Thread: Sound quality of running 3.5mm into RCA and then outputting to subs?

*EDIT
Looking back at this response now its longer than I expected so I'm sorry if its a bit long winded. To sum up, if you've got a line out on your laptop, go ahead and proceed as you plan too, if not, beware the quality may not be what youre expecting. Keep reading if you want more detail
*EDIT

Alright, my first question for you would be this, does your laptop have an actual "line out" 3.5mm output, or just a headphone 3.5mm output? (Ive seen very few laptops that have anything other than a mic in and a headphone out) I only looked briefly over the link you included, so I'm not sure how much or if it was covered, but if you're going to use the 3.5mm out straight to your head unit with the RCA adaptor, you need to make sure its a "line out" and not headphones. If it is indeed a line out you're all set, and the sound will be good, including what is then run to your amp/subs. If however, it is instead a headphone output, you're going to run into problems. The reason being, the aux in on your head unit is expecting a line level, or basically unamplified signal, which it will then process and output to your speakers amp etc. If you go with the headphone output however, you have a signal thats already been amplified, and while yes its possible to just lower the volume to mimic what a line out would be providing, at least in my experience this tends to result in much lower quality. Hope this helps

ahhh, that definitely helps a lot. so that's what a line out is for eh? I've always wondered what it was since I was a little kid haha. my laptop is sittin in my car at the moment and I'm not sure if it has a line out. I'll look into that tomorrow and post my findings. thanks again! and about it being long winded? I'd much prefer lengthy replies that provide explanation as opposed to short answers, just because I'm trying to learn how things work as I go about my project, rather than follow instructions without understanding how my setup is actually working. thanks!

Well, sadly it looks like my laptop carputer only has a headphone output and mic input...so I guess that means I'm going to need an external sound card if I want good quality?

On most computers, the output is labelled as a 'headphone' output. Traditionally any 'output' on a consumer device is considered 'headphone' out if the volume is variable (I believe), whereas 'line-outs' are usually fixed in volume. I think most soundcards will label their output as a 'headphone' out.

Though yes, your quality will improve if you have a USB / PCMCIA soundcard solution with an actual line-output.

I searched for PCMCIA sound cards on ebay and pretty much the only thing that came up was soundblaster Audigy cards. Under the specs, it says that theres a 3.5mm jack for ("Line in/microphone in/optical in") and a 3.5mm jack for ("Heaphone jack/Optical Out")... is it pretty much grouping the headphone jack and line out as the same output? I'm not sure if this is what I'm looking for mhornnt noted that I need a solitary line out and not a headphone out.