5.1 audio on MBP

[AndyFM84]

Hi,

I'm looking at getting a MBP. Not going into the whole "whens the upgrade" thing. Just wanted a few opinions on this...

Muse Pocket LT - External USB 5.1 Sound Card (http://www.hercules.com/showpage.php?swcty=UK&p=108&b=0&f=0)

I already have a 5.1 set with my current PC and wanted to use it with my MBP but couldn't find anything that might work.

Then i found this.

Any views would be greatly appreciated. :)

Andy

[crazzyeddie]

The MBP already has optical audio output, if you have a compatible system.

Otherwise, look for products from M-Audio.

[AndyFM84]

The speakers that i already have are Creative Inspire P580. Unfortunately they don't have an optical in
(was the first thing i checked once i found out the MBP had the optical out :( )

Thanks for the quick response :)

[Counterfit]

If your speakers have optical input, you can connect them directly to the MBP.

[AndyFM84]

The speakers that i already have are Creative Inspire P580. Unfortunately they don't have an optical in
(was the first thing i checked once i found out the MBP had the optical out :( )


....

[Sesshi]

There's the card from Griffin. The Firewave or something. Mind you, replacing your entry-level speakers for a better-than-entry-level optical equipped 5.1 speaker system is probably not going to be a whole lot different in terms of price. The usual suspects - Logitech, Altec Lansing and Creative all have various flavours of decoder-equipped speaker sets available.

[sycho]

See this thread 240795

Same thing applies here, if you already have the 5.1 speakers, just get either the Firewave if you only use OS X, or a generic 5.1 channel USB soundcard for use in both OS X and Windows XP

[purelithium]

Generally for what you'd pay for a decently sounding USB/Firewire soundcard, you could sell your speakers you have now, and get some that have an optical input for WAY superior sound.

[sycho]

Generally for what you'd pay for a decently sounding USB/Firewire soundcard, you could sell your speakers you have now, and get some that have an optical input for WAY superior sound.
But you will only get stereo sound for everything but movies. If gaming is gonna be done, a USB soundcard is a must. Also, as for optical over analog, not really much of a difference, specially if your soundcard can playback 24bit samples, where as SPDIF doesn't play nice with 24bit.