How to get good audio on laptop?

Hello there!

I just bought an Asus G50Vt-A1. I think it's an excellent machine. Anyway, the one thing I have left to sort out is the audio department, since I know the integrated sound card/speakers are not gonna be good enough.

So I've been reading about my options. But I still can't fully understand how it works. I've seen the Asus Xonar U1 recommended, the M-Audio Transit, the X-Fi Notebook/X-Fi Go!/X-Fi Surround 5.1 and headphones like the San 555 and the Astro A40.

What I've come to "understand" - correct me if I'm wrong - is that for my laptop I would need two things: something that outputs the audio with better quality/mix - like the Astro A40 MixAmp or the Asus Xonar - and good quality headphones? That is, just getting the headphones by themselves won't do much, right?

Now, I'm still wondering about what would be the best options. I do intend to do mostly gaming - more so than audio/video or watching movies.

Right now I'm leaning for the Asus Xonar and a some good headphones - haven't decided on those. Does that sound reasonable? I'm kinda lost here, hahaha.

Thanks in advance!

 

Good audio means always two things:

1. High quality signal/output
2. High quality playback speakers/heaphones.

You always need these two for HQ Audio.

I cannot advise on the Sonar but I can advise on the Creatives. Seeing you made up your mind, I'll not bore you .

 

Hot Audio HOTUSB1 and the headphones of your choice will serve you much better than the Asus product if you are only going to listen to 2 channel sound. The HOTUSB1 basically replaces the entire sound system of your laptop (just like the Asus) and works without any additional software if you are running Vista. It also includes a solid headphone amp.

 

Interesting option. Spec wise the X-FI is better. The original poster also mentioned gaming. ALchemy works on Vista...to a certain extent .

 

Oh no, I haven't made up my mind, that's why I'm posting, hahaha. You can shoot away and be sure I'll read your comments and take them into consideration too

 

I'm looking at the Sennheiser PC350 headset, it seems like it is a good choice. But I'm still trying to figure out the "sound card" part.

EDIT: The EDGE GX400 also look i nteresting... humm...

 

I was faced with the same problem. G1S has terrible speakers. So i went ahead and purchased the Express Creative X-Fi 7.1 with the docking module. It gives me amazing sound quality and with the 5.1 Z-5500 i turned my room into a true entertainment spot ))
Ask questions if you want.

 

I own the same. Try it on XP and you will be shocked how different it is . Shame I could not enjoy it because XP has an issue with my U6 so I had to go back to Vista.

 

More than the sound card, I think you need a good set of speakers or head/ear phones. Integrated sound cards are generally crap, but you can tolerate them with a decent set of head phones.

I am using a Creative X-Fi GO USB external card, well… it is better than the integrated card, but it doesn’t have a dedicated onboard sound processor like desktop X-Fi cards; therefore all the extra sound effects (EAX, CMSS-3D, Crystallizer, etc..) are all done on the CPU. I bought it for around $40, here is a small review I did on it some time back.

 

Really? There is a difference between using this card under XP? How so? You got me very interested... i have been looking for a reason to downgrade but havent relaly found one yet.

 

The Vista Audio layer is a new one. Creative has failed in their task to provide the same quality they provided on XP. Vista will allow Creative 48 24 whereas XP allows 96 24. Try XP and you will ask yourself if it is the same card .

 

Im sorry if im resurrecting a couple months old thread but this last post has interested me aswell.


I currently own the Creative X-Fi 5.1 Surround Sound External USB sound card and is currently operating under Windows Vista.

I was wondering if i downgraded or dual-booted Vista with XP that i could get a better sound experience with my X-Fi?

If so im definately going out to the shop and buying Windows XP (not only for the audio but it is also better for gaming).


Thanks and please answer this post