Whooow, cheap surround sound card!

**bimmerpc** · 08-09-2006, 02:39 PM

Hi!
I am planning on trying to use my ibm thinkpad internal soundcard which is a soundmax internal in my ibm thinkpad a31 (looks like it doesnt have surround support). My concern is just that the sound is more crappy when plugging my headphones into my docking station(which I prefer to plug my car amplifier into) than directly onto soundcard. Maybe a car amp will resolve that?
Anyway, if I find the overall sound to be too bad I want to have surround capabilities in my car if I am going to buy anything extra.

I have read various reviews about Live! being bad, Roadie being good, audigy bad and good etcetera. Guess I just have to close my eyes and pick. I bumped into this one:

http://www.theregister.com/2003/10/2...ndblaster_mp3/

...it shipps for around 30$ which I very cheap considering it has got surround, optical and all that. I want a usb card that I can have inside my car when the computer is taken away.

The roadie is a bit more expensive but very small. Can there be any room for quality components inside that shell??
http://store.mp3car.com/ProductDetai...Code=COM%2D022

also.. my local car audio shops doesnt know what I am talking about when I say I want to buy a surround amp with coaxial or optical inputs. They just say that "whoow... that stuff is expensive.. around 3000$ !!!"
Whaaaat?
I have seen them on this forum, hifonics etcetera for about 300...

Can someone give me a link to a soundcard that is good quality but not overkill. and a matching amplifier that can handle surround sound.

I am planning on using my just my front and rear speakers and the subwoofer so I guess it´s just 4.1 surround. So no need for any 7.1 surround here

**breaker021** · 08-09-2006, 02:57 PM

Stop cross-posting, *** wagon!
- sh00k

**RedGTiVR6** · 08-09-2006, 03:00 PM

please do not cross post.

Other thread deleted.

**bimmerpc** · 08-09-2006, 03:34 PM

Uh?
Sorry where?
I just recieved a "cannot load page" everytime i tried to post
*computers* well well

**freenettech** · 08-09-2006, 04:36 PM

I actuall have both, the roadie and the MP3+

They both are good, I like the MP3+ better because of the direct RCA outputs, no dealing with stupid 3.5mm headphone cables. But beware of the latest drivers they cause hibernation/standby issues ( at least they did on my comp).

I just picked up the roadie a few months ago, I realy like it, but the bad part is that the optical has to be converted from standard toslink to 3.5mm toslink, at least they give you the converters. And the roadie has the advantage over the MP3+ that it has all 6 channels out when the soundblaster is stereo only unless you use toslink.

**bimmerpc** · 08-10-2006, 05:02 AM

THANKs for the info!
to me the mp3+ looks a litte more convenient to stick cables onto. I dont need the device to be +super+ slim since its going to be hidden away.

Some reviews complain about the mp3+ to not have surround. But when using with car I will need a amplifier anyway so it is possible to have surround pass through the mp3+ and directly into the amp right?

Maybe I am missing something out here.. the decoding of the digital signal would have to be inside the amplifier to have 4,1 surround right? Or does anyone have 4 +1 cables running from the soundcard/source into some kind of 4,1 audio input on a amplifier?

I have only seen those with rca/stereo input and those with optical input