It's not so much that people don't care, Realtek took the question out of the game with their onboard about... 15 years ago. Coming from a broadcasting background, we used to use $2000 soundcards prior to then to get broadcast quality audio, around 2008 the replacement of computers in the workplace no longer required the additional card to matchup with the editing software because the onboard was a good enough standard. Even oem HP office pcs. For interviewing and so on, even a mic plugged into your phone is good enough today, the standard has raised.
Motherboard audio is almost never used these days. Manufactures might as well just remove it. I couldn't even find a headset with the necessary analog plugs to connect to PC audio. The on-board sound chip is completely bypassed when using a digital connection, HDMI, DisplayPort, Bluetooth, USB, Optical, SPDIF. I don't know if my MB audio even works because I've never been able to plug it into anything.
@@L9MN4sTCUk Don't give them any ideas lol. I always use onboard audio. It's the only way I can use Dolby Atmos and DTS/DTS:X/etc. I have Corsair HS65 Surround headphones and yeah, they came with a USB plug. However, it's an adapter and you can use the 3.5mm jacks for audio/recording. My onboard audio sounds far better than the USB adapter. It's on an Asus STRIX B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi II with the "ROG SupremeFX 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC S1220A". Just Realtek onboard audio with dual OP amps. The biggest thing was downloading all of the software/drivers to control the hardware. You can turn the amps up and modify all your settings. Also you need Sonic Studio III (for this board) to have further control. Then I bought Dolby Atmos and DTS to have spatial audio for my headphones. But, yeah, I think there's lots of people doing what you were talking about. They use wireless (bluetooth) headphones or USB headphones or just run an HDMI/DP cable from their GPU to their monitor, then run a cable from their monitor to their speakers, effectively using the monitor's DAC. But not all of us 😛
Electrical Noise is the cause of the hiss sound in your head phones and While the quality of your DAC chip on your sound card matters it is UNLIKELY the cause of the hiss you hear on many sound cards, in fact the single component causing this hiss or electrical noise is your POWER SUPPLY, unless you are using a Multi-rail-voltage Electrically noiseless power supply (NOT AUDIO NOISE) you will continue to suffer from electrical noise in the audio regardless of the quality of your sound card's DAC. All this noise issue is mainly applicable to analogue recording and play back. For most people digital cables are unlikely to be used especially that most head sets are using the analogue plug... And the reason why sound cards are gone is because the Audio quality built-in on the motherboard nowdays is very adequate for the vast majority of people. If you are recording audio into your PC from an analogue source beside using an electrically noiseless Power Supply you would want a sound card DAC with 115 ~ 120 dB SNR - (Signal to noise ratio). Using less than 110 ~ 113 dB SNR, depending on the quality of your sound card you may experience some hiss or humming noises, and using anything below 106 dB SNR for analogue to digital recording is NOT recommended.
An external DAC on USB is just as good as optical because the analog conversion still happens outside of the PC. A good basic setup for a lot of people willing to spend a bit more to really get into the entry of nicer gear is the Schiit Modi and Magni. By no means are they the best, but for $200 its a good option for a dedicated amp/DAC combo
This can be true, but as far as I understand you have to take drivers into account (either drivers that the Device needs or the default drivers windows uses). Another point is that you ARE transporting interference thru the USB cable. Optical means there is NOT physical connection (the data is photons) between the devices. I have a Z-5500 and even if I use a dedicated DAC (bifrost multibit) and then feed that analog signal into the Z-5500 it sounds worse than just toslink into the Z-5500 directly. The more devices you add in a chain (especially with different amplification, pre amplification, etc) the worse the audio gets because you are exponentially adding noise at each step.
Not _as_ good no... Optical sends a RAW signal to a completely external component through light pulses, not electrical power; while at some point that light is transformed into electrical signals, it does it outside of the PC environment, whereas a USB DAC still gets electrical interference from the motherboard to power it up and send the data. The noise on a USB DAC may be extremely quiet however (depending on the quality of the components), but if you aim to get as close to a completely noiseless experience as possible, S/PDIF (optical) is still king, even above HDMI.
An external DAC is definitely the way to go for great sound. HBMHD is correct about completely isolating one particular path of RF noise, but at that level you are getting beyond what most people can hear and your budget moves from the hundred dollar neighborhood with phenomenal sound to another galaxy where people use pan-dimensional multi-spectral power cords and paint the edges of their cd's green.
@@dberry99 honestly, onboard chips are fine nowadays, as long as you oversample alot. Then the filtering issues will not be audible anymore. The claims of audiophiles stem from marketing in my opinion.
I remember the first sound blaster card I bought in the 90’s. I had a 486 with just the PC speaker and was a huge Wolfenstein 3D fan. When I installed this behemoth of a card, I couldn’t believe the sound quality. I was hooked for years in terms of using internal cards. But I haven’t used one for probably 20 years now
Makes only sense when you use decent speaker. I have an Edifier 2.1 speaker setup for ages now and without a soundcard the speakers are never really loud nor has the sub any deep bass. I had the Xonar DX for some years and you'll notice the difference immediately: the speaker volume does not need to be turned up to high because on a lower level you already get a very clean sound and the sub is much more noticeable with soft and deep bass. Of course if you use only headphones and they are always gamer headphones with an inbuilt soundchip, then a soundcard is useless...
Bought a used Asus Xonar Essence STX for a decent price recently. I wasn't expecting much since I already had a good and modern onboard audio setup, or so I thought. I was completely blown away with the clarity of the sound output. It is much better than onboard audio and it is a card released more than 10 years ago. Of course, you need to pair it with a good headphone. In my case I have an Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. The listening experience is magical.
The video kind of left me confused about the sound floor. I have a somewhat old sound card. It's a Creative Titanium HD. I'm using something relatively cheap & even with the volume maxed, I still can't hear the sound floor. It could be my headphone ain't picky up anything at low dB. You measure FFT from an oscilloscope. if you can't pick up anything you can head full hardcore more with a network analyzer to find the tiny sound floor. 😁 If the youtuber pick up noise floor, he need help.
"I was completely blown away with the clarity of the sound output." Yup, thats the reaction when people usually say "onboard is enough". I find it always hilarious when people buy the biggest high end pc's yet they refuse to buy a soundcard :D
This just popped up on my home page ... and, yes, I know I'm way late to the party this time. There is an entire subset of audiophiles and music lovers who use "Home Theatre PC" driven systems. The HTPC is generally one of the new mini-computers that are so popular right now. The magic is all in the software. The audio gear can run anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of hundred thousand dollars... and yeah, it can be downright spectacular. The general arrangement is to have the HTPC at the centre of the setup, handling local storage, media streaming, some gaming and, of course audio and video duties. Video is easy ... big TV, HDMI cable and bob's yer uncle. Audio... not so much. Most often the setup for the audio is a USB DAC (Digital to Audio Converter) that feeds the audio power amplifiers. These aren't cheap "soundcards", some of them can cost $10,000 or more. For DACs there are two basic standards ... Usb Audio Classes UAC1 and UAC2. UAC1 runs up to 24 bits, 96,000 samples per second. UAC2 tops out at 32 bits, 384,000 samples per second ... For most Windows machines the appropriate drivers are selected on the first connect. (To learn more, do a search for "PCM Audio" and/or "Windows Audio"... there's a ton of stuff out there to read.) Software wise, Windows includes an "Exclusive Mode" , used in high end audio, that is triggered by the media player to keep the data flow as pristine as possible, taking a direct route from the source file decoders to the USB output that blocks all other sounds and will play media files in their native speed and size formats. So, to answer the question of whether sound cards matter anymore... the answer is "Yes" and in all truth they probably matter more now than they did 10 years ago. Of late I've been on a bit of a quest, looking for the most economical DAC that supports UAC2 standards. It's not easy, because there are some really wonky things on the market. Some DACs will block the Windows volume controls, forcing you to use the volume knob on your preamplifier or amplifier instead. This of course kills the whole idea of using a wireless keyboard to run the system... which can be a real deal breaker. Others require special drivers that seldom work right... And on and on... So that brings up the question of: "Is it better to buy computer interfaces from an audio company or to buy audio interfaces from a computer company" ... the answer being "These guys really need to talk to one and other!" Computer designers have neglected the audio and audio designers don't understand the computer side of things. Still, when it works, it most often works spectacularly.
I remember the sound cards, back to the 8 bit ones. I was big into the optical ones too until HDMI. My previous mobo's optical out didn't support 5.1 to my theater receiver, and I learned that 5.1 is about the most bandwidth optical can support. I'm running a 7.1 setup, soon to be full on 9.1.2 Atmos, and the optical simply won't carry that bandwidth. Then again, I think my scenario is different. The HDMI carries the digital audio signal through the graphics card, to a completely separate receiver, and that's essentially been the setup for my main entertainment pc for the last decade.
if i remember correctly, optical has never been able to do anything past 5.1 and even at that it was lower bandwidth also so it'd lower the quality using it... pretty much only good for high end stereo. not sure if they've changed it since the PS3 days, but that's when i learned a lot about it since i had a 5.1 receiver at the time and was trying to learn all about it and such. but even back then for anything surround sound they said top tier being HDMI then the 3.5mm jack setup. seems to sadly still hold true now days.
Many of Creative's internal cards are actually new designs that were released in the past few years. And they don't have issues with noise like you say.
the reason why some internal soundcards have a cover is that the cover is actually there to stop noise caused by other components in the PC. I have a few different ones. For me even though i have optical whenever im recording an event the place only has XLR so i just use the line in, though even cheap ones do decent as well.
I use a little USB FiiO E10K-TC that you can pick up for $75 or cheaper on sale. Works out of the box in Windows and Linux with no issues. Only time I do have an issue it is with updated NVIDIA drivers changing the audio device to an HDMI monitor. It brings the audio signal outside of the PC case so the noise floor is very low, and there is a line-out on the back for powered speakers as well. I keep it at 96kHz for my needs, but it supports upto 384kHz if you need it. I am by no means an audiophile but I know what I like.
The weakest part in the onboard Realtek sound on my motherboard seems to be the amplifier component. Yes, if you turn up the output too high or use the volume boost feature you can add noise to the signal (so can the microphone port, muting it can make a huge difference), but I found that I could clean it up by using an external headphone amplifier along with some reference headphones). Personally, I don't like to use external devices for sound because they can add noticeable latency in games and cause problems when recording or in titles like Rocksmith. Another reason people used to use sound cards is that they had hardware processors to take some strain off of a CPU. That got killed off with the move to Windows XP because Microsoft changed the way sound got processed in Windows, essentially making it all software based and instantly making gaming sound cards like the Soundblaster range pretty much pointless as soon as the onboard sound systems became 'good enough'.
