase and M-Audio Transit for £50, it' sounds amazingly good and will serve as a reference for the future when you may consider an upgrade to an "audiophile" DAC. It's a DAC and it has A to Ds as well and is perfect for digitising old vinyl or whatever.

Ash

 

[Anonymous]

willthis work with both mac and pc. and will it ouput all sound from my latop. as i do watch dvd's on my laptop too and want to know if it will output stereo from the soundtrack

 

[Anonymous]

The answer is yes to all of those questions.

 

[Anonymous]

will this really improve the quality that much at all. and i know it sounds a bit stupid but it looks really cheap and i like things that look the way they sound. has anyone used to read a review on the project usb box

 

[Che1]

are you using a macbook?? i find the sound to be surprisingly good plugged straight into an amp.

 

[Alec]

robbye91:will this really improve the quality that much at all. and i know it sounds a bit stupid but it looks really cheap and i like things that look the way they sound. has anyone used to read a review on the project usb box

Thats pro muso types for you i guess. theyre not concerned with things looking pretty.

 

[Anonymous]

Found a review for you, but it's in German. Audio.de rates the pro_ject as "top class", which is around 4 stars in WHF speak and good value for money..

 

[Anonymous]

i will currently be using it with a dell xps m1330 and will be buying a macbook pro soon

 

[Anonymous]

i have just looked at the review of the Beresford TC-7510 and now am wondering whether it is worth purchasing this with a cheap usb to optical converter, as you can pick up the converters for about £5 and the dac for £100.

 

[Che1]

The macbook pro has an optical out built in, might be worth holding off for if you're getting it soon instead of getting converters.

Might also be worth seeing how you like the sound quality of the macbook pro - i think you'd be pleasantly surprised. Comparing by macbook and a NAD C525bee into a rotel ra-01 i have no complaints about the sound quality of the macbook through itunes (with flat EQ, sound enhancer off).