I'm not sure what the salesman was thinking, but on the cheap, you will be hard pressed to better the M-Audio Transit.

RG

Well...if I wasn't under the impression constipation might set in if you had to spend 200 bucks I would have suggested you splurge for a Squeezebox! The unit is also wireless, so assuming you have a wireless modem/router you could add a $20.00 wireless PCMCIA card to that old laptop and viola! Save ya from having to plug and unplug every time. Now from the comfort of your easy chair, with a remote in one hand and your favorite beverage in the other you can scan your music library. Ain't life grand?

I think the M-Audio has a 1/8" mini stereo out. So you need a Y-cable with that on one end, and then splits to two seperate RCA jacks on the other ends, which in turn connect to any free input jacks on the rear of your stereo.

RG

The M-Audio Transit and Squeezebox are very different devices, although both probably provide excellent solutions to your problem.

The Transit is really designed for musicians on the move. It is small and portable and bus-powered (requires no separate PS). It actually contains both analog and digital (optical) ins and outs so can be used for both recording and playback. If you shop around you can find it for under $79 which is great value.

The SB, as rgibran points out, takes you into a whole different ballpark of price but should give better quality sound (looking at the specs - I have not heard either or read any comparisons) as well as offering that wireless flexibility. That could really make a difference if your laptop has a noisy fan, since it means it can be in a different room to your stereo.

You pays your money and you takes your choice. Good luck!

I have a laptop PC that I use a combination of iTunes and an Apple Airport hooked into my stereo. The nice thing about the Airport is it can go into RCAs or use an optical link to go to a receiver that has it's own digital decoder (which is what a digital surround amp would have). Sound is decent, especially with lossless encoding. You can also use the optical to go to an outboard DAC for better sound quality. Not CD quality but great for background or casual listening.

Unless I'm totally misunderstanding your question all you really need ia a $3 cable to go from your computer's built in sound card to the back of your stereo.

Quote:
Unless I'm totally misunderstanding your question all you really need ia a $3 cable to go from your computer's built in sound card to the back of your stereo.

Actually, you are misunderstanding (but that's OK). I don't send out an analogue signal from the soundcard- it's a digital stream sent wirelessly to an Apple Airport which then goes through a Channel Islands Audio DAC, which then goes into my amp. Alternately you could let the Airport do your D/A conversion, or in the case of a digital surround amp you could give it the bits to work out. It all depends, but my feeling is it's better to keep it digital as long as possible. The main thing is that if you're setting up laptop server make sure the sound stream is wireless so you can bring your laptop wherever you want and not be tied down to said $3 cable.

I wasn't talking to you. I was refering to the person who started the thread. I just clicked reply on the last entry.