pcmcia sound cards with line out?

**AznArkitekt** · 10-16-2006, 12:18 AM

I posted a thread last week about using a 3.5mm headphone out jack on my laptop carputer as the source for my sound into my head unit and was told that this would be an amplified signal being reamplified and thus causing distortion. Thus, I went about looking for a PCMCIA sound card to use with a line out, as recommended by the posted replies on my original thread. I can't seem to find one!? The only likely one that I can find is the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS but in its description EVERYWHERE (on ebay, google, etc.) it says that the Port Connectors are: 1 x Optical In, 1 x Optical Out, 1 x Speaker Dock. and in one description, it described the output as "headphone out/line out" ...I guess they described it as the same thing when it clearly isn't supposed to be. I see other threads where users are using the Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS pcmcia on their laptops and connecting this to their head unit for sound but if they are just connecting from the headphone out jack isn't it the same (despite the obvious extra features of the sound card) as me connecting it straight from my laptop's headphone out? Or is there a feature on the SBA 2 ZS that allows you to remove the amplification on the output? I would love to hear some feedback on this as this is my last thing on the shopping list to complete my setup. Thanks!

**scott_fx** · 10-16-2006, 03:45 AM

just a question, why does it need to be pcmcia? can it be usb? have you researched usb dacs too?

**AznArkitekt** · 10-16-2006, 10:32 AM

I have researched both PCMCIA as well as USB. However, when I search for USB sound cards on ebay, it seems there are two main types that are coming up. 1) These cheap looking flash drive looking USB devices that have a headphone out and mic in jack or 2) An actual decent looking USB sound device (like the Sound Blaster Extigy) but all of these seem to require a 12 volt source and the power supply I'm using (the Carnetix P-1900) only provides a dual output (I'm already using the 19v output for my laptop/carputer and the secondary 12v output for my touchscreen - I know you can get a third output attachment but not for another 12 v so that is irrelevant) so I would rather just get a PCMCIA card and not have to worry about trying to work another 12 volt dc regulated source into my setup

any suggestions? thanks

**Yevmeister** · 10-16-2006, 12:46 PM

Originally Posted by scott_fx

just a question, why does it need to be pcmcia? can it be usb? have you researched usb dacs too?

i think that pci/or pcmcia is faster than USB, therefore can process audio signal faster

Yev

**Yevmeister** · 10-16-2006, 12:48 PM

Originally Posted by AznArkitekt

I have researched both PCMCIA as well as USB. However, when I search for USB sound cards on ebay, it seems there are two main types that are coming up. 1) These cheap looking flash drive looking USB devices that have a headphone out and mic in jack or 2) An actual decent looking USB sound device (like the Sound Blaster Extigy) but all of these seem to require a 12 volt source and the power supply I'm using (the Carnetix P-1900) only provides a dual output (I'm already using the 19v output for my laptop/carputer and the secondary 12v output for my touchscreen - I know you can get a third output attachment but not for another 12 v so that is irrelevant) so I would rather just get a PCMCIA card and not have to worry about trying to work another 12 volt dc regulated source into my setup

any suggestions? thanks

you can always get a splitter, i would go with pcmcia for above reason, it's not hard to provide power for it, but it will be so much less hassle if you spend extra $30 bucks and go with Creative ZS

Yev

**AznArkitekt** · 10-16-2006, 01:18 PM

Thanks for the input regarding this matter. However, my main question still goes unanswered. I don't see a line out on any of these sound cards, pcmcia or usb. I'm worried that if I run a feed from the headphone out jack of these sound cards into the input on the back of my head unit, I will be amplifying an amplified signal (amplified twice to the speakers in my car and AGAIN a third time from my HU to my amp/subs) which will distort the sound horribly. It seems that a lot of people are using the Creative ZS as a source for their sound but I see no line out on this card. Are none of these people getting a distorted sound?

**RedGTiVR6** · 10-16-2006, 02:01 PM

The ZS 2 has a headphone jack (line out)

I will say this much, from the reviews that I have read from people, using the aux-in on head units doesn't give the cleanest sound anyways.

**AznArkitekt** · 10-16-2006, 08:02 PM

hmmmm how would you suggest I get the sound from my computer into my car speakers/amp? I couldn't figure out any other way other than to go with the aux in (or at least this seemed to be the easiest way)

**scott_fx** · 10-16-2006, 08:06 PM

go directly from the soundcard into the amp

**AznArkitekt** · 10-16-2006, 08:12 PM

my car doesn't have a stock amp for the tweeters and mids inside the car, the only amp I'm running is a 500/1 JL Audio for my subs in the back so how do I get sound from my sound card to the speakers inside my car? :-/