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Posted by Omega_M on Jul-12-2007 18:48:

USB Audio Adapters for Laptop

The headphone jack on my laptop has broken and I need a USB audio adapter cause I don't want to open my laptop and attempt a repair.

I found these 2 products on the internet : imic : this costs over $ 30.00 and a Generic adapter : costs only $0.69

I just want a no frills adapter that I can plug into my laptop so that I can listen to some music. Can someone explain what is the basic difference between these two products ? Will the ebay product affect sound quality ? On second thoughts, will repairing the laptop myself be a big deal ? I have opened my laptop before and replaced the keyboard.

Posted by jdat on Jul-14-2007 10:34:

http://www.turtlebeach.com/products/micro/home.aspx

better dsp

Posted by Omega_M on Jul-19-2007 20:06:

hey thanks ! but i decided to go ahead and risk my $0.69 over this

Posted by VAR on Jul-28-2007 05:55:

definitely not no-frills- however, if you want good sound from your laptop- this is the pheat

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Produ...N82E16829102008

Posted by Omega_M on Jul-29-2007 18:23:

^^ expensive shit I didn't want to spend that much money cause my card is working fine. Just needed something to work around the damaged headphone jack.

...

I finally got my 0.69 cent adapter. It was shipped from Hongkong. Paid $6.00 for shipping, LOL. I'm beginning to suspect that the sound quality is not as good. I dunno whether that can happen cause this is just an adapter. But the drum kicks are a bit flat and the bass doesn't sound as good. The adapter has "3D SOUND" written on top. Dunno how that works. There are no software controls or anything.

Posted by MERiDiAN5i2 on Jul-30-2007 07:43:

Hate to break the news to you, but some sort of usb audio adapter isn't using the existing audio in your laptop. The device you have probably functions as a standard USB audio device, and should show up as another soundcard on your system. Check the Windows Mixer and Device Manager. No capability exists on the USB bus to output the internal soundcard's signal.

http://www.roland.com/products/en/UA-1EX/
http://www.m-audio.com/products/en_us/Transit-main.html

Either will result in lower latency and better performance than whatever junk audio came with your laptop... Yet to see a laptop with decent onboard audio.

Other than that, I'd recommend repairing the jack on the laptop.

Posted by Omega_M on Jul-30-2007 15:29:

Gawd Dayaum !!

...

I should be looking to buy a decent card now. Dunno whether I can repair the jack. That shit looks messy.

Thanks for the info m8 ! Much appreciated.

Posted by MERiDiAN5i2 on Jul-30-2007 20:01:

Jack is probably an easy fix, assuming you're capable of disassembling the laptop and handy with a soldering iron... But, regardless, laptop onboard audio is junk, especially if you do any sort of production.

Those USB interfaces will also give you a usable audio input, of which most laptops lack, usually only have a useless mic-in, if even that.

I wonder if a laptop with quality pro-audio onboard will ever be offered...