Forums dot lukpac.org

When I listen to music on my laptop with headphones, I hear all kinds of digital/technical/background noises, unrelated to the music. Is there any way to avoid this?

Something like this might help.

I had one of those for a while and it worked great.

Ryan

Just didn't need it anymore?

$100 ?????

I was thinking about a device that eliminates these "interference" sounds. Not of another hi-fi component.

They go for around $60 I think.

As far as removing the noise, good luck. It sounds like something isn't properly grounded/shielded/etc, and I doubt there's much you can do about it inside of a laptop. You can prevent the noise from occurring (such as with an external box), but once it happens you can't just "remove" it.

I had the same problem with my (PCI) sound card in my desktop machine. It worked fine (no noise) in one computer, but it experienced various noises on the audio in jacks in the other computer. I ended up getting an external A/D converter.

lukpac wrote:Just didn't need it anymore?

Yeah. My Dad made me an offer I couldn't refuse on his old PowerMac, which has optical digital in/out built in. So I sold the Transit along with the mini.

They go for around $60 I think.

I think I paid $79:

http://eshop.macsales.com/item/M%2DAudio/US99130/

And ditto to everything you said about noise. The analog jacks on PCs are cauldrons of noise and you'll invest far more than $80 in time trying to get rid of it (if indeed you ever can). The Transit is an effective fix.

Ryan

Strange: I don't recognize these noises when I listen on my PC.

Have you tried muting/turning down all sources except for the one you're listening to on the mixer?

I know it sounds stupid, but it's happened to me more than once.. with the mic input being the culprit about 60% of the time. The high-er gain on that one picks up all sorts of sh** from the inside of the cabinet.

The FM synth (remember those?) used to be another of the oft-noisy sources back in the day.

Ryan/anyone else: I'd love some more [detailed] opinions on that m-audio Transit thingy.

I've been wanting to make needle-drops for a while now but my desktop and 'table are on opposite ends of the house; something like that and a borrowed notebook could make for a nifty setup.

Andreas wrote:Strange: I don't recognize these noises when I listen on my PC.

damianm has a good point on mixer settings.

As for not hearing those noises on your PC, yes, that's the point. It sounds like there's something specific with the hardware in your laptop. As I pointed out, while my card works fine in one computer (on the analog ins), it exhibits noise in another.

damianm wrote:Ryan/anyone else: I'd love some more [detailed] opinions on that m-audio Transit thingy.

I've been wanting to make needle-drops for a while now but my desktop and 'table are on opposite ends of the house; something like that and a borrowed notebook could make for a nifty setup.

That's the sort of situation where the Transit is perfect IMO. The USB connection eliminates a lot of the noise that would otherwise get picked up by the circuits being inside the laptop. If you can rig it up with an external A/D converter so that you pipe the signal in via the Transit's digital input, you should get a *very* clean signal. But the Transit's analog in should beat the laptop's mic input. The little box just basically does what it says it does.

On the Mac, the OS X drivers have been pretty flaky but the current ones (1.6.1) seem to be OK. I can't speak to the quality of the Windows drivers.

See also COLA's comments in this thread:

http://forums.lukpac.org/viewtopic.php? ... ht=transit

Ryan

I just got off the phone with the local dealer and it's $160 over here. Oh well.

They don't list their prices online, but give Full Compass a call. Every time I've checked they've been cheaper than anywhere else. When they still had the V15VxMR it was something like $210. Great service too (at least in person).

Thanks, I'll keep them in mind.