Question about next possible step up from onboard audio.

joelore · April 16, 2014

Hi,

First I know many are already sticking their nose up at the thought of onboard audio but bear with me.

I built a gaming machine almost exactly one year ago. Of course I had a budget but it was a fairly big one. I took everyones advice and blew the most on the top I7 processor, memory and graphics cards. One thing I could not afford was a separate audio card, at the time. Before getting the system together I did a lot of research and found the motherboard of my choice at the time, the Asus Sabertooith Z77, had an acceptional onboard Realtek audio processor for the time.

Now I am definitely not an audiophile but I like good clean music and good gaming sound. I typically get that with this board. From the specs and the Linus review on YouTube the next logical and according to the specs and reviews, reasonable upgrade is the ASUS ROG Xonar Phoebus. Before I shell out $200 for it I really would like to know, loosly of course, based on what I need as mentioned above I would gain.

It should also and probably mostly noted I am using a Logitech analog 5.1 surround speaker system and it seems even in the Linus review he mentioned there may not be much of a difference anyway.

So if anyone can shed some light on this onboard audio and the Phoebus card I'd appreciate any input.

Thanks,

Joe

NannerBeans · April 16, 2014

If you are just using those speakers then a sound card won't really do anything since those speakers themselves have a dac and amp. However, later on if you get some good headphones that are hard to drive, look into getting an o2 amp instead because sound cards are highly overpriced for what they are.

Edit: Fixed typo errors that my phone made.

t0wer · April 16, 2014

skip the sound card and spend the money on better headphones and/or speakers first.

the difference will be much greater.

joelore · April 16, 2014

OK, can you recommend a good set of speakers for use with the Phoebus or other Asus card?

Joe

NannerBeans · April 16, 2014

OK, can you recommend a good set of speakers for use with the Phoebus or other Asus card?

Joe

These are pretty amazing but sound card will not help. Don't bother with a sound card. External DACs and AMPs like the o2 will be better but only really offer an improvement if your headphones are not able to be run loud enough on onboard.

https://www.massdrop.com/buy/swan-d1080-mk-iv-speakers

Other option that I usually recommend are Audioengines.

Edit: Oh and you shouldn't sign your posts. It says in the CoC that you shouldn't. I don't really mind it but rather not make trouble for the mods.