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Advice on Setting Up A Laptop-Based Audio System?

Hey, I'm looking to set up a workspace audio system based around my Apple Powerbook G4. I've got about 100 GB of uncompressed audio on an external hard drive. I currently have Monsoon planar speakers and matching subwoofer hooked into the laptop through the 1/8" audio out, which soundsokay, but I think I could do better.

I don't have a PC card slot in the Powerbook, so I'm limited to a USB audio connection. I'm not looking to hook this system up to my "big rig" -- it's just for my workspace. I was looking to bypass getting an amplifier, unless it's fairly small.

I was thinking of going with some powered mini-monitors and maybe some kind of adapter/DAC in between, but I'm space-constrained and not looking to spend more than say, $600 total.

Any suggestions?
marc_dc
freakystyley
7 posts
 
I fount the roland ua-1d works better than the m-audio. no drivers necessary, fuller sound, coaxiaql and toslink in and out. the airport express sounded better than the m-audio, the roland beats them both
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The ua-1d samples only at 48kHz. The M-Audio transit will pass 44.1 bit-perfect and 96.
dmoffitt's avatar
dmoffitt
66 posts
 
audioengr, i found the oposite to be true re: the m-audio on my powerbook, stupid thing kept going up to 48k no matter what i set in the driver.....

i gave up and picked up an apple airport express... signal as follows:

CD ripped to AIFF via iTunes -> Airport Express -> optical -> MF TriVista -> MF X-CAN -> Grados

i'm lovin' it ;)
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
I've tested the Transit with a Big Ben. I had trouble at first, but with the right settings, it changed from 44.1 to 96 and back. You need to set the correct frequency in the Transit panel and then set either 16 or 24 bits in the Foobar output panel.

According to the ua-1d documentation, it only does 48 kHz.
edumke
32 posts
 
For those of you with PCs, a Transit might sound great, but if you have a Apple Mac, DO NOT get the Transit. It sounds BAD. this is not a subtle difference. This has been verified with 3 different Transits on high end systems. Two with with blind switching back and forth.
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