Well Sup Forums what's the verdict?

Well Sup Forums what's the verdict?

Sound card, dac/amp/, or default moba?

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Default if you're not a faggot, external DAC/amp if you have too much money and want to masturbate to your audiophile setup, soudcard if you're mentally retarded.

If you need yo ask you'll probably be fine with integrated motherboard audio chip.

a decent amp will shit over most soundcards

hell my optical toslink 5.1 oldass sony amp shits over the auzentech cards ive tried out and its way easier to use and creative audigy/xfi as well

Sound card all day. I have an oem soundblaster z with my consoles and TV box plugged into it so I can listen to all of them via my pc with headphones or speakers.

I was looking at dac's before I got my sound card but any decent one was more expensive and had less than half the amount of ports eg optical in and out.

Finally built a desktop so for Christmas I going to get a vmoda m100 to replace the absolute dogshit that is Plantronic 760

I've never been a big audio phile until I took a trip to New York 2 years ago and went to an audio place there. Blew me out of the water.

Now that I'm getting decent headphones thought about getting pic related before remembering how much they get shit on. So maybe just an amp or is that even too much?

I have an old soundblaster that's been going from case to case for years now just because I like the MIDI sound.

Depends on the moba/DAC/sound card.

I got a MSI Z170A PC Mate.

I probably going to get a decent motherboard eventually but it'll be a while.

Same here, but mainly for its low latency audio drivers. I found it in a computer that was going to be trashed. I can't believe that a 16 year old soundcard can pull that off, but new low-end cards can't.

The only downside is that it has a PCI bus, so that limits me severely in regards of buying mobos. I don't want to shell out major money, but only the high-end models have additional PCI slots.

Audio interface

...

Sounds like a waste of money to me, not the PC building guy but unless you're some kind of audio professional why would you need a "good" soundcard? even shitty 200 dollar walmart computers put out CD quality sound

> Mememoda
> Good headphones
Make sure to buy a fedora to go with your stylish headhpones

The lack of any double blind tests showing an audible difference in onboard vs discrete sound cards really says it all.

>Sound card, dac/amp/
God damn I hate these terms, they are literally the exact same thing, only one is external

Get an amp if you have high impedance headphones.

Sound cards are placebo.

my motherboard already have the Realtek ALC892.

Now i am planning to get Fiio D03 Taishan to pair with the onboard audio.

>verdict
Depends on too many factors so there's no clear answer to this.

Have one.
Absolutely meme

Bait

One is less than 100$ price, and other is high end audio masturbation device for 200$ and more

Blyat'

You got low end audio shit, motherboard
you have mid range headphones, possibly motherboard, possibly dac
high end is going to be dac no mater what.

you got speakers, this will usually be better from motherboard unless you have a great need for better audio, and at that point, an external sound card or dac would be used.

generally, motherboard is good enough, unless your shit is low end, or something broke... last motherboard the audio shit the bed so a sound card was needed, but dacs where not common back then.

my motherboard has a 300 ohm amp, which is plenty.

I shit over you, idiot. Comparing amp to soundcard, how fucking retarded are you.

I've ordered an FX-Audio DAC-X6 for use with my Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus. I hope it will be worth the money, even though it was like 67 euroshekels.

I had my 2.1 system, a Logitech X230 for a decade, I want to replace it with non-meme-tier speakers. I want something cheap that would still sound better, but I am not sure what would qualify. I bought "reference studio headphones" in the past that were four times as expensive than my cheap IEMs and they sounded like complete shit, so throwing money at it won't solve shit in my experience.

>listening to 480p sound

how so? i'm serious.

waiting for christmas offer

External DAC is the best, you will hear a noticeable difference in sound quality.

Doesn't having a sound card reduce CPU load and latency?

Getting an external dac can be a good idea if your motherboard is dogshit

How would it? It's not got any sort of actual processing power on the sound card itself, it's just forwarding the information through the PCI lanes to the CPU and then the drivers do all the work to turn it into your audio.,

About the only things a sound card will add are different inputs and outputs as well as higher powered amps for headphones or better quality DACs, etc.


As for latency you could actually argue they can add latency since you're adding more electrical pathways for the signal to travel through vs. the integrated sound card.

