Easy way to hook laptop up to Amp or Avr

[gudnoyez]

Hey since the wife got her Kindle Fire her laptop, sits idle being rarely used. What would be the easiest way to hook it up to one of my Amps or Avr's? what cable would I need, there is a headphone out jack, extra usb ports its a Dell Inspiron 15. I just want to use it to Stream XM radio from laptop out to an auxilary source on a Amp or AVR.
nothing fancy it has whatever soundcard that came with it, plus I have a couple of extra recivers and amps and speakers in storage.

Is this a good idea or should I just forget about it?

[txcoastal1]

All you neeed is a DAC and USB cable and a budget

http://www.amazon.com/NuForce-uDAC-2...=dac+amplifier

[bmbguy]

Easiest way is the headphone jack to an aux/line level input. Cable is commonly available - a 3.5mm stereo plug to two RCA plugs on the other end. It works fine for a simple hookup.

[jbooker82]

I just use an hdmi cable.

[xcapri79]

Hey since the wife got her Kindle Fire her laptop, sits idle being rarely used. What would be the easiest way to hook it up to one of my Amps or Avr's? what cable would I need, there is a headphone out jack, extra usb ports its a Dell Inspiron 15. I just want to use it to Stream XM radio from laptop out to an auxilary source on a Amp or AVR.
nothing fancy it has whatever soundcard that came with it, plus I have a couple of extra recivers and amps and speakers in storage.

Is this a good idea or should I just forget about it?

Check what sort of outputs your sound card has. Does it have stereo or multichannel outputs? Fiber or analog?
They usually have a 3.5mm (1/8") stereo output as a minimum. In that case, you could use a 3.5mm (1/8") stereo male to 2 RCA male splitter cable of a usable length for your needs to connect to the aux. RCA inputs of your receiver.

If you don't like your sound card, you can use a usb DAC as so many of us do. I have a few different ones, namely a Prodigy Cube, a Audioengine D1 which are small, usb powered, and are quite portable, as well as, a desktop or cabinet mounted Emotiva XDA-2 DAC.

[gudnoyez]

http://www.amazon.com/RiteAV-Feet-3-.../dp/B000V0G2C4

Thanks for the replies guys I just ordered this to get me by and try it out, I like the Dac idea and if it will improve sound quality. I will start saving for one. I was just wondering if there is a Dac out there that draws its power from an outlet and not from your usb on the laptop, and if so can someone recomend one, or is it ok to draw from the usb without worries of burning it up? Thanks again everyone!

[xcapri79]

That cable should work.

The USB DACS that draw power from the laptop don't draw very much. It has never been a problem for me.

The Emotiva XDA-2 is larger, more expensive and requires a separate power supply connection.

[gudnoyez]

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_779DAC1...100-Black.html

Ok I think this is the one I will be saving my pennies for. I need to just hook this baby up to the laptop via usb, and use the cable I just bought from Dac audio output to the auxillary on my amp or reciever right? I will use the rca jack I just bought for now, but will be getting this one in the future. Hey people I'am going digital

[gudnoyez]

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1198FTM...650I-8-ft.html

Would these interconnects be an insult to that Dac Magic? I like the price and means I could buy a few pairs and leave them hooked up to different sytems and just plug and play to different systems without having to reach behind and unplug every time I want to move to a different System? Heck now I will be thinking about this until it happens when does it end this hobby is addicting for sure!

[xcapri79]

From all reports, Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 is a great DAC and the cable you selected will work fine, but do you really need 8ft of cable for your setup? Additionally, I don't believe the DacMagic 100 has an onboard volume control. I personally like a USB DAC to have that feature.

With Cambridge Audio you would have to move up to the Cambridge Audio Azur DacMagic Plus Digital to Analogue Convert for a substantial increase in cost to gain that feature or try one of the other DAC's that I mentioned.

[BlueFox]

http://www.crutchfield.com/p_1198FTM...650I-8-ft.html

Would these interconnects be an insult to that Dac Magic? I like the price and means I could buy a few pairs and leave them hooked up to different sytems and just plug and play to different systems without having to reach behind and unplug every time I want to move to a different System? Heck now I will be thinking about this until it happens when does it end this hobby is addicting for sure!

