Sound Cards for laptops?

Recently I have been looking at sound cards for my laptop. Earlier this year I bought the Creative Sound Blaster X-Fi XtremeGamer for my desktop pc and loved it. Now that I bought a laptop to bring to school I want to have good sound on the go.
Is something like this worth buying? and if so, what kind are good?

Thank You!

 

Depends on what you're looking for, and how compromised you find your laptop sound. Although Dell et al do a reasonable job with their entertainment-orientated laptops, even supposedly premium machines like the Apple Crapbook Pros can have sound replete with fzzzz's, squeeeeee's and bzzzzumm's. In addition to that what type of use did you want? Gaming, audiophile, theater-on-the-go, music making as well as listening?

Creative have a range of card/usb based soundcards for both semi-pro and gaming / theater use. If you have an Expresscard slot in your machine, there's the X-Fi Notebook which you'll be able to find on the Creative website, which would be the most direct equivalent to your desktop card.

If you're looking for something to make music with as well as listening, the bus-powered 0202 is the entry-level of the Creative E-Mu range.

If you want to get into the audiophile area with a USB sound module and a quality headphone amp, there are quite a lot on the market - a small, neat device I like is the Headamp Pico - which is at $500 however quite expensive in comparison to some of the cards from Creative et al, while the Transit from M-Audio may be more palatable.

If you're into musicmaking, in addition to the Creative cards above there's a wide range of USB sound modules from M-Audio, Edirol et al.

 

ok what I do most with my laptop is gaming and listening to music
I have an express 54 slot

 

I'd go with the Echo Indigo card. IMO Echo builds the best price vs sound cards on the market.

 

I'd go with the X-Fi expresscard in that case. You get EAX and CMSS, and the quality is good enough for general music listening. Fits 34 and 54.

It also has a wireless transmitter on it which you can link up to wireless Creative speakers, which is a nice bonus.

 

ok thanks!
+ rep

If anyone else has advice for me i would really appreciate it!
thanks

and is this the right one?
http://us.creative.com/products/product.asp?category=1&subcategory=208&product=16642

or is it this one?
http://us.creative.com/products/pro...&campid=20445&WT.cg_n=Campaigns&WT.mc_id=8867

 

The second link, the 34-form (thinner) card is the newer one with wireless capability. The other 54-form only does 7.1 through an external module. The 54 card has slightly higher audio quality, although for your uses it's probably less versatile. You don't plan to hook it up to a multichannel system, right?

 

+1 for Echo Indigo IO (PCMCIA) or IOx (ExpressCard 34)

It's only stereo-in/out, but has the cleanest sound I've ever heard from a laptop soundcard, a decent headphone amp built in, and adds just a minor protrusion rather than a whole dangling USB solution.

I haven't personally tested Creative's ExpressCard soundcards, but I've read mixed reviews here and there so YMMV. However my Echo Indigo soundcard has been flawless, and I will upgrade to the IOx as soon as I switch over to a laptop with ExpressCard. The only catch is Echo Indigo drivers for Macs can be a bit buggy.

 

If you're gaming then the CMSS effect certainly is quite useful. Many supposed purists got for the Indigo card, but I doubt they'll be able to tell the difference between the 34 X-Fi and the Echo if all effects were turned off.

 

where can one buy the echo indigo, it seems to not be very common, is that because it's a much higherend card than the creative one?

 

Guitar Center will carry it. As will most Pro Audio tech stores.

 

Yeah, its just more about the sound quality rather than the marketing, so its harder to find. I'd just get one from the internet.

 

There are quite alot of them on ebay. I just can't afford one.

 

But will the average joe with no pretensions react more to the X-Fi FX than the few db's of cleaner signal, as well as the better versatility afforded by the Creative card? is the question. I've no doubt that Head-Fi et al nerdophiles will lean towards the latter in the belief that they can hear it of course.

 

Well, I've used a few different cards from Creative, some from Turtle Beach, and my Echo AF2, and I'm pretty sure that the AF2 sounds the best. I wont call myself an audiophile but I know that it sounds better. But yes, for the average person, the creative should do fine. IMO, the best thing you can do is get it out of your computer(even more so with a laptop).

 

well lately I was wondering if I could do something else with my laptop. Since I play drums I wanted to add a drop bass trigger to my set. I wanted to know if it was possible to play this patch through my laptop instead of buying a drum module.
Does anyone know anything about doing this and what I would need to buy?

 

Not directly - A drum module would be the best way. There are other clunkier ways to do it (trigger-to-midi converters, these USB footswitches, etc), but you'd be best served doing it properly.

 

Try google Echo Indigo IO, or Echo Indigo IOx (expresscard version)

I found one place selling the Indigo IO for $99.....most you will find are a bit more, so look 'till you find that one, can't find the link this fast now

 

ok i thought somethin like this would be great because i dont have money for a module but i already own a laptop. I'll just keep lookin for which sound card i like the most.

 

what about the USB module Transit, by m-audio, what do you think???

 

I've never tried it, almost bought it at one point(but then got the Echo AF2 for cheap from a friend). My guess is that it would be better than the creative's relatively priced product.

 

I'd guess not.

