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Topic: Line-in to laptop (Read 4557 times) previous topic - next topic
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Line-in to laptop

A friend wants to add a line-in stereo connection to his laptop, which only has mic and headphone connectors.  What is the easiest (cheapest) way of doing this?  Surely if the laptop already has a sound card he does not need a full external ADC / sound card solution? 

He wants to use the laptop's sound card and processing power to do this. Is it possible to get a simple USB arrangement or something that will allow him to use the Microphone socket?

Thanks for any help.

Line-in to laptop

Reply #1 –
Check if the laptop audio drivers allow to switch the functionality of the mic in for line in. Also, check if the input of the microphone is mono, or stereo, since you could potentially use the mic in *as* line in.

Any usb hardware that allows you to record line in, has to be a soundcard, and yes, there are usb soundcards.
 

Line-in to laptop

Reply #2 –
Quote
Check if the laptop audio drivers allow to switch the functionality of the mic in for line in.
Right!  Sometimes the hardware allows the input to be configured as line-in or mic-in.  If so, there should be an audio configuration utility installed on your computer that allows you to select that option.

Quote
Also, check if the input of the microphone is mono, or stereo...
If you do have a stereo mic input, you can use an attenuator cable to reduce the level down to mic level.  (This is NOT recommended for high-quality recording, since you are attenuating your signal, only to boost it back up with the [probably low-quality] mic preamp built into your laptop.)  Or, if your linel-level source has a volume control, you may be able to reduce its output level, and reduce the mic-input level, to get acceptable results.  (Again, not recommended for high-quality recording.)

The BEST solution is an external USB soundcard, which you can find for under $50 USD.  (Newegg has some starting around $20 USD).