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<blockquote data-quote="takeabao" data-source="post: 1381746" data-attributes="member: 553240">Okay, I hate to be the one to break it to you folks, but a carputer with a simple soundcard (external OR internal) will NOT sound as good or better than a good HU (and by good, I mean something with a 24-bit DAC) -- regardless of the sound card you use. The reason? I&#039;m not going to get too technical (there&#039;s quite a few articles out there about it), but just know that the preout voltage on a computer sound card is extremely low (check out the Creative website for exact specs... you&#039;ll be a bit surprised) and is very sensitive to distortion...Don&#039;t believe me? Go listen to a &quot;n00b&quot; carputer setup with something like a SoundBlaster Audigy NX (external) connected via RCA to amplifiers. Then listen to decent transport &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; amplifiers setup (something like an Eclipse CD8053). The difference is DRAMATIC.If you want to do a carputer, please, for Christ&#039;s sake do it right and use an outboard processor/DAC.The easiest way to accomplish this is build a carputer using a motherboard with a digital coaxial output. That particular signal is particarly easy to convert into Toslink (what most people associate with &quot;optical&quot;) which would be connected to your amp or processor (in my case, an Alpine H701).Don&#039;t you see? The computer is just another transport, albeit a VERY versatile one. But all it is, is your preamp. Nothing more. Your outboard processor/EQ/crossover will handle the rest. If you want to achieve the ultimate in sound quality with your carputer, don&#039;t even think about using headphone outputs converted to RCA -- you will be very dissapointed.Digital is the ONLY way to go.Here&#039;s some food for thought (something I will probably do in an upcoming install in my father&#039;s car):Carputer with digital out &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; toslink &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; Alpine MRA-D550 5.1 Dolby Digital amp &amp;gt;&amp;gt;&amp;gt; sub ampA simple, and TRUE, 5.1 in-car system.</blockquote>

[QUOTE="takeabao, post: 1381746, member: 553240"] Okay, I hate to be the one to break it to you folks, but [I]a carputer with a simple soundcard[/I] (external OR internal) will [B]NOT[/B] sound as good or better than a [B]good[/B] HU (and by good, I mean something with a 24-bit DAC) -- regardless of the sound card you use. The reason? I'm not going to get too technical (there's quite a few articles out there about it), but just know that the preout voltage on a computer sound card is extremely low (check out the Creative website for exact specs... you'll be a bit surprised) and is very sensitive to distortion... Don't believe me? Go listen to a "n00b" carputer setup with something like a SoundBlaster Audigy NX (external) connected via RCA to amplifiers. Then listen to decent transport >>> amplifiers setup (something like an Eclipse CD8053). [I][B]The difference is DRAMATIC.[/B][/I] If you want to do a carputer, please, for Christ's sake do it right and use an outboard processor/DAC. The easiest way to accomplish this is build a carputer using a motherboard with a digital coaxial output. That particular signal is particarly easy to convert into Toslink (what most people associate with "optical") which would be connected to your amp or processor (in my case, an Alpine H701). Don't you see? The computer is just another transport, albeit a VERY versatile one. But all it is, is your [B]preamp[/B]. Nothing more. Your outboard processor/EQ/crossover will handle the rest. If you want to achieve the ultimate in sound quality with your carputer, don't even think about using headphone outputs converted to RCA -- you will be very dissapointed. Digital is the ONLY way to go. Here's some food for thought (something I will probably do in an upcoming install in my father's car): Carputer with digital out >>> toslink >>> Alpine MRA-D550 5.1 Dolby Digital amp >>> sub amp A simple, and TRUE, 5.1 in-car system. [/QUOTE]

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