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my laptop headphone jack has slowly become worse and worse over time and is now only really putting out signal in the right channel (you can hear a very low amount in the left) so i thought id invest in a USB soundcard and use that as my output instead. ive had a look around and all i can find are big things with xlr and jack I/O and all that, all i want is something that is small and portable and just has maybe 1 or 2 outputs, effectivly just like the normal headphone jack on my laptop. does anyone know of anything?

i use the very low priced M-audio audiophile usb. has done me well. real basic like you want. worth it imo.

Maudio / Emu / Edirol all make affordable soundcards that would be a big step from an onboard card and wouldn't hurt your wallet too bad

novation nio sorted me right out

I use the M-audio fast track pro
works a treat!

good if you ever want to do recording as well

I use an Alesis iO2

I use my Mackie Onyx Satellite as an external sound card hooked up by firewall. My default soundcard would pick up background static; every time I would open a program you would hear a snap, crackle and pop that would gain in frequency until the program was fully loaded!

griffin imic. $35. cheap and easy.

shit, even the Maya that ppl are using for their janky serato-like setups (looks at Press)

im glad something like this has come up because i was looking for a soundcard too.

does anybody know of good internal ones? or are the external components better?

i'd be looking to spend maybe £100... or around that

I went external, it give me easy access to hook up different bits of kit, and easy level controls.

don't think you will find noticeabley better quality from choosing an internal card.

11eight wrote:I use the M-audio fast track pro
works a treat!

good if you ever want to do recording as well

I have this too. Comes handy for my dj sets because of the 4 outputs, but i found the drivers a little bit unstable on WinXP.

jade_monkey wrote:

11eight wrote:I use the M-audio fast track pro
works a treat!

I have this too.

³

eLBe wrote:I went external, it give me easy access to hook up different bits of kit, and easy level controls.

don't think you will find noticeabley better quality from choosing an internal card.

have got an external card as well, but in terms of cpu-load there is a difference between an internal pci or pci-E card and an external usb (worse) or firewire (not quite so bad).
Also AFAIK internal cards are cheaper than external cards of the same quality..
check the juli@
is pretty nifty and rather cheap

yeah

pci has less latency and is less expensive, but some people (understandably) dont wanna get inside and monkey around their tower.

I have a lappy and when I take it to my girls house on the weekends I take the MAudio TORQ box with me to use as a soundcard. its not the best, but it beats the pants off of the internal card.

tend to get less input/output with the internal cards tho?

My set up aint huge, cubase and an Akai controller, but The latency on my Alesis iO2 is small enough for me not to notice.

11eight wrote:I use the M-audio fast track pro
works a treat!

good if you ever want to do recording as well

Another vote for the Fast Track Pro, thats what I use as well. I was using an Audigy 2 ZS, I noticed the difference immediately, the Fast Track Pro sound is much more clear and cleaner.

If I got a external, would I have to unplug my internal? (Audigy 2)

Legendary wrote:If I got a external, would I have to unplug my internal? (Audigy 2)

No you can have both. When i turn my external on my system defaults to it, or you can select which you want to use in whatever program you are using.