Sound cards?

[Adcadet]

Hey Gang,
I'm planning on building a new PC in early 2011, and I'm confused about sound cards. It seems like we finally have a good alternative to the Creative hoard (http://techreport.com/articles.x/14500/1).

Are the current crop of sound cards, in an environment of very powerful CPUs, worth ~$80 extra over onboard sound? Does it make a difference if I only nice-ish headphones or cheap speakers? What are you guys using these days? Do games sound better (EAX/surround sound/whatever) with a discrete card or is that just marketing? Is there any reason why a PCI-E card is better than a PCI card?

 

[Stereodude]

People still buy sound cards?

Between on board audio and HDMI audio on the graphics cards, is there any point?

 

[Mercutio]

I'm a fan out Auzentech cards for the Dolby Digital encoding, which I find quite enjoyable for symphonic music, but absent that there really isn't much point. EAX got borked with the transition to Vista and I haven't seen a game with a Creative logo on it in years.

Yes, I probably will buy another Auzentech card when I get around to upgrading my receiver to support HDMI, but I wouldn't generally recommend it to other people.

 

[ddrueding]

Ditto

 

[CougTek]

With good speakers, onboard audio sounds flat compared to what's going out of a Sound Blaster X-Fi or Auzentech. The difference is clearly audible.

 

[sechs]

Are we talking digital here? I don't see the sound chip on my motherboard as much more than a router for audio data.

 

[Stereodude]

Are we talking digital here? I don't see the sound chip on my motherboard as much more than a router for audio data.

I sure hope not with comments like Coug's, but who still uses analog outputs from a PC?

 

[MaxBurn]

I do. I have a five or so year old logitech 5.1 computer speaker set that still sound ok.

Also when I had my HTPC I had horrible lip synch problems on the digital output, never did find out why but the analog 5.1 worked fine.

 

[Mercutio]

Are we talking digital here? I don't see the sound chip on my motherboard as much more than a router for audio data.

Depending on the sound chip, that may or may not be accurate. Anything that follows the AC97 spec is sampling every sound to 48kHz before playback, which isn't exactly unmolested audio.

 

[Handruin]

I sure hope not with comments like Coug's, but who still uses analog outputs from a PC?

I still do. I've been using the standard stereo headphone jack for my 2.1 speakers since 2002.

 

[LunarMist]

Of course you all know that I have no digital audio output anything. :lol:
I never knew that the audi was being molested though.

 

[Stereodude]

I never knew that the audi was being molested though.

You need to read up on Kmangler then.

 

[LunarMist]

I have no doubt that a good sound card and drivers would be better than onboard and MS, but molested is an very odd choice of words. :cyclop:

 

[time]

It's more discreet than "f**ked".

 

[BingBangBop]

Review of Asus' Xonar DG and Xense sound cards

 

[Stereodude]

I love their blind listening test. Talk about a totally flawed experiment. They needed to have their panel pass an ABX (a true blind listening test) first. If someone can't consistently tell whether "X" is "A" or "B" to a meaningful statistical confidence level paying any attention to what someone says is difference between them is a waste of time.

Instead they had them listen to all 3 (not knowing which was which) and asked them to characterize the sound of each. FAIL!

 

[Mercutio]

I'd just like to point out that the Auzentech X-Fi Hometheater is $40 cheaper and, unlike that Asus card, actually supports HDMI output.

 

[Mercutio]

Also, for $10 or so, a generic card with a Via Envy chip is a big step up over onboard sound.

 

[mubs]

I have no doubt that a good sound card and drivers would be better than onboard and MS, but molested is an very odd choice of words. :cyclop:

+1. Merc has a way with words....

 

[sechs]

I still do. I've been using the standard stereo headphone jack for my 2.1 speakers since 2002.

For years, I had a have an add-in sound card in order to have the digital SPDIF output for my Cambridge Soundworks 2.1 speakers. Now, you're stuck with one to get decent output.

 

[Handruin]

I figured my speak set isn't good enough to show a difference between an SPDIF output and the regular mini jack, so I've not opted to upgrade. At some point I likely will be moving my old Yamaha stereo receiver into my office which has the optical SPDIF which can make use of that feature. I'll pair that with some better speakers and I should be able to notice a difference.

 

[Pradeep]

I figured my speak set isn't good enough to show a difference between an SPDIF output and the regular mini jack, so I've not opted to upgrade. At some point I likely will be moving my old Yamaha stereo receiver into my office which has the optical SPDIF which can make use of that feature. I'll pair that with some better speakers and I should be able to notice a difference.

The only thing the spdif gives you is multichannel on one cable. In terms of sound quality, 2 channel stereo on a good pair of headphones/speakers is not necessarily going to sound better sent to an outboard amp. You would need an HDMI receiver to make best use of the high definition audio available nowadays (DTS-MA, Dolby TrueHD).

 

[Handruin]

I would think it can get you a slightly cleaner signal when compared to a mini cable jack, no (assuming the SPDIF isn't borked)?

I know what you're saying about the higher quality audio through HDMI, but what I'm seriously considering is getting the Onkyo TX-SR608 for my living room setup and move my old Yamaha 5.1 into my office. I'd much rather have the TrueHD audio on my home theater setup than on my computer.

 

[Stereodude]

2 channel stereo on a good pair of headphones/speakers is not necessarily going to sound better sent to an outboard amp.

Not guaranteed, but highly likely since you'll be moving the DAC into a much less electrically noisy piece of equipment.

 

[paugie]

Also, for $10 or so, a generic card with a Via Envy chip is a big step up over onboard sound.

Uh, I googled for a sound card with this Envy chip. It came up with nothing in the $10 range.

 

[Mercutio]

Ebay, sir. Ebay.

 

[paugie]

okay, sir, okay. ))