I am currently owner of a Logitech z-5400 set. When I am in my dorm room I use an optical audio connection between my computer and the system (usually computer -> mixamp -> system, but the mixamp broke >.<). However on the Z-5400 there is a way to connect an ipod to the sound system using a male to male 3.5mm headphone jack. I never really have used this.
I offered up my sound system to throw a party at a friends house last night hoping it'd be absolutely AWESOME because this system is quite amazing for the money you pay for it. No one that he knew or I knew had a laptop with a digital audio output, so we just hooked up the ipod using the aforementioned method.
Now, I started playing music during the day, and I was HIGHLY disappointed in the sound. I didn't know what was going on but the sound seemed... minuscule...from what I was used too. Regardless, we unplugged 2 of the speakers and added 2 other monstrous speakers from the DJ who lived downstairs and we still had a bumping night.
I took the speakers back to my dorm the other day and experimented and after some toying around I realized...the audio output of the optical cable provided audio that was 3-4 times louder than when I used the simple headphone jack.
With this in mind I quickly started searching online to find a way to get a Digital audio output for any laptop. I know there are $20-40 USB-S/PDIF devices, but I hear they are very...well not so great. The next step up is spending $100-200 on a quality converter, but I don't have that sort of money.
Is there any solid converters that cost below $40-50 or another way of doing it other than through USB? I'm unsure of where to go on this or how to do it.
I offered up my sound system to throw a party at a friends house last night hoping it'd be absolutely AWESOME because this system is quite amazing for the money you pay for it. No one that he knew or I knew had a laptop with a digital audio output, so we just hooked up the ipod using the aforementioned method.
Now, I started playing music during the day, and I was HIGHLY disappointed in the sound. I didn't know what was going on but the sound seemed... minuscule...from what I was used too. Regardless, we unplugged 2 of the speakers and added 2 other monstrous speakers from the DJ who lived downstairs and we still had a bumping night.
I took the speakers back to my dorm the other day and experimented and after some toying around I realized...the audio output of the optical cable provided audio that was 3-4 times louder than when I used the simple headphone jack.
With this in mind I quickly started searching online to find a way to get a Digital audio output for any laptop. I know there are $20-40 USB-S/PDIF devices, but I hear they are very...well not so great. The next step up is spending $100-200 on a quality converter, but I don't have that sort of money.
Is there any solid converters that cost below $40-50 or another way of doing it other than through USB? I'm unsure of where to go on this or how to do it.