External sound card...for a laptop?

[chiwawa626]

Looking for an external soundcard for a laptop, prolly something usb. I need it for the line in mainly, and i need good quality audio in/out of it. The laptop is a dell inspiron i beleive, the problem is that its audio sucks and it is staticy...

 

[Lord Evermore]

There aren't that many options I think. Soundblaster Extigy is the most obvious one.

And of course, miracle of miracles, if you search google for "external soundcard" several discussions and products come up.

 

[Zim Hosein]

Like Lord Evermore posted, Sound Blaster® Extigy? is the obvious choice, it has some nice specs

 

[bravesfan258]

Check out the Echo Indigo, a PCMCIA card that got five stars in PC Magazine. It coverts the digital stream to sound without any static, etc.

Check out the review.

 

[Topher]

Before you plunge into an Extigy (although it is a nice card), there are a few other USB options.

Two from M-Audio are the Sonica and Sonica Theatre, both of which are very good choices.

If you're a do-it-yourselfer, then you can always pick up the USB audio evaluation kit from Philips and build your own, at a relatively low cost. (The eval kit down't need any soldering/assembly for those who aren't handy with the soldering iron).

 

[Topher]

Originally posted by: bravesfan258
Check out the Echo Indigo, a PCMCIA card that got five stars in PC Magazine. It coverts the digital stream to sound without any static, etc.

Check out the review.

That looks kind of nice. It's a shame it requires a 500MHz processor as a minimum though. It would go great in my little Toshiba Libretto. However, no inputs, no line out, only headphones. Can't expect too much in a PCMCIA form factor I guess.