Macbook Pro internal soundcard

[bmo]

Hi i've always used my macbook's line out with a 3.14mm to rca cable for bedroom djaying, but I always see people posting on here about getting a soundcard, so I was just curious as to how much better is an external soundcard compared to the macbook pro's internal one? do you really notice much of a difference between the two?

[mmauve]

To make a long story short: yes.

To make a short answer long: heeeeell yeeeeesss.

No really though, there's a considerable difference, sound quality and feature wise. Depends on the sound card and whatnot, but the sound card is a pretty pivotal aspect of digital DJ work, so I would strongly consider investing in one. Even a Native Instruments Audio 2 is a good start.

[BentoSan]

A external soundcard gives you the ability to cue your tracks up, you cant do that with an internal card.

Also the sound quality is night and day, you will notice all sorts of things in you tracks you have never noticed before !

[tekki]

Gotta be honest: With the MBP the only real difference I noticed was the latency drop.

Bento is right about the cueing and sound routing though!

[bmo]

thanks guys for the replies,

I am getting the vestax spin that comes with a built-in soundcard, would you consider getting the Native Instruments Audio 2 dj soundcard to route the sound that way, or would it be fine out of the midi controller/just save the usb slot?

[n2hf1st]

built in soundcards tend to suffer from problems - latency, poor sound quality, unstable drivers.

mac internal audio isn't shabby, it's got nice n low latency but I've noticed it's missing a lot of detail. getting an external, dedicated soundcard is the way to go. NI cards aren't too bad, but if you have firewire grab a presonus firebox. Anything better than that and you're looking at spending more money than you probably want to at this point.

[sine143]

as a bedroom dj (and someone who has just started to play out) I have used the internal soundcard in the past. In the bedroom, it doesnt seem to bad. Then you throw it through the clubs PA, and you notice, shittttt.... there is an extra 15 ms latency on top of the usualy latency I experience in my bedroom. I can no longer cue juggle or do anything, unless I have external headphone cueing.

[bmo]

would an external soundcard improve the sound of my itunes 128kbps songs? or would they still sound inferior crummy?

[mmauve]

To an extent, but at 128, there isn't much you can do to be honest. I would re-attain the track at a bare minimum if 192 if possible, 320 would be more ideal

[sine143]

I find that reallly weird stuff happens at 128. Icky phase issues, and a definite lack of balls in the low end. It depends what kind of tunes you are talking about. If its Iron and Wines home recorded tracks from the early 2000s, they are extremely lofi to begin with (although I still have them in flac).