OK Geeks, the way to REALLY lower the sound floor is with cryogenic heat sinks liquid helium or Peltier devices (satellite transducers) and Green Bank Radioastronomy Dishes. As this tech (including the Javelin missile) is mature and coming down in price. I am surprised no one has run with this. MRI machines use liquid helium to run enough current in the coils to run city blocks for a bit to get incredibly detailed images otherwise "lost in the noise".
Thanks Chris, I am also one of those people who likes to have better sound quality. I was looking to add a sound card until I viewed your video on the subject, so I will look at other alternative's. Love your videos, keep up the great content.
Is the hi-fi bug going around or something? I recently have gotten into the hi-fi world as well. Just a small point of clarification: speakers are driven by analog signals, so the conversion from digital to analog always will happen at some point in the audio chain regardless of whether you are using optical inputs and outputs--the question is just where. Also, if you're using optical out from your source, the source may resample or do some other processing on the digital signal. That is, the audio stream that goes into the sound card technically might differ from the audio stream that goes out. Meanwhile, if outputting from your computer via USB, the audio stream basically skips past the internal sound card in your computer. In this case, the PC is merely "passing through" the audio stream from UA-cam, Spotify, etc., whereas with optical, the sound card is first processing the audio stream before outputting it.
I have both fedora 35 and windows 11 on the same pc , I dont know what it is but when im listening to music the fedora sound quality is miles better than the windows one.
I think the cool think about sound cards is just the built in IO on your pc, enabling you to record your own vinyl and use analogue audio setups easily. Evga sells one that looks cool
Biggest problem I usually run into is not the quality of the onboard sound card or the features, but the amp for my headphones. Not a problem I've had for my speakers but I assume that's because they've got an amp built in running the speakers. Apart from that though onboard has been good for me on my Asus x570 plus. I just use a SMSL Headphone amp using optical and it really brings my headphones to life. Not a professional music producer or anything, just enjoy music and video games, so for my needs a good headphone amp and I'm happy.
I still use an Asus Essence STX 1 & II. I have USB dacs like the Dragon Fly Red and Oppo Ha-2 but the Essence still sounds stunning to me, both via the headphone amp & phono out.
Just get any motherboard out there with a Realtek _1220_ chip (the name changes depending on the mobo manufacturer, but it always has the number 1220) and you're golden; those motherboards will *always* have enough outputs for up to 7.1 channels *and* an optical (S/PDIF) output for whatever you want below Atmos. Anything above 7.1 channels, just go HDMI
Hey Chris, excellent info on your channel here today. I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface for everyday sound. It does 44 - 192khz sample rates. A good reliable interface. NZ$ 350. I use this setup for my music production at a minimum. Keep up the great work. Be safe and well where you are.
IDK man, is even focusrite now worth the price now? I mean, they use like 15 years old tech for DSP/ADDA chips. there should be newer and CHEAPER DSP chips.
@@ijash-yt Yes. You can opt for a MOTU interface if you prefer that, though. Otherwise there's RME or Universal Audio, which are only for professionals (meaning they are very expensive) These are all very reliable brands in my experience personally. I've heard good things about Presonus' interfaces, but I have no experience with them.
@@ForceGamerrr do they use newer & up to date chips? AFAIK UAD also use old techs and not worth the price. NXP, STM, etc.. are releasing newer DSP chips to date with better memory, buffer and caching, and I have no idea which brands are updating their technology. I will take a look at presonus. Thank you..
@@ijash-yt Unless it lowers the price, there’s no need to use newer chips, because none of them have any issues. If it’s important to you, then do some research to find who uses newer chips and such, but I personally don’t believe it matters at all (again, unless it makes them cheaper)
I have the AE-9 with MUSE OPamps.. fantastic sound and very clear on Beyerdynamics DT- 1990 Headphones (with Dekoni replacement pads) and previously with Sennheiser 650. Its overkill for gaming but what I can now hear in games is exceptional... and on music is just awesome regardless of genre.
same except 700x pros, u sir are doing it the right way. Do you have a DAC, highly recommend one to amplify your audio. My god i love doing work on them and also producing with them
I bought a focusrite Scarlett 8is and Yamaha hs7 studio monitors. The difference in the audio quality in gaming is night and day. Taking my case Diablo to resurrected, I can hear ambient environmental and background sounds out of the monitors that I were never there before on my motherboard and Logitech speaker audio. Well worth the investment I would do it again and never look back.
Thank you for again reinforcing what I have always believed and heard, Toslink optical is the best for music as "interference" can not find it's way into the signal as can with Analog. Another thing, analog and coaxial digital (the single rca sound cable) are only 2 channels. With optical, it can handle 8 channels of sound. And is what gives you true 5.1 Surround Sound. Nothing else does, and why it was invented. Without it everything is computer simulation otherwise "Hi Def" audio.
For some reason with Sound Blaster internal sound cards the remaining noise floor can be eliminated by pulling the card out of the PCIE slot by 1mm. I did it with my Sound Blaster Z and it made a bigger difference then going from motherboard audio to the sound card in the first place.
You need to get audio as quickly out of the computer as you can to stop interference. I use a IFI Zen dac which I've had no complaints with not sure if this audiophile grade but I love it.
i didn't think it would make a difference before ... the audio from my computer was very weak , i used a usb sound card from turtle beach i bought almost 20 years ago ... what a world of difference ... booming sounds coming outta that card
I upgraded my 2002 Compaq tower with a sound blaster card and never went back (very dated now) It drives my Sennheiser headphones and tightens up the bass. It records at only 16/44.1 but sounds great. I used it recently (computer still runs.. win XP) to digitize all of my music reel to reel master tapes. It beats my current HP laptop motherboard that does not drive headphones well, just does not sound as good as the old system.
I use a Fiio usb DAC, mainly because it drives my Sennheiser headphones much better than my motherboards on board sound. The DAC is good for the price.
You can get an amazing DI for the price of a good sound card and your quality of sound is going to be amazing. DI's are the best way to go . Your mic will make a difference as well. Condescend mics are best and the DI boxes support phantom power. You only need a 2 channel DI to get amazing sound. Reaper is great to mix your audio and there are tons of plugins that you can use. Reaper and the plug ins are free. Been a musician for years and I've worked in IT for years. For sound you have to switch to music gear.
Yeah I'm surprised he didn't talk about digital interfaces. I switched from a soundcard to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo about a year ago; got a condenser mic to go with it and haven't looked back since.
@@ChrisBanda Great job. That is the best combo. It's not the 90's anymore with sound cards. To me i find that a sound card is useless, as a DI are just so much cheaper and way better and provides way more options down the line.
A usb audio interface such as the Focusrite Scarlett or a Presonus audio box is a good affordable option for quality audio that can be had for around 100 to 200 bucks. pairing the interfaces with a high quality pair of headphone, a decent XLR mic, and a pair of studio monitors will pretty much give you a high quality studio quality recording. if you add a midi keyboard and a DAW with some decent plugins which can all be had for cheap you will pretty much have the setup to make most of the songs released in the last decade.
I disagree, over here I use a PCIe ASUS Xonar Essence STX II sound card with 124dB SNR, >0.0003 %(-110 dB) THD+N, native 192kHz/24-bit max, Bur-Brown PCM1792A DAC used in hi-end, studio grade equipment. There are other DACS like the ASUS Xonar U7 MKII that doesn't get that far, however, it has a native support for SACD and DSD that for people that create for UA-cam and other platforms, this, SACD and DSD features makes no difference at all. So, yes! Sound cards still worth if the person knows what he is doing.
i brought a pair of Presonus Eris E5's for a £120 on FB marketplace, i was going to buy a Scarlett when the guy who sold the speakers to me found out he said here have my old 2i4 1st gen I've upgraded and don't need this anymore. When I plugged this all in, compared to my old Corsair SP2500 this setup blew me away on hearing things in music i've never heard until now. I still need a sub because I miss the low down bass & I intend to buy a Temblor T10 to add to it.
I’ve honestly had nothing but great experiences with Micro Center I live in Southern California and the nearest one to me is the one that’s in Tustin love the crew there
I bought an ASUS Xonar (can't remember which one) soundcard last year to use 5.1 optical out to my Logitech Z906 speakers. I was using the 3.5mm audio jack's in my motherboard but I didn't like the noisey sound coming from it. Microsoft made it so that with the latest versions of Windows 10 you can only set 2.0 out in optical unless you use modded drivers for some devices. I couldn't find any modded drivers for my MSI X470 Gaming plus that worked so I bought an ASUS Xonar card that works with unixonar drivers. Those drivers allow me to set 5.1 audio out through optical out.
What I learned going through this process... Step one buy quality headphones with an output profile that match your taste and you need to decide if you want closed, semi-open or open backed. I wanted very clean detailed female vocals with an open airy sound stage so I bought a set of Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ω version. The DT880 are semi-open backed and do have isolation from your environment but you can still hear what's going on around you so your better half won't be throwing things at you to get your attention. Open or semi-open headphones have a wider more realistic (imho) sound stage than fully enclosed headphones (or buds). I initially connected my PC to a Pioneer home receiver with optical toslink which worked great but my receiver runs like a toaster so I later purchased a very reasonably priced dedicated headphone amp called Micca OriGen 2. It has both USB and optical toslink in up to 24bit/192khz and power enough for 600Ω headphones, separate1/8 and 1/4 headphone jacks, nice volume knob for both the headphone or 1/8 stereo analog out for powered speakers. The 1/8 analog out doubles as a mini optical out so this unit can take a USB PC connection and pass digital through the 1/8 optical out. Apparently It can also connect to Android via USB OTG but I haven't tried that. I also picked up an unpowered 3 way optical Toslink switch so I can switch between PC input or 200 CD changer from my desk with zero loss in quality. The sound quality/price ratio is good. One thing I did notice is that if you are listening to a 44.1khz FLAC file in Foobar for example and you have your DAC/Amp set to 48khz, the output will not be passed on "raw" for external decoding but will be first decoded from 44.1khz and then re-encoded to 48khz on your PC first and then decoded again on your external DAC which did make a small but noticeable difference in audible quality vs matching the DAC to the source material. With a decent audio setup you will also notice Spotify "high quality" isn't that high quality after all (Amazon is better) with a sound stage that is noticeably compressed and duller than original source material or 320kb mp3. I'm over 50 and my high frequency sensitivity is fading now so young people will certainly notice this.
