Bang and Olufsen speakers with Vaio laptop? (or PowerBook?)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.mac (More info?)

I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station (DVI-D out for link
to sony xbrite/xblack monitor)

But what about sound?

Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp

I will probably be playing music from iTunes

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.mac (More info?)

Chris wrote:

> I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station (DVI-D out for link
> to sony xbrite/xblack monitor)
>
> But what about sound?
>
> Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
> amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp
>
> I will probably be playing music from iTunes

It looks like they do it their own inimitable way as always. They don't
appear to have anything that would normally be recognized as a multimedia
speaker. Unless you're getting a real good deal on the B&O just go with
one of the recognized multimedia speakers. Klipsch work fine as do a
number of others. You're going to see the audiophiles scream at this, but
for God's sake this is iTunes you're talking about, not Deutsche Gramophon
CDs.

--
--John
Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
(was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"J. Clarke" <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:co25tn08s4@news3.newsguy.com...
> Chris wrote:
>
>> I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station (DVI-D out for link
>> to sony xbrite/xblack monitor)
>>
>> But what about sound?
>>
>> Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
>> amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp
>>
>> I will probably be playing music from iTunes
>
> It looks like they do it their own inimitable way as always. They don't
> appear to have anything that would normally be recognized as a multimedia
> speaker. Unless you're getting a real good deal on the B&O just go with
> one of the recognized multimedia speakers. Klipsch work fine as do a
> number of others. You're going to see the audiophiles scream at this, but
> for God's sake this is iTunes you're talking about, not Deutsche Gramophon
> CDs.
>
LOL
> --
> --John
> Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
> (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops,uk.comp.sys.mac (More info?)

Chris wrote:
> I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station (DVI-D out for link
> to sony xbrite/xblack monitor)
>
> But what about sound?
>
> Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
> amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp
>
> I will probably be playing music from iTunes

i guess the speakers will have standard speaker wires for connection
purposes.

you'll need an amp of some description, assuming the speakers don't come
with one?

anything that'll take a pair of stereo phonos will do, although if you skimp
on the amp then there's little point using decent speakers.

a 3.5mm mini-jack to twin phono cable will also be required (again quality
can play a part here)

to be fair, you may just be better off with multimedia speakers. what about
the 'creatures', or similar?

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

>> I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station [...]
>> Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
>> amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp
>> I will probably be playing music from iTunes
> [...] Unless you're getting a real good deal on the B&O just go with
> one of the recognized multimedia speakers. Klipsch work fine as do a
> number of others. You're going to see the audiophiles scream at this,
> but for God's sake this is iTunes you're talking about, not Deutsche
> Gramophon CDs.

We were ordering an iMac in John Lewis a few days ago and had a look
at the jellyfish speakers they seem to want you to use with them.

The problem wasn't so much the fidelity of iTunes as what tracks
they had. It was *all* rock/pop/country. I couldn't tell a good
reproduction of that stuff from a Dansette, it loses my attention
within seconds and I just don't care whether I'm hearing it as the
producer intended.

Come on, JL, a bit more variety. Doesn't the iTunes database even
*have* a version of Messiaen's "Et exspecto resurrectionem mortuorum",
Stockhausen's "Stimmung", or the finale of Beethoven's C sharp minor
quartet? Those are the pieces I'd immediately choose as tests of
a sound system's overall quality: the first is shatteringly loud
orchestral wind and percussion, the second has six solo voices making
unusual sounds very quietly, the Beethoven has the strings playing
all-out in a way that many systems reproduce as too harsh and shrill.
How well the system reproduces Celine Dion whimpering tells me
nothing about what it'll sound like with what I actually listen to.

There shouldn't be much difference between an iMac playing an AIFF
track and a golden-ear CD player doing the same from a CD, should
there? iTunes isn't the only thing you might want to do with the
hardware.

JL lost a potential speaker order over this.

========> Email to "j-c" at this site; email to "bogus" will bounce <========
Jack Campin: 11 Third Street, Newtongrange, Midlothian EH22 4PU; 0131 6604760
<http://www.purr.demon.co.uk/purrhome.html> food intolerance data & recipes,
Mac logic fonts, Scots traditional music files and CD-ROMs of Scottish music.

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Don't mean to be the devil's advocate, and I can't speak for iTunes, but it
would seem that Windows Media Player 9 is capable of producing very high
quality output (in wav or above 200kps).

What might be more of a problem is the soundcard, the output of it, your
recording quality, and laptop interference (particularly with CDs) from
other electronic parts - can create a bit of noise.

