Turtle beach sound card questions..

[DaRonRon]

I bought a Turtle Beach external usb sound card today online.

Audio Advantage Micro II

Im planning on using it on my Sony laptop. Now i've read about laptop speakers being bad, and to be honest i didnt notice my laptop's speakers being too bad, in fact i think they're really good. But i heard an external sound card is better to isolate the noise etc.

So i dont know, am i going to hear much of a difference with this device? Could it be worse than my laptop's speakers? My laptop uses Realtek High Definition Audio and i have a pair of Sennheiser hd 280 pro headphones.

btw to make sure, i only use headphones, i dont use the laptop's external speaker. Also i realize this doesn't have anything to do specifically with Windows 7, but i thought there might be a few here who may have experience with usb sound cards.

 

[osholt]

I bought a Turtle Beach external usb sound card today online.

Audio Advantage Micro II

Im planning on using it on my Sony laptop. Now i've read about laptop speakers being bad, and to be honest i didnt notice my laptop's speakers being too bad, in fact i think they're really good. But i heard an external sound card is better to isolate the noise etc.

So i dont know, am i going to hear much of a difference with this device? Could it be worse than my laptop's speakers? My laptop uses Realtek High Definition Audio and i have a pair of Sennheiser hd 280 pro headphones.

btw to make sure, i only use headphones, i dont use the laptop's external speaker. Also i realize this doesn't have anything to do specifically with Windows 7, but i thought there might be a few here who may have experience with usb sound cards.

When people say laptop speakers are bad they don't mean you can't listen to them and they're awful, it just means they don't have anything on professional speakers. They are perfectly fine just not top of the range.

Onto your question: whether or not you will hear a difference I don't know. Out of my brief experience with a USB sound card I couldn't tell all that much difference on my headphones (on my speakers the base seamed a little better but that was likely to do with settings).

In theory a USB sound card has the potential to be better than an internal one but in practice I can't hear much of a difference. You might disagree when you try it out but this is just from experience and is thus my opinion.

Looking at the sound card itself it seams to be quite good (I know all Turtle Beach Stuff is good), if you have headphones that support Digital Optical in I would recommend using that as well.

Oli

 

[Darician]

Depending on the sound card used, a USB Sound Card could potentially be better. For example, I bought an Audio Advantage Amigo (Turtle Beach) and it definitely was better than the previous SoundMax Audio Card that was integrated. But if you had a Realtek HD Audio card before, you may not notice that much of a difference; a placebo effect could occur though.

 

[DaRonRon]

Another reason why i got this is because apparently it pumps out much higher volumes than my laptop's integrated sound card can. As for the quality i wont be too bummed if it sounds the same, im just hoping it doesnt sound any worse!

Darician, did u happen to notice any sort of hiss or noise with the Amigo? I've read some people mention this. I thought i would ask because the Amigo is really similar to what i ordered, although what i ordered is a gen ahead, the Micro II.

 

[Darician]

Haven't noticed any hiss or noise with the Amigo. I've tried both with speakers and headphones and have not noticed anything like that. Additionally, I've tested it in XP, Vista, and 7 (32-bit and 64-bit) and never noticed anything like that.

Speaking of which, since you're ordering a Micro II, when you do get it, I am curious if it has software because I've thought about ordering an Amigo II but am concerned it may not have the Pitch Shift (Karaoke) functionality I often use. I know the original Micro did not support it but I am just curious if the Micro II has some sort of software to manage it.

 

[DaRonRon]

That's good to hear.

I will definitely check for that software and as soon as the package arrives. But i doubt it will have it, there's no mention of anything like that on their site.

 

[DaRonRon]

Ok i have the Micro II set up on my laptop. I have to say im extremely disappointed with it. I have a couple of issues. Firstly the volume is TOO loud. Even the lowest volume setting on my laptop is a little louder than i'd like.

Secondly (this is the deal breaker), when i watch videos online there is a crackling sound that goes on throughout the video. The weird thing is this only happens with videos online, if i try a video on my hard drive then its fine, or an mp3.

