[TheChairGuy]

http://www.turtlebeach.com/site/products/audioadvantage/

I just bought one from Buy.com for $26.44 (free shipping) to try out.  If it works well, it'll be great.

Travelling light  - just take your laptop, Audio Advantage Micro and a good pair of phones on the road and enjoy the tunes. This baby even has simulated 5.1 for gamers and DVD audio.

Slightly heavier, but portable  - take your laptop, AA Micro, phones and a good external headphone amp/DAC (I have one on order 'cause I'm tired of horrible tunes on long trips) with an optical input. Oola! Ultra hi-quality tuneage on the road.

Dorm dwellers, 2nd system owners, PC-based audiophools  - the optical output allows you to connect your CD drive to a good A/V receiver with optical (Toslink) inputs to enjoy great tunes in tight spaces. Betcha' a PC hooked up to a Panny Tripath sounds pretty damn good thru this thing....

This is a stellar piece for the price (if it works, of course) in theory    So versatile.

I have mine coming in today (Wednesday), a glass optical Toslink later this week and my portable headphone amp/DAC next week - they'll be paired with my emachines M5310 laptop and Westone UM2 (dual driver)cans.  

I'll be bopping, I hope, on my trip September 10.....  

I'll let everyone know how the AA Micro sounds later today, tomorrow, etc. It only came out a month ago, so it might have some 'teething' pains...we'll see

[Russtafarian]

Cool! Just ordered one.

[TheChairGuy]

Great Russtafarian   How do you envision using it?  The three aforementioned were ones that appealled/were notable to me, but there are probabaly other uses with this gizmo.

Mine should arrive this afternoon - you'll have it fast, too in Orange County, as Buy.com is in Silicon Valley and 'Free Shipping' method seems to be USPS for them.  

Hope it works as advertised  

[Russtafarian]

I have a HDTV card in my PC that pipes video to a DLP projector.  Audio to my rig is provided by the sound card.  I'd like to see if the USB solution will sound better.  I'm also interested in the simulated surround modes for TV audio.  If it sounds good I might start experimenting with using my PC as a music server.

[TheChairGuy]

Russtafarian,

I'd have never thought of that use for it...neat gizmo, huh? So, with this HDTV card, you watch projected HDTV on your walls or screen (or, run into a DLP, HDTV ready TV)?  Trying to figure this out - don't have experience with DLP.  I'm not, typically, a video guy.

Read the info on the Turtle Beach site, but I think unless your input is 5.1 surround sound, it will not 'simulate' the 5.1 surround in the 'phones (maybe 5.1 or 6.1 is standard on Hi-Def TV?).  It will come in only as 2 channel.....hopefully, better amplified and cleaner than your PC/soundcard is achieving.

Hey, for $26-odd....if it just does a couple things well, I'll be more than pleased  

[Russtafarian]

You got it.  Roof antenna into the HD card, VGA or Component video out of the card into a NEC LT150 data projector.  I point the projector at a 10' pull down screen.  Watching the Olympics in HD on the big screen is cool!

[TheChairGuy]

That is fantastic!  

10' tall means you'll be able to capture Pau Gasol actual sized - for the Gold Medal Spanish team.  

Neat little gizmo..so many uses.

[PJ]

I just bought something similar, although mine can also record, and specs out better. It is also more expensive, I paid $US60 or so.

It's the M-Audio Transit. I bought it to record my vinyl onto my laptop. VERY happy with it's performance.

[TheChairGuy]

I just bought something similar, although mine can also record, and specs out better. It is also more expensive, I paid $US60 or so.

It's the M-Audio Transit. I bought it to record my vinyl onto my laptop. VERY happy with it's performance.

PJ,

Yeah, I saw that unit, too...you got a great deal at US$60.  Here IN the US the lowest I think I found was $68.

I opted for the Turtle Beach because of the (little thought) cost and because I didn't intend to record with my PC/laptop.  I thought the 96/24 upsampling was a great idea, but I have reservations about it working in practice...a USB powered DAC can't get enough voltage to perform well with quality op-amps - according to my engineer friend.  Again, I'm only taking his word on this...not my balliwick to know.

He is building me a headphone amp/ DAC (non-oversampling...oversampling takes up too much juice he says) with 8 rechargeable NimH AA batteries and a rechargeable battery pack to power it.

So, for me, I'm running the laptop into the Audio Advantage Micro inot the headphone/DAC (via glass toslink) and on into the 'phones.  The AA Micro is smaller and cheaper. Hopefully, it all sounds stellar in tandem.    

The amp / DAC also has analog outputs so it can be used as a home-based preamp for one source, if needed, when not on the road.  

Heck, I'll probably end up trying the M-Audio Transit too...I'm a like rabid dog with electronic trinkets there days.

[PJ]

Actually, no it was $US68 that I paid, plus $US21 shipping to Australia. Total was $AU120, which is half the best price I could find locally.

Upsampling is a load of crap if you ask me, especiallly in a PC environment. On the other hand, recording at 24/96 could potentially have it's upside.

All I currently am using it for, and the reason I bought it, is to save my vinyl at 16/44 and burn it to CD for easier listening, rather than wearing my 12" singles at a mere $AU20 a song   Get to know the songs a bit better before I wack them on the decks and start mixing