External Soundcard

[jimjam123]

Hey,
Amateur question alert!

I'm running a dell inspiron laptop with ableton and other software. I have a few annoying latency issues (and an annoying asio4all issue) so i'm looking to solve it!

So, If I bought a M-Audio Audiophile Firewire external soundcard will it do much to solve these latency issues? or will I still be using my integrated sound card and having my output through the M-audio soundcard?

Thanks, Any help is appreciated.

[zsazsa]

It will work a lot better than the internal card on MME drivers. It will sound better too.

Only thing is that your laptop probably has 4 pin firewire so you have to power it externally. USB can be powered by PC laptops. I don't know if this is an issue for you.

[jimjam123]

Cool, I'll be buying it them.
One other question though. Its slightly different though.
I have a 5.1 Dolby Digital/DTS system that I want to connect to it through the coaxial s/pdif connection but the problem is, my 5.1 system only has a scart lead to use.

Is there any s/pdif coaxial scart adaptors? I've tried searching the internet for them and no luck.

However!
One other possibility I could maybe use would be if I could get a VGA cable with scart at the opposite end?

Or even! an S-video cable to scart? (presuming s-video cables take 5.1)
Would any of these be possible or would they even work?

[cressy]

I wouldn't recommend M-Audio for a Dell Laptop. I had an M-Audio firewire 410 and had loads and loads of issues, though the audiophile might not be so bad...