Even though the sound quality may not be drastically different, there are other reasons to consider using an audio interface. I experienced repeated frustration when using the laptop headphone output earlier this year that was solved by changing from the headphone output to a USB audio interface. You can read all about it in this PG Music forum thread:

A Mystery - Can You Solve It?

In my opinion, the sound quality actually did improve as well. I'll never go back to using a headphone output. It doesn't have to be an expensive one. I am using a Roland/Edirol unit that was about $100 (I don't know if it is still available).


Jim
Psalm 33:3 Sing unto him a new song; play skillfully with a loud noise.

BIAB 2018 build 519; Dell Inspiron N4110, Windows 10 64 bit, Intel Core i3-2350m running at 2.29 GHz, Memory: 6 GB DDR3, SDRAM 1MHz