I'm using a Gigabyte GA-Z97X-UD3H which comes with Realtek ALC1150 and basic Edifier S330D speakers and thel ast time I researched

Not quite sure. I thought I read before about how onboard audio can drag down your system performance. Even if it does it probably isn't significant.

Correct. You'd have to buy a Xonar Essence STX at the very least for an upgrade.

Had a chance to test ALC 888, 1150, creative audigy 4 and soundblaster ZxR on old genius speakers pic related and pretty good Teufel concept E speakers.

Realtek 888 is so bad compared to 1150 I didnt even bother plugging it to teufel. While 1150 is good, it still gets destroyed even by the 10+ years old Audigy 4 with halfassed driver support. Couldnt tell the difference between Audigy and ZxR on Genius speakers (boht sounded bad lol but thats the speakers fault) but on Teufel system ZxR had cleaner and more detailed sound.

tl,dr: unless you are deaf, its allways worth investing into soundcard over onboard codec, even base models or some second hand shit will be major improvement if you are using some decent 5.1 setup.
Dont go for high end models like ZXR or STX though unless you are rocking some expensive headphones or surround setups

tl;dr: you need more expensive speakers to hear differences between less expensive sound cards, but you need a more expensive sound card to justify having expensive speakers.

This logic is totally messed up dood.

Use a sound card if your Mobo is a cheap piece of shit with terrible onboard audio. Use an external DAC if you're a sound whore for music. If you're on a budget, just get a cheap mobo with a decent sound card.

Calm down, you butthurt dumb boys. Also, I'm an intelligent beautiful woman.

wut? where did I say that? If anything, I wrote that old shitty integrated < the best new integrated < old basic dedicated soundcard, even on old shitty speakers.

So you dont need expensive speakers to tell that, just not being deaf.

Only to hear the difference between base old dedicated card and new high end one you need expensive equipment. But only retard would buy 250$ soundcard for 50$ speakers.

Well... my DAC will arrive hopefully soon enough and I'll test exactly how much merit your "onboard audio is the shittiest" statement has. Granted, I have yet to experience this "sound stage" thing people are talking about. There is zero spatial placement in any audio I hear, just a direction, and I have $200+ Beyerdynamic cans. We'll see by how much that will improve with a DAC.

I still have a PCI sound card somewhere from the last time I bought a mobo without integrated sound. I think it might have been purchased 2002.

As a general rule, if you think your soundcard is what's keeping you from having a good experience with a game, you need a different game.

>linus tech tips
>sound cards

Gaymer faggots say good sound is a placebo. They listen to music on their computer using on-board sound with their Logitech headphones. On the go, they listen to music on their Android go-phone with Skullcandy earbuds.

[spoiler]aka me T—T[/spoiler]

>a decent amp will shit over most soundcards
AMP Soundcard.

They are different things.

A good sound card (STX in my case) will give you clean analog recording. My onboard sound introduced noice to any recorded audio whenever i moved the mouse. Having superior output quality is only a minor added bonus for most people (onboard is "good enough"), but for any kind of voice chat, commented streaming or similar stuff a dedicated sound device is a massive plus if your onboard sound sucks.

For years I had used a Soundblaster X-Fi PCI, kept moving it over from PC to PC because why not.

On my last build I decided to say goodbye to PCI and thought I'd give onboard sound a go.

The onboard sound on my new mobo (Gigabyte H170N-WI-FI) sounded flat an unremarkable to the point where I felt like I had made a mistake.

Due to space contrsaints I couldn't use a PCI-E soundcard so I ended up getting a Soundblaster Omni (pic related).

To my ears it sounds significantly less flat than the onboard sound and I'm very happy with it.

I'm not an audiophile by any measure, I just know when I hear something I like. The Omni does have a 600 ohm headphone amp which might have something to do with my impression.

So are both needed? Whats the difference?

Get a pci-e to PCI adapter, I got one for $25 and has worked in all the machines I tried.

I bought a Beyerdynamic Custom One Pro Plus headset for an all purpose pair of cans. Then I just stopped listening to music on my phone, because it's utter shit in quality even compared to my old ALC898 onboard audio and with 1150 there's just no comparison, it's superior, period.

I have one stupid question and this is the most appropriate thread to ask.

