USB audio cards

[RonAshman]

Hi,

I have a quick question about an USB audio card I've seen on sites like eBay. Some of them very cheap.

Making a long story short: I ended up with a laptop computer that doesn't have an audio card attached to the mobo. It doesn't have a pci slot either.

Can I add audio by using these usb cards? Or are they like an extension of an already existing sound system? This specific computer is running Win7 x64.

Remember, there is NO onboard or pci audio in this computer. So the usb card with the audio out and mic in would be the primary audio device.


Thanks in advance!

 

[fireberd]

Most of the USB audio cards that I've seen are full audio devices.

Are you sure there is no audio in the PC? Its rare to have a modern PC without sound. If its an older Laptop, it may not be Windows 7 compatible.

 

[theveterans]

They're completely separate from the motherboards with on-board audio card. Just make sure that they're classified as "DAC" (digital to analog converter)

I own one which is "Meridian Explorer USB DAC audio" and the nice thing is absolutely no motherboard static/hissing noise heard when headphones are plugged in. It has a "line out" too for large speakers but no mic in unfortunately.

 

[RonAshman]

Thanks for replying!

So now I know there are USB cards capable of doing what I want.

Since you took the time to politely ask, I'll answer.
This is about an old laptop, a Compaq Presario F752LA. If you do some research, you'll see that the F700 series had several issues and some of them had a recall. In this specific model, due to heat the audio chip, wi-fi card and also digital drive chip (?) might "disconnect" from the mobo, hence you won't see any device attached to it. It's not a sofware thing, it's hardware.

This PC had this problem only with the audio thing. A tech dude fixed it and like 10 days after that it broke again. I read they have to do a reballing or something like that. It's not my PC and I'd like to recommend a fix that I can guarantee, more or less, will work for good. It's a computer for basic use, so a usb audio card should do.


Thanks for your help!