sound cards?

For music playback how would you guys rate the built-in sound cards notebooks come with nowadays?

(I can’t do average or bad sound, btw)

 

We rate them as fine. Mostly as good as onboard sound devices on desktop computers. Whether it's good enough for you only you can know.

What's really subpar on most laptops is the speakers. Most of them are tinny, lack bass and depth and can't reach high volumes. There are exceptions, of course, but no laptop speakers are going to be as good as a good entry-level desktop stereo speaker set. For games or for watching movies in a group, I'd strongly suggest getting external speakers.

 

Not really worried about the notebook speakers. I will either output the sound to some headphones or a proper amp/speakers setup.

I only want to know what kind of sound I should expect from current built-in sound cards out there: AC97, high definition Realtek, and whatnot.

I guess I should rephrase the question. How would you guys rate current built-in audio cards for outputting to a decent pair of headphones or amp/speakers setup?

 

I havnet heard the ac97 in notebooks but I had been using onboard ac 97 on desktop for long time. sound is great and it even let you have equalizer on the driver program. It just really depends on the speakers or headphones you got.

 

But are there any better built-in sound cards for notebooks?

I also have AC97 onboard sound and a Creative sound card on my desktop. IMO the Creative sound card has better bass (and treble and bass sliders that I turn up).

I usually turn the AC97 off on my desktop.

 

The best sound device you'll find built-in in a notebook is Intel's Azalia (High Definition Audio). Present on some of the newer notebooks.

There are a couple of PCMCIA sound cards (Creative Audigy 2 ZS, Echo Indigo) and some USB solutions that you can buy separately if you're not pleased with the built-in.

 

It's really quite subjective and depends how much of an audiophile you are.

 

really good, since some have 24 bit, surround sound integrated...but then, can never be as good or close to an audigy 2 zs

 

Sound on notebooks isn't too bad after you've set the equalizer in your audio settings if you have a realtek chip or some other soundcard that has an equalizer setting.

You can go for the Audigy 2 ZS notebook PCMCIA, BUT as many have recently asked about sound cards, go check out the compatibility list.

Also if you are going to get this soundcard make sure you get the latest one in the Blister pack, which is the one in the plastic packaging, not the box.

I finally got some money so I'm going out to get one, but my laptop is out for repairs.

Cheers,
Mike