LAPTOP MUSIC!!

[admin_exported]

Hi everyone,

I currently use my laptop to rip cds or download music and play it using itunes and very basic creative 2.1 speakers worth around £100.

I have a buget of £800 to upgrade this system, but still wish to use my laptop as the source.

Initially I thought amp and floorstanders but a mate told me that the soundcard in my laptop would reduce the quality.

Should I:

1. Upgrade the sound card?

2. Use a DAC?

3. Get something with USB connection like the CAMBRIDGE AUDIO AZUR 651A?

I would appreciate your opinions and advice as I am a complete newcomer and I am not entirely sure how the technology works!

Thanks!

 

[quadpatch]

Yeah the soundcard in any laptop is going to be rubbish by default or ok if you can even find an upgrade - Get a decent asynchronous USB DAC and output bit perfect audio to it using ASIO or WASAPI, then output that to your amp via phone (like a CD player). What amp do you have btw? Also what software do you use to play the audio? I assume this is a Windows PC, which OS is it running?

A dedicated DAC (or DAC + headphone amp / pre amp) is your best option for quality stereo audio. However it's worth pointing out that if you need 5.1 the best you can hope for is a passthrough afaik, is this just for stereo?

What connections do you need, do you need a headphone amp built in and how much do you have to spend on it? (all £800 or is that for other stuff too?)

 

[Anonymous]

There is another route which to get active speakers. They contain an amp and one I can think of which is in budget, the B&W MM1 also has a DAC in it. You can get loads of DACs for less than £100 and then you have a great budget for actives.

An off board DAC probably, but not necessarily will be better than you soundcard. A mate has some Mackies which run straight froman Acer laptop and sound superb.

Have a look at local pro audio shops as well as traditional hifi for active speakers, since active speakers have been used a studio monitors for years.

 

[Anonymous]

Thanks for the help guys,

In response to quadpatch: I use itunes software, windows 7 operating system and I am looking at stereo audio.

What are ASIO and WASAPI?

I am starting from scratch and £800 is the total I can afford.

I was thinking of the cambridge audio Azur 651A integrated amp. I have read that you can plug your laptop into the 651A and the USB audio processor extracts audio data directly from the hard drive – bypassing its soundcard – and takes care of the digital to analogue conversion process. I am keen on this option as it seems the simplest and costs £450, leaving £350 for speakers and cables.

What do you think?

 

[MajorFubar]

Hell YouAndI, both ASIO and WASAPI are drivers for getting 'bit perfect' audio from your computer's hard-drive to your DAC (or to the Cambridge amp you've suggested, which has its own built-in DAC). You'd think that Windows just does this natively but it doesn't, there can be quite a bit of behind the scenes processing which can result in the full resolution of the source sound-file being lost on its way to the DAC. I'm sure there's a very technical explanation for how they work, but in layman's terms that's what they do.

 

[Overdose]

These are nice, but will max out your budget, depending on what offer the seller would take. V Nice though.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dynaudio-BM6A-Monitors-MKII-mk2-/330706534557?pt=UK_AudioVideoElectronics_HomeAudioHiFi_HiFiSpeakers&hash=item4cffa5409d

Nice, but no postage, are you local to this one?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Mackie-HR824-MONITOR-High-Resolution-Powered-Monitor-pair-/320876116332?pt=UK_ConElec_SpeakersPASystems_RL&hash=item4ab5b4f96c

I have these and a sub, sub not neccessarily needed, but nice to have.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Dynaudio-BM5a-Active-Studio-Monitors-Pair-/280850007882?pt=UK_ConElec_SpeakersPASystems_RL&hash=item4163f7074a

I also have one of these.

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Edirol-UA-25-24bit-96kHz-Audio-Interface-/220983473392?pt=Midi_Controllers&hash=item3373a434f0

These are just some ideas, but there are many options for active and passive solutions. Good hunting

 

[Anonymous]

So from my laptop, general 'route':

Source + WASAPI/ASIO > DAC > Amp > Speakers

If that is the case I have the following options:

[*] DAC + Amp + Speakers e.g CA DACmagic plus + CA Topaz AM5 + Tannoy V4 = £750[*] DAC/Amp combined + Speakers e.g CA AZUR 651A + Tannoy V4 = £730[*] DAC + Amp/Speakers combined e.g CA DACmagic plus + Dynaudio BM 5A = £740[*] DAC/Amp/Speakers all combined e.g CA SLA25 = £200

Clearly option 4 is roughly quarter the price, anybody know of any more expensive versions of option 4?

And the main question....which option do I go for in terms of sound quality, ease of connecting to other sources (TV, DVD player or CD player) and scope for the future????

Thanks for the help so far guys!!

 

[MajorFubar]

Yes there are active speakers with DACs at many price points, including such as the AVI ADM9 with a street-price of about £1,000. They blow your budget a bit but many fans say the sound cannot be bettered by a separate DAC/amp/speakers at the same total budget. Biggest problem is they're not ideal for a multi-source set-up.

 

[SteveR750]

If you are using a Windows 7 PC then I would get rid of itunes, AFAIK you cannot configure it to output bit perfect. It's worth spending a few dollars on a decent media player (I use J River's MC17), and setting up ASIO / WASAPI event setting etc are a doddle. There are a few similar programmes, Winamp I think is another. You would be surprised what quality is possible streaming from a computer when it's set up right.

 

[Overdose]

I am biased, but the best flexibility would be using the DACmagic as preamp with the BM5As (or similar at this pricepoint, Mackie HR624 etc). I will hopefully move onto a DACmagic plus myself, before upgrading my BM5As further in the future.

 

[Craig M.]

I am biased, but the best flexibility would be using the DACmagic as preamp with the BM5As (or similar at this pricepoint, Mackie HR624 etc). I will hopefully move onto a DACmagic plus myself, before upgrading my BM5As further in the future.

i think this is the route i would take. ken rockwell thinks the dacmagic+ is superb.

if you can stretch to the avi adms, they are fantastic. you could probably buy a cheap gizmo to give more inputs.

 

[quadpatch]

i think this is the route i would take. ken rockwell thinks the dacmagic+ is superb.

Ken Rockwell? really?! I hope his opinions on audio equipment are better than what he says about camera equipment. I truly hate the thoughts that dribble from that idiot's tiny little mind! I'm a Nikon user btw so I don't hate him for being a fan boy.

He's a great example that anyone can write and review things but they probably shouldn't.

 

[Alec]

He's a great example that anyone can write and review things but they probably shouldn't.

Everyone has a book in them, which is probbaly where it should stay! Badum tish!