Tube Amp for PC?

[WndrBr3d]

Tom's Hardware did a review of the CoolerMaster Musketeer III Stereo 'Amplifier'.

It basically takes the Line-Out from your PC and passes it through a simple tube amp to give it a warmer feel.

They felt it was completely worthless from a gamers point of view, because it's not X.1. I'm curious as Audioholics thoughts

Discuss!

 

[buckyg4]

LOL.. This is a novelty meter.

 

[WndrBr3d]

Yes and no.

I think it'd give a warmer sound to stereo audio, like music.

But I suppose it's nothing you couldnt do with a DSP plugin.

 

[j_garcia]

Tube amp isn't going to bring back the compression in a low bitrate MP3.

 

[djoxygen]

How much of a shine can you put on $hi+?

the mini-jack line-outs on computers are just about the worst possible construction of an audio system imaginable. The internal wiring is completely unshielded and open to interference from one of the noisiest (electromagnetically speaking) environments on the planet.

There are only a couple ways to get away from that, and they all keep the signal digital until it is far away from the box.

You'd be better off spending the money on an external breakout box (M-Audio or something similar), or a card that does optical out.

 

[WndrBr3d]

I think people missed the part where I said it'd give the music a warmer feel.

I never said it'd make it higher quality

 

[djoxygen]

Fair enough. I'm sure it will warm up the $hi+ coming out of your line-out.

>:-D