How to achieve decent sound quality on my laptop or PC?

[admin_exported]

Hi there,

So I have until recently been using a custom built PC (built by a friend) with a really quiet fan and an M audio delta audiophile 2496 to listen to my music through Spotify (plugging my Cambridge Audio amp into the soundcard). This PC has just given up the ghost and now refuses to turn on (it did last 6 years, though!).

I now own one broken PC and two working laptops. I want to achieve the same or better sound quality as I had with my audiophile 2496. What are my options?

1. Buy a new PC and put my audiophile sound card in it

2. Buy some kit to plug into one of my laptops and use that for music

I'm looking to spend at the very most a couple of hundred pounds. I'm just not sure what I'd need to get decent sound quality from my laptop - do I just need a DAC?

Any guidance received with thanks!!

 

[fr0g]

I'd test the quality of the laptops via headphone out first.

Personally I'd fix the PC though. It's a fine sound card. Sounds like it could be the PSU? But if it's 6 years old, I'd be looking at changing anyway.

Have a look on Aria.co.uk or Scan for a cheap bundle. You should be able to get something new for £200.

 

[Alec]

This may take you a bit over budget (I can't diagnose you're PC problem), but I would fix the PC with the 2496 then get an external DAC.

I had the 2496 in my last system, but didn't think it sounded that much better than onboard sound until I attached an external DAC (one of the older Beresfords). I didn't do much testing of the 2496 against the onboard sound though. Indeed I'm not sure I did any.

 

[Anonymous]

but I would fix the PC with the 2496 then get an external DAC.

Alec: I am a bit confused. I thought that if I got an external DAC, the 2496 would be bypassed, as DACs take the place of soundcards? Is that wrong?

 

[severanth]

this depends on your needs.

option 1. you realise you are buying a system for a 2001, £55 sound card right? But you also get another PC.

option 2. If one of your laptops has digital out then a DAC is ideal. (on a Mac it is the same as the headphone socket just using a adapter for the optical cable) ipac and Dacmagic are at this price point. yes you can use USB output.

The sound quality will almost certainly be better with a DAC.

Hope that helps.

 

[severanth]

This depends on your needs.

option 1. you realise you are buying a system for a 2001, £55 sound card right? But you get a new PC.

option 2. If one of your laptops has digital out then a DAC is ideal. (on a Mac it is the same as the headphone socket just using a adapter for the optical cable) ipac and Dacmagic are at this price point. yes you can use USB output.

The sound quality will almost certainly be better with a DAC.

Hope that helps.

 

[severanth]

double post

 

[Alec]

Yes, the soundcard gives you a digital out, so I would use that to connect to a DAC. I suspect this would give better sound. Generally I believe that external DACs will give better sound than soundcards*. So yes, the 2496 would become merely a conduit for the data.

Indeed, with that in mind, plus the fact that the 2496, I think, only has digital coax (though I'm sure there are numerous adapters out there to connect to USB or optical, I used an optical one at one point), you may even want to consider just forgetting the 2496 and use a USB DAC instead.

I'm certainly not saying the card gives bad sound, but then I don't even say a PC with nothing but a 3.5mm output gives poor sound. I bought the 2496 then because it was 2 channel, didn't have pricey whistles and bells, and I hoped it would improve the PC sound quite a bit, but to my ears it didn't, really. Nowadays, I only need an optical connection in a mobo or soundcard.

*Believe is the operative word here.

 

[Alec]

I don't like my posts, so I'm going to start again.

You could see it from a different angle, start from a different place - do you want to keep the desktop going? If you're not bothered, then You could just see what ports your laptops have and use one of them, buying an external DAC and any adaptors that may be necessary.

If you do want to keep the desktop going (and I advised you to do so at first just because I learned the hard way that there is seldom, if ever, a real necessity to junk one, though we all change now and then just because we want to), you could do so with or without the 2496. You could use it alone, or use it in the way I suggested, using any adaptors as/if necessary, or leave it out and use a USB DAC.

EDIT - and what connections does your PC have without the 2496? There may be someting useful there...?