Much of the appeal of sound cards got thrown out the window when Microsoft changed their audio system with the release of i think windows Vista, and it ruined hardware accelerated positional audio like Creative EAX. I still use a sound card today though, a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD. I do so because i really like some of the gaming features like CMSS-3D and how it's one of the few cards that passes those audio enhancements through the Toslink output to an external DAC/Headphone Amp.
KUDOS for sharing! OMG I remember buying the sound blaster cards etc, and could never afford a Turtle Beach one? Yes optical is the way to go, and from what I remember, cleanes way as well. A good resource may be a musician friend or shop? You ARE FORTUNATE indeed to have MicroCentre local to you! Miss it MUCH from when I lived in DFW area years ago! ALL THE BEST and Cheers! :)
@@joe7992 so you set your Focusrite in your OS as output as well, interesting. I'm a noob, just ordered a Arturia MiniFuse 2 as my first audio interface.
A lot of the good audio mixers have built in USB interfaces. I use the Behringer UMC404HD for live broadcast and a Zoom for 16 simultaneous channels. I've been looking for a multichannel optical mixer but have not found one yet.
I dont know much. But as far as I'm concened Mr Carlsons Lab has the finest audio on UA-cam and he uses a valve mic. It's so rich and warm in it's tone. Defo worth looking into him Chris.
A good DAC should be undetectable, and not stand out. You don't want it changing the signal, you want it faithfully converting it. I'd argue the same about amps, but there are other options like tube amps that change the sound in a way that people like, similar to why people like vinyl records.
Does bluetooth use the soundcard to convert signals into sounds or the bluetooth on the motherboard does everything? Reason why I am asking this is because when I use my bose wireless earbuds on my laptop for gaming, there is a lag but on my desktop, no lag. Or is there probably a better bluetooth chip in my desktop?
The issue with Toslink is it can not carry uncompressed audio greater the 2.1, with the exception of HDMI analog 3 x 3.5mm outputs analog is the only way to get surround output.
Hmm. Got curious if soundcards were useful at all. Had an old Soundblaster card. Actually still have it though it rusted a little (sat in storage for too long). In the end it's not really necessary for me. Everything I have hooks up via optical audio anyways.
Was given a friends computer but it didn't have optical out for sound. I bought an Asus Xonar SE Gaming sound card. I run an optical cable from sound card to my Lavry DA 11 dac and then in to my Pioneer VSX D1S pro logic receiver and use infinity Kappa 5 main speakers, a HSU 12 powered sub woofer and some Jamo rear channel speaker for movies , this is my computer set up. I also use a BBE Sonic Maximizer for tone control on occasion. I'm content with the sound. I also use a FIIO BTR5 and BTR 7 (Much Better) for portable sound with Fostex headphones. Even the Koss KPH30i (2 pairs with oversized ear pads) sound amazing especially for the price. My 2 cents.
I use a audiophile 24/96 card in my server which came out about mid 2000's. Pretty dated but this card is fantastic. Has RCA plugs and amazing SNR. I use it for capturing vinyl and other analog sound which goes to my youtube channel. On Linux it works if you plug it in however once in a while I'd do a fresh install and need to manually change some settings in whatever computer I had it in at the time as it would think it's a different model of M-Audio card (once this is set this is no longer a problem). It uses a program called Mudita to set custom settings like capture rate, rate lock, etc.
Simple soundcard? Behringer U-Control UCA222 for €24, 2 in, 2 out and USB (if you want surround you have to channel up). A little better, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen also USB, much better... RME audio, Much much better UAD or SSL or Audient. As I'm in the business, I always have a Behringer thing in my same toolbox as my DI converters. Because it's so versatile, it's better than a iPhone 😉 I'm not kidding, some tracks sent to me are recorded with an iPhone. And No, Soundblaster is never used in the industry. RME PCIe cards are amazing. And can be linked from ADAT to analog channels. PS: we use wordclocks to sync our soundcards, I have about 32channels in 96Khz, 24bit and that wordclock says to any interface, these settings. So you always have the right setttings. But all this stuff costs a ton.
Today audiophiles use USB interfaces. I use smsl dac. topping makes top cheap interfaces. For recording I use an ESI. There are a lot of pro adc dac affordable, under 200 €
I highly recommend testing out Behringer U-Phoria HD USB interfaces (like UMC204HD)... They are an anomaly on the market! Using Midas Amplifiers and such good components at such a low price is just incredible! I have one and was not convinced at first but the guy at the store told me I could bring it back and he would give me a pricier option for free if I was not happy... I stayed with me! The noise level is... inexistant... At full volume there is no "hiss". The sound output is so clean and definition is outstanding. Mic inputs are incredible too... although I stopped using them and switched to a Rode VideoMic NTG (all digital Mic) and will never look back... Try to put your hands on one... I am sure you will like it!
I run a Christmas light display set to music from my computer and use a Soundblaster play3. There's a bit of improvement over the motherboard card, and for $20 it's well worth it. Probably some of that improvement comes from using a long USB cord and having the audio stay digital until it's 15 feet away from the computer.
This is good for consumer audio for listening to music and watching movies at not-so-loud levels (due to SNR) however there is a whole different world being the enthusiast and pro-audio fields - they are a very demanding and an unforgiving kettle of fishies. In that game it is best to keep everything external with comms being usb and thunderbolt. The key specifications for this in addition to samples per second and bit depth are most importantly is SNR (Signal to Noise Ration), Latency and concurrent interfaces for multi-track recording as well as routing with external hardware (ie: digital signal processing units). Back on 2002 when I was in radio I produced DJ mixsets and had to get the "presence" of my voice in front of the music. I had to push the audio-compression (percieved volume) to +20db and that required a very "clean" (noise-free) audio source. Every element in the chain from my voice, the room (audio reflection dampening material), the microphone, the interface, even the quality of headphones so there was no "feedback loops". Real-Time digital processing of the voice could be done with software that rewired the microphone input to the DSP module and then rewired the input from that into the physical mixer, or the DJ software which at the time the only viable option was Native Instruments Traktor Studio. The DSP software I used was Izotope Ozone which comes with a library of presets for just about anything one could think of in mastering and processing any sort of audio - it is a very compact swiss army knife of digital audio signal processing with very low latency. As to hardware pro-audio interfaces, have a look at Apogee, Arturia, Behringer, Focusrite, M-Audio, MOTU, RME, Steinberg, Tascam, Universal Audio (alphabetical, unbiased). FM Radio is a pretty stringent environment with government imposed mandatory requirements, so DSP before hitting the microwave link to the transmitter was Orban Optimod.
I prefer USB DACs myself. Getting the source of the sound outside of the case with fans and other things going on that can introduce that background noise was what I needed for my basic setup with some higher end head phones. I use the Fulla E from Shiit Audio. Funny name with an even funnier way it identifies itself on my computer, but a good product without breaking the bank and their products are well known for being Linux friendly. It drives my DT 770 Pro headphones (80 ohm) without breaking a sweat and I got crystal clear audio on it as far as my ears can tell which is all that really matters to me. Depending on what you're needing to do, audio can be overthought about. Onboard audio chip sets on good motherboards are decent enough to get most people up and running for gaming and general computer use these days, but if you have higher end head phones/speakers, get yourself a decent DAC and you'll be well set for the all the general computer use stuff from gaming to listening to music to talking on video conference calls.
Good Primer. I ran a windows partition for our recording studio activities and my occasional steam gaming. I use my Linux manjaro kde partition for 100‰ of business, work and personal activities. I use the same RME babyface pro (audio interface/ external soundcard/DAC) for both partition and I couldn't be more satisfied getting 48khz and more or less 6ms latency quality on both. Most professional Audio Interface (soundcard) like RME will run flawless when you switch them to USB compliant mode. That's how Linux accesses these audio interfaces at their lowest possible latency which is important both in gaming and professional audio.
External USB rigs aren't immune from electrical noise either, my Elecom HUGE trackball was introducing static into my external audio gear every time I moved the ball or clicked on anything. I ended up putting those snap on ferrite chokes on the cables of the trackball, keyboard, wallwarts and ALL USB cables like the external HD. That has helped but not completely eliminated the issue.
I have the ae9 which I got 100 quid off. It is a beast of a soundcard which I modded as well. It does clap a lot of cheeks after modded and the audio quality/price ratio is very good.
Hi there, what did you connect to your ae-9? Is it a stereo active speaker system or a passive system? I have ae-7 and I don't feel the difference between onboard Realtek and ae-7's optical or 3.5 jack to RCA connections. I have Airpulse A80 active speakers that seem to have everything it needs to produce a good sound. Please advise.
That red sound blaster card, i bought a year ago and returned the same day since it was worst than my motherboard sound card. Right now I use a USB-C Soundblaster X4 DAC (because of multi function knob) that then feeds optically (outputs to) an SMSL DAC to my headphones. I already had the SMSL and the X4 is not as powerful, so win-win. I feed the sound back to PC into Voicemeeter Potato as a Digital input (all at 48kMhz). In Potato I also drive microphone rode NTG USB where i put a limiter and some denoising VST plugins that are housed in Cantabile Lite.
I'm new to audio so forgive me if my technical knowledge isn't so great, but... I have a pair of Power Beat Pros and these sound really good to me. I don't believe the soundcard from my laptop really does anything for them at all, but I really don't know. I'm going to be building a new pc and I'm wondering how I could possibly better my sound even further. I'm sure there are a lot of different things I could do, but whatever form it takes, it would be cool to where I'm actually able to notice a real improvement. Thx for any feedback!
I still use a PCI-E sound card today in 2024. Still rock a sandblaster z. I find a difference vs the onboard audio on my Aorus motherboard. I think I paid 150 bucks for it well worth it.
As someone who’s tried a lot of different solutions, just get a USB DAC/AMP which works with audiophile grade headphones or speakers. Creative (The Sound Blaster X G6 is a rock solid product if you are fine with staying up to 24-Bit 96KHz audio, and they work fine with my HD 600s while having extra features) and Schitt’s offerings are pretty good in that department. I feel like on-board audio is redundant nowadays as well as PCIE sound cards because of the inherent interference those have, alongside the bad drivers (RealTek comes to mind). HDMI based audio and USB audio replaced those for me.
10 years ago, I picked up an Asus Xonar Essence STX to pair it with a SoftRock SDR. I never connected the two and only took the sound card out of my PC last week. Now I'm building a new computer, but the new motherboards don't have coaxial SPDIF which I need to run a Wohler AES/EBU VU meter.
