Onboard audio other than Realtek?

[Jaytn]

Ok so I am trying to get again more up-to-date and go a little more in-depth with my knowledge than last time since my next PC upgrade is slowly but surely crawling in.

 

[ok, i planned to make several paragraphs explaining what plans I have and why I have them but that might be too long, boring and off-topic so I'll jump straight to the question]

 

Short is: I am comparing motherboards (and features) and trying to get a grasp of what feature matters and why (and how). I came along all the new and fancy onboard audio solutions (most strikingly SupremeFX from Asus) but the more I read the more I started to see the pattern that most of them are "just" the same Realtek stuff "just" with some fancy layout and extras (different mainboard layers / extra shielding etc). But my experience so far with Realtek has been... lets say totally crap. I have yet to see a PC where the Realtek stuff doesn't cause any problems and it's got to the point where I get a bad feeling in my stomach when I see the realtek logo in the tray bar (since it usually means there will pop up a notification "something plugged in" and screw with everything). And their website... well it sucks badly . So I am trying to systematically avoid Realtek wherever possible. (Because I don't want any headache no more and because I want to vote with my money). Now my problem and question therefore is:

 

Are there actually any alternatives to Realtek onboard audio? And if yes where and how good are they?

 

 

Ok now I wrote a paragraph anyway... but at least it's not several. I'd love to get to a real in-depth discussion (since I want to learn about all this) but I figured I'd better not bury you with text.

 

Thanks in advance! 

[runit3]

Get a dedicated sound card. Likely the only way you're going to avoid Realtek altogether.

[Zolon]

Get a dedicated sound card. Likely the only way you're going to avoid Realtek altogether.

I second this. But in my opinion a DAC/External Audio Interface would give you a better sound quality to a internal sound card (you avoid most of the noise you get inside a Computer, also you can use it with a Laptop as well). Plus you get to turn nobs to control the volume.

While I have seen a Intel chip option in many Virtual machines, I have never seen anything other than Realtek.

[Jaytn]

Thanks for your answers!

 

I think I left out an important part of my reasoning... 

I am planning to get a pair of studio monitors (yes, Im that much of an audiophile) and will probably need a pro-audio-oriented sound card / interface for them.

But ATM i have a (rather frankensteined but working) 5.1 setup (with crappy onboard which is one reason why I hate Realtek) and quite like it for movies and games.

So I thought I can get the studio monitors for music (+hobby production) and keep the 5.1 for movies and games with good enough onboard sound for it and my headset, so I don't have 2 sound cards (+onboard).

That's why I am searching for something not produced by Realtek if possible but if it doesn't exist I'll have to either go with an "enhanced" Realtek (ugh) solution or come up with something different.

 

Anyway ty for your replies.