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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

Showing 6 responses by audioengr

audioengr
3,282 posts
 
You can start with a M-Audio Transit and a Ack! Dack. Then later when you want it to sound better and have some money to spend, get the Ack! Dack modded and install the transit inside, eliminating the Toslink interface.

Steve N.
Empirical Audio
Manufacturer
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The Transit that I use is modded and outputs coax S/PDIF. It is superb sounding. I use Foobar and ASIO4ALL plug-in to avoid Windows mixer.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
The ua-1d samples only at 48kHz. The M-Audio transit will pass 44.1 bit-perfect and 96.
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.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Sounds like the S/W is a bit hosed for the transit using the apple equipment. At least on a PC, you can use ASIO to bypass the windows Kmixer. Maybe this is not possible on an apple system. Good to know, thanks.
audioengr
3,282 posts
 
Gonglee3 - ASIO4ALL is only for S/W drivers that do not accept an ASIO plug-in. Drivers that can accept the plug-in should use ASIO plug-in, not ASIO4ALL. I have heard that ASIO4ALL is actually an ASIO emulator using Kernel streaming.
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