Poor quality audio playback from recorded streaming audio

[JohnAbbey]

Greetings, I have Audacity Ver 2.0.5 and have a Dell Laptop with Windows 7.
As pointed out in the Help section, one can expect poor quality when recording web streaming audio.
Is it possible to improve this quality by connecting a radio directly to the computer, and then recording from this source? Second question, can this be done without a “proper Line-in” type socket? Some computers have these, but my Laptop only has a Microphone In port.
Any help with this would be great.
John Abbey

[waxcylinder]

@JohnAbbey

Is it possible to improve this quality by connecting a radio directly to the computer, and then recording from this source.

Yes, I do this all the time with my wife’s old Technics FM tuner.

@JohnAbbey

Is it possible to improve this quality by connecting a radio directly to the computer, and then recording from this source? Second question, can this be done without a “proper Line-in” type socket? Some computers have these, but my Laptop only has a Microphone In port.

Not unless you have one of the “magic” Mic-ins that auto adjusts if you attach a line-level source. Otherwise you are likely to need an external soundcard- see this sticky thread: https://forum.audacityteam.org/t/sound-card-reviews/8375/1

I use the Edirol UA-1EX (discontinued) in conjunction with the Technics ST-X902L produces excellent results/

WC

[JohnAbbey]

Thanks for the help, I will check it out. Cheers