Many sound cards now days are natively USB controlled (Asus, for instance), so you are often getting a USB device whether you realize it or not. After experiencing poor microphone quality with the Soundblaster AE-5, I have given up on soundcards. I think they were already of marginal benefit, anyways. You can get potentially much cleaner audio with an external USB solution, particularly for microphone inputs. I use a 7 dollar USB dongle for my microphone input and the result is alot clearer audio and voice recognition, particularly when used with an intelligent noise gate (like NVidia RTX). Another option is to simply buy a motherboard with good audio quality. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, you can get good sound onboard if you are willing to spend a little more money. It's a matter of the board designers isolating and shielding the relevant sound components. Even low-end motherboards now days have high-fidelity chips - my ALC887 chip on my low-end motherboard has 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, which would have been considered hi-fi decades ago. It's simply a matter of designing a good board to go with these inexpensive integrated circuits.
Soundscard won't have interference from other components, the onboard audio can. The smakker the motherboard the higher the chance of crosstalk, i.e. static or hiss noises. The Soundblaster Z used to be a great soundcard, I have used it quite a long time. Though, Creative botched the software and my housemate, who now uses the Soundblaster, has a lot of sotware related issues I didn't have at all. Though, these days... I would recoomend a USB DAC over a Soundcard. Its a lot easier to setup or even things like the Denon PMA30. This is just an AMP but it also allows you to use optical from the device itself, not many dacs have this feature. its essentially a smaller version of their amplifiers and thus also allows a sub to be hooked up directly to the PMA30. However for most people this would be overkill. In many cases people just want their headphones to be driven properly and any DAC does this these days. Even onboard audio. But I like my external audio controls. its very nice to have. I personally use a Behringer U-Phoria UMC 202HD overkill of my use as it has twice the amount of ports I need.. but it was only about 60 bucks and the one I likely should have bought was around 50. The software is quit limited, but that is also what makes it good and bad. It runs great, I dont have anyissues and it doesnt get in the way, at the same time.. you also can't really do anything with your audio without a program like Voicemeeter or something. The latter I don't use. Sound is always difficult to answer because onboard audio have become very good in the last few years and if you don't plan on using prosumer(let alone audiphile) gear just stick to the onboard. But if you step up to M50X's, DT770/990. 6xx or 58X jubilee's its a nobrainer to look at simple easy to use dacs. You dont have to have expensive ones either, the manufacturer claims my DAC can power a Shure SM7B though I doubt that...
The RME will be fantastic. You won't regret it. I've used USB Audio interfaces since 2010 and 5 years ago I bought a Fireface UC. It's amazing how good quality and reliable they are.
I've got a Soundblaster Z, I found some EQ settings online that I liked, those coupled with simulated surround sound great through my 2.1 speakers. Games sound alive and it's a great all round experience. I heard you loud and clear and you certainly didn't sound like Alvin!
I use a dedicated USB PCI card from JCAT which goes straight to my DAC. This is for audiophiles only as this PCI card is very expensive compared to other solutions. Im happy with it as I use a dedicated PC for audio
Well for me I have had Asus Xonar sound cards in my machines as I have that really great sound control panel that goes with them. This gives me control over the effects frequencies etc etc and I would not be without them. I can create the sound profiles that suit me and it is just the ducks guts. My cards only cost me between $60 and $80 and are the greatest thing I have put into my machines. The sound I find is so perfect for me.
I believe the onboard audio of my MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi is supposed to be a USB 2.0 implementation, which I think might be why I do not get that background noise I used to associate with onboard audio.
I use the RME Fireface UFX+ and also use the Apollo X8P on another computer setup. I used to own AVID audio hardware but sold it, because I got fed up with their bullshit. It might be too excessive for some people. But I have unique reasons why. I used to use sound blaster way back in the day.
My brother bought me an Asus Xonar Essence STX card about 13 years ago. The sound on this thing is so superb. However, in the past couple years, I would randomly get this horrible high-pitched screeching out of nowhere. I finally removed it because it was getting worse it seemed. I have a gaming board which has a really nice built in HD Audio card. I can barely hear the difference between it and the old Asus. And there is no screeching ever. It has a Toslink connection that I use to plug into my stereo. Great sound.
Ended up here because I had an old e-mu 1616 sound card that I was considering trying make compatible with a newer laptop. I really appreciate you mentioning the basic parts. I think you will really like the new gear you are considering. I want to check it out too. Rather than try to revive this old dinosaur. In regard to clean sound. I did find today while researching the 1616 a page a fans that feel there is a latency benefit to they way it connects to the mother board, specifically not via USB. I look forward checking out your new and old content. Cheers
Good morning Chris, would I need anything in addition to a brand new motherboard using a realtek s1220a chipset with a Sennheiser HD 600 set of cans or is this something I need to try and see if it sounds clean and then make the decision if additional hardware is needed? Trying to avoid buying stuff I don't need. Thanks in advance!
Microcenter seems like a cool company. If you haven't seen the recent Gamer Nexus video where they stop in Microcenter, you should. It's a feel good video. I clicked every one of the Microcenter links in the description just on principle. :)
If you are recording for a CD output, you NEED to be 44.1 because that is the native CD bit rate. Otherwise you have to transcode, and taking 48 to 44.1 usually introduces things you don't want to hear. From 192k or 96K, not a huge issue dumming it down to 44.1.
My Soundblaster Recon 3D PCI Works and sounds awesome,,, Especially when hooked up to my Sony receiver and Klipsch Heresy speakers,, Can play for the whole neighborhood,, :-)
I'm glad I got a screenshot of that cheeky "no" version of the thumbnail. Took it because it made me chuckle :^) a brief distraction from the pain of existence.. still a great video though! Cheers 👁️👄👁️
Just ordered an Asus Zonar SE specifically for the optical out to go straight into an Marantz PM6007 amplifier. I do also have a decent dac but the soundcard reduces the modular add ons and simplifies my set up. I would be happy to see Asus take this little card into a full digital version maybe with coaxial out and usb c in one. There was not a lot of choice for half height cards either but this one will do.
Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen here, but I don't do an optical stuff with it. The sound is pretty clean and supports very high bit rates. On Linux it has some of the lowest latencies out there. There also pretty inexpensive.
3:00 straight to the chase! I'll keep watching anyway since this is entertaining lol I recently went on the hunt for a sound card since I'm building a PC. I haven't done so in like 15 years and thought, I wonder if these are still relevant? I think the main reason sound cards were big in the late 90's-early 00's was to reduce the load of processing sound on the CPU as they were pretty slow. I'll probably just look for an external DAC & Amp.
Ever since I got a pair of Feniks Essence speakers that plug into the USB port, I never used the built in audio except for when I use my headphones with a built in mic.
I've been on an audio quest since 1st creative sound card in 98. Had the Sound Blaster: Live, Audigy, Audigy 2, X-Fi, Z, ZxR, AE-5, Asus: Xonar, Essence STX 2. 2019 went to external dac amp with burson play than the playmate 2 with vivid op amps. I use the creative g6 for consoles. Internal sound cards have use but not a good market for games since gpus have tripled in size.
i´m not a expert in sound, just like you, but i can remenber perfect clear the day the day i assemble my new computer with sound blaster x-fi paired with logitech 5500 5.1. i´ll never know if was the sound card, the speaker or the combo...but my entire world of gamer change. Was the time of Modern Warfare 2.
I moved to Linux about 1.5 years ago, after using Windows for 10 years. Now when I see Windows graphics in menus, and remember the extensive tweaking I had to do on each install, I cringe. Mint is may be a little bloated, but the aesthetics are great. And to never have to worry about security (more precisely, my only worry is my own actions rather than the system itself). Looking forward to eventually getting into Arch and building a custom system one day soon.
So, some motherboards have a digital out that you wouldn't know about unless you know about it, as it were. Go down this rabbit hole. Search for 3.5mm mini toslink to toslink cable. For instance my Intel NUC 7 doesn't have full size toslink but the 3.5mm is mini-toslink capable.
I have to agree with using TOSLINK to an external DAC. When using resolving headphones, connecting to the computer's ground plane introduces hum and common-mode switching noises.
Creative products on pc has almost always produced good sound, imo. It has gotten better and if you're looking for more get their higher end stuff. Start off with a good motherboard. Buy a set of creative speakers for $20. From there if you're not satisfied get better gear with good reviews. My turtle beach surround headset was a major waste of money in 2007.
It's not so much that people don't care, Realtek took the question out of the game with their onboard about... 15 years ago. Coming from a broadcasting background, we used to use $2000 soundcards prior to then to get broadcast quality audio, around 2008 the replacement of computers in the workplace no longer required the additional card to matchup with the editing software because the onboard was a good enough standard. Even oem HP office pcs. For interviewing and so on, even a mic plugged into your phone is good enough today, the standard has raised.
Mobo stripping codecs back
now ALC 4080 IS FKED UP
Soundcards still sound better though these days and provide the option of virtual surround.
Motherboard audio is almost never used these days. Manufactures might as well just remove it. I couldn't even find a headset with the necessary analog plugs to connect to PC audio. The on-board sound chip is completely bypassed when using a digital connection, HDMI, DisplayPort, Bluetooth, USB, Optical, SPDIF. I don't know if my MB audio even works because I've never been able to plug it into anything.
@@L9MN4sTCUk Don't give them any ideas lol. I always use onboard audio. It's the only way I can use Dolby Atmos and DTS/DTS:X/etc. I have Corsair HS65 Surround headphones and yeah, they came with a USB plug. However, it's an adapter and you can use the 3.5mm jacks for audio/recording. My onboard audio sounds far better than the USB adapter. It's on an Asus STRIX B550-F Gaming Wi-Fi II with the "ROG SupremeFX 7.1-Channel High Definition Audio CODEC S1220A". Just Realtek onboard audio with dual OP amps.
The biggest thing was downloading all of the software/drivers to control the hardware. You can turn the amps up and modify all your settings. Also you need Sonic Studio III (for this board) to have further control. Then I bought Dolby Atmos and DTS to have spatial audio for my headphones.
But, yeah, I think there's lots of people doing what you were talking about. They use wireless (bluetooth) headphones or USB headphones or just run an HDMI/DP cable from their GPU to their monitor, then run a cable from their monitor to their speakers, effectively using the monitor's DAC.
But not all of us 😛
Electrical Noise is the cause of the hiss sound in your head phones and While the quality of your DAC chip on your sound card matters it is UNLIKELY the cause of the hiss you hear on many sound cards, in fact the single component causing this hiss or electrical noise is your POWER SUPPLY, unless you are using a Multi-rail-voltage Electrically noiseless power supply (NOT AUDIO NOISE) you will continue to suffer from electrical noise in the audio regardless of the quality of your sound card's DAC. All this noise issue is mainly applicable to analogue recording and play back.
