USB soundcard needed

[alkemyst]

I am picking up motherboard noise on my Armada M700 I use in my garage for youtube videos/music. I have eliminated the cabling as the culprit and have cleaned the output even.

Looking for something with ok sound quality, while my receiver is pretty decent (Nikko 1019), the speaker are just the $50 Insignia set that were popular on the internet. They play nice and loud though...

I see many that are like $5 dongles and half the people say they are great and the other half that they suck. I will be listening at high volume on the reciever (even at low on the laptop, my receiver can play beyond loud).

Thanks

 

[mshan]

M-Audio Transit?

Check out Head-Fi For Sale forums and see if you can pick up lightly used around $50 or so.

If you just need usb toslink, you may be able to find cheaper options via google, though they may not be as cheap as $5 dongle mentioned in OP.

edit #1: $50 probably could also get you an used non-"n" Apple Airport Express (if you are an iTunes user). Rogue Amoeba sells software that is supposed to allow you to stream anything you want through Airport Express.

edit #2: also suspect that any recent usb to analog audio dongle would be fine, particularly when used as line level out to receiver (I think key is just buying a more recent dongle that presumably has a newer dac chip in it). Kaido in Apple forum like this cheap usb to analog out "sound card": http://www.newegg.com/Product/...5&ref=dynamitedata.com

 

[fatpat268]

Get yourself a ground loop isolator like this.

I got one and it eliminates all static noise from my laptop. No need for a usb sound card.