 

ok well i don't know if this was correct, but the bestbuy website says that the Creative X-fi notebook was $89.99 but i went to the store and it was $44.99.
Could this be possible?

Also i am only looking for mostly gaming and music, so i'm just curious if there is a higher quality card for this use because i like the virtual surround and EAX.

 

The Echo Indigo is higher quality in terms of numbers. But nerdophiles who may have pitched in in this thread aren't actually aware of how much better it sounds, because they wouldn't have tried it - they'll just tell what they think is the case.

If buying an Expresscard X-Fi now, you want the Expresscard/34 version of the X-Fi. I have an Echo Indigo and plenty of more substantial outboard gear, and I would pick the X-Fi if I wanted a general purpose card.

 

Lol...thx Vogelbung

I actually DID try the Echo Indigo and was using it before i upgraded to a more serious audio interface. It all depends on what you want. If you want EAX fx and crap like that get the Creative card. If you just want HQ audio without all the game fx stuff get the Indigo.

 

What are you using now?

 

Emu 1616m Pc card version

 

so if i were to use it for mostly listening to music and occasional gaming, the x-fi would be better for me?

 

For just music i'd personally say no, gaming and movies yes. It also depends on what kind of speakers etc. you hook it up too. If you're gaming with small pc-speakers you might want the extra FX and ambience stuff the X-fi offers.
If you connect your laptop to a decent home cinema set you won't need those.
For music it's the same...i have pretty professional monitor speakers on my desk and i dont want anything meddling with the audio signal before it reaches the speakers. I've always hated the "surround" effect and such on music players because it's simply not real and sounds plain weird to me. Therefore i don't need a soundcard "enhancing" the music i'm listening too, it's perfectly fine the way it was recorded and put on cd and maybe i'll adjust equalizer settings a bit sometimes but that's it.

 

i have logitech z-2300 currently going into my onboard sound card (asus g1s, whichever sound card it has)

 

A very interesting discussion. What I'd like to ask, is there a fibre optica out solution for laptops. I ask because earlier today, I ordered Tritton's AX Pro headset,... great for the Xbox 360 and listening to digital audio from the Home Theater system as it's only input port is a fiber optic port. (A friend pointed out to me that buy using the digital pass through port on the back of the Harmon Kardon instead of directly to the Xbox, I should be able to hear it all through the Trittons). But not so good for the laptop as it is sans fiber optic out. Interestingly, in the Control Panel's sound panel, there seems to be a IDT High Definition audio CODEC device that that apparently is working. But it reads that SPDIF out via HP Dock. I've looked on HP's site, but couldn't find any mention of an HP Dock.

So again,... is there a solution in the Creative or Indigo style that also supports an optical out? OR,... is there a headset option more versatile than the Tritton AX Pro that I might have missed.

Thanks!

 

Ditto. A million times better than the Soundcrapper card.

 

Hi, Ive read throught this and maybe since the last post things have changed.

I ahvea pair of Audio technica ADT900's I belive them to be mid range quality headphones, but alas im not getting the grunt out of the realtek D900F in built.

I only really play counter strike source ( i know its old , but hey its finally getting an update woot) and I am picky when it comes to how music sounds, my ear is too rich for my pocket if that makes sense).

So anyway, given what I've said Im assuming i should stay away from the creative and get the Indigo.

Do i need the indigo IOX or will the indigo IO suffice, thanks for your input in advance. !

 

The difference between the IO and the IOx is one is the PCMCIA card and the other is an express card. Your laptop has the express card 54 slot so you would need the IOx or the DJx. The DJx has 4 channels so you can record with it also. If you don't plan on that then the IOx is the one you want.

 

The regular Indigo IO, now discontinued (probably still available through Ebay, etc.) is for the older larger kind of PC card, called cardbus.

The x stands for express card. So yes, for an express card slot, you need the x version.

For playback only though, you don't need the IO. That means it also has an input, for line-level recording.

 

Nope. The DJ version has two outputs. (I guess one to the speakers, the other to the DJ's headphones. The IO version has an input and an output, therefore IO.

I don't know if they still make a plain version (as they did with the cardbus version), that only has one output, which cost a little less than DJ or IO.

 

I would say for listening to stereo music, definitely the Indigo is better. And definitely for any use with pro audio software.

If you want surround (I think fake surround), all the special effects, "enhancements", etc. (which I agree with you, is for the most part a load of crap), then you might prefer the Creative card, with their obnoxious drivers.

QUOTE=LPTP-LVR;5021998]For just music i'd personally say no, gaming and movies yes. It also depends on what kind of speakers etc. you hook it up too. If you're gaming with small pc-speakers you might want the extra FX and ambience stuff the X-fi offers.
If you connect your laptop to a decent home cinema set you won't need those.
For music it's the same...i have pretty professional monitor speakers on my desk and i dont want anything meddling with the audio signal before it reaches the speakers. I've always hated the "surround" effect and such on music players because it's simply not real and sounds plain weird to me. Therefore i don't need a soundcard "enhancing" the music i'm listening too, it's perfectly fine the way it was recorded and put on cd and maybe i'll adjust equalizer settings a bit sometimes but that's it.[/QUOTE]