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    USB PCMCIA adapter or USB soundcard

    Discussion in 'Accessories' started by CanadianDude, Apr 12, 2007.

  1. CanadianDude

    CanadianDude Notebook Deity

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    Its about time i get my z5500 speakers connected to my macbook pro. i have some questions. i already have a creative audigy zs card, which i would like to keep and use. therefore, i can either get a usb card reader that will read the creative card, or purchase a whole new usb sound card altogether.

    Im just wondering what you guys would do? I would like the best sound quality as possible.

    Its too bad the xpresscard slots in the macbook pros are 34, rather than 54 like the new creative X Fi cards.
     
    CanadianDude, Apr 12, 2007
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  2. vestige

    vestige Notebook Consultant

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    Personally I would get the USB sound card. By going PCMCIA you limit usage to only laptops. With USB you can transfer it to any computer equipped with USB.
     
    vestige, Apr 14, 2007
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  3. LFC

    LFC Ex-NBR

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    Well it depends

    As stated usb offers more versatility by being able to be used with more systems, whilst PCMCIA is limited to your laptop. PCMCIA is more portable however.

    Then there's budget and how far you want to take this music playback thing :p You could get a usb sound card solution that will have bigger DACs such as the widely touted Emu 404 or Total Bithead. Or something cheaper like the Edirol UA-1EX which will give you the versatility of being able to buy an external DAC in the future. You may also add an amp into the chain :p

    Saying all that, it may well be cheaper to just buy a usb reader and keep your audigy ZS. If you're happy enough, why change? Maybe add an amp to your audigy to compliment it, but if you're happy perhaps its best not to change... saying that I have no idea how using a usb reader to use a pcmcia card will affect SQ

    Also if you didn't know about the optical out on Macs and default bit-perfect playback, have a read of my post here :) I think the zs has asio drivers... but then this is Creative and they are somewhat *notorious* with their drivers
     
    LFC, Apr 14, 2007
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