For most people digital cables are unlikely to be used especially that most head sets are using the analogue plug... And the reason why sound cards are gone is because the Audio quality built-in on the motherboard nowdays is very adequate for the vast majority of people.
If you are recording audio into your PC from an analogue source beside using an electrically noiseless Power Supply you would want a sound card DAC with 115 ~ 120 dB SNR - (Signal to noise ratio). Using less than 110 ~ 113 dB SNR, depending on the quality of your sound card you may experience some hiss or humming noises, and using anything below 106 dB SNR for analogue to digital recording is NOT recommended.
An external DAC on USB is just as good as optical because the analog conversion still happens outside of the PC. A good basic setup for a lot of people willing to spend a bit more to really get into the entry of nicer gear is the Schiit Modi and Magni. By no means are they the best, but for $200 its a good option for a dedicated amp/DAC combo
This can be true, but as far as I understand you have to take drivers into account (either drivers that the Device needs or the default drivers windows uses).
Another point is that you ARE transporting interference thru the USB cable.
Optical means there is NOT physical connection (the data is photons) between the devices.
I have a Z-5500 and even if I use a dedicated DAC (bifrost multibit) and then feed that analog signal into the Z-5500 it sounds worse than just toslink into the Z-5500 directly. The more devices you add in a chain (especially with different amplification, pre amplification, etc) the worse the audio gets because you are exponentially adding noise at each step.
Not _as_ good no... Optical sends a RAW signal to a completely external component through light pulses, not electrical power; while at some point that light is transformed into electrical signals, it does it outside of the PC environment, whereas a USB DAC still gets electrical interference from the motherboard to power it up and send the data.
The noise on a USB DAC may be extremely quiet however (depending on the quality of the components), but if you aim to get as close to a completely noiseless experience as possible, S/PDIF (optical) is still king, even above HDMI.
You may hear the difference between raw data and whatever data reduction the use but I will guarantee you will not perceive the difference.
An external DAC is definitely the way to go for great sound. HBMHD is correct about completely isolating one particular path of RF noise, but at that level you are getting beyond what most people can hear and your budget moves from the hundred dollar neighborhood with phenomenal sound to another galaxy where people use pan-dimensional multi-spectral power cords and paint the edges of their cd's green.
@@dberry99 honestly, onboard chips are fine nowadays, as long as you oversample alot. Then the filtering issues will not be audible anymore. The claims of audiophiles stem from marketing in my opinion.
I remember the first sound blaster card I bought in the 90’s. I had a 486 with just the PC speaker and was a huge Wolfenstein 3D fan. When I installed this behemoth of a card, I couldn’t believe the sound quality. I was hooked for years in terms of using internal cards. But I haven’t used one for probably 20 years now
the good old days, my second pc was a 486
@LanciaSiluri I remember my dad got a sound card in the 90s and it came with deus ex and thief
Makes only sense when you use decent speaker. I have an Edifier 2.1 speaker setup for ages now and without a soundcard the speakers are never really loud nor has the sub any deep bass. I had the Xonar DX for some years and you'll notice the difference immediately: the speaker volume does not need to be turned up to high because on a lower level you already get a very clean sound and the sub is much more noticeable with soft and deep bass. Of course if you use only headphones and they are always gamer headphones with an inbuilt soundchip, then a soundcard is useless...
Bought a used Asus Xonar Essence STX for a decent price recently. I wasn't expecting much since I already had a good and modern onboard audio setup, or so I thought. I was completely blown away with the clarity of the sound output. It is much better than onboard audio and it is a card released more than 10 years ago. Of course, you need to pair it with a good headphone. In my case I have an Audio-Technica ATH-M50x. The listening experience is magical.
I got an Asus xonar d2 and it sounded amazing. Unfortunately it's no longer supported on windows 10. Built in obsolescence by Asus.
The video kind of left me confused about the sound floor. I have a somewhat old sound card. It's a Creative Titanium HD. I'm using something relatively cheap & even with the volume maxed, I still can't hear the sound floor.
It could be my headphone ain't picky up anything at low dB. You measure FFT from an oscilloscope. if you can't pick up anything you can head full hardcore more with a network analyzer to find the tiny sound floor. 😁
If the youtuber pick up noise floor, he need help.
@@dtz1000 Have a look for the Uni (Unified) Xonar Drivers, built by a dedicated person to keep the xonar cards going and supports Windows 10 and 11.
@@PythosianMan Thanks, will look for them.
"I was completely blown away with the clarity of the sound output."
Yup, thats the reaction when people usually say "onboard is enough".
I find it always hilarious when people buy the biggest high end pc's yet they refuse to buy a soundcard :D
This just popped up on my home page ... and, yes, I know I'm way late to the party this time.
There is an entire subset of audiophiles and music lovers who use "Home Theatre PC" driven systems. The HTPC is generally one of the new mini-computers that are so popular right now. The magic is all in the software. The audio gear can run anywhere from a couple of hundred dollars to a couple of hundred thousand dollars... and yeah, it can be downright spectacular.
The general arrangement is to have the HTPC at the centre of the setup, handling local storage, media streaming, some gaming and, of course audio and video duties.
Video is easy ... big TV, HDMI cable and bob's yer uncle.
Audio... not so much.
Most often the setup for the audio is a USB DAC (Digital to Audio Converter) that feeds the audio power amplifiers. These aren't cheap "soundcards", some of them can cost $10,000 or more.
For DACs there are two basic standards ... Usb Audio Classes UAC1 and UAC2. UAC1 runs up to 24 bits, 96,000 samples per second. UAC2 tops out at 32 bits, 384,000 samples per second ... For most Windows machines the appropriate drivers are selected on the first connect. (To learn more, do a search for "PCM Audio" and/or "Windows Audio"... there's a ton of stuff out there to read.)
Software wise, Windows includes an "Exclusive Mode" , used in high end audio, that is triggered by the media player to keep the data flow as pristine as possible, taking a direct route from the source file decoders to the USB output that blocks all other sounds and will play media files in their native speed and size formats.
So, to answer the question of whether sound cards matter anymore... the answer is "Yes" and in all truth they probably matter more now than they did 10 years ago.
Of late I've been on a bit of a quest, looking for the most economical DAC that supports UAC2 standards. It's not easy, because there are some really wonky things on the market.
Some DACs will block the Windows volume controls, forcing you to use the volume knob on your preamplifier or amplifier instead. This of course kills the whole idea of using a wireless keyboard to run the system... which can be a real deal breaker.
Others require special drivers that seldom work right...
And on and on...
So that brings up the question of: "Is it better to buy computer interfaces from an audio company or to buy audio interfaces from a computer company" ... the answer being "These guys really need to talk to one and other!" Computer designers have neglected the audio and audio designers don't understand the computer side of things.
Still, when it works, it most often works spectacularly.
I remember the sound cards, back to the 8 bit ones. I was big into the optical ones too until HDMI. My previous mobo's optical out didn't support 5.1 to my theater receiver, and I learned that 5.1 is about the most bandwidth optical can support. I'm running a 7.1 setup, soon to be full on 9.1.2 Atmos, and the optical simply won't carry that bandwidth. Then again, I think my scenario is different. The HDMI carries the digital audio signal through the graphics card, to a completely separate receiver, and that's essentially been the setup for my main entertainment pc for the last decade.
if i remember correctly, optical has never been able to do anything past 5.1 and even at that it was lower bandwidth also so it'd lower the quality using it... pretty much only good for high end stereo. not sure if they've changed it since the PS3 days, but that's when i learned a lot about it since i had a 5.1 receiver at the time and was trying to learn all about it and such. but even back then for anything surround sound they said top tier being HDMI then the 3.5mm jack setup. seems to sadly still hold true now days.
Many of Creative's internal cards are actually new designs that were released in the past few years. And they don't have issues with noise like you say.
Yeah.. idk. I solved my xonar dgx noise problem by getting balanced cables. That's the noise problem usually. I'm not sold on these dacs yet..
They don't, I use them. Chris doesn't know WTF he is talking about.
they are made for gaming
Something random to add, but just using your optical output located on most enthusiast motherboards (event the low-end ones) are a massive benefit.
the reason why some internal soundcards have a cover is that the cover is actually there to stop noise caused by other components in the PC. I have a few different ones. For me even though i have optical whenever im recording an event the place only has XLR so i just use the line in, though even cheap ones do decent as well.
I use a little USB FiiO E10K-TC that you can pick up for $75 or cheaper on sale. Works out of the box in Windows and Linux with no issues. Only time I do have an issue it is with updated NVIDIA drivers changing the audio device to an HDMI monitor. It brings the audio signal outside of the PC case so the noise floor is very low, and there is a line-out on the back for powered speakers as well. I keep it at 96kHz for my needs, but it supports upto 384kHz if you need it. I am by no means an audiophile but I know what I like.
If you get that Micro Center USB Thumb Drive, here is an idea!:
INSTALL LINUX
I find additional PCI sound cards deliver more power to run the sound and the sound is more pristine.
The weakest part in the onboard Realtek sound on my motherboard seems to be the amplifier component. Yes, if you turn up the output too high or use the volume boost feature you can add noise to the signal (so can the microphone port, muting it can make a huge difference), but I found that I could clean it up by using an external headphone amplifier along with some reference headphones). Personally, I don't like to use external devices for sound because they can add noticeable latency in games and cause problems when recording or in titles like Rocksmith.
Another reason people used to use sound cards is that they had hardware processors to take some strain off of a CPU. That got killed off with the move to Windows XP because Microsoft changed the way sound got processed in Windows, essentially making it all software based and instantly making gaming sound cards like the Soundblaster range pretty much pointless as soon as the onboard sound systems became 'good enough'.
OK Geeks, the way to REALLY lower the sound floor is with cryogenic heat sinks liquid helium or Peltier devices (satellite transducers) and Green Bank Radioastronomy Dishes. As this tech (including the Javelin missile) is mature and coming down in price. I am surprised no one has run with this. MRI machines use liquid helium to run enough current in the coils to run city blocks for a bit to get incredibly detailed images otherwise "lost in the noise".
lol
@@kreigrastalovich2577 The rich have the toys...
Thanks Chris, I am also one of those people who likes to have better sound quality. I was looking to add a sound card until I viewed your video on the subject, so I will look at other alternative's. Love your videos, keep up the great content.
Is the hi-fi bug going around or something? I recently have gotten into the hi-fi world as well. Just a small point of clarification: speakers are driven by analog signals, so the conversion from digital to analog always will happen at some point in the audio chain regardless of whether you are using optical inputs and outputs--the question is just where.
