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Mac Laptop & Sound Cards

O.K., I know I'm years behind but I just got a MacBook Pro laptop and a pair of desktop speakers. Have loaded hundreds of my own tunes and bought a couple hundred iTunes. I am retiring real soon and have always used company laptops but never was able to load any software, thus the new Mac.

I've read through a number of threads and am confused. What is a simple (and relatively inexpensive) way to upgrade the sound quality I get out of my Audioengine speakers? (Believe it or not, I have no idea how a souncard works or even where it plugs in.)

Thanks, people.
tomryan

Showing 1 response by tobias

tobias
1,534 posts
 
Good info in the above posts. Note that Ckorody’s mention of a Preference setting for ripping pertains to your iTunes preference settings, not the System Preferences panel.

I use an external converter with my PowerBook. That’s #3 in Ckorody’s post.

I’ve used an M-Audio Audiophile and an Apogee Mini-DAC. They connect to the computer via a USB cable, then to powered speakers via RCA-to-RCA cables in the case of the M-Audio or XLR-to-RCA for the Apogee.

Output configuration is done with the Sound control panel in System Preferences.

Both models sound much better than the laptop’s minijack speaker/headphone output. The Apogee is outstanding.
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