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need sound card suggestions

Bonjour LTT community,

 

I'm making some major upgrades to my computer and I'm looking to add a sound card. 

If anyone has suggestions that'd be great.

I'm no expert on sound cards or which one to get so I figured I'd look here. 

 

Merci,

AFrenchWallaby

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No sound card.

That would be my  recommendation.

"We're all in this together, might as well be friends" Tom, Toonami.

 

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No sound card.

That would be my  recommendation.

 

Vouch this. Sounds cards are worthless.

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Bonjour LTT community,

 

I'm making some major upgrades to my computer and I'm looking to add a sound card. 

If anyone has suggestions that'd be great.

I'm no expert on sound cards or which one to get so I figured I'd look here. 

 

Merci,

AFrenchWallaby

Unless your MOBO is old......

 

No

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Unless the internal soundcard you're aiming for costs like 200$ you're better off with your onboard soundcard.

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It's a question of taste. Most mobo's onboard solution is enough for most headphones, and speakers nowadays. The old recomendation of an xonar DX as a cheap out doesn't hold water today as most onboard solutions have gotten better. At the high end though we do have products that are noticeably better with the proper hardware. The xonar essence stx, and the soundblaster ZxR. Both are seriously high end addon boards, and carry the price tag to match. If you don't have the high end audio equipment to match these are not for you. If however names like marantz are where you start looking for your audio gear they're worth the money.

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if your mobo is z77 or newer, then you dont need one. if you get headphones that should objectively deliver a good experience, but dont to you, try out a DAC/AMP like the objective/o2 from Maywhatever

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Creative SoundBlaster Z, got it myself and totally happy. Good drivers, even better sound.

i7 6700k - 32GB DDR4-2133 - GTX 980

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Sound cards are important. Sorry guys, but you are all wrong. You need to develop your ears.

You guys are used to the 2$ sound chips in your smartphone, or cheapo MP3 players, and headsets (which they are nearly all crap).

Assuming you listen to high quality music files, and you have at least 100$ headphone (rule of thumbs) you should enjoy the superiority of your new sound card.

It must be noted however, perhaps a better purchase is an external DAC unit. The benefit of those is that it does what you want, and you don't need drivers, they are a small unit as well. It connects to your PC via USB. Due to the higher competitive market over internal sound cards solutions, you can get something better for your money. The downside is that you have this little box outside of your system. Just something to look into.

I moved your thread to the Audio forum section for getting better help.

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Sound cards are important. Sorry guys, but you are all wrong. You need to develop your ears.

You guys are used to the 2$ sound chips in your smartphone, or cheapo MP3 players, and headsets (which they are nearly all crap).

Assuming you listen to high quality music files, and you have at least 100$ headphone (rule of thumbs) you should enjoy the superiority of your new sound card.

It must be noted however, perhaps a better purchase is an external DAC unit. The benefit of those is that it does what you want, and you don't need drivers, they are a small unit as well. It connects to your PC via USB. Due to the higher competitive market over internal sound cards solutions, you can get something better for your money. The downside is that you have this little box outside of your system. Just something to look into.

I moved your thread to the Audio forum section for getting better help.

Gotta love when mods don't read through a post before they offer opinion. And yes I am aware of what I'm posting. All these things were listed, as well as the limitations inherent within. I actually listen to music, from CD, on a good old school Kenwood setup with good old school kenwood speakers (when they actually knew how to make quality).

 

I mentioned that it was my opinion that the low end sound cards weren't worth the extra money over onboard audio on a high end mobo. And gave a couple of options where it was worth the money. Also the fact I do use a DAC for my wireless headphones (I didn't list the unit because most people don't want to spend that money on a wireless unit)

 

I would appreciate it if when mods offered opinion they did it without calling people who had a differing opinion people who "need to develop your ears."

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Gotta love when mods don't read through a post before they offer opinion.

I did read the entire thread. And I disagree with your statement "Most mobo's onboard solution is enough for most headphones, and speakers nowadays." And I disagree that you need to have high-end audio equipment. I can hear a clear difference with 50$ headphones an onboard sound card and dedicated sound card

 

I would appreciate it if when mods offered opinion they did it without calling people who had a differing opinion people who "need to develop your ears."

I wear 2 hats. User and Mod, at the request of many users. I don't mod thread I participate in, beside the basic: like moving a thread to a more appropriate forum section, and user requests, such as deleting a double post that they did, and stuff like that. The rest, I use the report button, as a user, as it would be bias on my part to mod the thread I participate in (and yes, every action done by mods are logged).

Not my problem that you take offense at non offensive sentences.

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I did read the entire thread. And I disagree with your statement "Most mobo's onboard solution is enough for most headphones, and speakers nowadays." And I disagree that you need to have high-end audio equipment. I can hear a clear difference with 50$ headphones an onboard sound card and dedicated sound card

 

I wear 2 hats. User and Mod, at the request of many users. I don't mod thread I participate in, beside the basic: like moving a thread to a more appropriate forum section, and user requests, such as deleting a double post that they did, and stuff like that. The rest, I use the report button, as a user, as it would be bias on my part to mod the thread I participate in (and yes, every action done by mods are logged).

Not my problem that you take offense at non offensive sentences.

Fair call.

 

In that case I can call you a fricking moron. You didn't do any research before you posted. You didn't check the equipment the posters were using before you assumed they were using low end rubbish.

You came down from on high and said your word was gospel. no mention of opinion,and no evidence to back up your statements as fact. pull your head out of your arse, and support your statements with an argument.

I happen to agree with you about a decent DAC, but if I'm going to argue a point I'm going to give supporting evidence, and I know that I don't have enough experience with DAC's to recommend a good discrete one, it's why I asked SSL for a hand, I know them from previous times we've run into each other and trust them to offer a good opinion with a reason for it, not just to nuke a forum post like they're god.