Can I turn my laptop's line out to front out, rear out pair? I have 4 THX speakers and want to have quad layout. And don't sell me splitter bullshit. Is it possible to turn mic-in to line-out 2? Is it possible to somehow send s/pdif over line out?

Thanks, stay wavy baby. Keep it loopy.

you cant generalize like that, there are phones with good DACs and amps already, LG V10 and V20 are using ess sabres which are miles ahead of your average rebranded 50$ chink dogshit

Yes I can generalize, if that's the case generally. The V20 is just one phone. Funny you should mention it though, the change in tonal difference with the new pair of cans that made me completely stop listening to music came between onboard audio (that improved by leaps and bounds) and a G4. The G4 is in the top 20% when it comes to audio.

So yes, I can justify saying phone audio is generally shit once you get a decent pair of whatever to put on your head to listen to it.

Only two or three phones with decent DACs. Look at other flagships like the S7 and its even worse than the one in the S4, going by other reviews, examination on parts used, and my own personal experience

Some cards, like the STX, have a built-in headphone amp, so that line is kinda blurry.

Sound codec (onboard/card/external): Transform digital audio data to an analog audio signal (and the other way around for input), sometimes mixing
Amp: Make stuff louder

I have pic related in my XP nostalgia rig because the on-board audio went ded, tried all kinds of drivers clean installs no nothing.

I also have a Xonar DG lying around somewhere, but I cba to buy an adapter because my mobo doesn't have ye olde PCI slots and any modern on-board audio chip sounds decent enough to me anyway.

This. An external DAC with good headphones ( Think Sennheiser HD650 or better ) is about the best you can do without seriously breaking the bank with some McIntosh tube amps and shit like that.

Actually, a McIntosh D100 DAC would really be the way to go. But, I am the wrong person to ask. My parents use to own an audio shop back in the 80's and my home theater system is all older McIntosh stuff that actually appreciates in value over time lol

I spent $60 on a FiiO E10K and it sounds way better then my onboard soundcard. Not an audiophile though, $60 DAC and a pair of Sennheiser's is about as far I go with audio equipment.

>Think Sennheiser HD650 or better
Nobody in their right mind would think HD650 or better in any context where a computer is involved. Anyone who spends more than 300 bucks on a single piece of equipment to spend most of their time listening to lossy audio through their PC I'd declare clinically retarded. Youtube is not lossless, Netflix is not lossless, nothing except music from very particular sources is lossless.

Won't any internal soundcard pick up the noise from other components?

the entirety of this post
lol

To a varying degree. But with the sound card you at least have the chance to use an EQ. With a DAC you are pretty much stuck with "whatever the artist intended it to sound like", which is just a hipster faggot way to say bland and boring. Detailed, but bland.

i need something like a DAC - a small usb box with 3,5mm jack headphone output and mic input, volume knob, line-in and thats all

what should i buy?

DAC doesn't do mic. It's a DAC, not an ADC.

Not him but what's so funny?

yeah this is exactly what i did. hd598s, set up is pretty nice

Post your DAC and expensive watch

>DAC
>and watch
Please also put your expensive sextant in there, then the anachronism would be perfect.

ok, ok i already have learned that dacs dont have mic inputs. i meant something like in in terms of form factor

Nothing decent I know of. There's the ASUS Xonar U7, but it's barely any better than the already mentioned internal ALC1150.

Lossless music is fantastic beyond measure. In a context of true appreciation of content, youtube, netflix or any form of streaming can't match formats allowing higher headroom of accurate reproduction. Everyone has a right to stay functional and utilitarian within their means, but in the fairness of good taste without regard to any cost effective valuation, artificially capping limits on scales of spectrum because of a mainstream consensus isn't rational when the very nature of consumption involves the likelihood of preferably good taste attributable to the consumer.

For most normal users they would be good with onboard sound and the onboard sound cards have a come a long way since the last 3-4 intel generation chipset releases for motherboards.
Even a cheap motherboard onboard sound cards are considerably better than old releases from 3-4 years ago.

That said external DACs are best for headphones and for best results you would need to have at least mid to high end audio headphones and listen to music which makes best use of the DAC hardware.

If the headphones are entry level then there are not likely to be any benefits in improvement to the audio and if the music is too simple or generally shit then it is very unlikely to would hear any benefits (even with the best high end headphones and external amp).