Hmmm. $80 dollar cables with a $70 dollar discount, and the vendor is probably still making a profit. What could ever be wrong here.

[xcapri79]

Hmmm. $80 dollar cables with a $70 dollar discount, and the vendor is probably still making a profit. What could ever be wrong here.

Nothing wrong at all. Perfectly good cables and other products are often sold for big discounts when a supplier decides they want to clear out stock.
I purchased most of my cables that way.
There is a huge markup and profit margin on cables as most of us know, so a big discount isn't unusual.

[gudnoyez]

From all reports, Cambridge Audio DacMagic 100 is a great DAC and the cable you selected will work fine, but do you really need 8ft of cable for your setup? Additionally, I don't believe the DacMagic 100 has an onboard volume control. I personally like a USB DAC to have that feature.

With Cambridge Audio you would have to move up to the Cambridge Audio Azur DacMagic Plus Digital to Analogue Convert for a substantial increase in cost to gain that feature or try one of the other DAC's that I mentioned.

You mean the volume wouldn't be controlled from the preamp, or the volume control on the integrated amp, or receiver? I don't need 8 feet perhaps the 6 ft audio quest ones would be better same price. Thanks for your input maybe I should then research more into the Dacs that you mentioned.

[xcapri79]

-

You mean the volume wouldn't be controlled from the preamp, or the volume control on the integrated amp, or receiver? I don't need 8 feet perhaps the 6 ft audio quest ones would be better same price. Thanks for your input maybe I should then research more into the Dacs that you mentioned.

You can definitely control the volume from an external preamp, integrated amp or receiver so the DAC without a volume control would not be necessary for those cases. In your previous post, you mentioned an amp too and typically amps do not come with volume controls.

For a desktop system I think that the less clutter the better, so that is why I like the volume control to be integrated in the DAC so I can feed an "out-of-the-way" amp or powered speakers without a big receiver, amp or preamp taking up lots of space on the desk.

Additionally, I still am not sure why you feel you don't want a DAC powered by the USB port when this works perfectly fine with different DACs and laptops. The two I suggested and the NuForce Icon uDAC-2 Black Digital Audio Converter suggested by txcoastal have volume controls.

If you use a DAC such as the DacMagic 100 or HRT Streamer that do not have an onboard volume control you can add a relatively small NHT PVC for volume control. They go for about a $100. They are also useful to test an amp without a preamp.

At any rate there are a few extra things to consider.

[Syndil]

IMO throwing all that money into a DAC just to listen to XM is a waste. Get a USB soundcard with an SPDIF output and use your AVR's DAC, or better yet, use an HDMI cable if your laptop has an HDMI output.

[leftwinger57]

My Gateway is so old it does not have HDMI ports so I used the headphone jack into a mini jack rca female y-splitter >rca cables (my
run is a long one)into audio1 of my Yamaha RX-V665.

[tonyb]

ouch.....my ears hurt just reading that.

[blehmbo]

If it's non-critical listening why not get a USB sound card as suggested above? This sound card has an optical out, but draws power from USB. Not sure if that should be a concern since USB was designed to deliver power. If it still is you could build or buy a power supply or a powered USB hub.

http://www.amazon.com/Creative-Sound...eywords=sb1095

HDMI would be another good option if it's available.

[leftwinger57]

Tony I know it sounds counter intuitive to have that kind of connection but since my computer and avr are in 2 different rooms and
given the limitations of the age of my computer I was limited to options. It does work and most i-net stations come in very strong w/o any side hum or other interference.

[gudnoyez]

I won't just be streaming XM, now that the DAC comes in play I have a lot of stuff on iTunes and so does the Wife. The RCA cable I ordered should be here in a couple of days. I will try that not expecting much then start saving for a DAC. As always thanks for all the replies.

[cnh]

Lots of options from a low end 1/8" to L/R RCAs from the H-phone jack all the way to a "fancy" sound card USB out and a 1000-1500 DAC.

Let's see that's $3.50-$1500+. Obviously sound quality will vary considerably within that range--to state the "obvious"! Depends on how cheap you are. I'm pretty cheap, myself. lol

Have fun!

cnh