anyone using external soundcards for p150hm?

I've followed what some others suggested to remedy the poor sound quality through the headphones on the p150hm, and im still not satisfied. This was supposed to be my "good" computer and i just cant accept it having worse sound quality than my 5yo toshiba satelite.

is anyone actually using an external soundcard currently and is satisfied with the product? id like some recommendations. im willing to spend an upwards of a 100 bucks for this, though preferably less. the biggest reason im not going ahead with it is that alot of reviews on newegg and NCIX seem to imply that some products simply do not provide enough improvement to warrant the higher costs. so id like to hear from someone first hand.

 

nevermind i see people are getting headphone amps and "DAC"s for this issue.

what are they and how do the differ?

 

Virtually any external solution will be better than most laptops' onboard audio. I'm using the cheap Micro II and it powers my M30's well (just 20% volume hurts my ears). If I had the money though I'd upgrade to something with a built in volume knob

 

A DAC is basically another name for a sound card. It just converts digital signal to analog. Here are some threads with suggestions:

http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/637810-p150hm-headphone-performance.html
http://forum.notebookreview.com/sager-clevo/635311-8130-sound.html

 

As for usb DACs / Sound cards, I could name a few that are made for audio listening purposes (not intentionally for gaming). Although almost any decent external upgrade will improve sound.

Names that come to mind in the ~USD100 range would be:

Fiio e10
iBasso D-zero
NuForce uDac / uDac2

Keep in mind, these examples are DACs and also Amplifiers, they should be more than enough to power headphones up to ~300ohms as prescribed in their specs.

Also, may I ask what kind of headphones/earphones do you use?

EDIT:

DAC = Digital to Analog Converter
Headphone Amplifiers = Amplify the headphone out to power and drive high resistance cans, give higher volume. different amps also alter the sound signature a bit so its best to try them out with your pair so you know if you like the outcome.

 

I have a set sennheiser cx300ii

they sound around the same as $10 spares when i hook them in the jack.. and neither sound very nice.

 

i've just bought Asus Xonar U1 to be able to play 5.1 surround games like Battlefield 3, bad company 2 and also Pes 2012. it sounds great. Now i have Dolby Digital and also 7.1 with dolby prologic2z feature. (Dolby Pro Logic IIz enables greater flexibility in expanding a 5.1 audio playback system to 7.1, or a 7.1 system to 9.1)

You simply connect Asus Xonar U1 through USB port and connect it to your Hi-Fi system with digital output cable. its really coool.

 

thanks for the suggestion but i actually dont have much problem with the built in speaker quality. on the other hand the headphones sound like utter crap IMO.

maybe i have weird standards but thats just how i feel. probably has something to do with my previous toshiba having horrible crackler speakers

 

You should get very good sound quality through Fiio e10 usb DAC/AMP. It goes for around $80 in Amazon. It's plug and play and has its own volume control. Bang for buck wise, it should be a good option.

A brief explanation of the function of the e10:
The DAC completely bypasses your on-board sound card through USB. It will act as your "upgraded/high-quality" external sound card. The amp portion should supply enough (more than enough) power so it's headphone out should be able to drive your earphones well.

I've also experienced your same problem and have tried my friend's e10 with my laptop and Triplefi 10, it is night and day. They didn't sound like cats fighting inside metal trashcans anymore.

 

I got a Hercules Deejay Trim soundcard. It also has a powered 3xUSB hub built in where i connect my keyboard, mouse and external ODD.

Paired with my Sony XB-700 headphones, Im getting studio quality sound and extreme clean power. Watching the Rock am Ring concert on that and i feel like im on stage. This card has the Wolfson dac that is way above average quality and solid-steel drivers. NO PROBLEMS with skype while gaming and recording, watching movies etc. Drivers also support ASIO.

 

Nobody has mentioned the Creative USB X-Fi. I'm not using it now that I have optical sp/dif output to my speakers working, but I certainly used it with my last laptop and was fairly happy. A number of inputs/outputs, separate physical volume control, had SP/DIF toslink output etc.

 

lol QFT

ok sounds like ill get the fiio e10