Duncan.


"J. Clarke" <jclarke@nospam.invalid> wrote in message
news:co25tn08s4@news3.newsguy.com...
> Chris wrote:
>
>> I am getting a Sony Vaio S2XP with Docking Station (DVI-D out for link
>> to sony xbrite/xblack monitor)
>>
>> But what about sound?
>>
>> Are any of the Bang and Olufsen speakers compatible? (will I need an
>> amplifier?).e.g http://www.bang-olufsen.com/sw917.asp
>>
>> I will probably be playing music from iTunes
>
> It looks like they do it their own inimitable way as always. They don't
> appear to have anything that would normally be recognized as a multimedia
> speaker. Unless you're getting a real good deal on the B&O just go with
> one of the recognized multimedia speakers. Klipsch work fine as do a
> number of others. You're going to see the audiophiles scream at this, but
> for God's sake this is iTunes you're talking about, not Deutsche Gramophon
> CDs.
>
> --
> --John
> Reply to jclarke at ae tee tee global dot net
> (was jclarke at eye bee em dot net)

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

"Duncan J Murray"
<duncan.murray@remove.this.bit.medical-school.and.this.bit.oxford.ac.uk>
wrote in message news:co64bk$2r8$1@news.ox.ac.uk...
>> There shouldn't be much difference between an iMac playing an AIFF
>> track and a golden-ear CD player doing the same from a CD, should
>> there? iTunes isn't the only thing you might want to do with the
>> hardware.
>
> Yes! It all depends on the quality of the sound card, and they apparently
> fall into two camps : perfect/near perfect and rubbish.
>
> What you get, I think, is chance more than anything else.
>
> How do I know? A friend of mine showed off his pair of reference quality
> earphones (~£300 - I can't remember the make, but they're ear-bud type and
> remove pretty much all external noise, and used for musical recording on
> set), and we compared it to Sony's MDR-71. We had two laptops, an IBM
> T40, and an iBook, plus an old compact CD player (Sony, one of the better
> ones, though old - my friend had done some research before buying this
> player, and he's currently designing a compact amplifier so he can use his
> headphones with it). The iBook wasn't really a contender - I think we
> both decided it didn't really cut it, though it wasn't bad by any means.
> Oddly, the T40 seemed better than the personal CD player, or at least it
> was very close. What surprised me the most, however, is that even though
> sound quality from the MDR-71 was exceptional, the difference between the
> MDR-71 and reference quality earbuds was immediately recognisable. I draw
> the conclusion that the quality of the soundcard in the T40 exceeds that
> of the MDR-71's response. The sound with the reference ear buds was
> pretty much perfect (apart from not being able to feel the bass!).
>
> Declared conflicting interests : I own a T40 (However, I was surprised at
> the above result - the laptop was bought to be a workhorse, and I didn't
> expect anything more than half-decent laptop sound).
>
> Therefore... take your headphones and try out the laptops with (pref.
> RAW, but CD if not) your music and decide which of the camps the sound
> system falls into.
>
> There's no point buying B&O if you've got a rubbish soundcard.
>
> Duncan.
>

Archived from groups: comp.sys.laptops (More info?)

Yes - except in certain circumstances - those being that the output from the
soundcard is much better than the quality of your typical Sony hifi system.
And this depends on so many factors - bits per second, sound card, computer
interference, quality of line out and the lead! If you've got them sorted,
I don't see why not - if you haven't then 19" chrome alloys on a morris
minor would be just as inappropriate and as much a waste of money.

Duncan.

"Ne><uS" <Diablo@hell.org> wrote in message
news:30pjq6F33b762U1@uni-berlin.de...
>
> "Duncan J Murray"
> <duncan.murray@remove.this.bit.medical-school.and.this.bit.oxford.ac.uk>
> wrote in message news:co64ks$2sn$1@news.ox.ac.uk...
>> Don't mean to be the devil's advocate, and I can't speak for iTunes, but
>> it would seem that Windows Media Player 9 is capable of producing very
>> high quality output (in wav or above 200kps).
>>
>> What might be more of a problem is the soundcard, the output of it, your
>> recording quality, and laptop interference (particularly with CDs) from
>> other electronic parts - can create a bit of noise.
>>
>> Duncan.
>>
>
> But don't you think putting B&O stuff onto a laptop is a bit overkill.
> It's like putting 19" chome alloys onto a clapped out Morris Minor.
>