Review on Enhance your laptop audio experience with Creative Labs PCMCIA Sound Blaster Audigy 2 ZS Notebook (70SB053000012) by Sean Davis

I used an old laptop as a player for my collection of CDs that were backed up to an external hard drive (using Monkey's lossless audio compression). I have my laptop connected to an HT receiver via the headphone jack. The noise level was low (it was necessary to turn up the volume on the receiver compared to other sources), and the quality was okay. The card was easy to install and I tested it first with an analogue connection to output stereo to the receiver. In every case there was an increase in signal level and signal quality. But at that point I doubted if this card was worth the investment. I then took an optical Toslink cable (connected to mini-plugs on both ends) and connected it to the receiver via the digital output. I was afraid the digital output would only work for playing discs from a laptop player. But no! All sources are digital. And now it rocks. The music is lively, rich in detail, at a volume very close to that of my DVD player (though slightly lower than a CD player). I'm not sure I can tell the difference when the same CD is played on a Marantz CD player. Thus, using a digital output justifies the investment.