Wireless audio transmission

[arunj]

I listen to a lot of MP3s off my laptop. It is connected to a Sonodyne pre-amplifer (SC202R) which is linked to the Genie Power Pack.

For a long time, I used an audio cable to connect the laptop to the pre-amp. I finally bought a Monster audio cable but I did not find much of a difference. I feel inclined to blame the audio chip in the laptop, but I am also curious to know if anyone here has experimented with a wireless transmitter/receiver like this-

Amazon.com: Creative Labs Sound Blaster Wireless Audio Transmitter and Receiver Bundle: Electronics

Thanks,
Arun.

PS: I hope I am posting in the right forum, otherwise please let me know where I should move this to.

 

[theironhorse]

well wireless transmitter wont enhance the sound quality,.. its just tranfer of data OTA.

if you want to enhance the sound quality.. get e sound card for laptop. that will fit in the express card slot of your laptop and let the cable setup intact and that will benefit you a lot.. if its a matter of sound.. however portability.. wifi will be good... but no change in sound.


Sound Blaster X-Fi Notebook

Sound Blaster X-Fi Go! Pro

try these..

 

[anm]

there are various products, from different companies - logitech squeezebox is considered good. You may also look at appletv, sonos etc.

 

[arunj]

@theironhorse: Portability is a nice thing to have- the laptop is as good as a desktop because I play music almost all the time I am at home! :-D I suppose I could try changing the sound card. Any idea how much they cost?

@anm: I am looking for something that's not very expensive. Going by Amazon's prices, the transmitter/receiver bundle seems to a steal at $64. How much is the Logitech Squeezebox?

Thanks,
Arun.

 

[dillihifi]

But as you are looking to enhance the sound maybe you should consider any USB dacs

 

[theironhorse]

they shudn't cost much say bout 2-3 k.. but worth the diff... u might be havin onborad realtek....

check if you have ac97 or realtek HD audio..

if you have realtek HD audio.. install win7 and we can get optical out of black rca jack..

and u can then see wonders happening..

 

[arunj]

@dillihifi: A USB DAC could a future add-on, but will it be less expensive than the recommended sound card upgrade?

@theironhorse: It's an old Dell Inspiron that I mostly use for music, movies and browsing, and I think it has a SigmaTel audio chip. I did think of upgrading to Win7, but the processor is around 4years old and has 1.5GB RAM made me think otherwise.

I'll look for the models you specified and hopefully things will be much better then. :-D

Thanks,
Arun.

 

[theironhorse]

arunj : i am running win 7 ultimate on my celeron laptop with 1 gb ddr2.. and onboard intel graphics card... win aero just works flawlessly..


however if its sigmatel..rather prefer a external sound card..

it must be an inspiron.. 1505 ???

 

[arunj]

It is a Dell Inspiron 1501.

 

[anm]

wireless transmission can actually help increase the sound quality.
If the transmission is in digital domain (and not a2d and back to d2a) from the computer itself, and then decoded by a better dac closer to your amp. A DAC inside your receiver would be far better than a sound card embedded into your laptop due to a noisy power going on inside your laptop.

Yesterday, I was playing out of headphone out of my laptop. Eachtime I started itunes, it made a lot of noise. I thought itunes suck. But after some elimination, I figured out that it was the external portable usb drive that introduced noise in the system! Also, when a disk spins inside the laptop, there was quite loud sounds [noise] generated. This was when laptop was on battery power. I could not experiment more with charger plugged in, but will try sometime soon.

You can try this - Amazon.com: Logitech Squeezebox Wi-Fi Internet Radio Receiver: Electronics
I think there are ways to make it work without the remote control.

 

[arunj]

The Dell laptop (with a WD Passport external drive) is surprisingly quite, even when running on battery. I will not say the same of a more recent HP laptop that was given to me for work. :lol:

 

[argho]

This is what I have and use :
Amazon.com: IS301 Home Audio System Ipod Integration Dock: Electronics

It works well. Is easy to use - you retain full functionality of the iPod interface.

I have the base unit connected to my Denon AVR 1910.
The dock stays next to me, and connects wirelessly to the base unit.

There is also an option to connect the base unit and dock, using cables.

Sound Quality is good. But not as good as what I get from playing the same file through my WD TV connected to the Denon via optical audio (ie TosLink).

 

[anm]

mine is a compaq, maybe that's why

The Dell laptop (with a WD Passport external drive) is surprisingly quite, even when running on battery. I will not say the same of a more recent HP laptop that was given to me for work. :lol:

 

[theironhorse]

The Dell laptop (with a WD Passport external drive) is surprisingly quite, even when running on battery. I will not say the same of a more recent HP laptop that was given to me for work. :lol:

why would be any diffrence in sound whether a laptop is running on battery or getting charged by an adaptor...

the only system sounds in a cpu or laptop are from the cooling fan and the dvd drive and that is not dependent on being on battery or getting charged ..

 

[anm]

My theory is that the 1TB usb powered external hdd is pulling out quite a lot of current from the laptop. Enough to make audible noises. I tried for a short while with the charger on, but then I did not hear much of a noise - but I need to ascertain this.

why would be any diffrence in sound whether a laptop is running on battery or getting charged by an adaptor...

the only system sounds in a cpu or laptop are from the cooling fan and the dvd drive and that is not dependent on being on battery or getting charged ..

 

[anm]

otoh, smps are supposed to be noisy, so I earlier thought battery power to be "clean". But this may not be true. In my previous [lenevo] laptop, I could hear the noises being made by discharging battery.

 

[anuragn]

why would be any diffrence in sound whether a laptop is running on battery or getting charged by an adaptor...

the only system sounds in a cpu or laptop are from the cooling fan and the dvd drive and that is not dependent on being on battery or getting charged ..

Here, it seems we are more concerned with electrical noise being injected into an audio signal rather than the audible noise. And there sure is lot of EMI inside a computer due to presence high frequency clocks.

 

[theironhorse]

i never noticed any sound.. by discharging or chraging battery..

and itb hdd will still pull same anount of power and will still rotate the same way and will still make the same sound whether on battery or charging.. why will the battery make sound...


and yes lets get back to the discussion bout the sound quality.. i choice will be a sound card for your laptop.. that will bring a lot of change in things..

 

[anm]

I thought of starting a noises thread that day, but I was lazy. We shall discuss this in another thread. You would hardly notice this when songs are playing loud. But there were some clicks and not so well defined noises when music was playing. When I started the itunes, it tried to get the files on usb, and then I heard the noises clearly.

 

[theironhorse]

those clicking noises are from hdd as the header moves ... to get the data on the platter.. and thats very normal in fact u can just pick the laptop and place ear near the bottom on it near the hdd socket and u can hear it while accessing any data.. whether on chargin or not..

if you want to reduce that sound.. try disk defrag as it will move the data in the closest location possible and the header have to struggle a lot less ..