smooth audio on Dell D430

[v1r05]

hello eveyone

i have this dell laptop model D430, the audio in this thing is so bad its becoming disgusting to listen/watch anything on it

is there is anyway to fix this by making the audio more appealing and smoother ?

i am comfortable working with electronics but when it comes to audio i have no idea where to even begin ?

i got an idea of using a USB DAC "PCM2704" but i am thinking there must be a simpler way..

please help, my ear hurts just thinking about how bad it is

 

[star882]

If it has digital output, use that. It will allow for superior sample rates than USB.

 

[dangus]

If this is mainly for desktop use, a Creative Extigy doesn't cost too much, and has a headphone jack, S/PDIF in and out, and claims to have pretty good performance. It's a USB device, but with an external 12V power supply, so it's not subject to the limitations of a USB-powered audio box.

I got one off eBay for under $50; my only real beef is that the volume is too loud in my headphones. Coming up with the right drivers took some work since the original install CD was missing. It will work as-is without the Creative drivers, but some frills like the built-in volume knob don't work. Supposedly it can act as a Dolby Digital decoder for external sources like a DVD player since it has a proper Zoran DSP chip lurking inside.

 

[Eric Juaneda]

Hello v1r05,

Dell port replicator integrates S/PDIF output. It is not a low cost solution.
The analog switching power supply is awful. At high audio level you can ear each component from your computer, hard drive, processor...
Rebuilding this power supply seems necessary to listen to analog output.

Eric

 

[star882]

On some Dells, you can get S/PDIF with a very simple adapter that connects to the A/V output connector.
http://pinouts.ru/Video/dell_vidout_pinout.shtml

 

[Eric Juaneda]

Hello star882,

On some Dells, you can get S/PDIF with a very simple adapter that connects to the A/V output connector.
http://pinouts.ru/Video/dell_vidout_pinout.shtml

Many thanks for the link. I order this S/PDIF adapter for a DELL Latitude E5400, receive many adapters but none of then would be the good one

I'm not sure that Dell Latitude D430 has an internal S/PDIF.

Eric