Also, if you're using optical out from your source, the source may resample or do some other processing on the digital signal. That is, the audio stream that goes into the sound card technically might differ from the audio stream that goes out. Meanwhile, if outputting from your computer via USB, the audio stream basically skips past the internal sound card in your computer. In this case, the PC is merely "passing through" the audio stream from UA-cam, Spotify, etc., whereas with optical, the sound card is first processing the audio stream before outputting it.
I'd gladly shop at Microcenter if any were local to me. Microcenter, YOU NEED TO OPEN MORE STORES.
Same lol
@@MagnusRohden-db8gy Annoyingly, in the 2 years since I made that comment, no Microcenter opened up near me. *sighs*
@greggmacdonald9644 :(
I have both fedora 35 and windows 11 on the same pc , I dont know what it is but when im listening to music the fedora sound quality is miles better than the windows one.
@@Kanny_Manny never tried LDAC bluetooth usually used wired headphones , but ill test it out
@@Kanny_Manny audio quality on linux is better on bluetooth too , my bluetooth headphones button dont work tho but thats not a big deal
Maybe if you are using the onboard audio you have the audio enhanceme ts on that the default windows realtek drivers have.
I think the cool think about sound cards is just the built in IO on your pc, enabling you to record your own vinyl and use analogue audio setups easily. Evga sells one that looks cool
Biggest problem I usually run into is not the quality of the onboard sound card or the features, but the amp for my headphones. Not a problem I've had for my speakers but I assume that's because they've got an amp built in running the speakers. Apart from that though onboard has been good for me on my Asus x570 plus. I just use a SMSL Headphone amp using optical and it really brings my headphones to life. Not a professional music producer or anything, just enjoy music and video games, so for my needs a good headphone amp and I'm happy.
does dac/amp combo works on speakers even it has logo for headphones only?
I still use an Asus Essence STX 1 & II. I have USB dacs like the Dragon Fly Red and Oppo Ha-2 but the Essence still sounds stunning to me, both via the headphone amp & phono out.
Just get any motherboard out there with a Realtek _1220_ chip (the name changes depending on the mobo manufacturer, but it always has the number 1220) and you're golden; those motherboards will *always* have enough outputs for up to 7.1 channels *and* an optical (S/PDIF) output for whatever you want below Atmos.
Anything above 7.1 channels, just go HDMI
Hey Chris, excellent info on your channel here today. I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 USB interface for everyday sound. It does 44 - 192khz sample rates. A good reliable interface. NZ$ 350. I use this setup for my music production at a minimum. Keep up the great work. Be safe and well where you are.
IDK man, is even focusrite now worth the price now? I mean, they use like 15 years old tech for DSP/ADDA chips. there should be newer and CHEAPER DSP chips.
@@ijash-yt Yes. You can opt for a MOTU interface if you prefer that, though.
Otherwise there's RME or Universal Audio, which are only for professionals (meaning they are very expensive)
These are all very reliable brands in my experience personally. I've heard good things about Presonus' interfaces, but I have no experience with them.
@@ForceGamerrr do they use newer & up to date chips? AFAIK UAD also use old techs and not worth the price. NXP, STM, etc.. are releasing newer DSP chips to date with better memory, buffer and caching, and I have no idea which brands are updating their technology. I will take a look at presonus. Thank you..
@@ijash-yt Unless it lowers the price, there’s no need to use newer chips, because none of them have any issues. If it’s important to you, then do some research to find who uses newer chips and such, but I personally don’t believe it matters at all (again, unless it makes them cheaper)
@@ForceGamerrr even if with the same price, newer chips should give you cheaper price per performance unit.
I have the AE-9 with MUSE OPamps.. fantastic sound and very clear on Beyerdynamics DT- 1990 Headphones (with Dekoni replacement pads) and previously with Sennheiser 650. Its overkill for gaming but what I can now hear in games is exceptional... and on music is just awesome regardless of genre.
same except 700x pros, u sir are doing it the right way. Do you have a DAC, highly recommend one to amplify your audio. My god i love doing work on them and also producing with them
@@gely_ Thanks, at the moment i dont have a DAC. The AE9 seems to give the power it needs to the DT1990's but certainly considering :)
I bought a focusrite Scarlett 8is and Yamaha hs7 studio monitors. The difference in the audio quality in gaming is night and day. Taking my case Diablo to resurrected, I can hear ambient environmental and background sounds out of the monitors that I were never there before on my motherboard and Logitech speaker audio. Well worth the investment I would do it again and never look back.
for a while now I have used smsl dac and amp for my headphones and a scarlett 2i2 for my mic and this has worked fine for me.
I just bought the SMSL combo, too--waiting for it to arrive. Glad to hear it's working for well.
I have never heard of these SMSL dacs, but man they do look good. I'm going to pick one up.
@@ChrisTitusTech Topping is another brand to check out. Offer a similar DAC + Amp stack, but also some integrated units like the MX5.
Thank you for again reinforcing what I have always believed and heard, Toslink optical is the best for music as "interference" can not find it's way into the signal as can with Analog. Another thing, analog and coaxial digital (the single rca sound cable) are only 2 channels. With optical, it can handle 8 channels of sound. And is what gives you true 5.1 Surround Sound. Nothing else does, and why it was invented. Without it everything is computer simulation otherwise "Hi Def" audio.
For some reason with Sound Blaster internal sound cards the remaining noise floor can be eliminated by pulling the card out of the PCIE slot by 1mm.
I did it with my Sound Blaster Z and it made a bigger difference then going from motherboard audio to the sound card in the first place.
You need to get audio as quickly out of the computer as you can to stop interference. I use a IFI Zen dac which I've had no complaints with not sure if this audiophile grade but I love it.
Im iFi Zen DAC v2 user and recomending 👍
I have a iFi ZEN dac too
ZEN DAC is pretty good for average users like me, although after some research I do found better solutions for the same buck.
@@devondorr8212 Im interested what better solutions did you find ?
@@user4794 I just mean there are DACs that have better performance at the same price range and suits my needs better.
i didn't think it would make a difference before ... the audio from my computer was very weak , i used a usb sound card from turtle beach i bought almost 20 years ago ... what a world of difference ... booming sounds coming outta that card
I upgraded my 2002 Compaq tower with a sound blaster card and never went back (very dated now) It drives my Sennheiser headphones and tightens up the bass. It records at only 16/44.1 but sounds great. I used it recently (computer still runs.. win XP) to digitize all of my music reel to reel master tapes. It beats my current HP laptop motherboard that does not drive headphones well, just does not sound as good as the old system.
8:00: What is the reason for using this, if it’s digital in/out?
I use a Fiio usb DAC, mainly because it drives my Sennheiser headphones much better than my motherboards on board sound. The DAC is good for the price.
You can get an amazing DI for the price of a good sound card and your quality of sound is going to be amazing. DI's are the best way to go . Your mic will make a difference as well. Condescend mics are best and the DI boxes support phantom power. You only need a 2 channel DI to get amazing sound. Reaper is great to mix your audio and there are tons of plugins that you can use. Reaper and the plug ins are free. Been a musician for years and I've worked in IT for years. For sound you have to switch to music gear.
Yeah I'm surprised he didn't talk about digital interfaces. I switched from a soundcard to a Focusrite Scarlett Solo about a year ago; got a condenser mic to go with it and haven't looked back since.
@@ChrisBanda Great job. That is the best combo. It's not the 90's anymore with sound cards. To me i find that a sound card is useless, as a DI are just so much cheaper and way better and provides way more options down the line.
A usb audio interface such as the Focusrite Scarlett or a Presonus audio box is a good affordable option for quality audio that can be had for around 100 to 200 bucks. pairing the interfaces with a high quality pair of headphone, a decent XLR mic, and a pair of studio monitors will pretty much give you a high quality studio quality recording. if you add a midi keyboard and a DAW with some decent plugins which can all be had for cheap you will pretty much have the setup to make most of the songs released in the last decade.
I didn't plan on having a studio style setup but now i've got a 2i4 & monitors & I love that I can add to this and get a really good setup
I disagree, over here I use a PCIe ASUS Xonar Essence STX II sound card with 124dB SNR, >0.0003 %(-110 dB) THD+N, native 192kHz/24-bit max, Bur-Brown PCM1792A DAC used in hi-end, studio grade equipment. There are other DACS like the ASUS Xonar U7 MKII that doesn't get that far, however, it has a native support for SACD and DSD that for people that create for UA-cam and other platforms, this, SACD and DSD features makes no difference at all.
So, yes! Sound cards still worth if the person knows what he is doing.
I use a Focusrite Scarlett 2i2. Had it for many years and still works like a charm
i brought a pair of Presonus Eris E5's for a £120 on FB marketplace, i was going to buy a Scarlett when the guy who sold the speakers to me found out he said here have my old 2i4 1st gen I've upgraded and don't need this anymore. When I plugged this all in, compared to my old Corsair SP2500 this setup blew me away on hearing things in music i've never heard until now. I still need a sub because I miss the low down bass & I intend to buy a Temblor T10 to add to it.
I’ve honestly had nothing but great experiences with Micro Center I live in Southern California and the nearest one to me is the one that’s in Tustin love the crew there
I bought an ASUS Xonar (can't remember which one) soundcard last year to use 5.1 optical out to my Logitech Z906 speakers. I was using the 3.5mm audio jack's in my motherboard but I didn't like the noisey sound coming from it.
Microsoft made it so that with the latest versions of Windows 10 you can only set 2.0 out in optical unless you use modded drivers for some devices. I couldn't find any modded drivers for my MSI X470 Gaming plus that worked so I bought an ASUS Xonar card that works with unixonar drivers. Those drivers allow me to set 5.1 audio out through optical out.
just get a proper audio interface
What I learned going through this process...
Step one buy quality headphones with an output profile that match your taste and you need to decide if you want closed, semi-open or open backed. I wanted very clean detailed female vocals with an open airy sound stage so I bought a set of Beyerdynamic DT880 600Ω version. The DT880 are semi-open backed and do have isolation from your environment but you can still hear what's going on around you so your better half won't be throwing things at you to get your attention. Open or semi-open headphones have a wider more realistic (imho) sound stage than fully enclosed headphones (or buds).
I initially connected my PC to a Pioneer home receiver with optical toslink which worked great but my receiver runs like a toaster so I later purchased a very reasonably priced dedicated headphone amp called Micca OriGen 2. It has both USB and optical toslink in up to 24bit/192khz and power enough for 600Ω headphones, separate1/8 and 1/4 headphone jacks, nice volume knob for both the headphone or 1/8 stereo analog out for powered speakers. The 1/8 analog out doubles as a mini optical out so this unit can take a USB PC connection and pass digital through the 1/8 optical out. Apparently It can also connect to Android via USB OTG but I haven't tried that. I also picked up an unpowered 3 way optical Toslink switch so I can switch between PC input or 200 CD changer from my desk with zero loss in quality. The sound quality/price ratio is good.