Sound Card is best suited for speakers (bookshelf speakers minimal, anything less is unlikely to be benefitted) where sound is concerned or if a surround sound setup requires multiple inputs which aren't available from the standard jacks on the I/O plate for the motherboard. Sound Card is also good when the onboard sound has packed up too and don't want to get another motherboard.

For me personally I recently upgraded to an external DAC after my onboard sound developed an intermittent fault which also damaged my headphone (now crackles for high frequency noise, usually affects vocals more often than instruments for music).
My damaged headphones still work well overall and do work better on my DAC.
Currently waiting on mid-high end headphones which I ordered (short supply due to Christmas which has caused a delay).

Hey I have a XONAR DG too because of that Toslink jack I needed. Is the XONAR DG something good?

Fancy words. Nonetheless the meaning behind them stays the same. You want to cringe every time you listen to youtube for the sake of being able to enjoy some diminishing returns in audio quality while listening to your flac library. Got it.

are you in yurop? i'll sell you mine

this DAC meme has gone too far

Onboard sound is good enough for most people.

I have an RME Hammerfall Fireface 400. It's getting bit old and Firewire is a dead standard, but it's still a good audio interface.

MSI has this tech too. Time for ASUS to adopt it as well.

I don't even know my motherboard audio specs, but it seems to drive the DT 770 fine. Recently got an E10k and there's no huge difference. It sounds better, but it's not like the upgrade from shit headphones to decent headphones.

It is said to be a pretty good entry-level headphone amplifier and sounds nice for the money. I have zero listening experience on it but I'd assume it's an upgrade from most low-end onboard stuff. That's all I know.

Also have this on my motherboard too (Gigabyte) and have my external DAC connected to it (might as well use it as it is there).

Haven't really felt the need to do a comparison for difference in USB ports as I am happy with the significant improvement for DAC over onboard sound.

Probably not important for most people but is a continued improvement for audio features from motherboards.

Depends on the motherboard. Until a few years ago they all had terminally shit audio, but that's become the latest focus to try and attract people. The latest high end Gigabyte boards basically have a Creative sound card tacked onto the board.

The audio on my Asus Maximus VIII Hero Alpha is fine. I have no complaints using a set of MDR-7506s.

Well, as I said I needed the toslink jack to connect it to the 5.1 receiver. I find this sound quite impressive. I have different speakers and they are positioned rather randomly but the sound really is a blast. The bass is to the point and the trebble is brilliant.

Higher end onboard audio justify upgrades and open up an industry.

Your headphones are probably too powerful to be driven by your motherboard, that's all it is.

The sound *quality* from the mobo is fine. You just need a headphone amp.

Someone please show me a blind test comparing onboard audio from a modern, non-budget mobo to an expensive DAC.

I've yet to find a single one.

That'd require assembling a bunch of audiophile autists in a room AND them willing to be embarrassed by potentially getting it wrong. Good luck.

Sure, Tom's Hardware did one!

"Using world-class headphones, a $2 Realtek integrated audio codec could not be reliably distinguished from the $2000 Benchmark DAC2 HGC in a four-device round-up."

tomshardware.com/reviews/high-end-pc-audio,3733-19.html

It's one big placebo.

The more zeros on the price tag the better the product!

t. coconut audio

>ASUS Xonar U7
it's 7.1 - I won't ever need this, i just want stereo

pls anons, help me

youtube.com/watch?v=L34S4Tt1EuQ

I just use my studio hp at home and they're 500 ohms so I need an external dac. Just using an apogee groove for now on my desktop/laptop and apollo 16 for work

Its still hard to tell if he is endorsing those headphones or not.

mobo for almost all circumstances

dac for if you have interference/feedback/power cleanliness issues, or need an amp to drive power hungry headphones

sound card STRICTLY for ports you are otherwise lacking, no other valid reason

I need a sound cart because my motherboard doen't have XLR input or low latency ASIO

Anything is better that integrated.

Any dac or sound card has more power for high resistance headphones and much clearer sound free from noise and kinda more crisp due to quality sound chip.

I use Asus Xonar DG I got for 20$ and those are the best 20$ Its just infinitely better than integrated solution.
>no noise
>loud enough with headphones
>tangibly higher quality sound
I love it.

>coaxial/RCA
>Good
pick one

There's an accompanying written review. They're awful.