Guest blutac Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Just wondering if anyone can give me some advice on playing music from my laptop. I've been using the headphone slot to connect my laptop to my amp with a budget cable. Seeing as I've got a pretty nice system, and the shoddy connection is messing it up a bit, I'd like to try and sure it up. I think I need: Good laptop to amp leads Maybe some kind of usb soundcards - do the ones that look like memory sticks do a good job? anything else I should know about? Willing to spend maybe 50 quid for everything. No stupidly expensive wires! thanks Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Iain C Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Despite what audiophiles say I really don't think what cable you use makes a difference. I'm not really down on soundcards cause since I bought my Edirol UA25 a few years back, I've not needed anything else! So obviously I'd recommend that but it's not in your budget, I'm sure someone else will come along and help tho. But a soundcard is a pretty good idea, laptops' on-board soundcards tend to be pretty noisy in my experience. *waves at blutac* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcbpete Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 Despite what audiophiles say I really don't think what cable you use makes a difference. Agreed, cables are the biggest bullshit ever to be spouted out of 'audiophiles''s mouth. I read some awesome review in What Hifi about these £100/meter speaker cables giving a more earthy transpararent sound. What the fucking fuck ?! As long as the voltage gets though, and it's screened properly there's no godamn difference.............. Anyway yeah, as Iain C says get an external card. That'll make the big difference. Everyone generally suggests the Edirol UA25, I personally went for the Audiofire4 which is beyond ace. So yeah, don't bother with new cables, just a separate USB or Firewire card. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Jimbob Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 get a decent £10 or so cable from Maplins, for the purpose you described this is what i would personally do Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest blutac Posted August 7, 2008 Share Posted August 7, 2008 *waves at blutac* what are you up to these days? Yeah I was thinking more £5 QED cables than £100/m bullshit. I think I'm not ready to spend lots of money on a soundcard, just spent £200 on a sub so can't get too indulgent... Tempted to just go for something cheap like this little sound card for now. Think it will make any difference? Is it really worth splashing out the extra 100 quid is this something that will improve my music enjoyment for years or something that needs replacement every few years... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Wall Bird Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 Despite what audiophiles say I really don't think what cable you use makes a difference. Agreed, cables are the biggest bullshit ever to be spouted out of 'audiophiles''s mouth. I read some awesome review in What Hifi about these £100/meter speaker cables giving a more earthy transpararent sound. What the fucking fuck ?! As long as the voltage gets though, and it's screened properly there's no godamn difference.............. Anyway yeah, as Iain C says get an external card. That'll make the big difference. Everyone generally suggests the Edirol UA25, I personally went for the Audiofire4 which is beyond ace. So yeah, don't bother with new cables, just a separate USB or Firewire card. In my experience cables can make certainly make a difference. The first thing to go is usually the high end. If you guys have a couple of different cables to choose from, try to do an A/B test between the different types you have and see what difference you can hear. It definitely pays to buy a quality set of cables. Or at the very least, not settling for shitty builds. That being said, there is a limit to what is practical when buying cables. There is a diminished rate of return after a certain point. Nobody but the most devoted are gonna notice a difference between a $100 cable and a $1000 cable. It's simply not worth buying for an incremental increase in quality. I would just buy some low level Monster cables to be sure you're getting a good deal. Nobody needs to blow that much money on cables unless they're a fucking mastering engineer. This reminds me of my friend who went on a tour of George Massenberg's studio at Blackbird in Nashville. George told them that they bought pure silver cables and even went as far as to tune the cables' resonances to intervals of 3rds and 6ths! What that sounds like and if it is noticeable I cant say, but to me it seems like a huge waste of money. Oh yeah, getting to your question, I wouldnt rely on the 1/8" output of your laptop to transmit sound It will work just fine, but it's not the cleanest output. Definitely spend the time to get a quality audio interface. You dont have to go overboard. If you dont plan on doing any recording you might be able to save a little by buying a box simply with outputs and no input. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
chaosmachine Posted August 10, 2008 Share Posted August 10, 2008 I would just buy some low level Monster cables to be sure you're getting a good deal. lol :( http://www.engadget.com/2008/03/03/audioph...ster-cable-and/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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