One thing I did notice is that if you are listening to a 44.1khz FLAC file in Foobar for example and you have your DAC/Amp set to 48khz, the output will not be passed on "raw" for external decoding but will be first decoded from 44.1khz and then re-encoded to 48khz on your PC first and then decoded again on your external DAC which did make a small but noticeable difference in audible quality vs matching the DAC to the source material. With a decent audio setup you will also notice Spotify "high quality" isn't that high quality after all (Amazon is better) with a sound stage that is noticeably compressed and duller than original source material or 320kb mp3. I'm over 50 and my high frequency sensitivity is fading now so young people will certainly notice this.
Much of the appeal of sound cards got thrown out the window when Microsoft changed their audio system with the release of i think windows Vista, and it ruined hardware accelerated positional audio like Creative EAX. I still use a sound card today though, a Creative X-Fi Titanium HD. I do so because i really like some of the gaming features like CMSS-3D and how it's one of the few cards that passes those audio enhancements through the Toslink output to an external DAC/Headphone Amp.
KUDOS for sharing! OMG I remember buying the sound blaster cards etc, and could never afford a Turtle Beach one? Yes optical is the way to go, and from what I remember, cleanes way as well. A good resource may be a musician friend or shop? You ARE FORTUNATE indeed to have MicroCentre local to you! Miss it MUCH from when I lived in DFW area years ago! ALL THE BEST and Cheers! :)
I just use my focusrite solo gen3. Pretty cheap, I plug in my SM-48 mic and my studio headphones and it’s better than any sound card I’ve ever used
but that audio interface only covers the input side of your sound scenario
@@-Jakob- and output
@@joe7992 so you set your Focusrite in your OS as output as well, interesting. I'm a noob, just ordered a Arturia MiniFuse 2 as my first audio interface.
A lot of the good audio mixers have built in USB interfaces. I use the Behringer UMC404HD for live broadcast and a Zoom for 16 simultaneous channels. I've been looking for a multichannel optical mixer but have not found one yet.
I dont know much. But as far as I'm concened Mr Carlsons Lab has the finest audio on UA-cam and he uses a valve mic. It's so rich and warm in it's tone. Defo worth looking into him Chris.
A good DAC should be undetectable, and not stand out. You don't want it changing the signal, you want it faithfully converting it. I'd argue the same about amps, but there are other options like tube amps that change the sound in a way that people like, similar to why people like vinyl records.
Does bluetooth use the soundcard to convert signals into sounds or the bluetooth on the motherboard does everything? Reason why I am asking this is because when I use my bose wireless earbuds on my laptop for gaming, there is a lag but on my desktop, no lag. Or is there probably a better bluetooth chip in my desktop?
The issue with Toslink is it can not carry uncompressed audio greater the 2.1, with the exception of HDMI analog 3 x 3.5mm outputs analog is the only way to get surround output.
Hmm. Got curious if soundcards were useful at all. Had an old Soundblaster card. Actually still have it though it rusted a little (sat in storage for too long). In the end it's not really necessary for me. Everything I have hooks up via optical audio anyways.
Was given a friends computer but it didn't have optical out for sound. I bought an Asus Xonar SE Gaming sound card. I run an optical cable from sound card to my Lavry DA 11 dac and then in to my Pioneer VSX D1S pro logic receiver and use infinity Kappa 5 main speakers, a HSU 12 powered sub woofer and some Jamo rear channel speaker for movies , this is my computer set up. I also use a BBE Sonic Maximizer for tone control on occasion. I'm content with the sound. I also use a FIIO BTR5 and BTR 7 (Much Better) for portable sound with Fostex headphones. Even the Koss KPH30i (2 pairs with oversized ear pads) sound amazing especially for the price. My 2 cents.
I use a audiophile 24/96 card in my server which came out about mid 2000's. Pretty dated but this card is fantastic. Has RCA plugs and amazing SNR. I use it for capturing vinyl and other analog sound which goes to my youtube channel. On Linux it works if you plug it in however once in a while I'd do a fresh install and need to manually change some settings in whatever computer I had it in at the time as it would think it's a different model of M-Audio card (once this is set this is no longer a problem). It uses a program called Mudita to set custom settings like capture rate, rate lock, etc.
Simple soundcard? Behringer U-Control UCA222 for €24, 2 in, 2 out and USB (if you want surround you have to channel up). A little better, Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 3rd Gen also USB, much better... RME audio, Much much better UAD or SSL or Audient. As I'm in the business, I always have a Behringer thing in my same toolbox as my DI converters. Because it's so versatile, it's better than a iPhone 😉 I'm not kidding, some tracks sent to me are recorded with an iPhone. And No, Soundblaster is never used in the industry. RME PCIe cards are amazing. And can be linked from ADAT to analog channels. PS: we use wordclocks to sync our soundcards, I have about 32channels in 96Khz, 24bit and that wordclock says to any interface, these settings. So you always have the right setttings. But all this stuff costs a ton.
Today audiophiles use USB interfaces.
I use smsl dac. topping makes top cheap interfaces. For recording I use an ESI. There are a lot of pro adc dac affordable, under 200 €
I highly recommend testing out Behringer U-Phoria HD USB interfaces (like UMC204HD)... They are an anomaly on the market! Using Midas Amplifiers and such good components at such a low price is just incredible!
I have one and was not convinced at first but the guy at the store told me I could bring it back and he would give me a pricier option for free if I was not happy... I stayed with me! The noise level is... inexistant... At full volume there is no "hiss". The sound output is so clean and definition is outstanding. Mic inputs are incredible too... although I stopped using them and switched to a Rode VideoMic NTG (all digital Mic) and will never look back... Try to put your hands on one... I am sure you will like it!
I run a Christmas light display set to music from my computer and use a Soundblaster play3. There's a bit of improvement over the motherboard card, and for $20 it's well worth it. Probably some of that improvement comes from using a long USB cord and having the audio stay digital until it's 15 feet away from the computer.
This is good for consumer audio for listening to music and watching movies at not-so-loud levels (due to SNR) however there is a whole different world being the enthusiast and pro-audio fields - they are a very demanding and an unforgiving kettle of fishies.
In that game it is best to keep everything external with comms being usb and thunderbolt.
The key specifications for this in addition to samples per second and bit depth are most importantly is SNR (Signal to Noise Ration), Latency and concurrent interfaces for multi-track recording as well as routing with external hardware (ie: digital signal processing units).
Back on 2002 when I was in radio I produced DJ mixsets and had to get the "presence" of my voice in front of the music. I had to push the audio-compression (percieved volume) to +20db and that required a very "clean" (noise-free) audio source.
Every element in the chain from my voice, the room (audio reflection dampening material), the microphone, the interface, even the quality of headphones so there was no "feedback loops".
Real-Time digital processing of the voice could be done with software that rewired the microphone input to the DSP module and then rewired the input from that into the physical mixer, or the DJ software which at the time the only viable option was Native Instruments Traktor Studio.
The DSP software I used was Izotope Ozone which comes with a library of presets for just about anything one could think of in mastering and processing any sort of audio - it is a very compact swiss army knife of digital audio signal processing with very low latency.
As to hardware pro-audio interfaces, have a look at Apogee, Arturia, Behringer, Focusrite, M-Audio, MOTU, RME, Steinberg, Tascam, Universal Audio (alphabetical, unbiased).
FM Radio is a pretty stringent environment with government imposed mandatory requirements, so DSP before hitting the microwave link to the transmitter was Orban Optimod.
I prefer USB DACs myself. Getting the source of the sound outside of the case with fans and other things going on that can introduce that background noise was what I needed for my basic setup with some higher end head phones. I use the Fulla E from Shiit Audio. Funny name with an even funnier way it identifies itself on my computer, but a good product without breaking the bank and their products are well known for being Linux friendly. It drives my DT 770 Pro headphones (80 ohm) without breaking a sweat and I got crystal clear audio on it as far as my ears can tell which is all that really matters to me.
Depending on what you're needing to do, audio can be overthought about. Onboard audio chip sets on good motherboards are decent enough to get most people up and running for gaming and general computer use these days, but if you have higher end head phones/speakers, get yourself a decent DAC and you'll be well set for the all the general computer use stuff from gaming to listening to music to talking on video conference calls.
Good Primer. I ran a windows partition for our recording studio activities and my occasional steam gaming. I use my Linux manjaro kde partition for 100‰ of business, work and personal activities. I use the same RME babyface pro (audio interface/ external soundcard/DAC) for both partition and I couldn't be more satisfied getting 48khz and more or less 6ms latency quality on both. Most professional Audio Interface (soundcard) like RME will run flawless when you switch them to USB compliant mode. That's how Linux accesses these audio interfaces at their lowest possible latency which is important both in gaming and professional audio.
Hello Crhis.
I use dac fiio e10k with Sennheiser HD 599 headset for gaming and audio. For me, it's perfect.
Are Soundcards worth it in 2022?
Yes OR No ????
External USB rigs aren't immune from electrical noise either, my Elecom HUGE trackball was introducing static into my external audio gear every time I moved the ball or clicked on anything. I ended up putting those snap on ferrite chokes on the cables of the trackball, keyboard, wallwarts and ALL USB cables like the external HD. That has helped but not completely eliminated the issue.
Sound quality and computer is something I was very interested in, this is a great video that’s gonna help me get started thanks!
I have the ae9 which I got 100 quid off. It is a beast of a soundcard which I modded as well.
It does clap a lot of cheeks after modded and the audio quality/price ratio is very good.
Hi there, what did you connect to your ae-9? Is it a stereo active speaker system or a passive system? I have ae-7 and I don't feel the difference between onboard Realtek and ae-7's optical or 3.5 jack to RCA connections. I have Airpulse A80 active speakers that seem to have everything it needs to produce a good sound. Please advise.
@@dwarfrom beyerdynamic 1990 pro, direct mode
Creative Sound BlasterX G6 is what I use now. Great sound and flexibility , easily beats motherboard sound
Sound on my PC is something I have been Struggling with. Thanks for the information.
That red sound blaster card, i bought a year ago and returned the same day since it was worst than my motherboard sound card. Right now I use a USB-C Soundblaster X4 DAC (because of multi function knob) that then feeds optically (outputs to) an SMSL DAC to my headphones. I already had the SMSL and the X4 is not as powerful, so win-win. I feed the sound back to PC into Voicemeeter Potato as a Digital input (all at 48kMhz). In Potato I also drive microphone rode NTG USB where i put a limiter and some denoising VST plugins that are housed in Cantabile Lite.
