Add-on sound card to boost laptop volume

patwa_2

Hello,

I was wondering if anyone could advise about boosting the volume output of a laptop by means of an add-on internal sound card? The volume output on my laptop is very low, even when maxed out and when using headphones (compared to say, an iPod or cell phone). I was thinking of buying something like the Creative X-Fi ExtremeAudio for Notebooks (GBP £27.00) which has an ExpressCard slot and would fit my laptop. The only thing that's making me hesitate in buying is that, even though the card has the name X-Fi in it, it doesn't actually have an X-Fi processor on board (as opposed to their desktop X-Fi models which do) and relies on the laptop's processor to do the work for it. Now my laptop does have a dual-core CPU, but would this actually solve the volume issue at all?

Also, if anyone has any alternatives for sound cards over the Creative, I'd appreciate the recommendations and reasons for them, as long as they're internal cards (don't want to have USB devices hanging off the side of the machine).

Thanks.

H.

albertross_2

get some amplified speakers/headphones

patwa_2

Hi. I had thought of that, but I'd rather not buy a dedicated set of headphones just for the laptop. And speakers are a bit cumbersome. Can I ask why you went against the idea of a sound card? Surely this would give me both added volume and extra musical effects, or doesn't it work like that.

Thanks.

H.

albertross_2

I have never used one, so don't know whether you will get better volume, but I doubt it will come out of the built in speakers. Is there a volume control on the laptop, either a wheel or keyboard combination?

patwa_2

I have the standard laptop keyboard volume control, FN+up/down. If it's the case that the physical in-built speakers won't support greater volume, it leaves headphones as the only acceptable alternative. I just don't seep external speakers as a viable option for a laptop that's mainly used for travel and remotely from my house.

Would my existing headphones, which I know from use with my iPod can support high volumes, get a better volume if plugged into the creative card directly, or are we again talking hardware limitations of the laptop for even that option?

Thanks.


H.

albertross_2

the laptop will have a sound chip, amp, and speakers, putting a new card will bypass all of that, but it might not be any louder, depends on the card.

bookduck

patwa wrote: »

... I was thinking of buying something like the Creative X-Fi ExtremeAudio for Notebooks (GBP £27.00) which has an ExpressCard slot and would fit my laptop....

Sounds like a bad idea to me. Albatross is correct - amplified speakers.

Why I do not like ablou the card (1) battery will drain faster (2) has limited amplification (3) may kill psu if the amplifier is that power hungry.

If you double the speaker output voltage, you get 4 times the power. All pc are limmited to a low supply voltages and will have to use voltage multipliers to get good amplification.

patwa_2

Oh, well thanks for the explanation. Pity though, but at least I asked and now I know.

Cheers.

H.