Lastly when playing a song or video, while it is playing if there is a silent part in the video or song, i can hear a pretty loud hiss. I only hear the hiss during silence in videos or songs, so when i have nothing playing then i hear nothing. weird.

Also @ Darician, it didnt come with any software, simply plug in and it works without driver install. I have to say im pretty disappointed. Reviews online didnt point to any of this. But i guess i shouldnt have been to surprised since it only cost 25 euros.

 

[Lemur]

Don't know why, but I had totally forgotten about Turtle Beach. It used to have a great rep. I assume it still does.

 

[osholt]

Don't know why, but I had totally forgotten about Turtle Beach. It used to have a great rep. I assume it still does.

Definitely .

Some of the stuff they do is fantastic, for instance X41 headphones.

Oli

 

[Darician]

The original Micro (tried) it and Amigo (have it) did not have this issue. Sorry to hear that it crackles and pops with the Micro II. And Turtle Beach is still quite good though I am disappointed they discontinued the Audio Advantage SRM. I need a new PCI Sound Card though so a Montego DDL might be in my future soon.

 

[DaRonRon]

can anyone suggest other external sound cards i can have a look at?

 

[AaronDude]

Yeah, I was kinda curious about external sound cards as well. One of you said darician, I think, that USB cards have the potential to be better than internal. Are you talking integrated or those big things you plug into those big old desktops? I use a laptop by the way so I don't have much of a choice. I've never bought one of those big cards for the desktops I had though. I have a creative x fi go card that I now use sometimes and it sounds good but really only cleaner than the onboard IDT sound.

What's the sound signature like with the turtle beach external cards or others you guys tried? do they all pretty much sound the same if your using the generic windows 7 drivers for it? I don't know how these things work but it seems they would all sound the same because arn't they basically just a jack? If they arn't just a jack I would be interested in maybe buying a couple more cheap ones just to see if I like the sound signature.

 

[DaRonRon]

hmm im in no position to say if they all sound the same, but i can imagine they're very similar. The newer Turtle beach micro II and amigo II both use generic drivers though. If you're an audiophile, or looking for a really good audio experience i would recommend u look elsewhere. Turtle beach is a good entry level audio card, but nothing more imo.

I've made the decision to buy an Echo Indigo DJx after a lot of research. The price is a little steep (about 200 euro), but i know i'll be getting quality. I hear nothing but positive reviews from Echo products, and this one in particular. It uses my laptop's Expresscard slot and not the USB which is good because it frees a usb port.

Echo Digital Audio Corporation

 

[Darician]

The former Amigo, Micro, and now defunct SRM Audio Advantage Cards from Turtle Beach were far better. They had drivers, a full suite of EQ and such to modify settings. If you can find one of those, they are nice cards. I've tried the original Micro and currently use the Amigo on a desktop machine I have. I've tried it on a laptop as well and it's very good.

I used to be a very big fan of Creative but they have gone downhill since the launch of Vista and just can't seem to get their act together. Additionally, I don't feel their price premium is worth the very minute advantage I would get from one of their cards, if any as the Vista audio stack made onboard sound very competitive and actually worth a damn. It does depend on the internal card you began with however in terms of whether or not you'll see a marked improvement. Case in point, if you have a Realtek HD ALC892 integrated sound card as I do in my main desktop, there's no case for me to upgrade as I probably won't notice much of a difference and feel incredibly gipped. However, I have some PCs that have old SoundMax Integrated Audio, which leaves a lot to be desired in the features department; in these cases, a USB or PCI Sound Card would make much sense.

In terms of Turtle Beach for a desktop, I would buy either one of the older Amigo or SRM USB Cards or better yet, the PCI Montego DDL. However, if going with another brand, unfortunately I am not too versed and I have more than given Creative a chance and they have continued to drag their feet and continuously fail with their bloated and buggy software so I would not personally give them the nod. Again, that's my personal view however, others may have a better opinion of them than I do. From what I hear, Auzentech is not bad in terms of quality sound however since you're looking for a card for your laptop, this wouldn't really help you. You'll probably have to research some because unfortunately, I seem to be coming up rather dry in this department.