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Much depends on your motherboard.

Then again, I'd recommend an external DAC or amp over a soundcard.

My Grading System on headphones: SS= 98-100, S= 95-97, A+= 91-94, A= 86-90, A-= 81-85, B+= 76-80, B= 71-75, B-= 66-70, C+= 61-65, C= 56-60, C-= 51-55, D+= 46-50, D= 41-45, D-= 36-40, F+= 31-35, F= 26-30, F-= 21-25, Tier 1 crap= 16-20, Tier 2 crap= 11-15, Tier 3 crap= 6-10, Dahell tier= 1-5, No hope= 0                 Nevertheless, "Enjoy what you enjoy without starting some silly culture war" - Lachlanlikesathing. If you Recommend the M50/X in a thead, I would probably send you a dick pic.

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Okay, now that the niceties are over.... I hope. We can get back to our job which is offering advice. The aorus DX I mentioned earlier was a pretty damn good discrete sound card a few years ago, and is the way my experience leads me. (I'm an old fart) I can't recomend it over a good onboard audio solution, but that's personal opinion, and it depends on your motherboard. My opinion is that the good onboard audio solutions are worth the money if you have the external hardware to back them up. If you're using razer krakens don't even bother (bass cannons).

 

Although I use a DAC (steelseries H wirekess for my PC), and I know they're a good option I don't have the experience to recommend a good discrete one, and you'll have to ask someone else.

 

Your audio solution in most cases is going to be limited by your headphones. The cheap ones aren't worth mentioning. The expensive ones really do come down to personal preference, and I'd hope you really do try before you buy. For the mid range your best bet is to pick a reputable company and see what is available in your price range.(my recommendations are senheisser, and AT). Hope this helps.

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The main thing you should consider before getting a sound card, is the type of headphones you are using. If it's cheapo, sub $50 headphones, you really won't notice any difference with a sound card.

 

If you do get a Sound Card, be aware that Asus is terrible when it comes to supporting their devices, even with their "highest end" Essence STX card, Windows 8/8.1 still barely got any support, with a single driver release that came out in January 2014... and is BETA. Thankfully they aren't Creative and will not sue you if you try to make your own drivers.

Which is why this exist.

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Just get your schiit together and get a DAC/AMP.

"I believe that if life gives you lemons, you should make lemonade... And try to find somebody whose life has given them vodka, and have a party."

-Ron White
 

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I moved your thread to the Audio forum section for getting better help.

 

Thanks, he's gonna need it after that post of yours.

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wow i didn't know that just asking a question about a soundcard would create a flame war ayy lmao

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wow i didn't know that just asking a question about a soundcard would create a flame war ayy lmao

It always does, sadly.

You have 3 schools of thoughts.

School 1 - They believe that OnBoard solution is "Good enough" and it is useless to invest anything over. And if you want better sound experience it is your headphone or speakers the problem or your source.

School 2 - Everything matters from A to Z, and that there is a difference by getting a dedicated sound solution. Believes that dedicated sound cards have a place in the industry.

School 3 - Everything matters from A to Z, (a bit elitist as well, for many of them), and believes that internal sound card should not be an option, and that external DAC/Amp solutions is the only way to go.

School 2 and 3, is something I don't get why they fight against each other. They both agree that a dedicated solution is better than the 1$ to 5$ sound chip on motherboards. They both agree that everything is important from A to Z for the best audio experience, and they both want people to enjoy the best audio experience possible.

They fight for a small detail at the end of the day, just on what is better: internal or external solution.

I personally support the views of School 1 and 2 (it is the same for me).

A big problem, I think is that, unless you go with a drastically superior sound solution, you won't hear much of a difference on day 1 when you buy a new sound card, or even headphones over what you had before, especially if you don't do a side-by-side comparison with the new gear and the old. But the more you use the new hardware gear, with high quality music your ear will develop over time, and start enjoying the difference And as that takes places, reverting back to the old/previous configuration will show a greater impact, and the usual reaction is "I used to think that THIS was not bad? This is pretty crap...." type of attitude, and you start being able to more easily identify and not enjoy as much, an onboard solution and dedicated gear.

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It always does, sadly.

You have 3 schools of thoughts.

School 1 - They believe that OnBoard solution is "Good enough" and it is useless to invest anything over. And if you want better sound experience it is your headphone or speakers the problem or your source.

School 2 - Everything matters from A to Z, and that there is a difference by getting a dedicated sound solution. Believes that dedicated sound cards have a place in the industry.

School 3 - Everything matters from A to Z, (a bit elitist as well, for many of them), and believes that internal sound card should not be an option, and that external DAC/Amp solutions is the only way to go.

School 2 and 3, is something I don't get why they fight against each other. They both agree that a dedicated solution is better than the 1$ to 5$ sound chip on motherboards. They both agree that everything is important from A to Z for the best audio experience, and they both want people to enjoy the best audio experience possible.

They fight for a small detail at the end of the day, just on what is better: internal or external solution.

I personally support the views of School 1 and 2 (it is the same for me).

A big problem, I think, is that unless you go with a drastically superior sound solution, you won't hear much of a difference on day 1, especially if you don't do a side-by-side comparison. But the more you use the hardware gear, with high quality music and decent headphones/speakers, of course, you ear will develop over time. And as that takes places, reverting back to the old/previous configuration will show a greater impact, and the usual reaction is "I used to think that THIS was not bad? This is pretty crap...." type of attitude, and you start being able to more easily identify and not enjoy as much, an onboard solution and dedicated gear.

yeah same. although, listening to music at full blast through my shitty dell speakers sounds decent, I do want a dedicated soundcard and new speakers.

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