I'm new to audio so forgive me if my technical knowledge isn't so great, but... I have a pair of Power Beat Pros and these sound really good to me. I don't believe the soundcard from my laptop really does anything for them at all, but I really don't know. I'm going to be building a new pc and I'm wondering how I could possibly better my sound even further. I'm sure there are a lot of different things I could do, but whatever form it takes, it would be cool to where I'm actually able to notice a real improvement. Thx for any feedback!
Micro Center is awesome. They got me a 555 timer! Those things are not easy to find anymore.
I still use a PCI-E sound card today in 2024. Still rock a sandblaster z. I find a difference vs the onboard audio on my Aorus motherboard. I think I paid 150 bucks for it well worth it.
As someone who’s tried a lot of different solutions, just get a USB DAC/AMP which works with audiophile grade headphones or speakers. Creative (The Sound Blaster X G6 is a rock solid product if you are fine with staying up to 24-Bit 96KHz audio, and they work fine with my HD 600s while having extra features) and Schitt’s offerings are pretty good in that department. I feel like on-board audio is redundant nowadays as well as PCIE sound cards because of the inherent interference those have, alongside the bad drivers (RealTek comes to mind). HDMI based audio and USB audio replaced those for me.
10 years ago, I picked up an Asus Xonar Essence STX to pair it with a SoftRock SDR. I never connected the two and only took the sound card out of my PC last week. Now I'm building a new computer, but the new motherboards don't have coaxial SPDIF which I need to run a Wohler AES/EBU VU meter.
I have an acer veriton X2665G series and connected it with VGA cable! My question is why my cpu produce sounds eventhough I'm not using an HDMI cable?
Many sound cards now days are natively USB controlled (Asus, for instance), so you are often getting a USB device whether you realize it or not.
After experiencing poor microphone quality with the Soundblaster AE-5, I have given up on soundcards. I think they were already of marginal benefit, anyways. You can get potentially much cleaner audio with an external USB solution, particularly for microphone inputs. I use a 7 dollar USB dongle for my microphone input and the result is alot clearer audio and voice recognition, particularly when used with an intelligent noise gate (like NVidia RTX).
Another option is to simply buy a motherboard with good audio quality. Contrary to the conventional wisdom, you can get good sound onboard if you are willing to spend a little more money. It's a matter of the board designers isolating and shielding the relevant sound components. Even low-end motherboards now days have high-fidelity chips - my ALC887 chip on my low-end motherboard has 97 dB signal-to-noise ratio, which would have been considered hi-fi decades ago. It's simply a matter of designing a good board to go with these inexpensive integrated circuits.
Soundscard won't have interference from other components, the onboard audio can. The smakker the motherboard the higher the chance of crosstalk, i.e. static or hiss noises. The Soundblaster Z used to be a great soundcard, I have used it quite a long time. Though, Creative botched the software and my housemate, who now uses the Soundblaster, has a lot of sotware related issues I didn't have at all.
Though, these days... I would recoomend a USB DAC over a Soundcard. Its a lot easier to setup or even things like the Denon PMA30. This is just an AMP but it also allows you to use optical from the device itself, not many dacs have this feature. its essentially a smaller version of their amplifiers and thus also allows a sub to be hooked up directly to the PMA30. However for most people this would be overkill.
In many cases people just want their headphones to be driven properly and any DAC does this these days. Even onboard audio. But I like my external audio controls. its very nice to have. I personally use a Behringer U-Phoria UMC 202HD overkill of my use as it has twice the amount of ports I need.. but it was only about 60 bucks and the one I likely should have bought was around 50. The software is quit limited, but that is also what makes it good and bad. It runs great, I dont have anyissues and it doesnt get in the way, at the same time.. you also can't really do anything with your audio without a program like Voicemeeter or something. The latter I don't use.
Sound is always difficult to answer because onboard audio have become very good in the last few years and if you don't plan on using prosumer(let alone audiphile) gear just stick to the onboard. But if you step up to M50X's, DT770/990. 6xx or 58X jubilee's its a nobrainer to look at simple easy to use dacs. You dont have to have expensive ones either, the manufacturer claims my DAC can power a Shure SM7B though I doubt that...
The RME will be fantastic. You won't regret it.
I've used USB Audio interfaces since 2010 and 5 years ago I bought a Fireface UC. It's amazing how good quality and reliable they are.
My Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen is really nice to. I would say go for Pro Audio gear if you want great ADA conversion with a low noise floor.
I've got a Soundblaster Z, I found some EQ settings online that I liked, those coupled with simulated surround sound great through my 2.1 speakers. Games sound alive and it's a great all round experience. I heard you loud and clear and you certainly didn't sound like Alvin!
I use a dedicated USB PCI card from JCAT which goes straight to my DAC. This is for audiophiles only as this PCI card is very expensive compared to other solutions. Im happy with it as I use a dedicated PC for audio
Well for me I have had Asus Xonar sound cards in my machines as I have that really great sound control panel that goes with them. This gives me control over the effects frequencies etc etc and I would not be without them. I can create the sound profiles that suit me and it is just the ducks guts. My cards only cost me between $60 and $80 and are the greatest thing I have put into my machines. The sound I find is so perfect for me.
I believe the onboard audio of my MSI MAG X570S Tomahawk MAX WiFi is supposed to be a USB 2.0 implementation, which I think might be why I do not get that background noise I used to associate with onboard audio.
I use the RME Fireface UFX+ and also use the Apollo X8P on another computer setup. I used to own AVID audio hardware but sold it, because I got fed up with their bullshit.
It might be too excessive for some people. But I have unique reasons why.
I used to use sound blaster way back in the day.
My brother bought me an Asus Xonar Essence STX card about 13 years ago. The sound on this thing is so superb. However, in the past couple years, I would randomly get this horrible high-pitched screeching out of nowhere. I finally removed it because it was getting worse it seemed. I have a gaming board which has a really nice built in HD Audio card. I can barely hear the difference between it and the old Asus. And there is no screeching ever. It has a Toslink connection that I use to plug into my stereo. Great sound.
Screeching can be capacitors bleeding out.
Ended up here because I had an old e-mu 1616 sound card that I was considering trying make compatible with a newer laptop. I really appreciate you mentioning the basic parts.
I think you will really like the new gear you are considering. I want to check it out too. Rather than try to revive this old dinosaur.
In regard to clean sound. I did find today while researching the 1616 a page a fans that feel there is a latency benefit to they way it connects to the mother board, specifically not via USB.
I look forward checking out your new and old content. Cheers
Good morning Chris, would I need anything in addition to a brand new motherboard using a realtek s1220a chipset with a Sennheiser HD 600 set of cans or is this something I need to try and see if it sounds clean and then make the decision if additional hardware is needed? Trying to avoid buying stuff I don't need. Thanks in advance!
Microcenter seems like a cool company. If you haven't seen the recent Gamer Nexus video where they stop in Microcenter, you should. It's a feel good video. I clicked every one of the Microcenter links in the description just on principle. :)
I really liked Micro Center in Dallas when I was there as late as 2003.
If you are recording for a CD output, you NEED to be 44.1 because that is the native CD bit rate. Otherwise you have to transcode, and taking 48 to 44.1 usually introduces things you don't want to hear. From 192k or 96K, not a huge issue dumming it down to 44.1.
i prefer 48k with 348kbit
My Soundblaster Recon 3D PCI Works and sounds awesome,,, Especially when hooked up to my Sony receiver and Klipsch Heresy speakers,, Can play for the whole neighborhood,, :-)
I'm glad I got a screenshot of that cheeky "no" version of the thumbnail. Took it because it made me chuckle :^) a brief distraction from the pain of existence.. still a great video though!
Cheers 👁️👄👁️
Just ordered an Asus Zonar SE specifically for the optical out to go straight into an Marantz PM6007 amplifier. I do also have a decent dac but the soundcard reduces the modular add ons and simplifies my set up. I would be happy to see Asus take this little card into a full digital version maybe with coaxial out and usb c in one. There was not a lot of choice for half height cards either but this one will do.
Scarlett 2i2 3rd gen here, but I don't do an optical stuff with it. The sound is pretty clean and supports very high bit rates. On Linux it has some of the lowest latencies out there. There also pretty inexpensive.
I have the 2i4 1st gen & it works straight out of the box for Linux Mint
3:00 straight to the chase! I'll keep watching anyway since this is entertaining lol
I recently went on the hunt for a sound card since I'm building a PC. I haven't done so in like 15 years and thought, I wonder if these are still relevant? I think the main reason sound cards were big in the late 90's-early 00's was to reduce the load of processing sound on the CPU as they were pretty slow.
I'll probably just look for an external DAC & Amp.
Ever since I got a pair of Feniks Essence speakers that plug into the USB port, I never used the built in audio except for when I use my headphones with a built in mic.
I've been on an audio quest since 1st creative sound card in 98. Had the Sound Blaster: Live, Audigy, Audigy 2, X-Fi, Z, ZxR, AE-5, Asus: Xonar, Essence STX 2. 2019 went to external dac amp with burson play than the playmate 2 with vivid op amps. I use the creative g6 for consoles. Internal sound cards have use but not a good market for games since gpus have tripled in size.
I have an external DAC and amp connected to my PC via USB. works great
i´m not a expert in sound, just like you, but i can remenber perfect clear the day the day i assemble my new computer with sound blaster x-fi paired with logitech 5500 5.1. i´ll never know if was the sound card, the speaker or the combo...but my entire world of gamer change. Was the time of Modern Warfare 2.
I moved to Linux about 1.5 years ago, after using Windows for 10 years. Now when I see Windows graphics in menus, and remember the extensive tweaking I had to do on each install, I cringe.
Mint is may be a little bloated, but the aesthetics are great. And to never have to worry about security (more precisely, my only worry is my own actions rather than the system itself).
Looking forward to eventually getting into Arch and building a custom system one day soon.
So, some motherboards have a digital out that you wouldn't know about unless you know about it, as it were. Go down this rabbit hole. Search for 3.5mm mini toslink to toslink cable.
For instance my Intel NUC 7 doesn't have full size toslink but the 3.5mm is mini-toslink capable.
I have to agree with using TOSLINK to an external DAC. When using resolving headphones, connecting to the computer's ground plane introduces hum and common-mode switching noises.
Creative products on pc has almost always produced good sound, imo. It has gotten better and if you're looking for more get their higher end stuff. Start off with a good motherboard. Buy a set of creative speakers for $20. From there if you're not satisfied get better gear with good reviews. My turtle beach surround headset was a major waste of money in 2007.